SEATTLE (AP) — While the Minnesota Vikings are still fully in control of their path to the postseason Qadree Ollison Jersey , Adam Thielen knows it’s starting to slip away.Seven points on Monday night in an ugly 21-7 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. It’s not good enough. The Vikings know it, and the frustration is beginning to build.“We’re fighting as an offense, we’re trying to get something going. We just need a spark. We need a spark and we need it fast,” Thielen said. “I think we have a bunch of guys on this offense that want to win and want to make plays. But we haven’t found that rhythm. It’s there. It’s there. We just have to keep fighting.”Minnesota lost its second straight and had an offensive night to forget against a Seattle defense that had appeared vulnerable of late. Minnesota (6-6-1) twice had scoring chances in the fourth quarter when it was still a one-score game, but was turned away each time.The Vikings’ chances of winning the NFC North took a major hit with the loss, but they still hold the No. 6 spot in the NFC — for now.“I don’t know how to give you a measurement on that, I don’t know what the scale is for that number, but certainly, when you’re not putting as many points on the board as you’re capable of or have shown in past games it is disappointing,” Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins said. “I think the added piece of the disappointment is when your defense is playing so well.”Minnesota’s defense more than did its part against Seattle. The Vikings held the Seahawks to six points into the fourth quarter, taking advantage of a poor night by Russell Wilson. And while Seattle ran crazy against one of the better run defenses in the NFL, the Vikings did enough to keep it a one-score game long enough for Cousins Ed Oliver Jersey , Thielen and the rest of their offensive crew to have a chance.But Minnesota couldn’t convert. They were turned away on fourth down at the Seattle 1 with 9:06 remaining and on their next possession Dan Bailey’s 47-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Bobby Wagner on a debatable call whether Wagner’s leap over the offensive line was legal.Whether or not Wagner’s play was legal, the Vikings never found the end zone until Cousins’ 6-yard TD pass to Dalvin Cook with 1:10 left. All it did was keep the Vikings from being shutout for the first time since 2007.“We’ve got to score points, we’ve got to move the ball, we’ve got to stay on schedule,” Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs said. “We can’t get behind the chains. It’s simple things. We can’t get behind the sticks.”Cousins finished 20 of 33 for 208 yards, but had just 56 yards passing entering the fourth quarter. He noted that teams are rotating their coverages on Diggs and Thielen, trying to slow down Minnesota’s passing game, and he’s not going to force throws into danger. Seattle played seven defensive backs at times trying to contain Diggs and Thielen.That extra coverage is partly why Thielen, who entered the game with 98 catches, didn’t get his first target until midway through the third quarter. By that point, Seattle offensive tackle George Fant already had a catch after reporting eligible on a play.“We didn’t have a lot of explosive plays, again credit the Seahawks for limiting those Cody Ford Jersey ,” Cousins said. “When you don’t have explosive plays, and you’re kind of marching methodically down the field, it was hard for us to sustain.”The most frustrating sequence for Minnesota was early in the fourth quarter trailing 6-0 and after finally hitting a 48-yard reception to Diggs to get deep into Seattle territory. The Vikings had first-and-goal at the 4, but after two short runs and an incompletion, faced fourth-and-goal at the 1. Rather than run, Cousins tried to hit Kyle Rudolph across the middle, but the pass was broken up by Bradley McDougald.“Every situation that we failed at the end of the night is frustrating,” Cook said. “We just have to go and fix it and watch film. We have to get it right.” After losing three close games to fall to 0-3 for the first time since 2008, the Houston Texans are pondering all the little things they did wrong that contributed to the defeats.They’ve had a few turnovers but possibly more detrimental to their success than that has been the constant smaller mistakes that have kept the team from running the way it should.As usual, coach Bill O’Brien shouldered the blame for their latest loss, a 27-22 defeat to the Giants which gave them their first win this season.Though he said it was his fault, he refused to go into details about what he’s trying to do better.“There’s a lot of things Devin Singletary Jersey ,” he said. “Like I always say to you guys when things don’t go well �? and they haven’t gone well lately �? it starts with me. So, I just think there’s a lot of different things that I can do to be better. I’m not going to list them all.”Though he took the blame for Houston’s failure on Sunday, there are certainly plenty of other factors that have kept the Texans out of the win column. The first and most glaring has been the play of the offensive line.The unit has allowed quarterback Deshaun Watson to be sacked 10 times and hit many more. The group has also committed an inordinate amount of penalties in the first three games. Though several different players have been penalized, right tackle Julien Davenport has struggled the most in this area and had five penalties on Sunday alone.He was called for three false start penalties and flagged two other times for holding.“He’s struggling, and we have to work with him to keep getting better, but we’re definitely looking at that position,” O’Brien said. “He’s a good guy. He’s going to work hard to get better, but he needs to improve, no doubt.”O’Brien isn’t sure what he can do in practice to help his team eliminate these penalties, but said Monday that he’s working to figure out something.Houston is also intent on improving its red zone efficiency after scoring touchdowns on just two of five trips inside the 20 on Sunday. O’Brien said the penalties have contributed to the problems in that area, but there are also other factors.“Statistics tell you that when you have a negative play in the red area, you really have no chance of scoring a touchdown Dawson Knox Jersey ,” O’Brien said.“So, I think on all of the drives where we’ve had to settle for a field goal, we’ve had a negative play. We have to figure out how to stop doing that.”“It’s not good, and that’s been one of our main issues on offense,” he continued. “When you have a lot of yards, it doesn’t matter when you’re not scoring touchdowns.”Though the Texans are certainly disappointed that their season has gotten off to such a dreadful start, O’Brien believes that his players will work hard to try and turn things around. Houston will try again for its first win on Sunday in a visit to AFC South foe Indianapolis.“We have a bunch of good guys in there that are very much together,” O’Brien said. “We’ve only played one divisional game. We’ve got a big one this week. So, we just have to keep grinding. There’s no other way out of it. There’s no choice.”