The Vikings scored **the game’s first 13 points**, built a 17-point lead twice and **withstood a late Lions rally** on Thursday for a 30-23 victory at Detroit to improve to 9-2 on the season and 6-2 all-time on Thanksgiving.
Case Keenum completed 21 of 30 passes for 282 yards with two touchdowns and a passer rating of 121.8. **Keenum connected** with Adam Thielen eight times for 89 yards and found Kyle Rudolph in the **end zone twice**.
The **running game thrived** on the opening drive of the second half, and Everson Griffen recorded **two more sacks** on the day his third son was born.
Here are three stats that stood out:
1. Keenum calm under pressure
The Lions were able to pressure Keenum frequently, but he was able to handle it.
Analytics site Pro Football Focus counted that Keenum was pressured on 51.4 percent of his dropbacks (18 of 35) but completed seven of 13 passes for 106 yards, a touchdown and a passer rating of 106.6.
Keenum took a substantial hit but dropped in a beauty to Rudolph for a 22-yard touchdown late in the second quarter.
The quarterback, who improved to 7-2 as a starter in Purple, was sacked twice.
2. Yards after contact
The Vikings drove 75 yards on four runs to open the second half. Latavius Murray busted loose for a gain of 46 on the first snap. Jerick McKinnon then added gains of 16 and 11 to set up Murray for a 2-yard score.
Detroit had limited Minnesota to a season-low 87 yards in the teams' first meeting of 2017 and had been quite successful in shutting down the run in season sweeps in 2014 (69 and 76 rush yards allowed) and 2016 (78 and 82 rush yards allowed).
Minnesota totaled 136 net rushing yards on 41 carries, an average of 3.3 per run, but stayed committed to the ground game. The Lions ran the ball just 15 times and netted 53 yards on the ground (3.5 yards per attempt).
PFF noted a significant aspect of Minnesota's success on Thursday was the fact that Murray and McKinnon finished with more yards after contact than rushing yards.
PFF tallied 90 yards after first contact for Murray, who netted 84 on 20 carries thanks to forcing four missed tackles. The site counted 30 yards after contact by McKinnon, who finished with 23 net yards on 13 carries. McKinnon was credited with forcing six missed tackles (five as a rusher, one as a receiver).
3. Griffen a game-changer
PFF counted six total pressures (two sacks, one hit and three hurries) on 35 snaps as a pass rusher, accounting for a third of all pressure by Minnesota. It was the fifth game of the season in which Griffen was credited by PFF with five or more pressures.
Griffen's work against 2016 first-rounder Taylor Decker and the threat of a Vikings defense that has sacked Matthew Stafford more than any other team may have factored in a quicker-than-normal release time by the Lions quarterback.
PFF noted that Stafford averaged 2.65 seconds to throw in Weeks 1-11, which was tied for the 19th fastest in the league. On Thursday, however, Stafford got rid of the ball after an average of 2.33 seconds. Derek Carr has been the quickest draw in the NFL this season, averaging 2.27 seconds.
Ten of Stafford's 15 incompletions were attributed by PFF to inaccurate passes.
