Vikings: Who’s to blame for Week 2’s performance versus the Philadelphia Eagles
The Minnesota Vikings came out flat against the Philadelphia Eagles, but who’s to blame for their lackadaisical performance on Monday Night Football?
Minnesota received its first reality check after an impressive start to the season against the Green Bay Packers. In that game, the Vikings arguably looked like the best team in the NFC. Their offense was playing well, and the defense held Aaron Rodgers to seven points.
What changed?
The Packers play a completely different style of football, and Minnesota was able to attack a less mobile quarterback and create pressure. Jalen Hurts can hurt you both in the air and on the ground.
The Eagles’ best strength is their ability to gain yardage on the ground, whether that’s with Hurts or Miles Sanders. Last season, Minnesota was one of the worst teams in stopping the run, but they were able to limit the Packers to 111 yards last week.
For the most part, you can expect Rodgers to carry the offense, with AJ Dillon and Aaron Jones there to pick up tough first downs when called upon.
Minnesota had no answer for Hurts and their 163 rushing yards. Despite Hurts picking up two rushing touchdowns, it was the passing game that got the Eagles going, which opened up the run. The former Oklahoma Sooner came out firing and was practically perfect throwing the ball all game.
The secondary looked lost playing their shell defense, and the Eagles receivers were wide open without any real contest.
The defense was abysmal, but they did clean stuff up in the second half. After giving up 24 points in the first half, the Eagles offense was unable to score in the second. What makes that more impressive is that Philadelphia had almost 13 more minutes with the ball.
Despite being gassed and spending more time on the field, the defense did improve as the game went on.
This game is on the offense and their inability to get others involved. We know how good Justin Jefferson is, but only targeting him will have negative effects. If you can’t spread the ball, defenses will look to remove him from the game and dare the Vikings to utilize Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen and K.J. Osborn.
However, it’s hard to ignore the offensive line in this game. The Eagles blitzed practically every play, and Cousins had close to a second to throw each time.
Cousins didn’t have good decision-making skills on Monday, but look how quickly the Eagles are in the backfield. If they gave him another one to two seconds, you could almost guarantee that he’ll make a better throw, or one of his receivers will have more time to get open.
Irv Smith Jr. also needs to make that catch when the game was 21-7 late in the second quarter. If he catches that ball, it’s a one-score game, and the Vikings get the ball to start the third quarter.
Cousins tried to play hero ball to get the Vikings back in it, but the offensive line was brutal. They didn’t open up the run game for Cook, and Cousins had little time in the pocket.
There was a lot that went wrong in Week 2 for the Vikings, and hopefully, they can correct some of their mistakes at home against the Detroit Lions. Minnesota is 1-1 to start the season, which isn’t bad when you consider they have a whole new playbook, and they’ve faced some tough opponents.
