As expected the Vikings offensive line picked up right where they left off with Brian O’Neill standing out and Ed Ingram dragging the unit down in the weekly Pro Football Focus grades that were released Monday.
The PFF grades from the season opener saw right tackle Brian O’Neill turn in an 86.4 offensive grade, which was the best on the team. Safety Cam Bynum’s 82.5 defensive grade led the defensive side of the ball.
Diving into the offensive line, which allowed 10 pressures, according to PFF, similar trends from the 2022 season were apparent in the opening game of the 2023 season.
Ezra Clevlend (64 snaps) – 84.8 pass block | 49.5 run block
Brian O’Neill (64) – 81.5 pass block | 89.3 run block
Christian Darrisaw (58) – 73.9 pass block | 65.1 run block
Austin Schlottmann (57) – 66.9 pass block | 56.9 run block
Garrett Bradbury (7) – 50.8 pass block | 60.0 run block
Oli Udoh (6) – 43.4 pass block | no run block grade
Ed Ingram (64) – 40.3 pass block | 57.4 run block
O’Neill, despite returning from a late season Achilles injury, remained dominant in both run and pass blocking. Left tackle Christian Darrisaw’s numbers were a bit down, possibly due to an ankle injury he suffered in the first half. Darrisaw allowed three QB hits Sunday, which is striking since he allowed six total in 2022 and 2021.
Ingram remained the anchor weighing down the whole unit Sunday with a 40.3 pass block grade (one sack, one QB hit, two hurries allowed) while his run blocking was just average with a 57.4 score. .
Cleveland’s 84.8 pass block grade was the third highest single game pass block grade he’s received in his career and he led the team in that department. Where Cleveland struggled though was his run blocking, normally the better part of his game (80.3 in 2022), which earned a measly 49.5 grade in Sunday’s loss.
Kirk Cousins had a subpar overall grade of 63.9, but when under pressure he scored a failing 40.8. He was 6 of 11 for 59 yards and just 5.4 yards per attempt when under pressure. His overall score
Danielle Hunter led the team with three pressures on quarterback Baker Mayfield, including one sack. But the rest of the defense generated just seven pressures and only one other time was Mayfield hit (it was credited to rookie linebacker Ivan Pace Jr.).
