November 28, 2021; Santa Clara, California, USA; Minnesota Vikings cornerback Patrick Peterson (7) tackles San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel (19) during the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
I picked out some Vikings players to watch in Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers — Vikings players I thought were worth keeping an extra close eye on and would need big performances if the Vikings were to win.
With the game in the books, Vikings notched their sixth defeat of the season. Did the players I picked perform well enough or were they part of the reason for defeat?
It was a display you’d probably expect from a rotational player who suddenly becomes the number one defensive tackle on the roster.
Armon Watts did some good things and some bad things. He logged three tackles, including a tackle for loss, while also getting his fourth sack in the last seven games as a starter. He also managed three QB hits. Pass rushing is where Watts has found success. Yet, unfortunately, it’s not been so promising in run defense — the area of the game the Vikings defense is having huge problems.
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The 49ers ran all over the Vikings and dominated the game. That doesn’t fall solely on the shoulders of Watts, but as a defensive tackle, he needed to play his part by stopping the runs up the middle.
It wasn’t a good day for the Vikings defense, but Patrick Peterson was one of the better performers. It wasn’t a performance he will remember with great fondness or anything, but he did okay.
Pro Football Focus gave him an overall grade of 58.9 — not a great score but the fourth-highest on the Vikings defense this past Sunday.
I singled out his matchup with Deebo Samuel, and Samuel was kept quiet in the receiving game with just one catch. As I suspected, he did his damage in the run game — most of which came running the opposite side to Peterson, who made a very good tackle for loss when Samuel ran to the left. Being so dominant in the run game, the 49ers were never forced to put the game in Jimmy Garappolo’s hands.
The Vikings offensive line had a fairly good game, except Oli Udoh, who had another one of those terrible games. Brian O Neill put in his usual solid performance. PFF gave him an overall grade of 75.1, with a 72.6 run-blocking grade and a 75.6 pass-blocking grade. That was the third-highest score on offense. The top 5 were made up of four offensive linemen and fullback CJ Ham. That has happened for a long time.
It was a solid performance in both parts of the game by O Neill. Regrettably, that didn’t ultimately translate into the offensive performance, which was inconsistent. That’s a common theme this season. For once, though, four parts of the offensive line led by the right tackle did their part well.