Todd Davis -LB
The Vikings defense is a shell of itself without Eric Kendricks on the field. He’s been a machine all season long, providing a ton of huge plays, and making tackles all over the field.
When he tweaked his calf in warmups last week, Todd Davis came in and took plenty of snaps in the middle of Minnesota’s defense. Davis is a heck of a run defender, but his pass coverage needs work and it showed in the game against the Bucs.
Davis got off to a rough start on Sunday. During Tampa Bay’s first drive, a pass came Davis’ way, and instead of making a play on the ball, he kind of just squatted down and looked at it. He let the Bucs receiver catch it and then made the tackle.
It was an odd decision, and if Kendricks was in coverage for that pass, it probably would’ve either been knocked to the ground or better yet, intercepted.
Later in the game, Davis couldn’t keep up with Bucs tight end Rob Gronkowski and ended up grabbing him which resulted in the linebacker getting a very rare pass interference call on a Hail Mary attempt. That just doesn’t happen. Later, Davis also allowed Gronkowski to get behind him for an easy touchdown toss from Tom Brady.
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Davis did his best, and actually had seven tackles on the day, but his coverage skills are below average and it really showed in the loss to the Bucs.