Week 11 Player(s) of the Game: The Entire Team

Okay, I know this is going to sound lazy, but I promise it’s not!

But after watching Sunday’s game… the first truly complete game played by the Vikings, I can’t pick a player of the game.

The Minnesota Vikings are a team that is incredibly stacked with talented football players, pretty much from top to bottom, but so far, they’ve had trouble putting 4 quarters of play together all in the same week.  Obviously, with a 9-1 record, they’ve played well when it was necessary, but this is a team that trailed the Browns and the Lions at half time in the first two weeks of the season.  It’s a team that needed a last second TD pass to put away San Francisco.  It’s a team that gave up a ton of passing yards to a backup quarterback of a winless team when they played St Louis.  It’s a team that led the Ravens big, but almost blew it and had to rely on a missed field goal by their kicker to leave with a victory.  It’s a team that last week against the Lions, even though they won big, they looked sloppy doing it.

But this week all that changed.  This week was a solid performance from top to bottom.

That’s why I have to give the Player(s) of the Game nod to the entire team.

Here are some reasons why.

-The team led a complete offensive attack, gaining 160 yards on the ground and 271 yards through the air

-The rushing attack was a team effort with 82 yards from Adrian Peterson and 73 yards from Chester Taylor

-Brett Favre completed 88% of his passes, and Tarvaris Jackson completed 75% of his.

-Both quarterbacks threw TD passes, Favre with 4 and Jackson with 1.

-4 different receivers caught touchdowns:  Rice, Berrian, Shiancoe, and Harvin

-3 receivers had over 70 yards in receptions: Rice (89), Harvin (79), and Shiancoe (78)

-7 different receivers caught a pass

-4 receivers caught 4 or more passes:  Peterson (4), Harvin (5), Rice (6), Shiancoe (8)

-The team was a perfect 3/3 from the red zone

-The team had no turnovers

-The team was 61% on 3rd downs

-The team had 28 first downs

-The offense held onto the ball for over 42 minutes

-Longwell went 5/5 kicking

-14 defenders made tackles

-8 defenders made multiple tackles

-The Vikings had 2 sacks from non-linemen:  Henderson and Abdullah

-The defense held Seattle to 212 net yards

-The defense held Seattle to 4 rushing yards

-The defense held Seattle to 10 first downs

-The defense held Seattle to a 10% third down efficiency

-Seattle fumbled the ball 4 times against the defense (the Vikings recovered 1)

-Only 4 Seattle receivers were allowed catches.

This game was a pleasure to watch from start to finish.  I’m always proud to be a Vikings fan, but this game reminded me why.

Related posts:

1. Week 6 Player of the Game: Sidney Rice
2. Week 11 Recap: The Vikings finally fired on all cylinders
3. Week 4 Player(s) of the game: Brett Favre and Jared Allen
4. Week 10 Player of the Game: Sidney Rice (@sidneyrice)
5. WEEK 2 PLAYER OF THE GAME: Chad Greenway