A Look at the Vikings Statistical Rankings Following Week 1
Josh Frey
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Week 1 of the NFL season is behind us, and while there is still a lot of football in front of us, we officially have statistical rankings for all 32 teams and the individual players through the first slate of games.
Today, we are going to be taking a look at where some of the Vikings players and the team as a whole stand amongst the rest of the league. For simplicity’s sake, we only included players from the offense and defense that played at least 50% of the Vikings snaps on Sunday against Tampa Bay.
Finally, shout out to Pro-Football-Reference and Pro Football Focus for the statistics that went into this article.
Individual Players: Offense
QB Kirk Cousins
- Completions: 33 (2nd)
- Pass Attempts: 44 (T-4th)
- Passing Yards: 344 (2nd)
- Passing TDs: 2 (T-4th)
- Interceptions: 1 (T-6th)
- QBR: 54.9 (14th)
- PFF Grade: 66.0 (15th among QBs)
RB Alexander Mattison
- Carries: 11 (T-30th)
- Rushing Yards: 34 (40th)
- Rushing TDs: 0
- Receptions: 3 (T-74th)
- Receiving Yards: 10 (T-165th)
- Receiving TDs: 1 (T-6th)
- PFF Grade: 61.6 (T-43rd among RBs)
TE T.J. Hockenson
- Targets: 9 (T-18th)
- Receptions: 8 (T-7th)
- Receiving Yards: 35 (T-72nd)
- Receiving TDs: 0
- PFF Grade: 74.0 (5th among TEs)
WR Justin Jefferson
- Targets: 12 (5th)
- Receptions: 9 (T-4th)
- Receiving Yards: 150 (2nd)
- Receiving TDs: 0
- PFF Grade: 79.1 (9th among WRs)
WR Jordan Addison
- Targets: 6 (T-47th)
- Receptions: 4 (T-50th)
- Receiving Yards: 61 (T-27th)
- Receiving TDs: 1 (T-6th)
- PFF Grade: 67.4 (39th among WRs)
Individual Players: Defense
OLB Danielle Hunter
- Solo Tackles: 4 (T-76th)
- Tackles for Loss: 1 (T-26th)
- Pressures: 3 (T-57th, per PFF)
- QB Hits: 1 (T-41st)
- Sacks: 1.0 (T-15th)
- PFF Grade: 67.3 (T-51st among EDGEs)
OLB D.J. Wonnum
- Solo Tackles: 0
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Pressures: 0
- QB Hits: 0
- Sacks: 0
- PFF Grade: 59.6 (T-81st among EDGEs)
OLB Pat Jones
- Solo Tackles: 0
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Pressures: 2 (T-35th, per PFF)
- QB Hits: 0
- Sacks: 0
- PFF Grade: 28.8 (107th among EDGEs)
DL Harrison Phillips
- Solo Tackles: 5 (T-49th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Pressures: 1 (T-36th among DL, per PFF)
- QB Hits: 0
- Sacks: 0
- PFF Grade: 71.6 (19th among DL)
DL Dean Lowry
- Solo Tackles: 2 (T-129th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Pressures: 0
- QB Hits: 0
- Sacks: 0
- PFF Grade: 41.8 (60th among DL)
LB Ivan Pace
- Solo Tackles: 6 (T-28th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0 (T-139th)
- Pressures: 1 (T-144th, per PFF)
- QB Hits: 1 (T-41st)
- Sacks: 0
- PFF Grade: 75.0 (T-21st among LBs)
LB Jordan Hicks
- Solo Tackles: 0
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Pressures: 1 (T-144th, per PFF)
- QB Hits: 0
- Sacks: 0
- PFF Grade: 70.6 (T-34th among LBs)
CB Byron Murphy
- Solo Tackles: 2 (T-219th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Passes Defended: 0
- Interceptions: 0
- Passer Rating Against: 95.8 (T-50th among CBs, per PFF)
- PFF Grade: 63.4 (35th among CBs)
CB Akayleb Evans
- Solo Tackles: 4 (T-76th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Passes Defended: 2 (T-7th)
- Interceptions: 0
- Passer Rating Against: 42.4 (T-9th among CBs, per PFF)
- PFF Grade: 59.6 (44th among CBs)
S Harrison Smith
- Solo Tackles: 3 (T-124th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Passes Defended: 0
- Interceptions: 0
- Passer Rating Against: 118.8 (T-63rd among safeties, per PFF)
- PFF Grade: 63.5 (36th among safeties)
