How the Vikings Players to Watch Fared vs. Rams
Adam New
|
The Minnesota Vikings lost their eighth game of the season against the Los Angeles Rams, a defeat that all but ended playoff hopes.
It’s still possible if the Vikings win their last two games and get help from elsewhere, but this doesn’t feel like a playoff team. It’s a longshot, and you never know in sport, but this fan just can’t see it happening. Granted, the other teams in the wild card hunt are just as bad or inconsistent as the Vikings. But can you see this team stepping up and putting two consistent performances together? Especially when it starts with needing to go into Lambeau Field and get a win?
The Rams game epitomized this season and the most recent years of Mike Zimmer’s tenure as head coach. It started with the team coming out flat, seemingly unprepared for a big game. During the matchup, there was wild inconsistency, which has been the story of the season on both sides of the ball. This team’s ability to change from looking good and aggressive to poor and timid in the space of a quarter of football is dumbfounding.
Let’s get back to my Vikings players to watch and see how they did.
Ezra Cleveland
The Rams have one of the best defenses in football and arguably the NFL’s best player in Aaron Donald. The interior of the Vikings offensive line was always going to have a problem with the Rams stud defensive tackle. Donald managed five tackles, including three tackles for loss, one sack, and two QB hits.
Of course, that wasn’t all on Ezra Cleveland, but there were a couple of occasions when he was well beaten with apparent ease. Still, he had an okay game, not as impressive as recent performances but the opposition was tough. Cleveland continues to look a solid pro at left guard. The Vikings just need to find the guy to solve the guard problem on the other side.
Kene Nwangwu
As I had hoped, Kene Nwangwu did have career-high offensive touches on Sunday. He had five carries and two targets, catching both, which beat the five touches he got in Week 13 against Detroit. Unfortunately, not a whole lot came from these touches. Just eight yards on the ground and five yards from the two catches. Some plays went for five or so yards and a few went for negative yards that dragged his yards down.
I don’t think he will ever be an every-down running back, but he can be an effective weapon if used right. He will always be boom or bust. However, some creative play-calling to scheme him the ball in space would be nice.
DJ Wonnum
No sacks this week for DJ Wonnum to follow up on his three-sack performance the week before.
The most notable part of his performance was his inability to set the edge in run defense. That is his most glaring weakness and the part of his game that needs major improvement. The Rams dominated on the ground despite nose tackle Michael Pierce arguably having the best performance of any Viking.
It doesn’t matter how good your tackles are in the middle if you can’t set the edge and linebackers are missing tackles. That’s been the story of the Vikings run defense for a while now and Wonnum is a major culprit. He needs to be shining in pass rush to make up for his deficiencies in run defense.
Vikings Territory Also Read: Vikings Should Call Old Friend for Stretch Run
You must be logged in to post a comment.