A historic comeback win 39-36 over the Indianapolis Colts was incredible for many reasons, but it also saved the Minnesota Vikings from having an atrocious week when it came to the PFF grades.
If you were to get the splits from the first half to the second half, there would be a massively stark comparison between the two. Luckily, we don’t have the splits and can just enjoy how good the grades ended up looking.
The Vikings highest graded player will surprise you, but it’s a good surprise. Here are the grades from Saturday’s win.
Top 3 offense
- RT Brian O’Neill 80.1
- WR K.J. Osborn 78.5
- WR Justin Jefferson 75.7
This was a classic O’Neill game where you didn’t know he was on the field because he was just a stalwart player. He was credited with three pressures and two sacks, but those were after Cousins was in the pocket for a long time and tried to create.
Osborn and Jefferson were tremendous. The former was making plays consistently and showing a gritty effort by trying to gain extra yards each time he touched the ball.
Jefferson is self-explanatory. He was tremendous throughout and played extraordinary football against one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL in Stephon Gilmore.
Bottom 3 offense
- WR Jalen Reagor 38.2
- C Austin Schlottmann 50.0
- TE T.J. Hockenson 50.4
Reagor’s grade is easily explained. Both of his targets were poorly run routes that ended up being interceptions, one of which was a pick-six.
Schlottmann drew a tough assignment, protecting Kirk Cousins against DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart. He allowed four pressures on the day but wasn’t an outright disaster.
Hockenson struggled on Saturday. He was targeted eight times but only caught three passes for 33 yards, along with the two-point conversion.
Top 3 defense
- CB Duke Shelley 83.9
- OLB Za’Darius Smith 78.1
- CB Patrick Peterson 77.4
This was arguably the best game the Vikings defense has played all season. They only allowed 22 points and forced the Colts to kick five field goals on the game. Shelley was arguably the best player and the grade supports that. He had two pass breakups and only allowed two catches on six targets for 15 yards.
Smith only had one pressure, but didn’t allow contain to break and was a consistent force in the trenches.
Peterson, like Shelley, was really good in the secondary and allowed only one catch for 15 yards on five targets! Really impressive day from the future Hall of Famer.
Bottom 3 defense
- S Camryn Bynum 48.3
- ILB Eric Kendricks 56.9
- ILB Brian Asamoah 57.9
Bynum has not had the best performance the last few weeks and it continued on Saturday. He allowed four catches for 41 yards and struggled throughout.
Kendricks was responsible for the touchdown in the first quarter and was average during the game.
Asamoah finally got some real run during the game and played 13 snaps. You could tell the explosiveness that he currently possesses but didn’t really play enough to truly judge how well he played.
Other notables
- RB Dalvin Cook 75.2
- LT Christian Darrisaw 69.6
- QB Kirk Cousins 57.4
- RG Ed Ingram 56.0
- ILB Jordan Hicks 75.7
- NT Harrison Smith 72.3
- OLB Danielle Hunter 66.8
