Houston Texans at Minnesota Vikings: Key Information and First Quarter Discussion

We are just thirty minutes from kickoff in Minneapolis, ladies and gentlemen, as the 2-0 Houston Texans come to U.S. Bank Stadium to take on the 2-0 Minnesota Vikings . Here's everything you need ahead of this week's game.

Time and Date: Sunday, 22 September 2024, noon Central time

: U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Television Coverage: WCCO-4 in the Twin Cities, CBS affiliates around the country, YouTube TV Sunday Ticket

Radio CoverageVikings Radio Network , SiriusXM Channel 231 (Vikings feed), SiriusXM App Channel 820

: Vikings +1.5, Over/Under 45.5

Chris' Prediction: Vikings 23, Texans 20

Three Keys

- It's been pretty easy for the Vikings under Kevin O'Connell. They're 19-0 in the regular season when they are even or better in turnover ratio in a game and 3-14 when they don't. They've been even in the first two games this year, and they can't afford bad turnovers, particularly the ones they had in the red zone against the 49ers . The Vikings will need to take care of the ball.

- Stroud is one of the best young quarterbacks in the National Football League, but this is only his second season. Brian Flores is in the zone right now and he almost certainly has a lot of things for Stroud that he hasn't seen yet. The Texans have explosive potential on offense and they need to do their best to keep the young signal caller off balance.

3) Don't get into the "revenge" hype - We fans like to talk about "revenge" games, and there's a lot of that in this one with Stefon Diggs and Danielle Hunter making their returns to Minnesota. The Vikings can't let themselves fall into that sort of mindset, as the Texans have plenty of talented players aside from those two. It will take a full team effort to get a victory this afternoon.

Know the FoeBattle Red Blog

That should be everything you need to be up to speed on this one, folks. Remember that a new Open Thread starts at the beginning of each quarter, so keep your eyes open for those and move the discussion along accordingly.

Enjoy the game, ladies and gentlemen, and hopefully in about three hours we can all hang out and talk about how awesome 3-0 feels for a team that wasn't expected to do much in 2024.

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