Minnesota Vikings’ defensive MVP against Seahawks in preseason Week 3
With the Minnesota Vikings defense playing well but not perfect against the Seattle Seahawks in US Bank Stadium on Friday evening, the effort was good enough for a late win. Here is our defensive MVP of the game.
The Minnesota Vikings and Seahawks matched up nicely on Friday night in Minnesota. The Seahawks, no longer fielding the ‘Legion of Boom’, played solid defense and showed they can still impress opponents.
Their Viking counterparts may have made a few mistakes–mistakes that resulted in big gains–but both starters and reserves played well enough to win a close game.
Defensive MVP against Seattle:
Anthony Harris, Safety
Again Harris wins this award for solid play from the safety position and two game-changing plays.
The first, a fourth-quarter interception of scrambling backup Seahawk quarterback Alex McGough that he took 22 yards to the Seattle 32 yard-line, and secondly, a devastating third-and-ten sack of McGlough off a safety blitz with 30 seconds remaining that forced the Seattle offense to play desperately in the final seconds and come up short on a Hail Mary pass.
Honorable Mentions:
George Iloka, Safety
For a guy (a big guy) in Vikings’ camp only three days, Iloka played with confidence and made plays, including a pass breakup that resulted in fellow safety Anthony Harris’ fourth-quarter interception.
No doubt Iloka is still finding his feet among his Vikings teammates, but his size (6’ 4”, 225) and experience with head coach Mike Zimmer’s defensive playbook has made him one rare and unexpected gift to Viking fans.
Eric Kendricks, Linebacker
The one knock on Kendrick’s Pro Bowl skills has been his coverage abilities. What is exciting to see with the young linebacker (and all the Viking players recently enriched by new contracts) is that he continues to improve as a player.
Next. Vikings offensive MVP vs Seattle. dark
Kendricks’ second-quarter breakup up of Seahawk quarterback Russell Wilson’s deep throw to running back Mike Davis was textbook, as was his zone shadowing of the Seattle backfield and execution of Mike Zimmer’s defense.