Greg Joseph Wins NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for 2nd Time
Josh Frey
|
The Minnesota Vikings have become synonymous with the NFC Special Team Player of the Week award as both kicker Greg Joseph and Ryan Wright have won the award. Now, for his efforts in Week 16 against the New York Giants, Greg Joseph wins the award for the second time this season.
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”1213884″ player=”26281″ title=”Reaction%20to%20Vikings%20Win%20over%20Giants” duration=”1060″ description=”Dustin Baker goes through the broad talking points of the Vikings win in Week 16.” uploaddate=”2022-12-27″ thumbnailurl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/19439/snapshot/1213884_th_1672167160.jpg” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/19439/sd/1213884.mp4″ width=”16″ height=”9″]
This time around, Joseph gets the award due to his perfect kicking day on Christmas Eve, during which he made all five of his kicks (3 XPs, 2 FGs). This included a Vikings franchise record 61-yard field goal as the clock hit zero, winning the Vikings their 12th game of the season.
After some worrying struggles early on in the year, Joseph has come on strong in recent weeks, paying off the Vikings belief in him as their kicker. Since Week 13, he has been perfect. He’s hit all 12 of his extra point attempts and all 6 of his field goal attempts. This is a far cry from the stretch of games from Weeks 3-10 where he missed kicks in six of seven games.
Joseph’s first award came in Week 4 when the Vikings beat the New Orleans Saints in London. In that game, Joseph nailed all 5 field goals and went 1-for-2 on extra points. He hit a 47-yard field goal with 24 seconds left to win that game. He also hit field goals from 28, 36, 24, and 46 yards.
This is now the seventh time that a Vikings player has won an NFC weekly award, but Joseph is the first Viking to win it for a second week. The full list of Vikings “Player of the Week” winners is as follows:
- Greg Joseph, Week 4 (Special Teams)
- Ryan Wright, Week 6 (Special Teams)
- Za’Darius Smith, Week 8 (Defense)
- Justin Jefferson, Week 10 (Offense)
- Kene Nwangwu, Week 12 (Special Teams)
- Kirk Cousins, Week 15 (Offense)
- Greg Joseph, Week 16 (Special Teams)
Vikings special teamers have now won awards in four separate weeks this season, further proving that Matt Daniels has done wonders for this group as the coordinator. Even if it doesn’t happen this offseason, Daniels will certainly be looking at head coaching considerations sooner rather than later.
Joseph’s award is also the second straight week that a Vikings player has won an award as Cousins won it against the Colts with his 460-yard, 4-TD performance in Minnesota’s 33-point comeback. We’ll see if a Vikings player can win it for a third-straight week against the Green Bay Packers in Week 17. Perhaps they can complete the Hat Trick with a defensive player winning the award. Kickoff for that game is scheduled for 3:25 PM CST at Lambeau Field on Sunday, January 1st.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. He also earned minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys marathon training, playing video games, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his opinions, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.