Vikings Statistical Rankings Through Week 2: Defense

Week 2 of the NFL season is officially behind us.
Now that we’ve seen a good sampling of NFL action, some may be curious to see how the Vikings statistical rankings compare to other teams across the league.
Today, we will be breaking down where the Vikings defense ranks as a whole, and where individual players stand in terms of their statistics. Shout out to Pro-Football-Reference, Pro Football Focus, and nfeloapp.com for the numbers that went into this article. In case you missed it, go check out the offensive rankings as well.
Team Defense

Total Defense
- Points Allowed: 54 (T-25th)
- Total Yards Allowed: 672 (17th)
- Plays: 143 (6th)
- Yards Per Play Allowed: 4.7 (9th)
- First Downs Allowed: 40 (17th)
- Turnovers: 1 (T-25th)
- Penalties: 10 (7th)
- Penalty Yards: 64 (3rd)
- PFF Grade: 63.0 (22nd)
- EPA/play: 0.00 (20th)
All in all, it’s tough to say that the Vikings defense has performed terribly through the first two weeks. Sure, ranking among the bottom 10 in points allowed isn’t ideal, but a lot of that can be blamed on so many turnovers from the offense. We’ll see how they look against the Chargers in Week 3, but ranking among the top teams in yards per play allowed should help them win games.
The one area that this group needs to get better in is the turnover department. If the offense keeps turning the ball over, this defense will be relied upon to create their own turnovers. So far, that has not happened.

Pass Defense
- Completions Allowed: 39 (T-9th-fewest)
- Passing Attempts: 57 (T-7th-fewest)
- Passing Yards Allowed: 340 (8th-fewest)
- Net Yards per Attempt Allowed: 5.5 (11th-fewest)
- Passing TDs Allowed: 3 (T-15th-fewest)
- Passing First Downs Allowed: 13 (3rd-fewest)
- Sacks: 5 (T-14th-most)
- Pass-Rush PFF Grade: 55.0 (30th)
- Pass Coverage PFF Grade: 80.9 (T-4th)
- Defensive EPA/pass: 0.01 (19th)
Run Defense
- Carries Against: 81 (1st-most)
- Rushing Yards Allowed: 332 (29th-fewest)
- Yards per Carry Allowed: 4.1 (T-17th-fewest)
- Rushing TDs Allowed: 3 (T-24th-fewest)
- Rushing First Downs Allowed: 24 (31st-fewest)
- Run Defense PFF Grade: 47.8 (31st)
- Defensive EPA/run: -0.04 (22nd)
The Eagle exposed the greatest weakness of this Vikings defense in Week 2: their run defense. Philadelphia got whatever they wanted on the ground, and Brian Flores simply didn’t seem to have the personnel to compete against that offensive line.
However, Minnesota has greatly improved against the pass to start the year. Both PFF and EPA suggest that they are doing a solid job in coverage. They do need to find a better way to generate a pass rush, but hopefully, that will be solved when Marcus Davenport returns from his ankle injury.
Individual Players

OLB Danielle Hunter
- Solo Tackles: 9 (T-61st)
- Tackles for Loss: 5 (1st)
- Pressures: 9 (T-13th)
- QB Hits: 4 (T-7th)
- Sacks: 4.0 (T-1st)
- PFF Grade: 56.5 (T-103rd among EDGEs)
OLB D.J. Wonnum
- Solo Tackles: 1 (T-457th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Pressures: 1 (T-244th)
- QB Hits: 0
- Sacks: 0
- PFF Grade: 55.2 (111th among EDGEs)
OLB Pat Jones
- Solo Tackles: 1 (T-457th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Pressures: 3 (T-127th)
- QB Hits: 0
- Sacks: 0
- PFF Grade: 27.9 (146th among EDGEs)
DL Harrison Phillips
- Solo Tackles: 12 (T-19th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Pressures: 3 (T-127th)
- QB Hits: 1 (T-89th)
- Sacks: 0
- PFF Grade: 69.5 (37th among DL)
DL Dean Lowry
- Solo Tackles: 2 (T-366th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Pressures: 0
- QB Hits: 0
- Sacks: 0
- PFF Grade: 38.3 (151st among DL)
LB Jordan Hicks
- Solo Tackles: 9 (T-61st)
- Tackles for Loss: 1 (T-74th)
- Pressures: 2 (T-161st)
- QB Hits: 0
- Sacks: 0
- Passes Defended: 0
- Interceptions: 0
- PFF Grade: 60.1 (83rd among LBs)
LB Ivan Pace
- Solo Tackles: 11 (T-28th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Pressures: 4 (T-93rd)
- QB Hits: 2 (T-45th)
- Sacks: 0.5 (T-116th)
- Passes Defended: 0
- Interceptions: 0
- PFF Grade: 85.2 (8th among LBs)
CB Byron Murphy
- Solo Tackles: 3 (T-298th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Passes Defended: 1 (T-64th)
- Interceptions: 0
- PFF Grade: 53.9 (110th among CBs)
CB Akayleb Evans
- Solo Tackles: 7 (T-112th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Passes Defended: 3 (T-3rd)
- Interceptions: 0
- PFF Grade: 63.1 (64th among CBs)
S Harrison Smith
- Solo Tackles: 7 (T-112th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Passes Defended: 0
- Interceptions: 0
- PFF Grade: 56.6 (91st among safeties)
S Camryn Bynum
- Solo Tackles: 11 (T-28th)
- Tackles for Loss: 1 (T-74th)
- Passes Defended: 0
- Interceptions: 0
- PFF Grade: 87.8 (6th among safeties)
S Josh Metellus
- Solo Tackles: 12 (T-19th)
- Tackles for Loss: 0
- Passes Defended: 1 (T-64th)
- Interceptions: 0
- PFF Grade: 70.4 (35th among safeties)
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.