Minnesota Vikings Week 2: Top 5 takeaways vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

Bottling Up Bell

Whilst one member of the Killer B’s was running rampant in the secondary, another was struggling to find running room against the Vikings defense.  Despite running behind what is considered to be one of the leagues premier offensive lines, Le’Veon Bell was restricted to 87 yards despite having a whopping 27 carries.

The Vikings may have only tackled Bell once for a loss but he found running room severely restricted as the Minnesota Vikings front seven dampened his ability to deploy his patented patient rushing style. As you can see from the below it didn’t matter which way Bell was running, the holes simply didn’t appear.

The defensive lines did a great job in keeping the line-backers free of blockers and allowing them easy access to the ball carrier, one who particularly impressed was Anthony Barr.  At Heinz Field, Barr registered 9 tackles, including one for a loss as he played from side-line to side-line.  The former first-round draft pick also demonstrated his athletic ability in limiting the yards after catch underneath. The best example came in the third quarter when Barr made a terrific play to chase Bell down after the catch and force him out of bounds shy of the marker on 3^rd down.

The analysts at Pro Football Focus were certainty impressed as they ranked him as the second-best Vikings player of the day with an 84.5 grade. By his standards, Barr had a disappointing season in 2016 but if continues to produce as he did against Pittsburgh he will be back playing at a Pro-Bowl level.

The Vikings ranked 16^th in the NFL last season surrendering 4.2 yards per carry on the ground. If they can continue to bottle up opposing running backs as they have done so far, 2017 should result in a great improvement by the end of the year.