QB Cousins, ‘D’ lead Vikings over Eagles

PHILADELPHIA – Linval Joseph whipped out the sunglasses, sat on the bench and pulled on the oxygen mask .

Rest up, big man. Job well done.

Kirk Cousins threw for 301 yards and one touchdown, the 330-pound Joseph returned a fumble 64 yards for a score and the Minnesota Vikings beat the Philadelphia Eagles 23-21 Sunday in a rematch of last season’s NFC championship game.

“I love seeing Linval on the sideline in his glasses after plays. They have a lot of fun,” Cousins said.

Carson Wentz and the rest of Philadelphia’s offense again struggled as the defending Super Bowl champions fell to 2-3.

Nick Foles led the Eagles to a 38-7 rout over Case Keenum and Minnesota’s top-ranked defense in the title game on his way to earning MVP honors against New England.

Trying to rally from a 17-point deficit midway through the third quarter, the Eagles were set up to take the lead after Roc Thomas dropped a backward pass and Nigel Bradham recovered the fumble at the Vikings 30 in the fourth quarter. But Wentz was called for intentional grounding and coach Doug Pederson elected not to let Jake Elliott try a 58-yarder.

“We were in great position and we go backward,” Wentz said. “It’s frustrating.”

Dan Bailey, who missed two field goals earlier, nailed a 52-yard field goal to extend the lead to 23-14 with 2:47 left.

Wentz fired a 7-yard TD pass to Zach Ertz to cut it to 23-21 with 1:09 left but Adam Thielen recovered the onside kick.

The Vikings (2-2-1) got an excellent performance from Cousins, who completed 30 of 37 passes, to avoid falling further behind in the NFC North.

“The pressure keeps building because we know what kind of team we could have if we can overcome some of the things we’ve been doing,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. “There was a lot of pressure to come in here and get a win. They studied hard, came out and worked their rear ends off.”

Cousins praised offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, who was Philadelphia’s quarterbacks coach the past two seasons.

“Credit to Coach Flip for being aggressive as a play caller, giving us a chance,” Cousins said.