NFL
By Steve Rogers
The Minnesota Vikings are fresh and rested as they come off their bye week. Getting a week off to re-group and recuperate. Finally healthy and back on the active roster is Justin “Jettas” Jefferson. Jefferson has missed the last seven games with a hamstring injury. He is 100% and ready to go which only helps the Viking’s offense by adding the best wide receiver in the game back into the mix. Speaking of mixing the bye week was mixed around town and all over social media on who Kevin O’Connell should start at quarterback. After looking awful under the primetime lights Joshua the “Passtronuat” Dobbs starting job as the Vikings quarterback was being questioned. In the end, the Vikings are going to go with Dobbs one more time this Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders.
What will the Vikings offense look like with its “New” fully healthy look? Can the Passtronuat and Jettas take off right away and have an instant connection? Will all the coverage being focused on Jefferso open up more scrambling opportunities for Dobbs? Sunday will be interesting for sure. Jefferson is chomping at the bit to get back out and play and make plays. In the end, he just wants to win. Jefferson is so good he doesn’t just make the Vikings better he makes the whole NFL better. Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson has been battling not just playing through a rib injury over the last few weeks.
The week off to rest up was huge for him. Even with the injury, he took over as the lead go-to target and now leads the team in receptions with 80 and receiving yards with 786. The combination of Alexander Mattison and second-year running back Ty Chandler has been much more effective over the last few weeks along with Dobbs scrambling suddenly opposing defenses have to respect the run game a little more now.
Back from the bye with @JJettas2 back in the lineup. #Skol pic.twitter.com/OFjolmARfB
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) December 8, 2023
On the other side let’s give some props or “Flowers” to defensive coordinator Brian Flores. Flores has taken this mostly the same roster from last year that was at the bottom of the league defensively and now is a top-ten unit. He has this unit fired up and excited to play football every game. He’s got long-time veteran safety Harrison Smith playing like a younger version of himself.
Vikings undrafted free agent linebacker Ivan Pace Jr is not just on the roster he’s becoming a starter and making plays all over. Vikings cornerback Cam Bynum is having the best year of his career. Vikings safety Josh Metellus is looking at getting voted into his first Pro Bowl. Defensive end Danielle Hunter is having a career year himself as he is flirting with being on pace to break the single-season sack record. Hunter isn’t just wreaking havoc on quarterbacks, he also leads the league in tackles for a loss. Sorry running backs you aren’t going anywhere either. Hunter also leads the league in missed tackle rate at a mere 2%. Hunter is working on earning himself a Defensive Player of the Year award. All this with Flores in a single offseason, guess he’s a pretty good defensive mind maybe genius.?.
Final Take
The Vikings are 2.5-point favorites going on the road to Vegas. Apparently, the Vikings fan base will be there as well with over a reported 54% of ticket sales going to Vikings fans. The Vikings need this game and want to get back to winning with almost everyone healthy. The Vikings want to shake off the bad loss to the Bears. This might just be a statement game for the December push to the playoffs. My prediction final score will be Vikings 31-16.
