Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell gave a game ball to every member of the defense after Sunday’s 24-16 win over the Miami Dolphins, and it makes great sense after seeing the grades from Pro Football Focus.
The four best grades from the game belong to defensive players, led by the dominating edge rushers who gave Teddy Bridgewater and Skylar Thompson fits.
- Za’Darius Smith – 92.0
- Danielle Hunter – 90.7
- Patrick Peterson – 89.9
- Patrick Jones II – 76.2
- Harrison Smith – 68.4
Smith was a destructive force, routinely killing Dolphins left tackle Greg Little. Smith finished the game with a whopping 11 pressures, including two sacks, two QB hits and seven QB hurries.
Hunter had his best game of the season and was credited by PFF with six pressures, including a sack, two hits and three hurries. Jones II had two sacks and two hurries for four total pressures.
Who do those three edge rushers have to thank? Greg Little, whose 1.5 pass-blocking grade was highlighted by three sacks allowed and nine total pressures on 60 pass-blocking snaps.
It was vintage Za’Darius Smith. Remember in 2019 when he single-handled wrecked the Vikings while playing for the Packers. He sacked Kirk Cousins four times, hit him once and had four other hurries in that game. Ironically, he did a lot of that damage against Garrett Bradbury, who posted a 0.0 PFF grade in that game.
Smith had 18 sacks that year and posted 10+ hurries in three different games, and he led the NFL with 105 pressures in 2019. This year he’s second in the NFL with 29 pressures.
Meanwhile, Patrick Peterson was targeted six times and allowed just three catches while breaking up two passes and coming away with an interception.
The highest grade on the offense was Justin Jefferson, who had six catches for 107 yards – the bulk of that damage done on Minnesota’s first two touchdown drives.
- Justin Jefferson – 76.0
- Adam Thielen – 73.3
- Brian O’Neill – 71.6
- Kirk Cousins – 71.5
- K.J. Osborn – 61.5
- Dalvin Cook – 60.9
The ugliest scores of the day belong to the interior of Minnesota’s offensive line. Ezra Cleveland, Garrett Bradbury and Ed Ingram all posted terrible pass-blocking scores, while the starting tackles, Brian O’Neill and Christian Darrisaw, put up nice pass-blocking scores.
- Brian O’Neill – 79.1
- Christian Darrisaw – 76.4
- Ezra Cleveland – 45.0
- Ed Ingram – 36.5
- Garrett Bradbury – 20.4
Kirk Cousins was 20-of-30 passing for 175 yards and two touchdowns. Of those, he was under pressure 14 times and those plays resulted in 5-of-11 passing for 103 yards and three sacks. When Cousins was kept clean, he was 15-of-19 for only 72 yards.
The difference? Cousins averaged 9.4 yards per attempt when under pressure and just 3.8 yards per attempt when he was kept clean.
Related: Brian Murphy: Who says winners need to be pretty?
Related: 5 things that stood out in the Vikings’ win over Miami
