Special Teams- Grade: B+
Jeff Locke punted 4 times on Sunday, knocking 2 punts inside the 20, with a long punt of 72 yards that was aided by a Minnesota bounce and roll. Locke has been very consistent this season with a couple of hiccups but overall strong play. Kai Forbath, the Minnesota Vikings storyline of the week was successful in his only FG attempt and 3-4 on XPs with 1 of them being blocked. Thank God it didn’t go wide left!
Blair Walsh will most likely get another job with an NFL team. His strong kickoffs and big time leg will probably get another chance somewhere else and I hope he finds success again. When it was good with Blair it was great, but the negatives now outweighed the positives and here is where we stand.
Cordarrelle Patterson sure found a lane to go through on his way to a 104 yard kickoff return. On top of proving himself to be an offensive asset, Patterson is definitely auditioning for another contract, and hopefully it’s with the Vikings. Fans have waited forever for him to mature into the dynamic game changer and the man is truly coming into his own this season.
It’s no surprise that the legions of purple wearing fans out there started to jump ship, it was looking bleak for a little while. All of a sudden the Vikings lost 4 games and the number of Cowboys and Seahawks jerseys you see out in public doubled. It was nice for one week to walk out in public and see the fans in purple smiling and talking about positive Vikings feelings, as opposed to the silent somber nod of Vikings fans who were actually just too hurt to talk about it. Hopefully the Minnesota Vikings can keep the good times rolling.