There weren’t many people paying much attention to the Minnesota Vikings heading into their Week 10 matchup with the Buffalo Bills despite them being 7-1. They had a lot of doubters that weren’t buying in, but after they picked up a victory on the road in Orchard Park, people are beginning to take notice.
Defeating the Bills is an impressive victory and albeit some luck was involved, they did enough to put themselves in that position to pull off the upset. This is a team with playmakers on both sides of the ball and they should not be overlooked.
This weekend they have another big-time matchup as they are hosting the Dallas Cowboys. It will be another opportunity for the Vikings to showcase that they are among the elite teams in the NFL this season.
It will be another stiff test for Minnesota as the Cowboys have one of the top defenses in the NFL, similar to the Bills. They were able to find success in that matchup and some people believe it is time to give quarterback Kirk Cousins some recognition for the job that he is doing.
ESPN analyst and former NFL linebacker Bart Scott believes that Cousins should be in the MVP consideration with how he is playing this season. He stated his case on a recent episode of Get Up on ESPN.
“[He] is playing, I believe at an MVP-caliber level, and we have to start giving him credit and stop saying he’s solar-powered.”
That is certainly a bold statement for Scott to make. Cousins is having a strong season, completing 64.1 percent of his passes for 2,356 yards and 14 touchdowns and eight interceptions. The Vikings are winning this year, which is the ultimate stat, but Cousins’ production isn’t near the level of previous seasons.
In the last two seasons, Cousins had much better numbers, completing passes at a higher percentage and for more yardage and touchdowns. He has already surpassed last season’s number of interceptions as well, as he threw seven all of last season and has eight in nine games.
While the praise is warranted, if anyone is going to get the MVP award on the Vikings’ offense it should be wide receiver, Justin Jefferson. He is on a record-setting pace this season and without him, it is hard to imagine what Cousins and the Vikings’ offense would look like.
