Minnesota Vikings: Studs and duds from Week 5 vs. Seahawks

Stud: Vikings running game

Overall, one of the biggest studs that took place for the purple and gold throughout the contest on Sunday night in Seattle was the fact that the running game as a whole unit was solid and set the tone for the rest of the offense.

When the running game is explosive like it was in Week 5, the passing attack opens up even more and this Vikings team looks very different than when they don’t focus on the run game or aren’t having success in gaining yards on the ground.

Before Dalvin Cook went out with an injury early in the third quarter, he was having a nice performance before exiting for the remainder of the game with a groin injury. While Cook was out, however, Alexander Mattison and Mike Boone picked up the pace and that duo stepped in nicely to fill the void left by Cook on offense.

Overall as a unit, Minnesota finished with 201 rushing yards and one touchdown on 41 carries. Cook finished with 17 carries for 65 yards and one touchdown, followed by Mattison with a team-best 20 rush attempts for 112 yards and Boon with two carries for 19 yards.

The Vikings will need to continue to focus on the ground game moving forward because that unit can be dangerous like what was on display this weekend.

Dud: Late-game execution

This is an obvious dud occurrence, but the fact that Minnesota didn’t have good late-game execution was the biggest negative that everyone can take away from this contest.

For most of the game, you felt like the Vikings had control of the game and were out-playing the Seahawks on both sides of the ball.

After a strong first half, Seattle went off for 21 points in the third quarter to retake the lead, while pulling away late in the game after a 90-plus yard drive down the field to come from behind.

For Minnesota, it did step up late in the game to take a fourth-quarter lead, but the execution after that was concerning. First, the Vikings elected to not kick the field goal down the stretch and go for it on fourth down to try and seal the game but was ultimately stopped short of the first down.

Then, Seattle answered that by driving the ball down the field thanks to multiple misplayed defensive plays by Minnesota cornerbacks that allowed the Seahawks to grab the lead with 15 seconds left.