Welcome, Skoloholics! As you know, PFF is an analytics site, and we will be using their data, which is all behind a pay wall, so I won’t bother with a link. Their unique grading system grades each individual player on each individual play. It aggregates the plays then assigns each player an overall game grade in each category, along with an overall grade for the game. For defense, players are given grades for overall defense, a grade for run defense, tackling, pass rushing, and coverage. As with any metric or analytics analysis, there will be flaws, so this, along with any other metric, should be used as a tool and not used as a “be-all-end-all” answer to how someone played.
What I like to do with PFF is look at their grades after a game and balance it against what we watched. It’s a great way to measure the “eye test” against the PFF metrics to see how they jive. How did the Vikings players fare in Saturday’s crazy last-second win against the Giants? I’ll list each player who played significant game time, their snap counts, and their PFF grade(s). The list will be sorted by each player’s overall defensive grade. I’ll post the defense shortly.
Vikings Defense Snap Count & PFF Grade(s)
| Player | Snaps | Pos | Def | R Def | Tackle | P Rush | Cov |
| Danielle Hunter | 57 | LOLB | 91.8 | 71.8 | 76.3 | 90.9 | 61.3 |
| Brian Asamoah | 27 | WLB | 91.3 | 52.1 | 29.9 | 66.0 | 91.7 |
| Za’Darius Smith | 54 | LOLB | 79.1 | 61.5 | 75.7 | ||
| Duke Shelley | 69 | LCB | 74.9 | 63.2 | 81.6 | 75.2 | |
| Josh Metellus | 13 | SS | 73.0 | 62.3 | 77.9 | 66.0 | 65.8 |
| Dalvin Tomlinson | 45 | DLT | 70.6 | 63.5 | 73.5 | 68.7 | 68.2 |
| Harrison Smith | 59 | FS | 70.3 | 61.9 | 78.5 | 68.3 | |
| Camryn Bynum | 69 | FS | 68.7 | 51.2 | 43.7 | 69.7 | |
| Jordan Hicks | 29 | MLB | 64.8 | 52.5 | 80.9 | 66.0 | 67.5 |
| Patrick Peterson | 69 | RCB | 61.9 | 63.3 | 57.9 | 64.6 | 60.3 |
| D.J. Wonnum | 29 | ROLB | 60.5 | 60.1 | 69.9 | 58.4 | 61.7 |
| Patrick Jones III | 12 | LOLB | 60.5 | 65.0 | 74.9 | 53.0 | 60.0 |
| Eric Kendricks | 56 | MLB | 59.9 | 49.1 | 59.6 | 71.8 | 63.1 |
| Khyiris Tonga | 26 | DLT | 56.3 | 31.1 | 66.8 | 79.4 | |
| Chandon Sullivan | 66 | SCB | 48.1 | 62.6 | 35.6 | 75.1 | 43.1 |
| Harrison Phillips | 35 | DRT | 39.1 | 53.5 | 66.8 | 50.5 |
Summary
Hunter and Smith are beasts, and are getting stronger as the season progresses, especially now that Smith seems to have moved past the injury that had held him back for a spell. Asamoah had a tremendous day, especially in coverage, and Shelley followed last week with another spectacular performance against the Giants. Kendricks continues to struggle and show his age, especially against the run, which jives with what we watched on Saturday. Tonga had a great day rushing the passer, but also struggled against the run.
What do you think, folks? Any surprises here, or does this jive with what you watched on Saturday?
They suck, cut them.
Defense is definitely a work in progress, good thing they are pretty stout in the red zone and somewhat good at creating turnovers.
We’ll see how far we’ll go with this defense in the playoffs, offense has to carry the team. If the defense can generate turnovers and the offense does a better job of getting points off of those we do have a chance to make some noise in the post season, I hope.