Viktor
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- Mar 19, 2019
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Harris said the team emphasized "staying settled, staying poised," when Houston started to come from behind.
"[We were] continuing to believe in our abilities, believe in what the coaches want us to do and then just going out there and executing – everybody just doing their job and attacking, playing aggressive," Harris said. "Guys did that when we got down in the red zone, trying to hold them out there in the last drive.
"I believe everybody did a good job of knowing their assignments, executing and then just continuing to attack the ball whether it's in the air or on the ground," he added.
The Texans were not allowed a touchdown on any of their three trips inside the Vikings 20-yard line. In fact, Houston had 10 plays from at or inside the Minnesota 10 and totaled just six points.
Entering Sunday's game, the Vikings defense tied for seventh in the NFL in red-zone percentage, limiting opponents to a 50-percent success rate. Factoring in their Week 4 performance, the Vikings have only allowed opponents to score a red-zone touchdown on 41.2 percent of attempts.
"We spend a lot of time inside the 12-yard line, and we've been decent at it for the most part. I think our guys understand how to play in that area," Zimmer said. "There's two areas there – you have to defend the down-and-distance, plus you have to defend the goal line. So we try to teach our guys like that all the time."
Minnesota also played well on third downs, allowing Houston to convert on three of 12 attempts (25 percent).
The Vikings forced the Texans to go three-and-punt on their first two drives, and again late in the third quarter. Midway through the second quarter, Eric Kendricks went airborne to break up a pass to Brandin Cooks on third-and-9.
Watson was sacked three times, including by Vikings rookie D.J. Wonnum, whose first-quarter takedown was the first of his NFL career. Watson finished the day 20-of-33 passing for 300 yards and two touchdowns with a passer rating of 110.7.