Dakota Dozier – LG
Dakota Dozier had been pretty solid for the better part of this season as the Vikings starting left guard. Most of the issues with Minnesota’s offensive line has come from the right guard spot as both Pat Elflein and Dru Samia have been trainwrecks at the position.
Ezra Cleveland started at right guard last Sunday and he fared well for a rookie making his first NFL start at a position that likely isn’t going to be where he spends the majority of his future at.
Dozier, however, had by far his worse game of the season against the Falcons. He was allowing guys through like he was working the gate at Chuck E. Cheese.
Dozier was overpowered and pushed deep into the backfield at times which made it extremely hard for Alexander Mattison to get anything going on the ground and it also caused Kirk Cousins to be under duress more often than not.
It wasn’t like Dozier was facing an elite defensive line either. Atlanta isn’t known for their defense and they have struggled on that side of the ball all year long. That didn’t seem to matter though as the Falcons had no issues at all moving Dozier out of the way to disrupt the Vikings offense.
Dozier needs to improve off of this bad showing as Minnesota can’t afford to have liabilities at both guard positions for the remainder of this lost season.