5 Bold Predictions: Minnesota Vikings vs. Seattle Seahawks – Week 5
By Chris Schad
Minnesota’s offensive line will have their best game of the season
You will probably want to be sitting down for this one, but the matchup between the Vikings offensive line and the Seattle defense is in Minnesota’s favor on Sunday night. The idea that the Vikings will neutralize the Seahawks is far-fetched, but there are some things working for them.
The top factor is that Seattle doesn’t have a dominant pass-rusher. According to Pro Football Focus, Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner is the team leader in pass rusher productivity rating at 10, but he only has 25 pass-rushing snaps out of 217 this season.
To get an idea of how Seattle’s defense has performed in the trenches this year, you have to go down to Bryan Mone, who ranks 73rd among qualifying front-seven defenders in 2020 with a 6.0 PRP rating.
In other words, this should be the first game that Minnesota won’t face a severely intimidating obstacle from the opposing defensive line such as Kenny Clark, DeForest Buckner, or J.J. Watt.
The Vikings will still have to worry about Dru Samia at right guard on Sunday, who is currently ranked last among all offensive linemen in overall grade by PFF this season. But there’s enough improvement from Garrett Bradbury, Riley Reiff, and Brian O’Neill to think that Minnesota’s blockers should be able to keep Kirk Cousins upright in Seattle.