Minnesota Vikings MVPs: Week 1 vs. Atlanta Falcons

Defensive MVP – Anthony Harris, safety

Regular readers of The Viking Age will know that I was a fan of Andrew Sendejo. His hard-hitting style was intimidating to opposing offenses but even he never really put together a game such as Anthony Harris did in his first game as a full-time starter for Minnesota.

Harris’ five tackles (three solo) aren’t going to be a game-changer. But the one thing he did provide was takeaways. the big defensive back picked off Matt Ryan two times and recovered a Freeman fumble forced by Trae Waynes.

Any time a player can get a hat trick of takeaways, that’s going to be a major factor in a game. Sure, his performance was aided by a strong pass rush and capitalizing on great play of linebackers and defensive backs around him, but that kind of situational play can be a great compliment to the Pro Bowl caliber players the Minnesota Vikings have at each level on defense.

The purple and gold saved some good money by letting Sendejo go and their replacement for him looks like a stud so far. It was a great start to the season for the Vikings safety and if he can come close to matching this kind of awareness, he will keep being a huge asset to the team.

Do you agree with these choices for MVP from Week 1 of the 2019 NFL season? Or do you think another Minnesota Vikings player earned recognition for their efforts against the Atlanta Falcons? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.