Top Minnesota Vikings Rookies: Week 13 vs. the Seattle Seahawks

Bradbury and Watts

Vikings rookie center Garrett Bradbury did this week what he’s pretty much done all season as he bounced back from a bad performance in the team’s previous game.

Bradbury struggled against the Denver Broncos in Week 11, but he had a much better game against the Seahawks on Monday. He was pretty good in pass protection against Seattle and Minnesota was able to find a little more room to run this week.

Kirk Cousins did take some licks this week, but not a lot of pressure came up the middle. The Vikings’ screen game was working well and Bradbury was often out leading the blocking on these plays.

What was most impressive about Bradbury’s performance was his ability to handle the crowd noise of CenturyLink Field. Minnesota had only had one pre-snap penalty all game long. That was very impressive for a rookie center.

Defensively, rookie defensive tackle Armon Watts showed again that he belongs in this league and is deserving of more playing time.

Watts had three tackles on the night and he was the man who originally swatted the ball that was then tipped by Russell Wilson and then caught by Anthony Harris for a score in the second quarter. Watts has shown in three games of spot duty that he can make big plays and the Vikings’ defense is definitely in need of that right now.

Top Vikings Rookie of Week 13

This week, the honor goes to running back Alexander Mattison. Mattison didn’t get much run the first half, but he took over as the lead back after Dalvin Cook went down in the third quarter.

The rookie ran the ball four times for 22 yards and he added 51 yards through the air on four receptions. Mattison is a violent runner and he didn’t go down easily against the Seahawks.

Minnesota’s offense doesn’t really miss a beat when the rookie running back is in there. This is a good thing since it’s still unclear how much time Cook might miss with his current chest injury.