Tag: Stefon Diggs

Vikings WR Stefon Diggs just 3 yards away from 1,000 on season

Remember when Stefon Diggs was unhappy with his role with the Vikings offense?

Remember when Stefon Diggs was unhappy with his role with the Vikings offense?

How times have changed.

After catching six passes for 92 yards on Sunday against the Lions, the receiver is just three yards away from his second-straight 1,000-yard season.

On the season, Diggs has 56 catches for 997 yards and five touchdowns. With Adam Thielen’s hamstring injury keeping him out for a huge chunk of the season, Diggs has been relied upon a lot from this Vikings offense. And even when he’s not targeted, he’s a huge threat for this team which makes the job of Kirk Cousins and Dalvin Cook easier.

Diggs has been great down the field, averaging a career-high 12.2 yards per target. That’s nearly double his mark of 6.9 last season.

After finishing with 1,021 yards last season, it’s almost a certainty that Diggs will set a new career-high for yards with three games remaining.

Diggs will likely hit the 1,000-yard mark next week against the Chargers in Los Angeles, a team Diggs has never faced off against before.

Going into Week 14, Diggs ranked 13th in the league in receiving yards.

Vikings defense continues to struggle in loss to Seahawks

The Vikings defense allowed 444 total yards, and 218 of those yards came from the Seahawks run game. 

The Minnesota Vikings lost their fourth game of the season after nearly completing a comeback against the Seattle Seahawks. In one of the hardest atmospheres to play in in the entire NFL, the Vikings ended up losing 37-30. 

Going into halftime, the Vikings had all of the momentum. After a rough third quarter, the Vikings tried to claw back into the fight but ended up falling short. A valid effort led by Kirk Cousins and Kevin Stefanski fell short due to mistakes and poor play of Mike Zimmer’s defense. 

The tables have officially turned after the Monday Night Football loss, and the defense is no longer the strong suit for the Vikings. The Vikings defense allowed 444 total yards, and 218 of those yards came from the Seahawks run game. 

Not only did the Vikings front seven get gashed by Seattle’s rushing attack, but a few key mistakes in the secondary combined for the perfect storm. Cornerback Xavier Rhodes allowed a game-changing touchdown reception to David Moore thinking he had coverage over the top. It wasn’t a good night for the Vikings highest paid corner. 

Not only has Rhodes regressed in coverage, but he also leads the Vikings in penalties with eight total accepted penalties in 2019. The 2017 version of the Vikings cornerback is nowhere to be found, and he also had a crucial unnecessary roughness penalty in the back half of the game on Monday night. 

The secondary issues have been a problem all season for the Vikings, but even more so in the last three games. Over the last three games, the Vikings are allowing teams on average to throw for just under 300 yards.

The scary part about that stat is the fact that the Vikings just allowed more than 200 yards on the ground against Seattle. The Seahawks run game is one of the best in the NFL, but the Vikings are known for being great run stoppers nonetheless. If teams are able to continue to expose the Vikings defense both through the air and on the ground, it could be an ugly finish to the Vikings season. 

The national media is already putting up story lines of Kirk Cousins being 0-8 on Monday Night Football, and he did have one turnover. However, that turnover bounced off the hands of Stefon Diggs, similar to his last interception that happened nearly two months ago. 

This loss should not be put on Cousins. Instead, he is the reason the Vikings were able to get back into the game. He is playing MVP worthy football, and is a huge reason the Vikings are still four games above .500. 

Even with the one turnover and multiple penalties, this loss falls on the hands of Zimmer’s defense. The offense has shown how much fight it has in the last two weeks, it just wasn’t enough to pull of a win in Seattle. 

It will be critical down the stretch for the Vikings to find some sort of balance between their offense and defense in the final quarter of the season and potentially into the playoffs. With how well the offense has performed since the loss in Chicago, the Vikings could make a run in the playoffs if the defense can get back on track. 

Vikings WR Adam Thielen ruled out against Seahawks on Monday

The Minnesota Vikings will face the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football without star receiver Adam Thielen, who has been ruled out.

The Seattle Seahawks secondary caught a break on Sunday, with the news that Minnesota Vikings star receiver Adam Thielen (hamstring) will not play on Monday night.

Thielen has not played since Week 9 against the Chiefs, a game he left after just seven snaps.

Still, the speedy receiver has hauled in 27 receptions for 391 yards and six touchdowns in what has only really amounted to six games.

Most expected he’d return in time to face Seattle on Monday night, including Seahawks coach Pete Carroll – who said, “I’ll be really surprised if he doesn’t make it back for Monday night.”

