Third Quarter Thoughts

The Saints are continuing to show that they're the better team on both sides of the ball in the third quarter, but the Vikings are still ahead, albeit barely.
(If you're trying to figure out what I'm referencing, these are all in roughly chronological order. First half thoughts are below.)

• Brad Childress continues to call outside running plays, despite the fact that the Vikings' haven't been able to block the Saints on any of them. Nothing like continuing to call plays that lead to 4 yard losses on first down when your offense has a horrible passing ame.

• Leslie Frazier is a very good defensive coordinator. The blitz he just called where he stacked Ben Leber and Tyrell Johnson behind Jared Allen was a thing of beauty, and it got Allen into the backfield untouched. I'm really excited for some team to hire him, so that he can continue the Vikings' tradition of coordinators becoming more successful head coaches than the guy they worked for.

• Once again, the Vikings' punt coverage has failed them. Vinny Cuirciu missed a tackle on Reggie Bush's punt return touchdown and the outside contain didn't stay in their lanes. One big block on Erin Henderson later and Bush was gone and the Vikings 10 point lead is suddenly 3 points. That's not a good thing against a team that's dominated the Purple on both sides of the ball.

• If Reggie Bush doesn't trip, he was going to return a second punt in a row for a touchdown. What happened to the Vikings' ability to tackle when covering punts? Husain Abudllah, Maurice Hicks,Vinny Ciuriu and Chris Kluwe all missed a tackle on that return.