The Minnesota Vikings lost their first game of the season to the Detroit Lions. It was a hard fought game. Tough loss, but you weren’t likely to win them all. An easy stretch is upcoming and the Vikes will need to take advantage to keep pace with these Lions. Just like not everyone plays great in a win, not everyone plays poorly in a loss. Here are my nominees for the Sunday King.
Andrew Van Ginkel – Van Ginkle has a knack for impactful plays. He started the first drive off with a nice sack on 2nd down. He nearly finished the Lions off with a sack on 3rd down on what should’ve been their final drive. He’s a big play maker and a leader of the defense. The defense was lost in the middle of the game, but they found a way to give the team a chance to win at the end. The sack almost was another turnover, but it bounced right to an OL.
Offense has to finish the game off after this play. 3 and out
— Craig Williams (@GA_SKOL) October 20, 2024
Justin Jefferson – You don’t need to look at stats to look at Jefferson’s performance. Just look at the catches he makes consistently. It’s a shame Darnold didn’t give him a chance on 3rd down, because I have no question he would’ve came down with it. Darnold isn’t playing well so he doesn’t have the yards we expect, but he’s still balling. Darnold was 7 for 7 targeting Jefferson until the 3rd down play. Jets had 81 yards and a TD, a great day for most.
JUSTIN JEFFERSON IS UNFAIR ️ pic.twitter.com/DUgEgKneMM
— PFF (@PFF) October 20, 2024
Josh Metellus – Metellus was everywhere as usual on Sunday. His biggest play was the punch out for the forced fumble. Pace Jr returned it for the TD to give the Vikings the lead (followed by a pathetic 2 pt attempt). Metellus is a jack of all trades and quickly becoming a master of all as well. He’s the future of this Minnesota defense. It’s fun to watch and see how Flores will utilize him next.
IVAN PACE GIVES MINNESOTA THE LEAD!
: #DETvsMIN on FOX
: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/n3PbVItTXp— NFL (@NFL) October 20, 2024
Johnathan Greenard – Greenard is constantly in the QBs face all day. He seemed to be the only consistently productive pass rusher on Sunday. He had a sack/fumble and Goff was lucky to fall on top of the ball as he was landing. The Vikings pass rush wasn’t getting home as much as it had and it showed on those Lions TD drives. However, Greenard was doing his part as he does every week.
Vikings Week 7 defense top 5 PFF grades (min. 15 snaps):
1. Greenard 92.1
2. Van Ginkel 80.3
3. Metellus 73.5
4. Griffin 70.8
5. Tillery 67.7Bottom 3
3. Pace 47.0
2. Smith 43.2
1. Bynum 34.9— Eric Thompson (@eric_j_thompson) October 21, 2024
2024 Winners:
Week 1: Sam Darnold
Week 2: Sam Darnold
Week 3: Brian Flores
Week 4: Sam Darnold
Week 5: Andrew Van Ginkel
Week 6: Bye