In the second quarter, Green Bay drove 79 yards to the Minnesota 1. Trailing 7-0, LaFleur opted to go for it on fourth-and-1, but AJ Dillon was stuffed with Harrison Phillips plugging the interior and former Packers edge rusher Za’Darius Smith crashing down.
Phillips first pointed credit toward another Harrison on the team for setting the Vikings up to make that key stop.
Safety Harrison Smith stopped Aaron Jones for no gain after a short reception on second-and-7 and then helped deny Dillon the end zone on a pass that gained 6.
“The most important thing was the way Harrison Smith played those two plays before, getting us to line up again,” Phillips said. “We’ll defend a blade of grass if we can, and then [Defensive Coordinator Ed] Donatell calling the defense today, he kind of put the ball in my hand a little bit to go make a play, and I was thankful I was able to do that.
“Eric Kendricks came down really fast and helped hold the double team off, so I kind of got to defeat the one block and was there on a pretty big running back, so you’ve got to put all your weight on him, but that was fun for sure,” Phillips added.
Minnesota’s offense built on that momentum on its next possession thanks to a 64-yard pass from Cousins to Jefferson that set up a field goal by Greg Joseph. Cousins navigated around pressure and fired down the field to Jefferson.
An impressive connection by the team to which O’Connell has emphasized connectivity.
“It means a lot to K.O., man. This is his first head coaching job,” Patrick Peterson said. “To get a win here at [U.S. Bank Stadium], he said when he first got here he didn’t want to see anything but purple in the stands, and they were out there today. I believe it’s going to continue to build on the regular season. I expect not to see an opponent jersey in our stadium moving forward because this is The Bank. This is our home. We need to protect it and we need the fans to be here to make it loud for opposing teams.”
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