CNN –
The Minnesota Vikings will look to jumpstart their season when they visit the Philadelphia Eagles for this week’s edition of Thursday Night Football.
The Vikings suffered a painful 17-20 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their season opener and will look to bounce back in Philly.
Meanwhile, the Eagles will look to remain undefeated as they seek a second straight Super Bowl appearance. Despite not being at their best, Philadelphia managed to get over the finish line in Week 1 with a 25-20 win over the New England Patriots.
With both teams looking to improve on their season openers, it will be all-hands-on-play Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
The game will be streamed on Amazon Prime and FUBO.
Fans outside the US can also watch the action via NFL Game Pass on DAZN.
The Eagles are not on the rise yet
Expectations for the Eagles for the new season were high. Led by star quarterback Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia made it to Super Bowl LVII after defeating the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football Conference (NFC) championship game.
While the Eagles lost to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in the big event, the young team had an exciting game, with Philly’s offense being particularly effective that night.
However, the Birds struggled to gain momentum in their Week 1 win over the Patriots.
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Hurts had a hit-and-miss game against the Patriots.
The Eagles got off to a flying start with Darius Slay’s 70-yard pick-6. DeVonta Smith added another touchdown late in the first quarter as Philadelphia took a 16-0 lead after the first quarter.
Outside of a hectic first 15 minutes, the Eagles had to rely on kicker Jake Elliott for the remainder of their scoring output as their offense faltered against a stout Patriots defense.
Philadelphia will know it came away with a hit at Gillette Stadium and will need to improve if it wants to improve on last year’s success.
The Vikings were unable to secure victory
After losing to the Buccaneers in their home opener, the Vikings now travel to Philadelphia with a difficult task ahead.
Minnesota will view the 20-17 loss to Tampa Bay as a missed opportunity. The home team missed many opportunities to assert their dominance before finally failing with a field goal from Chase McLaughlin, which secured the victory for the Bucs.
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins threw for 344 yards and two touchdowns, but will be disappointed that an interception led to his team’s inability to continue and ultimately proved costly.
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Cousins threw two touchdowns on Sunday, but his team ultimately lost 20-17 to the Buccaneers.
The Vikings were tied at 10 heading into the end of the first half. Just before halftime, the Vikings were in prime position to score a touchdown, but Cousins’ pass was intercepted near the goal line.
“There’s no question that we would have liked to end this drive with a touchdown, but [we] always want [Cousins] “Being aggressive, playing what he sees and he also did a lot of really good things yesterday to help us stay in the football game – despite the turnovers and penalties being crucial against us,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters at a news conference.
Cousins will be looking to shake that off heading into Week 2.
Jefferson vs. Slay
If the Vikings want to improve their chances against the Eagles, they need to involve star wide receiver Justin Jefferson as much as possible.
Jefferson, the reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year, started the season with flying colors. The 24-year-old had seven receptions for 138 yards in the first half against the Bucs, but only managed two more receptions for 12 yards in the second half.
Jefferson will now have to put up a strong performance against one of the best cornerbacks in the league, Darius Slay.
Jefferson is scheduled to face Slay on Thursday night, and in last year’s game, the Eagle CB kept Jefferson quiet with a brilliant defensive performance.
This could prove to be Thursday Night Football’s defining matchup as the two stars face off in Philadelphia.
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Jefferson will be interested in defeating Slay on Thursday night.
Starting difficulties for the Eagles’ offense
Although the Eagles came away with the win on Sunday night, they didn’t play on the offensive side of the ball like a team that had been to the Super Bowl earlier in the year.
The Patriots outscored the Eagles in two key areas – 382 total yards to 251 and 24 first downs to 17 – with Philadelphia’s offense appearing to stagnate on several occasions. The second quarter was particularly disastrous, as the Birds mustered just two yards on five drives and allowed their opponents two unanswered touchdowns.
Head coach Nick Siriani admitted after the game that he could have made better use of the pre-season if he had involved the starting eleven more.
“I’ll definitely be re-evaluating some of the things from preseason next year,” he said. “If I had to do it all over again now, I would have played one or two drives as a starter in the preseason.”
Philly star Hurts made it clear that “the only thing that matters is winning,” but also pointed out that he was frustrated with his team’s inefficiency.
“I think we obviously have things we need to work on and need to get better in the situations where I have the ball in my hands and I take full responsibility for that,” the 25-year-old said. “But the good thing is that we get the opportunity to play on Thursday.”
Hurts and Co. will be hoping the Eagles’ offense can get going in Thursday’s prime time, otherwise the Vikings will return home after feeling like they successfully ransacked Philadelphia.