4 Vikings Who Need to Step Up Over the Final 8 Weeks
The Minnesota Vikings are officially 10 weeks into their schedule after defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars by a score of 12-7 this past weekend.
While many players have been extremely impressive this year along the way to a 7-2 start, there is always room for improvement when a team is fighting to secure a playoff spot. Here are four players who need to step up over the final eight games of the season.
QB Sam Darnold
Of course, it has been a bit of a mixed bag for Sam Darnold this season. Things got off to about as good of a start as the Vikings could have imagined during their 5-0 start, but since then, Darnold has shown some weaknesses during this 2-2 stretch since the bye.
This is to be expected with Darnold, and the Vikings can be a very good team even if he doesn’t return to his Weeks 1-5 form. However, Minnesota will need him to be about 75-80% of that player, and he certainly needs to play better than he did this past weekend against Jacksonville.
OLB Dallas Turner
Pat Jones just as easily could fit into this spot as well, but the Vikings need one of their depth edge rushers behind Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel to step up over the final stretch of the year.
In Week 10, it was Turner who surpassed Jones in terms of snaps, taking the field for 11 plays compared to Jones’ 10. However, Turner still has not recorded a tackle for loss or a sack since Week 1, and for Jones, after recording six tackles for loss and five sacks in the first four games of the season, both categories sit at zero over the past five games.
LT Cam Robinson
Cam Robinson obviously is in a very tough situation right now. Not only has he had very little time to adjust to the offense over the past two weeks, but he is being expected to replace one of the best left tackles in all of football, Christian Darrisaw.
Even still, things need to get a bit smoother with Robinson in the trenches this season. Robinson allowed six pressures and was penalized three times in Week 10. Of course, the expectation should be that the left tackle will get better as he settles into Minnesota’s offense, but hopefully it happens sooner rather than later.
LB Ivan Pace
Ivan Pace has been incredible as a blitzer once again this season both as a run defender and pass rusher. He recorded two more tackles for loss and another sack this past weekend as he showed off those skills.
However, Pace’s pass coverage has been a bit of an issue this season. Since the bye, Pace has been targeted 12 times and has allowed 11 receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown. This season, opposing QBs have a passer rating of 144.3 when targeting Pace, per PFF.
Cashman’s return to the defensive lineup should take some of the coverage duties off Pace’s plate, but if the Vikings are going to make a deep run into the playoffs this year, they will need their linebacker to improve in pass coverage over the second half of the season.
Editor’s Note: Statistics for this article were found via Pro Football Focus and Pro Football Reference.
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