open thread To get things started in Philadelphia Pat Elflein Jersey , the Philadelphia Eagles won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half, meaning that the Minnesota Vikings got the football first. The kickoff went into the end zone for a touchback, giving Kirk Cousins and company the football at their own 25-yard line to start things off.Cousins got things started with a couple of short completions, one to David Morgan and one to Stefon Diggs, to pick up a quick first down. Cousins then launched a long pass towards Adam Thielen, and Thielen made a great diving catch for a gain of 24 into Philadelphia territory at the 39. The Vikings then got a rushing first down thanks to a Latavius Murray burst on 3rd-and-1, and Minnesota was on the move.The Vikings pushed the ball down to the Philadelphia 10-yard line, but Kirk Cousins’ pass intended for Roc Thomas was knocked down and fell incomplete. Dan Bailey came into the game for a 28-yard field goal attempt, and he. . .bounced it off of the left upright and it fell no good. The game remained scoreless and the Eagles took over at their own 20-yard line following the miss.Carson Wentz led the Eagles onto the field, but the Eagles’ offense couldn’t do much, as Linval Joseph recorded a sack of Wentz to force a three-and-out. Mike Hughes fielded the punt and got the ball to midfield, setting the Vikings up with outstanding field position.Cousins found Diggs for a 24-yard catch-and-run to start the drive for Minnesota, and after a short run by Mike Boone, the offense stalled out after another Cousins pass on 3rd-and-2 fell incomplete. In came Dan Bailey again to attempt another field goal Dalvin Cook Jersey , and he connected from 37 yards out to make it a 3-0 Vikings lead.The Vikings’ defense showed up big again on the second drive, as they forced another three-and-out after a nice play by Danielle Hunter and Anthony Barr. The Eagles got a nice bounce and roll on the ensuing punt, and the offense set up shop at their own 10-yard line.Minnesota did not go three-and-out, thanks to an outstanding effort from Laquon Treadwell on a third down conversion. Cousins then got taken down on a sack by Brandon Graham, and as we move to the second quarter of play, the Vikings are looking at a 3rd-and-13 from their own 17-yard line.Fifteen minutes in the books from Philadelphia, and the Minnesota Vikings hold a 3-0 lead. Come on in and join us for the second quarter of play! Happy Tuesday, everyone!Well, the team filled one of the final remaining vacancies on its coaching staff. There will be a link below with more details, but the word on the road (I like being out in the sticks, so in my world, it’s the word on the road, not the word on the street) is that the team hired Marwan Maalouf as their Special Teams Coach. Maalouf has been the special teams assistant in Miami since 2013, where he worked under Darren Rizzi. I honestly know very little about the new Vikings coach Jalyn Holmes Jersey , but hopefully he can rid the team of the curse or whatever it is that has infected their kickers since...........a really long time ago. I’m in too good of mood to rehash our string of kicker woes, you all know what I’m talking about. A hearty welcome to our new Special Teams Coach, climb aboard and grab an oar!Around the DN since our last open thread:Ted has an awesome piece on a little thing called Paytonfreude. You should read this.Wludford set out his blueprint for a Vikings Super Bowl.Chris shared the announcement of the hiring of Marwan Maalouf, the new Vikings Special Teams Coach.Chris also shared the news (wonderful news, in my opinion) that there will be no overseas games for the Vikings in 2019. The literate in me wonders if the Gulf of Mexico would be considered “seas”. If so, depending on the jet stream, and where the team was flying from and where they were flying to, I wonder if they’d fly over the Gulf of Mexico to get to a game in Florida. If so, they’d technically have an overseas game, and Chris would have to amend his story if he cared about being literal, which he probably doesn’t, so he probably wouldn’t, but he could if he was. Ah crap, they don’t have any Florida games in 2019 Brian O’Neill Jersey , anyway. I’ll have to tuck this little tidbit away for use in a year when we do have one. Don’t worry, I won’t forget about something as important as this.Vikings news from other sources and news from around the rest of the NFL:From Vikings.com, 103 players have been granted special eligibility for the 2019 NFL Draft. I hope a bunch of them are very large, highly skilled offensive linemen who refuse to play for any team other than the Vikings.From Reuters, the NFL is considering making pass interference a reviewable play. If done correctly, this could work, but it won’t be done correctly, so it won’t. In a perfect world, it could eliminate about 60% of Green Bay’s passing attack.From SI.com, there is a story behind Sunday’s exchange between Marcus Peters and Sean Payton. You may remember seeing it during that wonderfully beautiful NFC Championship game, I’m still smiling about that ending.We come to today’s media selection:JUST in case you haven’t seen it, here is a recap of Sunday’s NFC Championship game, and its most wonderfully excellent result.Again, we all know the rules Kyle Rudolph Jersey , but in case someone is new:No discussion of politics or religionNo feeding of the trollsThis isn’t a male version of The View, so leave the gender hatred at the doorKeep the bad language to a minimum (using the spoiler tags, if you must)Speaking of which, if discussing a newer show or movie, please use spoiler tagsNo pictures that could get someone fired or in serious trouble with their employerIf you can’t disagree in a civil manner, feel free to go awayWhile navigating the open thread, just assume it’s sarcasmWith that, the beer light is on and the bar is open. Belly up and tie one on. Don’t forget to tip your waitress, and try the whine, it’s been shipped in fresh from the Gulf Coast.