One Viking Brings the Havoc
Now that the regular season has finished, the stats are being tallied to see who leads in the various categories. The simple ones, like yards and sacks, are simple enough, but some outlets like to get inventive. The folks at The 33rd Team did this with their havoc play leaders, and it turns out one Viking brings the havoc more than any player in the NFL.
One Viking Brings the Havoc
A havoc play was deemed any defensive play that resulted in a sack, tackle for loss, forced fumble, interception, or pass breakup. The man to top this list was Vikings edge defender Andrew Van Ginkel. He topped the list with 30 such plays ahead of TJ Watt (29) and Trey Hendrickson (28). Other notable players in the top 10 include Brian Burns, Maxx Crosby, Brian Branch, and Myles Garrett.
One of the things about NFL defensive stats is they are often left to some interpretation. Different outlets frequently disagree on whether a player gets a sack or half a sack on certain plays. For example, Pro Football Focus gives 12 sacks this season, whereas Pro Football Reference gives him 11.5. PFR also has Van Ginkel down for 18 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, and two interceptions. The numbers for sacks and TFLs were both comfortably career-high, as was his tally of 79 tackles.
Both of his interceptions were on screen passes that he picked off and ran in for a touchdown. He’s become known as somewhat of an expert at reading the screen play and cutting it off. He had other chances of intercepting the ball on the same play, including against the Lions on Monday night, where he failed to gather the ball in after getting his hands on it. On an earlier one that wouldn’t count towards this list, he laid a ferocious hit on Jahmyr Gibbs as he caught the ball. I’d call that a havoc play; Gibbs had to leave the field to be checked over and compose himself.
A Great Signing
The success in Minnesota this season is due in no small part to this year’s free agency class. It was out with the old and in with the new as GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah made significant changes to the Vikings roster. Van Ginkel headlined the defensive turnaround with Jonathan Greenard and Blake Cashman. All three have proved excellent signings, and Van Ginkel immediately became very popular with Viking fans.
Greenard and Cashman got four and three years, respectively, while Van Ginkel was only given a two-year contract. I’d suggest the Vikings might want to get that extended in the offseason for at least one more year if not two. A perfect fit for the Brian Flores defense, Van Ginkel’s ability to do everything — much like Josh Metellus — is a key component of the Vikings’ defense. Van Ginkel now has playoff football to look forward to for only the second time in his career. He was part of the Miami Dolphins team that made the playoffs in 2022 and lost to the Buffalo Bills in the Wildcard round.
Van Ginkel will hope for a better result this time around.
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