Here are the good, bad, and interesting moments from the Minnesota Vikings Week 2 NFL matchup against the Steelers in Pittsburgh!
The Minnesota Vikings entered Week 2 of the NFL season coming off a big win over the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football where both the offense and defense looked very strong against a capable team.
However, this week the opponents of the Vikings are the Pittsburgh Steelers. Last week, Pittsburgh’s defense looked strong and their offense has too many great weapons to shut down them all.
The Vikings ended up on the losing end of the game, dropping this contest to the Steelers 9-26 in a game that wasn’t as competitive as many fans would have hoped the game would be.
But there were plenty of good, bad, and interesting things from the game on Sunday, September 17, 2017. Here are the Ups and Downs from Week 2!
The Good Stuff
- C.J. Ham gets his first career touchdown. Dalvin Cook almost broke a big run for a score in the 3rd quarter but ended up short. Behind a big tight end stacked line, the fullback plowed forward and the Duluth native got his first regular season NFL score!
- Everson Griffen is the sack daddy! The defensive end was solid in this contest, netting his 50th and 51st sack in just his 50th start. And this is despite getting extra attention from the offense to keep him contained.
- Kyle Rudolph’s vertical. It looked like Case Keenum overthrew Rudolph, but then the former Notre Dame basketball player jumped and got a hand on the ball, tipping it to himself for a completion. It resulted in a first down and helped keep the drive alive.
- Kai Forbath on field goals. Once again, Forbath remains perfect as a field goal kicker for Minnesota, taking his stat line to 19 for 19 including one from over 50 yards. That’s the kind of consistency you like to see when you have to settle for a field goal!
- Injuries kept to a minimum. There wasn’t a lot to love about this game, so the fact they made it through this contest without a lot of injuries was one of the best positives. Hopefully, time off will help Sam Bradford as well.
The Bad Things
- Jumping on 4th and 1 in enemy territory. Brian Robison is usually the veteran who doesn’t make that kind of mistakes, but he really hurt the Vikings by jumping offsides and giving Pittsburgh a new set of first downs when they likely weren’t going to snap the ball anyway.
- Matching up against speed. It’s no secret that Xavier Rhodes isn’t 100%. That meant Waynes would get more looks against Antonio Brown. Sadly, that also meant Terence Newman would match up more against Martavius Bryant, which is bad after struggling with Ted Ginn last week.
- Fake punt. Being lucky to be down only 11 at halftime, the Vikings got risky in their own territory and tried a pass from Quigley on 4th down instead of a punt. As you could probably expect, it went horribly and gave the Steelers great field position.
- Extra points. Kai Forbath is solid on field goals, but those extra points have been a real problem for him. He has now missed one in both games this season and missed 3 in his 7 games for the Vikings last year. Not sure what the issue is, but it’s mind boggling.
- FLAGS EVERYWHERE! Undisciplined football is enough to make any fan furious. Every single aspect of the game saw penalties that should have been textbook plays. There is no chance that Mike Zimmer will let these mistakes slide when in the film room following this game.
The Interesting Stuff
- The Sam Bradford effect. It’s strange to say it, but this just isn’t the same offense without Bradford. The quick, efficient passes combined with a strong arm are hard to replicate. And sadly, Case Keenum doesn’t quite have the same kind of skillset.
- Running out the first half. When you’re down two possessions and have 47 seconds with some timeouts, you should at least run some offense. It’s understandable that the offense isn’t clicking, but that doesn’t mean to not try.
- Rhonde Barber and Kenny Albert. This commentary team is really hard to listen to. While I don’t doubt that Barber is knowledgeable, he struggles to express that what Albert’s play-by-play is choppy and inconsistent. Hopefully, Minnesota doesn’t draw this combo much more in the future.
- The cornerback changeup. Trae Waynes struggled mightily in this game and Terence Newman matched up poorly against speedy players. Still, it’s never good to see a former first-round draft pick on the sidelines watching when he should be able to contribute.
- Commercial-kickoff-commercial. The NFL said there would be less of this during the 2017 NFL season, but you wouldn’t know that by watching the FOX broadcast of the game. At least now I know really well that Netflix comes with T-Mobile since I heard that at least 20 times today.
Overall Impression
This was slated to be one of the most difficult games of the 2017 season for the Minnesota Vikings. Going on the road to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers without quarterback Sam Bradford was a challenging task, but one the team approached head-on.
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Tons of penalties, poor pass protection, and mistakes on defense made this a game that never seemed close enough to be competitive. Case Keenum did his best, but he doesn’t offer the same kind of accuracy that Bradford offers.
Watching Xavier Rhodes against Antonio Brown was the highlight of the day. Seeing these two high-caliber players challenging each other was amazingly fun.
Other good news is that this is a game that few gave the Vikings a chance of winning. And fans of Minnesota can always wonder if the contest would have had a different feel if Sam Bradford was at the reins on offense.
Pittsburgh’s speed and swarming defense just proved to be far too much for Minnesota to handle. Players seemed visibly frustrated, which could have a lot to do with why there were so many penalties called against the Vikings in this contest.
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There is more hope that the Minnesota Vikings will be able to rebound in Week 3 of the NFL season when they host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at U.S. Bank Stadium and have a chance to reflect and learn from this disappointing game.