2017 Week 5 Monday Night Game Ball

Casually watching the Monday Night Game last night in a random restaurant while I ate dinner and used most of my concentration of the Yankee-Indian Playoff Game that was an elimination game for the Yanks. Every time I glanced over it seemed like Sam Bradford was throwing a terrible pass, followed by a casual camera pan over to Case Keenum.

Keenum would get into the game and help lead the Vikings to a 20-17 road win against the rookie lead Mitchell Trubisky. Trubisky in his NFL debut in Prime-Time went 12/25 for 128 yards, throwing a touchdown pass, and getting picked off once. Bradford was taken out because of apparent wear and tear to the knee injury he suffered in Week 1. What the Vikings will do for their man under center will depend on if Bradford can feel healthy enough to participate in full practices. The Vikings remain one-game behind the Packers in the NFC North, and if they get anything out of the quarterback position with the weapons they have on both sides of the ball, we have seen what they can do in that Week 1 Monday Night Football performance against the Saints.

This Vikings team can be one of the most dominate teams in the league if they play to the best of their collective ability. I honestly think that the Vikings at the best of their ability can beat the Packers that just beat the Cowboys (the NFC East winner, a 13-win team last season, and has the OROY for a year ago). Defense wins championships and the Vikings have one of the best defenses in the NFL when they are all healthy.

Jumping off that spring board, I saw something was a 58-yard touchdown run, terrible throws by Bradford, Stefon Diggs only have one catch, and a defense that was enticing a rookie quarterback. My Monday Night Game Ball goes to the player that had the ball in his hands during that 58-yard touchdown run, Minnesota Vikings Running Back, Jerick McKinnon. McKinnon has been the bridge from Adrian Peterson to their now injured running back Dalvin Cook. McKinnon has shown talent in spurts throughout his time in Minnesota and if he can be half of what Cook or Peterson have been over the years for the Vikings—that will open up the offense regardless who is under center because of the weapons they have.

Not only did McKinnon have a 58-yard run to help secure the road win for the Vikings, he had 95 yards on 16 attempts and that touchdown, but he led the Vikings in receptions and receiving yards with 6 catches for another 51 yards. The more games that the Vikings can win when they rely on the running game and defense, the better off they will be. It’s like the Jacksonville Jaguars road map to making noise in the playoffs this year. It truly is just crazy how many teams need this road map to get into the playoffs in a league that is set up for teams to pass the ball.


This game was no way the best product that the Monday Night Football vehicle has produced this season, and neither was the Thursday Night game this past week in Tampa Bay, but this year in football is just insane, and hopefully will just be a hiccup in the overall history of the NFL, because I don’t know if I can route for a sport that has Blake Bortles competing for a Super Bowl. 

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