New Orleans Saints: Bold predictions for Wild Card Round vs. Vikings

3. Kirk Cousins has a good game and isn’t the bad apple on offense

Again, we have already mentioned it twice in this article but that shows just how real of a narrative that it is — Kirk Cousins has a serious big-game syndrome and has not been able to perform under the bright lights. As a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers, I know all about this with Clayton Kershaw.

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However, in this game, I do not think it is Cousins that struggles and I actually expect Cousins to have a good game and go toe-to-toe with Drew Brees and the Saints in what will be a high-scoring affair.

Cousins has had some really good showings this season and there is reason to believe that he can have a big showing here. The Saints’ secondary really started to show some cracks down the stretch and is without Eli Apple, which is a disaster waiting to happen against Diggs and Adam Thielen.

I think the sour apple of the Vikings’ offense on Sunday and the thing that we all take away from the game is that the team was not able to get Dalvin Cook going. Cook is the engine of the Vikings’ offense and many are expecting him to be the one thing that keeps the Vikings in this game.

I think it will be the opposite. Cook has not played for two weeks because of injury, and while he is healthy, he is coming up against a good defensive line and really good linebacker core that ranked fourth in rushing yards allowed this season.

Cook had some huge games this season but if you look back at his game logs he also had some duds as well. I think the Vikings learn early that this is going to be a very slow day for Cook, unleashing Cousins to actually play some impressive football.

It won’t be enough, though. The New Orleans Saints will continue to push the pressure and take a two-possession lead off of a big play late in the game. Minnesota will make it look close, but the Saints will get the ball up by seven and ice the game to move on.