A review of the Minnesota Vikings matchup vs the New York Giants on MNF with positional grading and a peek at next weeks game against Houston Texans.
It was not like the previous weeks sack fest against Cam Newton. Instead it was more of a beautifully choreographed defensive schematic that allowed the Vikings defense to shut down the three-headed receiving threat of Beckham Jr, Cruz, and Sheppard. Any team That feature a 2 time Super Bowl MVP at quarterback has to be considered a threat. Minnesota was able to neutralize the threat with its now dubbed “Purple Reign” defense.
Sam Bradford has now gone 3 games as Minnesota’s quarterback and has proven that he can sling the ball around the field and be mistake free in doing so. He has now gone over 120 pass attempts without a turnover. In the last 2 games Bradford has thrown 1 pass in each game that gave a defender a play on a ball but neither of them were intercepted.
Charles Johnson had 2 catches for 70 yards and Cordarralle Patterson equaled his catch total from the last 20 games in this game alone and are emerging as a reliable receivers to compliment Diggs and Theilen. To boost the offense even more Matt Asiata, Jerrick McKinnon, and the rest of the offense combined to rush for over 109 total yards for the first time this season.
This Minnesota Vikings team is finding success while still trying to find their full identity. The offense, totally revamped from the offense we were going to out on the field for the 2016 campaign, is getting contributions from all over the field. If this Minnesota Vikings team actually continues its current offensive upswing, the rest of the NFL should find itself on red alert. Or in typical Minnesota fashion on purple alert!
Here are the grades from the game: