FSU Alum: Dalvin Cook shines in playoff victory over Saints

FSU football alum Dalvin Cook showed why he’s one of the best running backs in the game in Minnesota’s playoff win over the Saints.

Dalvin Cook and the Minnesota Vikings went against Drew Brews and the New Orleans Saints as touchdown underdogs and pulled out a 26-20 overtime victory Sunday afternoon.

Cook finished the game with 94 rushing yards on 28 carries with two touchdowns. He also had 36 receiving yards on three receptions.

The most impressive feat was the New Orleans defense came into the game as one of the best run defenses in the NFL.

At one point late in the game Dalvin Cook had nearly the same amount of total yards from scrimmage as the entire New Orleans offense.

The early success of the Viking run game is what allowed Kirk Cousins to find success through the air in the second half. In fact, most of Cook’s production on the ground came in the first half.

He was key in overtime as he touched the ball on six of the nine offensive plays from scrimmage that ultimately led to the game winning touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to Kyle Rudolph.

Dalvin Cook accounted for 36 percent of the total yards from scrimmage for the Vikings. In fact, they probably didn’t give him the ball enough as he wasn’t on the field as certain times when I thought he should have been.

Cook did almost have a costly fumble late in the fourth quarter that was returned for a touchdown by the Saints. However, Cook was ruled down before the fumble which was a game changer in allowing the Vikings to secure the win.

The Vikings will take on the No. 1 seed San Francisco 49ers next Saturday at 4:35 p.m. ET.