5 most disappointing Vikings from the preseason loss to the Raiders

Alexander Mattison – RB

The Vikings utilized four different running backs against the Raiders and the one who was the most disappointing was the one they’ll be depending on the most, Alexander Mattison.

Mattison wasn’t horrible by any stretch, he just looked very average. He was the one back who had the privilege of running behind the first-team offensive line, but he averaged just eight yards on three carries.

That isn’t a huge workload to draw conclusions from but Mattison just didn’t run with the same fervor as the rest of the backs. There could be a handful of reasons for this One is that he knows his role on the team is secured and didn’t need to have a big performance. Another was that he didn’t want to injure himself by taking hits he didn’t need to or fighting for extra yardage.

Those may be valid reasons, but it also seemed like Mattison fell victim to his biggest flaw and that is not seeing the hole. On a couple of his runs, it seemed a large hole would open on one side, but Mattison would go the other way. We’ve seen him do this in games, and it showed up again against Las Vegas.

Mattison is still a top-flight back but seeing guys like Kene Nwangwu and Ty Chandler run hard, and have big nights, left a bit of a sour feeling when it comes to the Vikings’ No. 2 back.