Vikings Statistical Rankings Through Week 15: Defense
Josh Frey
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It was a Jekyll and Hyde type of day for the Vikings defense against the Cincinnati Bengals.
They played an incredible first half before allowing 21 fourth quarter points to allow Cincinnati to force overtime and ultimately steal the game.
Today, we will be breaking down the Vikings statistical rankings on defense through Week 14 as a whole, and where individual players stand. Shout out to Pro-Football-Reference, Pro Football Focus, and nfeloapp.com for the numbers that went into this article.
NOTE: Individual PFF Grades are sorted to include players with at least 50% of the league leaders for defensive snaps at each position.
Team Defense
- Points Allowed per Game: 19.2 (7th)
- Total Yards Allowed per Game: 316.0 (13th)
- Plays per Game: 63.5 (T-12th)
- Yards Allowed per Play: 5.0 (10th)
- First Downs Allowed per Game: 18.1 (8th)
- Takeaways per Game: 1.43 (T-15th)
- Third-Down Conversion Percentage Allowed: 40.6% (23rd)
- Fourth-Down Conversion Percentage Allowed: 70% (32nd)
- Red Zone TD Percentage Allowed: 48.6% (7th)
- Overall Defense PFF Grade: 75.7 (11th)
- EPA/play: -0.10 (7th)
The Vikings defense took a bit of a step back in the rankings this week after being in the top 10 nearly across the board following their game against the Raiders. That will happen when they allowed over 370 yards for just the second time since Week 3. Still, this unit has played some incredible football, and Minnesota will need a bounce back game from them against Detroit on Sunday.
Pass Defense
- Completions Allowed per Game: 24.9 (30th)
- Pass Attempts Against per Game: 35.7 (24th-fewest)
- Passing Yards Allowed per Game: 224.0 (17th)
- Net Yards per Pass Allowed: 5.8 (10th)
- Passing First Downs Allowed per Game: 11.6 (21st)
- Passing TDs Allowed per Game: 1.21 (T-8th)
- Interceptions per Game: 0.79 (T-15th)
- Sacks per Game: 2.9 (T-8th)
- Pass Rush PFF Grade: 58.6 (32nd)
- Coverage PFF Grade: 89.7 (8th)
- EPA/pass: -0.09 (7th)
Run Defense
- Carries Against per Game: 24.9 (10th-fewest)
- Rushing Yards per Game: 92.0 (5th)
- Yards Allowed per Carry: 3.7 (4th)
- Rushing First Downs Allowed per Game: 5.79 (T-8th)
- Rushing TDs Allowed per Game: 0.57 (T-4th)
- Fumbles Recovered per Game: 0.64 (T-7th)
- Run Defense PFF Grade: 68.2 (8th)
- EPA/run: -0.16 (7th)
Minnesota saw a big drop in some of their pass defense rankings after Jake Browning threw for 324 yards and a pair of touchdowns. However, they remained strong against the run throughout much of the afternoon, giving up just 80 yards on 22 carries.
Individual Players
OLB Danielle Hunter
- Solo Tackles: 46 (T-108th)
- Tackles for Loss: 21 (1st)
- QB Pressures: 67 (T-10th)
- QB Hits: 20 (T-14th)
- Sacks: 15.5 (2nd)
- Forced Fumbles: 4 (T-5th)
- PFF Grade: 76.6 (25th among 60 qualifying EDGEs)
OLB D.J. Wonnum
- Solo Tackles: 31 (T-220th)
- Tackles for Loss: 7 (T-73rd)
- QB Pressures: 38 (T-62nd)
- QB Hits: 15 (T-43rd)
- Sacks: 8.0 (T-22nd)
- PFF Grade: 62.8 (46th among 60 qualifying EDGEs)
OLB Pat Jones
- Solo Tackles: 12 (T-493rd)
- Tackles for Loss: 2 (T-292nd)
- QB Pressures: 21 (T-131st)
- QB Hits: 5 (T-164th)
- Sacks: 0
- PFF Grade: 35.3 (60th among 60 qualifying EDGEs)
DL Harrison Phillips
- Solo Tackles: 39 (T-145th)
- Tackles for Loss: 2 (T-292nd)
- QB Pressures: 17 (T-152nd)
- QB Hits: 6 (T-137th)
- Sacks: 3.0 (T-127th)
- PFF Grade: 63.7 (38th among 75 qualifying DL)
DL Jonathan Bullard
- Solo Tackles: 19 (T-365th)
- Tackles for Loss: 3 (T-225th)
- QB Pressures: 9 (T-252nd)
- QB Hits: 2 (T-274th)
- Sacks: 2.0 (T-173rd)
- PFF Grade: 58.7 (T-51st among 75 qualifying DL)
LB Ivan Pace
- Solo Tackles: 50 (T-80th)
- Tackles for Loss: 2 (T-292nd)
- QB Pressures: 13 (T-200th)
- QB Hits: 7 (T-120th)
- Sacks: 2.5 (T-154th)
- PFF Grade: 78.9 (12th among 61 qualifying LBs)
CB Byron Murphy
- Solo Tackles: 43 (T-125th)
- Tackles for Loss: 4 (T-183rd)
- Passes Defended: 13 (T-8th)
- Interceptions: 3 (T-17th)
- PFF Grade: 57.9 (T-61st among 79 qualifying CBs)
CB Akayleb Evans
- Solo Tackles: 40 (T-140th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Passes Defended: 7 (T-70th)
- Interceptions: 1 (T-84th)
- Forced Fumbles: 3 (T-10th)
- PFF Grade: 65.3 (42nd among 79 qualifying CBs)
S Harrison Smith
- Solo Tackles: 52 (T-65th)
- Tackles for Loss: 2 (T-292nd)
- Sacks: 3.0 (T-127th)
- Passes Defended: 2 (T-287th)
- Interceptions: 0
- Forced Fumbles: 3 (T-10th)
- PFF Grade: 72.8 (20th among 65 qualifying safeties)
S Camryn Bynum
- Solo Tackles: 79 (T-6th)
- Tackles for Loss: 2 (T-292nd)
- Passes Defended: 9 (T-37th)
- Interceptions: 2 (T-31st)
- PFF Grade: 79.5 (9th among 65 qualifying safeties)
S Josh Metellus
- Solo Tackles: 59 (T-45th)
- Tackles for Loss: 6 (T-109th)
- QB Pressures: 22 (T-125th)
- QB Hits: 10 (T-84th)
- Sacks: 2.5 (T-154th)
- Passes Defended: 4 (T-151st)
- Interceptions: 1 (T-84th)
- Forced Fumbles: 4 (T-5th)
- PFF Grade: 73.8 (16th among 65 qualifying safeties)
Vikings Statistical Rankings Through Week 15: Offense
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.