NFL live score tracker: Patriots vs. Vikings; Cowboys handle Giants

Before the season began, Mark Sanchez raved about first-year Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell. Sanchez, who shared a quarterbacks room with O’Connell more than a decade ago, lauded the lessons O’Connell had learned from Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.

The imprint was obvious, Sanchez said, mostly in the way O’Connell stressed some smaller, yet significant, details: things like scoring points in a two-minute drill before halftime, managing the clock effectively and producing in the red zone.

“(The Patriots) were on the cutting edge of some of this stuff,” Sanchez said, “redefining the way you think about winning games.”

Many of the Belichickian attributes have played a major role in the Vikings’ 8-2 start. End-of-half scoring has been essential. Red zone efficiency, too. They also will be essential for the Vikings in Thursday night’s shot at redemption against the Patriots.

But after Sunday’s shellacking by the Cowboys, it feels only right to reference another lesson O’Connell learned from Belichick:

“It was about acknowledging the reality of the game, what happened, what took place,” O’Connell recalled. “The things we did or didn’t do in the football game that might have contributed to losing that game. And then, how do we fix those things, how do we rectify any problems? … That message (from Bill) was always direct, forward.”

Each week in the NFL presents a similar assess-and-fix challenge. This week, however, the gravity of the challenge feels greater. Maybe that’s because of the margin of Sunday’s loss. Or maybe it’s because Thursday’s game is in prime time at home on national television. Regardless, the feeling exists, which magnifies both the problems and potential solutions.

The obvious starting point is in pass protection. Asked Tuesday what the offense can do to prevent quarterback Kirk Cousins from being sacked seven times again, running back Dalvin Cook answered succinctly.

“Block,” he said.

True as it may be, being successful at it will be a bit more complex.

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