S Josh Metellus
- Solo Tackles: 6 (T-28th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Passes Defended: 1 (T-23rd)
- Interceptions: 0
- Passer Rating Against: 144.8 (70th among safeties, per PFF)
- PFF Grade: 72.2 (24th among safeties)
S Camryn Bynum
- Solo Tackles: 5 (T-49th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Passes Defended: 0
- Interceptions: 0
- Passer Rating Against: 77.1 (30th among safeties, per PFF)
- PFF Grade: 82.5 (8th among safeties)
Team Offense
Total Offense
- Points Scored: 17 (T-20th)
- Total Yards: 369 (6th)
- Yards per Play: 5.9 (T-2nd)
- Plays: 63 (18th)
- First Downs: 18 (T-15th)
- Turnovers: 3 (T-2nd)
- Penalties: 6 (T-12th-fewest)
- PFF Grade: 68.9 (8th)
Passing
- Completions: 33 (2nd)
- Passing Attempts: 44 (T-4th)
- Net Passing Yards: 328 (3rd)
- Net Yards per Attempt: 7.1 (6th)
- Passing 1st Downs: 15 (4th)
- Passing TDs: 2 (T-3rd)
- Interceptions: 1 (T-6th)
- Passing PFF Grade: 66.2 (14th)
- Pass Blocking PFF Grade: 73.4 (10th)
- Receiving PFF Grade: 70.6 (5th)
Rushing
- Carries: 17 (31st)
- Rushing Yards: 41 (T-31st)
- Yards per Carry: 2.4 (29th)
- Rushing First Downs: 2 (31st)
- Rushing TDs: 0
- Fumbles Lost: 2 (T-1st-most)
- Rushing PFF Grade: 52.6 (T-26th)
- Run Blocking PFF Grade: 59.1 (17th)
As was probably obvious to viewers on Sunday, the Vikings once again relied heavily on their passing attack to get any production against the Buccaneers. They were among the top 10 in every passing category in Week 1 other than their passing PFF grade, which largely fell on the play of QB Kirk Cousins.
Meanwhile, they were among the bottom half of the NFL in every rushing category, including bottom-two rankings in carries, rushing yards, and yards per carry. They will need to get more production out of this area in order to have a chance against the Eagles.
Team Defense
Total Defense
- Points Allowed: 20 (T-14th-fewest)
- Total Yards Allowed: 242 (7th-fewest)
- Plays: 68 (T-11th-most)
- Yards per Play Allowed: 3.6 (3rd-fewest)
- First Downs Allowed: 16 (T-10th-fewest)
- Turnovers: 0
- Penalties: 3 (T-2nd-fewest)
- PFF Grade: 66.7 (T-18th)
Passing Defense
- Completions Allowed: 21 (T-15th-most)
- Passing Attempts Against: 34 (T-13th-most)
- Passing Yards Allowed: 169 (14th-most)
- Net Passing Yards per Attempt Allowed: 4.8 (16th-fewest)
- Passing TDs Allowed: 2 (T-23rd-most)
- Interceptions: 0
- Sacks: 1 (T-25th-most)
- Passing First Downs Allowed: 9 (T-10th-fewest)
- Pass-Rush PFF Grade: 56.6 (29th)
- Pass Coverage PFF Grade: 69.9 (14th)
Rushing Defense
- Carries Against: 33 (7th-most)
- Rushing Yards Allowed: 73 (8th-fewest)
- Rushing Yards per Play Allowed: 2.2 (2nd-fewest)
- Rushing TDs Allowed: 0 (T-1st-fewest)
- Rushing First Downs Allowed: 5 (T-9th-fewest)
- Run Defense PFF Grade: 65.6 (16th)
The thing that seems to have gone under the radar from Minnesota’s Week 1 performance against the Buccaneers is the fact that their defense played pretty well as a whole. Despite an average PFF grade, they ranked among the top half of the league in every category. Even more impressively, the Vikings defense did so despite having to play 68 snaps, tied for the 11th-most in the league.
The Eagles have a very balanced offensive attack with QB Jalen Hurts being plenty capable of either running or throwing. They have a strong offensive line and multiple talented skill position players on that side of the ball as well. Minnesota will need another strong defensive performance if they want to pull off the upset.
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Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.