Despite brutal loss to Baltimore Ravens, Minnesota Vikings had positives on both sides of the football, with biggest issues being fixable
Not all hope is lost for the Minnesota Vikings.
The Minnesota Vikings suffered a tough loss to the Baltimore Ravens 27-19 on Sunday afternoon. From the roughing the passer call that left the fanbase incredibly frustrated to J.J. McCarthy having a very up and down day, it wasn’t meant to be for the Vikings.
Within the game, there were a lot of plays that went against the Vikings, with most of them being their own doing, especially the crazy amount of false starts they had. However, not all hope is lost, as there was still some good to come out of the game.
If you want cope on how the Vikings played on Sunday, I have it right here for you.
Minnesota Vikings positives coming out of Sunday’s loss
J.J. McCarthy’s issues are fixable
Even though it started out looking really well for McCarthy, it wasn’t the best performance. There were some serious issues that arose from his play across the board. He completed just 20-42 passes for one touchdown and two interceptions, while also running for 48 yards on five carries. It wasn’t the best statline of his career, but he’s had worse.
When you watch him play from start to finish, there was a lot of good with his game. He was seeing the field well for the most part and finding open receivers, but when he had to make the throws, especially on the run, McCarthy was consistently off target. Those issues can and will be fixed over time. The cope for Vikings fans is that McCarthy looks way too amped up, and that he needs to play in a more calm state. He clearly is seeing things properly for the most part, but finding a way to just play within himself and under control will do a lot of good for the Vikings.
Plus, his sack evasion was significantly better on Sunday, taking only one sack in 47 dropbacks. That is much better than the 14 sacks he took on his first 87 dropbacks.
The offensive line played well
The Vikings offensive line was put in a position where they needed to pass block the majority of the game. Per Pro Football Focus, the Vikings offensive line pass blocked on a whopping 52 snaps on Sunday afternoon, and allowed just 16 pressures (30.77%). That’s not a high pressure rate. In fact, the entire Vikings offensive line has pass blocking grades of 71.2 or higher.
Donovan Jackson allowed five pressures on the game, but it’s important to understand that pressures aren’t created equally. If you end up allowing a pressure after four seconds, it’s significantly different than allowing one in two seconds or less. The combination of less pressure with McCarthy doing a good job of evading gives the Vikings a good baseline to work with.
Defense contained Lamar Jackson
It was far from a perfect game for the Vikings, but they did a really good job on the defensive side of the football corralling Lamar Jackson throughout the game. One of the big things you need to do when playing against Jackson is play incredibly snart football. They did just that.
You can’t lose contain, nor can you overpursue when playing Jackson, because he can torch you with both his arm and legs. Brian Flores’ defense did a great job of limiting Jackson to just 176 yards through the air, and only 36 on the ground. Most importantly, Jackson only had a long rush of eight yards. When you play this good of football against one of the best players in the league, it sets you up for success.
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