The Minnesota Vikings’ defense had a great week and the best player on the field on Sunday afternoon against the Las Vegas Raiders got rewarded for it. Inside linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week for week 14.
Pace was phenomenal for the Vikings this past Sunday. He had 13 tackles, a sack and an interception. He was the first rookie since 2006 to achieve that with the last being DeMeco Ryans, who was with the Houston Texans at the time and now is their head coach.
Pace set the tone early on Sunday getting 11 of his tackles in the first half and ended the first half with a sack of Aidan O’Connell on a well-designed delayed blits. His interception also secured the win for the Vikings as they were able to run out the majority of the clock out.
Pace became the fifth Vikings rookie defender to win the player of the week award on defense in the teams history.
- 2014: LB Anthony Barr, week 8
- 2008: CB Cedrick Griffin, week 145
- 1995: FS Orlando Thomas, week 4
- 1986: DE Gerald Robinson, week 7
