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Filtered by the Fans: Harrison Smith OT Interception 'Picked' as Favorite

EAGAN, Minn. – Stop me if you've heard this before, but the Vikings game on Sunday proved to be a wild ride.

Minnesota's offense bounced back from miscues, and the defense forced four Jacksonville turnovers en route to a 27-24 overtime win.

For this week's Filtered by the Fans Twitter poll, we asked fans to pick their favorite defensive play of the afternoon: Cameron Dantzler's interception, Ifeadi Odenigbo's sack of Mike Glennon for a safety, Harrison Smith's interception or "other."

More than 6,200 people weighed in, and 47.1 percent voted for Smith's pick in overtime.

The Vikings won the coin toss to earn the first overtime possession but ended up punting to the Jaguars.

The game wasn't over, though. Not if "The Hitman" had anything to say about it. On Jacksonville's third play of the extra period, Smith made a diving interception at the Jaguars 46-yard line.

"I think you could point there to Kris Boyd played that route well, which allowed me to not feel much stress, so I think when everybody does their job it makes everybody's job that much – not easy – but it doesn't make it quite as hard," Smith told Twin Cities media members on Monday. "So when you're clicking like that, that's when big plays start coming around. It's never an individual effort; it's always the whole group playing off one another."

The perfectly timed pick put the ball back in the Vikings hands, and Minnesota drove down the field to kick the walk-off field goal.

"It would be nice to have a few games where it doesn't always go down to the wire, because it does tax you over time. That's just human nature – that's reality," Smith said. "But that's where we are. We have a bunch of guys who love to play and love to fight. It is what it is."

As mentioned, Smith's interception wasn't the only one Minnesota recorded on Sunday.

Dantzler's takeaway occurred in the second quarter when he snatched a pass deep in Minnesota territory intended for Eric Saubert.

The pick marked the first of Dantzler's NFL career – and first by a Vikings cornerback all season.

"Our veteran guys on the defensive side of the ball, they always preach, 'We need to make a play' before we go out there. I just happened to be in the right position at the right time and made a play to get our offense going," Dantzler said. "They scored on that drive, and we just kept it going from there."

Several fans who commented beneath the Twitter poll had high praise for the 2020 third-round selection:

"As much as I wanna vote Hitman, I gotta go with Cam [Dantzler] because yesterday was his breakout game," wrote @AllPurpedOut.

"The Dantzler int changed the course of the game," said @jdenton08.

"Cam. Player of the game in my book," added @TylerRyanKrause.

View photos of the Vikings in "Big Head Mode" following the 27-24 victory over the Jaguars at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Fans also showed some love for Odenigbo's safety, which earned 15.2 percent of the votes. The sack in the end zone occurred early in the fourth quarter, taking the ball out of the Jaguars paws and extending the Vikings lead to 21-16.

Smith commented on the play during his Monday media session, saying that good tackles by Jeff Gladney and Anthony Harris on first and second down set up an ideal third-down situation.

"Ifeadi had a great left hand on the sternum of the tackle and really got some push back there," Smith said. "That's the fun stuff to watch on film afterwards because you don't see that during the play, but seeing what every other guy's doing that contributes to success. And then I think you gain an appreciation of what guys contribute, and it just adds more and more confidence."

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