Who were the most disappointing Minnesota Vikings players from Week 3?
The Minnesota Vikings played their best game of the 2020 season in Week 3 against the Tennessee Titans. But, unfortunately, the Vikings’ efforts weren’t enough as they ended up on the wrong side of a 31-30 final score.
Minnesota had some players who rose to the occasion and gave it all to try and get the purple and gold their first win of the season.
Vikings rookie receiver Justin Jefferson had a breakout game with over 175 receiving yards and a score. Dalvin Cook torched the Titans for 181 yards on the ground and even Kirk Cousins stood tall in the face of extreme pressure to hit some receivers down the field for some big gains.
While those Minnesota players all looked good, there were just as many who had very disappointing performances.
Some of these were defensive players whose poor play on the field allowed the Titans to come back in the matchup after the Vikings were up by 12 points. Others were offensive players who either didn’t show up or crumbled when the team needed them the most.
So let’s get into it and go over the five most disappointing Minnesota players from their third straight loss of the 2020 season.
Garrett Bradbury – C
Through the first two games, Garrett Bradbury appeared to be a new man. He, for the most part, performed well in Week 1 and his play against the Colts in Week 2 was also at an acceptable level.
For the first part of the Titans game, Bradbury appeared to be holding his own, with the occasional bull rush by Jeffrey Simmons getting the best of him. The Vikings offense was humming and Dalvin Cook was getting huge chunks of yardage on the ground.
The extra time spent in the weight room appeared to be paying off for Bradbury and he was looking like a center worthy of being worth a first-round selection through the first two and a half games. But it all went to hell during Minnesota’s last drive.
Facing a three-man rush, Bradbury was plowed back into Kirk Cousins on the first play. He was completely overpowered by Simmons and pushed right into his quarterback. Apparently, Bradbury’s weight program wasn’t quite enough.
On the next play, Bradbury snapped the ball prematurely and sent it about 30 yards behind his quarterback. This completely killed any chance Minnesota had of driving down into field goal range and it all but guaranteed a loss for the Vikings.
Bradbury has played well so far this season, but he failed his team when they needed him the most and a lot of the reason for the loss has to be attributed to his meltdown during the final series.
Ifeadi Odenigbo – DE
The Vikings pass rush has been anemic through the first three games. A major reason for that is the complete absence of pressure from the left side.
Ifeadi Odenigbo has basically been non-existent in the pass rush department. On the season, he has zero sacks and not even a single quarterback pressure. The lack of stats for this young pass rusher is extremely surprising coming off the season he had in 2019.
Odenigbo broke out last year with seven sacks and he played like a man possessed. He was a fixture in opponents’ backfields and he was expected to break out this year with an increased amount of snaps.
For whatever reason, this hasn’t happened yet for Odenigbo. Perhaps it’s because he struggles playing an increased number of snaps or maybe teams are studying tape on him and figuring out a way to neutralize him. It’s disappointing to say, but Odenigbo’s brief tenure as a starter has been a major disappointment so far.
This was evident in the game against the Titans. Odenigbo wasn’t able to beat his man and he eventually got hurt. He did come back, but he struggled to provide a consistent pass rush.
The result was that Tennessee quarterback Ryan Tannehill had time to scan his options and find his open receiver streaking down the field. These big plays allowed the Titans to get back into the contest and the lack of pass rush generated by Odenigbo was a clear result of it.
Dru Samia – OG
Dru Samia finally got a chance to start against the Colts in Week 2 and he was a major liability. He was dominated by the Indianapolis defensive linemen and Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner hit him so hard at one point he rolled about 20 yards down the field.
His debut was a rough one, but there was hope he’d study the film and do everything in his power to improve for Week 3.
It wasn’t a surprise to hear that Samia would again start for the Vikings in Week 3. It was still the most logical move and the kid deserved another shot after getting his feet wet against Indianapolis. The bad news for Samia was that his second start was maybe even was worse than his first.
Samia was simply overpowered by the Titans’ interior defenders and he was routinely getting pushed back into his own backfield. Samia did have some positive moments in the running game as his blocking helped Dalvin Cook amass 181 yards on the ground. But his pass blocking was so poor that it had everyone who bleeds purple longing for the return of Pat Elflein.
It’s unclear if Samia will get another shot in Week 4, but the fact that he couldn’t take a step forward after his dismal debut as a starter was extremely disheartening.
Holton Hill – CB
Holton Hill has had a rough season and the game against the Titans was just another blow to his confidence. Hill was targeted often by Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill and he was beaten time and time again by Corey Davis and pretty much any other Tennessee receiver that came his way.
Hill has been allowing a wide cushion to his man and he can’t close the gap before the ball gets there. He has also been struggling as a tackler and he has missed more tackles than he’s made.
Despite his rough game against the Titans, Hill had a chance to redeem himself at the end of the matchup. During the Titans’ final drive, Tannehill threw a pass toward the sideline. Hill stepped in front of the pass and he had a chance to intercept the ball.
Not only would this have sealed the game for the Vikings, but he had a clear path to the end zone and he would’ve had an easy pick-six. This could’ve been the confidence booster Hill needed to get out of his funk. But the ball bounced off his hands and a few plays later, Tennessee kicked the game-winning field goal.
Hill was supposed to be one of the veteran leaders of Minnesota’s secondary this year. But instead, he has been one of the biggest liabilities. If it wasn’t for the string of injuries the Vikings have faced in their cornerback group, it’s quite possible that he would have already been demoted.
Irv Smith Jr. – TE
Like Ifeadi Odenigbo, Irv Smith Jr. was supposed to be one of the Vikings’ breakout players this season. He was coming off of a rookie campaign where he had 36 receptions for 311 yards and a couple of touchdowns.
What was most exciting about Smith was that the majority of his numbers came in the second half of the season and it was assumed that he’d be able to continue where he left off
Instead of breaking out, Smith has folded up as he has just two receptions for 14 yards on the year. Some of that can be contributed to Kirk Cousins failing to spread the ball around, but a lot of it falls on the shoulders of Smith.
He has had numerous penalties so far this year and a couple have been for offensive pass interference that negated big gains down the field.
That trend continued against the Titans. Smith had an extremely costly block in the back penalty that killed a Minnesota drive. It was during a key drive that the team needed to milk the clock out.
Thanks to the hole Smith put them in, the Vikings were forced to call plays differently during the drive and it resulted in them punting the ball back to the Titans who were able to get into field goal range and kick the game-winner.
Smith has to get better. He’s going to lose opportunities in the passing game if he continues to make bone-headed mistakes that lead to penalties and stall-out drives.