NFL Week #5– Seahawks vs. Vikings

Seattle will host the Minnesota Vikings on NBC’s Sunday Night Football this weekend. It will be Seattle’s fifth matchup with a non-division opponent this year. Next week they will begin playing teams inside their division.

This is a good matchup for Seattle as Minnesota is off to a poor, 1-3 start this season. Additionally, the Vikings have not had an effective passing team so far this season. Their primary strength is their running game, which Seattle will easily match with the Seahawks’ excellent run defense.

At running back for Minnesota is Dalvin Cook. He is currently the NFL’s leading rusher with four hundred twenty-four yards rushing this season. Cook is one of three running backs in the NFL to average over a hundred yards per game.

For the Seahawks, Chris Carson looked great last week, despite concerns that he could miss two weeks with an injury. Carson had two touchdowns and his most productive game as running back this season, with eighty yards rushing.

The Vikings will suit up Kirk Cousins at quarterback. He is in his third season with the Vikings and off to a rough start so far. Cousins’ completion percentage is among the lowest in the league for quarterbacks with four starts this season with a rate of sixty-two percent. Cousins also has as many interceptions as touchdowns with six. Russell Wilson came back to earth last week with only a two-touchdown performance against Miami. Wilson still managed to tie the record (with Peyton Manning) for most touchdown passes through four games with sixteen. Wilson leads the NFL in completion percentage at seventy-five percent.

Minnesota has two primary wide receiver targets. Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen have accounted for over half of the team’s receptions, seventy percent of the receiving yards, and five of the six receiving touchdowns. By comparison, the Seahawks combination of DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett account for forty-one percent of completions, over half of the team’s receiving yards, and seven of the sixteen team touchdowns.

Minnesota’s kicker Dan Bailey is 4-6 in field goals this season and has made all eight of his extra-point attempts this season. Seattle’s kicking game remains perfect with Jason Myers going 2-2 in field goals and 18-18 in extra-point attempts.

Look for Seahawk Russell Wilson to have another big game this week. The Vikings are not a good pass defense team and Seattle has a more than two options at wide receiver for them to cover. It will be interesting to see if Seattle can finally hold a team under twenty points on defense. Last season they managed that feat four times.