Minnesota Vikings Best and Worst: Week 1 vs. Green Bay Packers

More Good Stuff

This was a tough game to find a lot of positives from for the Vikings. However, one player who really shined during the contest for Minnesota was Eric Kendricks. The linebacker was all over the field on Sunday, making tackles, excelling in pass coverage, and even getting a tackle for a loss.

Kendricks is already off to a hot start this season and he continues to prove he is one of the elite middle linebackers in the NFL. At a time when his teammates were struggling to wrap up the Packers offensive players and bring them down, Kendricks wasn’t making those mistakes.

Other good things from Week 1

• Seeing Justin Jefferson in action: He only had two catches for 26 yards in the game, but both catches were important when they happened and looked crisp. It is a sign of good things to come whenever a new target can emerge in an offense.
• Cooking it up: Dalvin Cook averaged 4.2 yards per carry on the day, but he only got to run the ball 12 times. Two of those runs did end up in the end zone though, putting some more points on the board for Minnesota.
• The other running back: When Cook wasn’t on the field, Alexander Mattison was doing his own thing by bruising through defenders. He carried the ball six times for 50 yards, giving the Vikings running back duo 100 rushing yards on the day.
• Red zone conversion: Minnesota may have struggled to move the ball on offense against Green Bay on Sunday, but when they got in the red zone, they got points. The Vikings scored on three of their four trips to the red zone in addition to converting a pair of two-point attempts and this was good to see
• A goal-line stand: The Packers are a tough team, but Minnesota was able to shut down Green Bay on a drive in the first half by stopping them in a goal-line situation which forced them to turn the ball over on downs.