How Healthy Are the Vikings against New York?
Ted Schwerzler
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The Minnesota Vikings square off against the New York Giants on Sunday for a Wild Card Weekend playoff matchup. With first-year head coach Kevin O’Connell pushing Minnesota to a 13-win season, everyone involved would like to see four more playoff victories added. How healthy are the Vikings, though?
First and foremost, the focus for Minnesota on Sunday will be the offensive line. We already know that backup center Austin Schlottmann and starting right tackle Brian O’Neill are out of the equation. The former fractured his fibula against the Green Bay Packers, while the latter suffered a torn Achilles in the same contest. That leaves Minnesota plenty thin up front.
How Healthy Are the Vikings against New York?
At this point, star left tackle Christian Darrisaw is locked in and good to go. Left guard Ezra Cleveland has been on the line all year and is healthy. So, too, is right guard Ed Ingram. Ingram has taken his lumps this season working through in-game development as a rookie, but he’s continued to show promise and may need his best game yet on Sunday.
Oli Udoh, a veteran that Minnesota had start 16 games at right guard last season, will slide in for O’Neill. It’s impossible to replace the performance that someone like O’Neill brings to the table, but it’s also not as though Udoh hasn’t been in situations to perform. He has played in 41 regular season games, and the moment shouldn’t be too big for him. Behind Udoh, the Vikings recently signed veteran Bobby Evans.
What happens at the center position is clearly the biggest area of focus. Garrett Bradbury has been out for weeks dealing with a back issue aggravated further in a minor car accident. He is said to be close and ideally would return on Sunday. Otherwise, veteran guard Chris Reed will start his second career at center, and fellow veteran Greg Mancz will back him up.
One defense Minnesota was without two key members last week. Za’Darius Smith was initially slated to make the trip to Chicago and play. Ultimately he was dealing with a personal matter and never stepped foot on the field. He has been somewhat hit or miss from a production standpoint down the stretch, and returning to the field and box score is a must on Sunday.
Held out of last week’s game, starting safety Harrison Smith should be back on Sunday. He certainly has dealt with his fair share of hits this season, but his late scratch should suggest it was more of a preventative measure. With 1st-round pick Lewis Cine having been lost early this season, Smith has helped to bring consistency alongside the likes of Cam Bynum.
In playing their starters last week, there was a bit of a scare for running back Dalvin Cook. He was taken to the blue medical tent at one point and was checked out. Alexander Mattison got the entirety of the run during the second half, but Minnesota has said there is no injury to report for Cook this week.
On the offensive side, Minnesota is hurt up front but healthy everywhere else. The line could undoubtedly be a sink-or-swim area for them in the playoffs, and they’d benefit from Bradbury or Blake Brandel being back sooner rather than later. On defense, the group is pretty fresh as a whole, and Ed Donatell will need his playmakers to lock in.
Ted Schwerzler is a blogger from the Twin Cities that is focused on all things Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings. He’s active on Twitter and writes weekly for Twins Daily. As a former college athlete and avid sports fan, covering our pro teams with a passion has always seemed like such a natural outlet.
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