Minnesota Vikings: Studs and duds vs. Lions in Week 7
Stud: Vikings tight ends
The first pair of studs for the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday afternoon was the Vikings tight end duo of Kyle Rudolph and Irv Smith Jr. With Adam Thielen leaving the game in the first quarter with a hamstring injury in the contest, that forced Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota offense to look elsewhere when it comes to targets within the passing game.
That resulted in the tight end pairing of Rudolph and Smith Jr. having their best performances of the season while pacing the Vikings to a victory on the road.
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Rudolph finished with four catches and 43 yards on five targets, grabbing his first touchdown reception of the season in the fourth quarter that pushed Minnesota’s lead up to 11 points late in the contest at Ford Field. The rookie Smith Jr. finished the game with five receptions for a total of 60 yards on six overall targets.
It was encouraging seeing the two tight ends finally have a breakout game and provide Minnesota with another set of targets moving forward this year.
Dud: Pass defense
Throughout the course of the game, Matthew Stafford and company were able to basically operate comfortably within the passing game, resulting in running up the score early on in the contest. Minnesota’s defense was able to settle in to some extent and ultimately did enough to keep Detroit off the scoreboard long enough to come away with the big road victory.
Most notably, the Vikings struggled in giving up the big plays within the Lions passing attack, especially when it came to Marvin Jones Jr. and his four-touchdown performance on the outside of the field for Detroit. The pass defense is something this dominant Minnesota defense is going to have to focus on cleaning up advancing into Week 8 of the regular season this week.