“He’s a great player,” Carroll continued. “Makes the plays. Hard to cover. Can beat you on the one on ones. More than that, he makes big plays – really timely, clutch. He just comes through. If he’s on my team, I say you can’t replace that guy. He is what he is. They have Stefon Diggs. He’s a terrific football player and he’s really picked up the slack and all that, but it’s hard to replace those guys.”

The Vikings will rely heavily on Diggs as well as running back Dalvin Cook and a pair of strong tight ends in veteran Kyle Rudolph and Irv Smith, Jr.

However, not getting Thielen back will only make things tougher for Kirk Cousins and the rest of the Minnesota offense, who is meeting a Seattle defense that has been red-hot these past few weeks.

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Seahawks Week 13 preview and prediction: Minnesota at Seattle

Who will come out on top Monday night of Week 13 as the Seattle Seahawks host the Minnesota Vikings in primetime? Our preview and prediction.

Only eight days removed from grinding out a defensive win over the Eagles in Philadelphia, the Seahawks won’t get much of a reprieve in Week 13. The late-season gauntlet for Seattle continues with a home duel against the Minnesota Vikings.

Minnesota will enter Seattle with a nearly identical situation as the Seahawks. The Vikings are 8-3 and sitting in a wild card spot barely behind their division rivals in the Packers while the Seahawks are 9-2 and just behind their primary rivals, the 49ers.

A win on Monday night is crucial for both teams for two different reasons. First and foremost, it is critical in the wild card standings. The Vikings have a chance to leapfrog the Seahawks to the No. 5 seed with a win, while Seattle can tighten up its grip on the No. 5 seed by taking care of business at home.

The second reason has to do with divisional standings. Division titles are still very much within grasp of both teams, with the NFC North title actually being a little closer for the Vikings. Green Bay and Minnesota share identical 8-3 records, with the Packers only holding on with a head-to-head tiebreaker. Meanwhile, the Seahawks are desperate to keep pace with a Niners team hellbent on running away with it.

The Vikings boast one of the most talented rosters in all of football and the Seahawks are one of the hottest teams in the league. It certainly looks like Monday night is shaping into must-watch television this week.

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Stefon Diggs is investigating Lizzo’s mysterious Vikings reference on ‘Truth Hurts’

Who is the “new man on the Minnesota Vikings”?

It’s a question that’s on everyone’s minds after listening to Lizzo’s hit, Truth Hurts.

Who IS the “new man on the Minnesota Vikings”?

That’s also something Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs is wondering. And he says he’s not the anonymous player mentioned by the singer.

On Thursday, Diggs was asked by Sports Illustrated if he knows who the player is and he responded, “Nobody has come forth and said anything. … I’ve asked my teammates, nobody has said anything. But we’re going to get to the bottom of it, I promise.”

Stefon Diggs is on the case!! But maybe we’ve already found out some info about the player?

First, here’s the moment with SI Now:

As BET.com pointed out, Lizzo has confirmed a Viking was in her DMs and she went out a date with him (it’s also worth noting the song was released in 2017, so it could be a Viking who’s no longer with the team). And in May, the singer performed in her native Detroit and, per the Free Press, this happened:

With her 2017 single “Truth Hurts” now bounding onto the charts thanks to the Netflix movie “Someone Great,” the singer offered up a tidbit about the “boy problems” referenced on the track.

“Y’all want to know a secret?” she told the Saint Andrew’s crowd. “The person I wrote that song about is from Detroit.”

Now, that could mean the Viking is a Detroit native … but what if the song is about two men, one of whom is the new one who played for the Vikings? And maybe the Detroit guy isn’t him?

The mystery continues … but maybe Diggs will figure it out.

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Vikings WR Stefon Diggs is on pace for a career-high in yards

There was a time when Vikings wide Stefon Diggs was an unhappy guy with Minnesota’s offense. 

There was a time when Vikings wide Stefon Diggs was an unhappy guy with Minnesota’s offense.

That mood has shifted with Diggs’ performances lately and with the team winning six of its last seven games.

On the season, Diggs has 46 catches for 880 yards and five touchdowns. That puts him on pace for 66 catches for a career-high 1,280 yards and seven touchdowns.

After finishing with five catches for 121 yards and a touchdown in Sunday’s comeback win over the Broncos, Diggs already has five 100-yard games this season with five games remaining.

Diggs has been a boom or bust player for the Vikings this season. If he hasn’t had 100 or more yards, he hasn’t eclipsed the 50-yard mark once. But just having Diggs as a threat, especially with Adam Thielen hurt, is big for this Vikings team.

Per Pro Football Focus, Diggs has a 78.7 player grade, a mark that rnaks 17th in the league.