HOUSTON — The Vikings are heading home from NRG Stadium, winners for the first time this year, because they had another opportunity to work the formula they used to nearly beat the Titans a week ago.
The Vikings are 1-3, instead of 0-4, because they faced a Texans team that was even more inefficient than Tennessee was.
Another big day for Dalvin Cook (who ran for 130 yards and two touchdowns) and the Vikings' top two receivers (both Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson surpassed 100 yards) allowed the Vikings to keep the second-half lead they built this time and hang on for a 31-23 win over the Texans.
The result was secured when a replay review overturned Will Fuller's touchdown in the game's final minute.
The Vikings avoided their first 0-4 start since 2011, and got their first victory a week after they'd let a 12-point second-half lead slip away in a 31-30 loss to the Titans.
"It's good to get a win," head coach Mike Zimmer said.
Jefferson became the fifth rookie receiver in Vikings history to post back-to-back 100-yard receiving games, joining Stefon Diggs, Randy Moss, Anthony Carter and Paul Flatley. He caught four passes for 103 yards as Cousins looked for him downfield, while Thielen caught eight of 10 targets for 114 yards. Cook and tight end Kyle Rudolph were the only other Vikings players to catch a pass.
Cousins completed 16 of his 22 passes for 260 yards, drilling Thielen in the back of the end zone for a nine-yard touchdown late in the third after big throws to Jefferson and Rudolph helped him shake off a sack where he had Jefferson open on a double move off play action.
While the Vikings could turn to Thielen, Cook and Jefferson in the moments where they needed to make a play, the Texans had no such safe haven. David Johnson, the running back for whom Houston coach Bill O'Brien traded DeAndre Hopkins this offseason, gained only 60 yards behind a leaky Texans offensive line against a Vikings run front had been punished in the season's first three weeks.
Deshaun Watson missed receivers, passed on an opportunity to run for a first down and failed to lead the Texans to touchdowns in the red zone.
After falling behind 17-6 at halftime, the Texans made things close in the second half with the help of a call against Vikings safety Harrison Smith that had Zimmer screaming at an official before halftime.
Smith was ejected for lowering his helmet to initiate contact with Texans tight end Jordan Akins on a 22-yard reception late in the first half. The safety arrived at the same time Akins went low to make the catch, but the hit put Akins in the concussion protocol and led to Smith's second career ejection, along with a personal foul.
The Texans forced a Vikings three-and-out to begin the second half, and Watson went to work with an up-tempo offense intent on stressing a Vikings secondary with two rookie corners and George Iloka taking Smith's place at safety.
Watson hit Fuller for a 24-yard touchdown in the third quarter, and came back with a 43-yard strike to Fuller against rookie Jeff Gladney to set up a field goal, after Dan Bailey had missed a 55-yard field goalwide right.
Then, after the Vikings had built a 31-16 lead, Watson found Kenny Stills for an easy 24-yard score after Iloka bit on an underneath route. The Vikings got the ball back with 5:52 to go and opened their drive with a clever Cousins bootleg to Thielen for seven yards, but could only run 2:59 off the clock and gave Watson one more chance to work on the Vikings' young secondary.
But the Texans stalled one more time in the red zone; David Johnson nearly fumbled away Watson's option pitch, and a fourth-down throw to Fuller, against Holton Hill in coverage after the Vikings brought pressure, resulted in an incomplete pass when officials ruled Fuller hadn't completed his one-handed catch attempt as he went to the ground. It overturned the on-field touchdown ruling, and allowed the Vikings to kneel out the clock deep in their own territory.
"It definitely feels good to win a football game," Cook said, "to help the confidence of our team to get back us in rhythm knowing we can go out there and win a football game if we go out there and play as a whole in each phase of the game."
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Vikings hold on to beat Texans 31-23 for first win of the season - Minneapolis Star Tribune
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