One Viking Quietly Righted the Ship
Through the first two weeks of the 2023 regular season, the Minnesota Vikings fundamentally said no thanks to running the football.
One Viking Quietly Righted the Ship
In fact, through two games against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Philadelphia Eagles — two stout run defenses — Minnesota rushed the rock 26 times, the third-fewest rushing attempts in NFL history through the first two games of a season.
Somebody in Eagan got the memo, though, as the Vikings have changed the gameplan tremendously in the last two games, enabling Alexander Mattison to right the ship. And truth be told, he wasn’t given a fair shake in Game Nos. one and two to start the season.
Mattison did himself no favors with a fumble at Philadelphia and nearly lost one in Week 3 versus the Chargers, if not for a favorable referee interpretation.
But now Minnesota has lifted Mattison off the shelf, and the run game is cooking. To start the season against the Eagles and Buccaneers, the Vikings rushing offense ranked 32nd in the league per EPA/Play — also known as dead last. Yet, in the last two games versus the Chargers and Panthers, the purple ground game ranks sixth via the same metric.
Suddenly, Mattison ranks 14th in the league per rushing yards, on pace for 1,063, with a 4.5 yards per carry mark. Not bad. The 4.5 yards per attempt is better through four games than notable running backs Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry, Travis Etienne, Aaron Jones, Joe Mixon, Kyren Williams, Kenneth Walker, Tony Pollard, and Rachaad White, among others.
Of course, Mattison hasn’t found the endzone yet, a stat that will likely be corrected before too long. No Vikings player has scored a rushing touchdown through four games, a bizarre stat, indeed.
The Vikings still have a long way to go, however, in achieving playcalling balance. After Week 2, the club [obviously] ranked dead last in rushing playcall percentage, but after the win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, the ranking nudged to 23rd. The goal for a balanced offense would be to place somewhere in the middle, perhaps from 13th to 19th or so.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell will always rest on his laurels in throwing the football — that’s what former quarterbacks do — but Mattison has shown in the last two games he’s worthy of an RB1 gig. Without getting blatantly ignored in the first two games of 2023, his rushing yards projection could be closer to 1,300+ yards, give or take.
Next up for the Mattison and the Vikings offense? A Kansas City Chiefs defense that ranks 22nd per rush defense EPA/Play.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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