Patriots-Vikings Predictions
BOSTON (CBS) --The New England Patriots look to bounce back from their disappointing Week 1 loss in Miami, and notch their first win of the season against the Vikings in Minnesota.
(UPDATE: Predictions made prior to news that Adrian Peterson will not play on Sunday)
Here are the predictions from the 98.5 The Sports Hub, WBZ NewsRadio 1030 and WBZ-TV sports teams for Sunday's tilt:
Scott Zolak, 98.5 The Sports Hub
The Patriots will rebound this week but still struggle to score some points.
The defense will play better, but Minnesota will have success on the ground. But the defense should hold them to field goals for the most part.
Patriots 24, Vikings 16
Andy Gresh, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Patriots are playing in a college stadium, so noise is not as big a factor as it would be if it were in the old dome.
They have institutional knowledge of Minnesota's quarterback, Matt Cassel, but they do have to figure out how to slow down the run game when teams put three or four wide receivers on the field. They got gashed in nickel when Miami ran the ball last week, so they have to fix that.
They have Darrelle Revis to deal with someone like Cordarrelle Patterson, but can they load up against Peterson. I think this is a closer game than people think.
Patriots, 27, Vikings 21
Jon Wallach, 98.5 The Sports Hub
The pick that everyone has this week is Minnesota because the Patriots looked bad against the run in Miami. But New England is pretty damn talented; they hve a lot of good players and a lot of people have seemed to forget about that over the last week.
Minnesota doesn't have the dome advantage, and I think the Pats will figure out a way to stop Adrian Peterson and Darrelle Revis will figure out a way to stop Cordarrelle Patterson.
The Patriots should win this one by double digits.
Felger & Mazz, 98.5 The Sports Hub
They don't make predictions (one of their show commandments), but shared some thoughts on Sunday's game during Friday's show:
Walt Perkins, WBZ NewsRadio 1030
The Patriots growing pains continue. While they will show improvement, it won't be enough to upend the Vikings.
Vikings 31, Patriots 27
Steve Burton, WBZ-TV Sports
If you asked me before the Miami game if the Patriots would start the season 0-2, I would have said you were crazy. Now, not so much. I do believe the Pats will beat the Vikings, but they have to go out and earn it.
One suggestion: The Pats should have former offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia on speed dial, because the offensive line will be tested again. In Week 1, Minnesota sacked Rams quarterbacks five times. The Patriots have to protect Brady, because if they do, he will shred the Vikings defense. If they don't protect him, the Patriots are in for a long afternoon.
Rob Gronkowski is working the rust off, but Julien Edelman -- who had a great first half against Miami -- can't be the only one catching balls. Let's hope Aaron Dobson sees the field this week, because he could be the key missing weapon through the air.
On defense, you don't have to tell the D-Line -- Vince Wilfork and the guys already know. Peterson and Patterson can both bring a defense to their knees, and they have to be stopped, or at least slowed down.
Matt Cassel is the starting quarterback for the Vikings, Tom Brady's former backup. He loves play action and the Patriots linebackers can't go for the fakes. Cassel will make the safe throw, and he loves to throw the screen pass. Hopefully Bill Belichick will find a way to confuse Cassel all together.
Patriots 28, Vikings 17
Dan Roche, WBZ-TV Sports
These are the games that lead you to believe that the Pats are in trouble; coming off an unimpressive opener and facing a team that looked great in theirs. Add in Adrian Peterson against a run defense that gave up 191 rushing yards to Miami and you could make a case for the Patriots falling to 0-2 for the first time since 2001.
Ah, but strange things seem to happen in Weeks 1 and 2 in the NFL, and I think the Pats will bounce back.
Patriots 38, Vikings 21
Levan Reid, WBZ-TV Sports
So this is a tough one for me because if the Pats played like they did in the first half against Miami, they might be unbeatable. But you have to sustain that for 60 minutes.
The team got a wake-up call and it happen in the first game of the season. They can't just go out on the field and win games. Miami exposed a couple of the Pats' problems.
New England is still soft up front on defense; that has to and will get better this week. They also have to stop rotating on that offensive line -- having set positions will get guys into a certain groove.
The Patriots don't lose two in a row often. It's only Week 2 but the Pats are in need of a statement win. And I think they will get it.
The weather won't be like living on the sun and the Pats can play their hurry-up style of football this week. Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer has done a great job of raising Minnesota's confidence, but this game will be tough for them to win.
Brady will out-duel Matt Cassel under center -- with Julien Edelman and Rob Gronkowski being a big part of that -- and while the defense will struggle with Adrian Peterson they should be able to slow down Cordarrelle Patterson and grab their first win of the season.
Patriots 27, Vikings 21
Tune in to Patriots-Vikings on WBZ-TV and 98.5 The Sports Hub – the flagship stations of the New England Patriots. Pregame coverage begins on 98.5FM at 10am on Sunday, with Patriots GameDay kicking off WBZ-TV's coverage at 11:30am. Stay tuned following the game for three hours of postgame coverage on 98.5, and tune to myTV38 for Patriots 5th Quarter!
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