New Orleans Saints

Saints-Vikings Capsule

Published Jan. 11, 2018 4:18 p.m. ET

NEW ORLEANS (12-5) at MINNESOTA (13-3)

Sunday, 4:40 p.m. EST, Fox

OPENING LINE - Vikings by 4

RECORD VS. SPREAD -New Orleans 8-8, Minnesota 11-4-1

SERIES RECORD - Vikings lead 21-11

LAST MEETING - Vikings beat Saints 29-19, Sept. 11, 2017

LAST WEEK - Saints beat Panthers 31-26; Vikings had first-round bye

AP PRO32 RANKING -Saints No. 6, Vikings No. 2

SAINTS OFFENSE - OVERALL (2), RUSH (5), PASS (5)

SAINTS DEFENSE - OVERALL (17), RUSH (16), PASS (15)

VIKINGS OFFENSE - OVERALL (11), RUSH (7), PASS (11)

VIKINGS DEFENSE - OVERALL (1), RUSH (2), PASS (2)

STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES - Vikings have won two of three postseason matchups with Saints, 1987 wild-card game in New Orleans and 2000 divisional-round game in Minnesota. Saints won 2009 NFC championship game at home. ... Vikings are 13-3 at home in history against Saints, including the one playoff victory. ... Saints are 7-4 in six appearances in playoffs under coach Sean Payton. They're 1-4 on road, excluding neutral-site win in Super Bowl 44. ... Saints QB Drew Brees passed for 376 yards against Panthers, his second-highest total of season. ... Saints rookie Alvin Kamara, who had second-most receptions (81) in league by RB in regular season, had only one catch against Panthers. ... Saints FB Zach Line, who spent four seasons with Vikings, had TD run last week. ... Saints, who ranked third in NFL in regular season with 20 interceptions and tied for ninth in league with 25 total takeaways, did not force turnover vs. Panthers. ... Saints' defense ranked eighth in NFL in sacks per pass attempt in regular season and sacked Panthers' Cam Newton four times last week, including one by team leader Cameron Jordan. ... Jordan had only sack for Saints in season-opening loss at Minnesota, when Sam Bradford was Vikings QB and passed for 346 yards and three TDs without turnover on 27 of 32 completions for career-high 143.0 rating. .... Vikings allowed 27 sacks in regular season, seventh fewest in league. ... Jordan, who had career-high 13 sacks in regular season, is son of former Vikings TE Steve Jordan, who was six-time Pro Bowl pick and caught TD pass in 1987 win in playoffs against Saints. ... Vikings' record against spread in regular season was best in NFL. ... Vikings had first-round bye for fourth time under current playoff format. They reached NFC championship game each of three previous instances. ... Vikings coach Mike Zimmer is 0-1 in playoffs. ... Payton and Zimmer were assistants on Cowboys staff together between 2003-05, with Payton running offense and Zimmer running defense. ... This is Vikings QB Case Keenum's first career start in playoffs and first playoff game at U.S. Bank Stadium, which opened in 2016 and is site of next month's Super Bowl. ... Vikings WR Stefon Diggs had TD catch in each of last three games. He had two TDs and 93 yards in opener against Saints. ... RB Latavius Murray had 745 yards and eight TDs in last 10 games of regular season. He had TD run last season in playoffs for Raiders against Texans. ... Vikings FS Harrison Smith tied career high with five interceptions and was one of two players in league with 70 or more tackles, five or more interceptions and one or more sacks. ... Vikings allowed only 20 runs of 10-plus yards in regular season, fewest in NFL since 49ers in 1995.

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