Vikings Defender Wins Award
He certainly deserved it.
Vikings Defender Wins Award
Minnesota Vikings outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard won the NFC’s Defensive Player of the Week award on Wednesday, fresh off a 3-sack performance against the Houston Texans, the club that employed him for the duration of his rookie contract.
For Greenard, how sweet it is to win the honor over his old team. The Vikings’ social media team tweeted Wednesday, “JG!!! Jonathan Greenard has been named NFC Defensive Player of the Week.”
All told on Sunday, Greenard banked the aforementioned 3 sacks, 4 tackles, and a 73.6 Pro Football Focus grade, an outstanding day at the office as Minnesota resoundingly toppled the Super Bowl-contending Texans by a score of 34-7.
Most credible NFL power rankings now rank the Vikings as the league’s third-best team, behind the dynastic Kansas City Chiefs and hot Buffalo Bills.
Meanwhile, freshly equipped with the NFC Defensive Player of the Week kudos, Greenard is already looking ahead to Sunday’s showdown with the Green Bay Packers. In fact, he claims it will be a fight to the death. The veteran defender told KFAN this week that he expects a “bloodbath” when the Vikings, an undefeated club through three games, and Packers collide this Sunday, a judgment usually reserved for those who have already participated or watched frequently. But the ferocious pass rusher has evidently skipped the learning curve.
“Our focus has definitely shifted to Green Bay. I’m new, but I obviously know the history behind it, and I obviously know any time you’re playing a divisional opponent, it has to be a bloodbath,” Greenard told The Power Trip Morning Show. “Honestly, it’s going to be one of those. It’s just one of those hard-nosed games.”
“We gotta take it up another notch. We’re going to their home field. It’s going to be a hostile environment,” Greenard continued, “It’s going to be a great test for us to truly show how we can deal with adversity when we get a little bit of success. Now that we’ve kind of put it on tape, we have to expect everybody to be playing their best against us because we now have a target on our back. But we love that.”
Greenard concluded, “Even coming up now with Green Bay, that’s still a really good team despite the injuries. They’re still a really good team. They’re playing some really good ball.”
The Vikings haven’t started a season with a 3-0 record since 2016. They also became the first team in NFL history to start a season through 3 games with 8+ passing TDs on offense, 15+ sacks on defense, and 5+ interceptions on defense.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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