Sports Illustrated’s Jonathan Jones writes that after the Minnesota’ 22-10 win over Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers, the Vikings have proven that they have the best defense in the NFL.
“Only once in his career had Newton been sacked as many times as he was in Minnesota’s 22-10 victory,” writes Jones. “And just like in the previous week against Aaron Rodgers, the Vikings’ plan to contain a scrambling quarterback worked to near perfection.”
He mentions the slow start and Everson Griffen’s upset stomach, as well as Minnesota’s poor start that led to a 10-0 deficit early in the game. But he labels Danielle Hunter’s sack in the end zone as a clear turning point in the game and Kelvin Benjamin’s lack of production as evidence of a good overall effort in the secondary.
“By the end of the game, Newton had been sacked eight times with Griffen getting the hat trick. Newton threw three interceptions, and one of those was a desperation attempt that robbed Griffen of what would have been a fourth sack,” he writes.
“Sunday’s game had shades of what Denver was able to do to Carolina in Super Bowl 50. The Broncos also held the Panthers to just 10 points, and Kelvin Benjamin was as effective in this game as he was in street clothes on the sideline in Santa Clara.”
It’s worth a read in order to get the specifics on why Minnesota’s defense was so dominant — or if you want to just want to relive the game in all its glory — but the bottom line is that the Vikings defense is looking elite to both local and national observers.
[Sports Illustrated]
