Daily Norseman
The team has tons of options and flexibility!
Still decompressing after that playoff loss against the Rams. The non-competitive nature of the game is what really depresses the most. For these dudes to not even show up for a playoff game is embarrassing. While Sam Darnold deserves plenty of blame, the offensive line really chose a great time to get their butts handed to them.
The measure of a player really is how they perform when the lights are the brightest.
Putrid offensive line headlines shocking PFF grades from Vikings-Rams
Darnold had a 36.8 score (that’s extremely bad) on the eight passing plays that the Rams blitzed. When he was pressured, he completed 10 of 17 passes for 114 yard an an interception. When he was kept clean, he was 15 of 23 for 131 yards and a touchdown.
After being pressured a season-high 33 times by the Lions in Week 18, the Vikings offensive line was charged with allowing 32 pressures against the Rams. Left tackle Cam Robinson gave up 12 pressures and a sack, by far the worst of Minnesota’s O-linemen. Robinson had allowed 18 total pressures in Weeks 11-16 before giving up 21 in the last two games.
Right tackle Brian O’Neill, who left the game with a possible concussion in the fourth quarter, was charged with seven pressures and two sacks. Left guard Blake Brandel gave up two sacks and five total pressures, and right guard Dalton Risner stumbled his way to five pressures including a sack.
The best of the bunch up front was center Garrett Bradbury, who was charged with only one pressure in 53 pass-blocking snaps.
On the flip side, the Vikings generated 14 pressures on Matthew Stafford, but they sacked him only two times and hit him twice more.
The worst defensive grades went to defensive lineman Jerry Tillery (39.0), safety Josh Metellus (39.5) and defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard (45.8), who jumped offsides on fourth down to help the Rams eventually put the ball in the end zone on the opening drive of the game.
Despite winning 14 games, there are still a lot of holes on the team and they need to find a way to grow their roster to take the next step.
1. Sam Darnold, J.J. McCarthy, or both
What will the Vikings do here? It’s very similar to the 2004 San Diego Chargers who saw Drew Brees emerge in year four right after they took Phillip Rivers in that April’s NFL Draft.
*“I want to relate it to a scenario that happened with the Chargers 2001 NFL draft. They had the first overall pick and hey weren’t 100% sold on Michael Vick. Now, in today’s day and age, I think everybody would have been sold on Michael Vick the player, but 2001 it was a very, very different league so they traded back to fifth overall...
