Tyler Batty is one of those grown-man rookies who come out of BYU. He’s 6’6”, 271 lbs., and 26 years old after serving on a Mormon mission from 2017 to 2019 and playing college football for five years.
The Minnesota Vikings picked Batty up as an undrafted free agent and placed him on injured reserve after he suffered a knee injury in training camp. However, they activated him for Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles and immediately placed him on the front lines to prevent their patented tush push.
“Uh, heavy,” Batty said when the Star Tribune asked him how it felt lying across the line of scrimmage. “Heavy. There was a lot of pressure. There was a lot of weight, but it was good.”
Minnesota didn’t stop the tush push on that play, and a false start negated the Eagles’ only other attempt at their unique quarterback sneak. The Vikings also held Saquon Barkley to 44 yards rushing, forcing Jalen Hurts to beat them with Philadelphia’s maligned passing attack.
However, they gave up 304 yards receiving and three touchdowns to DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown, mostly on explosive plays. Smith’s 79-yard reception put the Eagles up 21-9 in the third quarter. Hurts’ 45-yard completion to Brown on third-and-nine with 1:45 left in the fourth sealed the game.
“I thought, defensively, their ability to stop the run against a team that was going to come out and try to run the football on us was a real positive,” Kevin O’Connell said after the 28-22 loss, which dropped the Vikings to 3-3. “But clearly a lot of explosives, and Jalen (Hurts) and their offense made some big-time plays that kind of limited our ability there in the second half to truly try to come all the way back and win the game.”
It was the same story on offense. Carson Wentz was 26 for 42 for 313 yards passing, but threw a pick-six and an arm punt. Jordan Addison, Justin Jefferson, and T.J. Hockenson combined for 250 yards receiving, but Jordan Mason only had 57 yards on 15 carries.
The Vikings were 7 of 15 on third down and converted their lone fourth-down attempt late in the game. Still, they went one for six in the red zone, settling for five field goals, including a 59-yarder after Blake Brandel snapped the ball well over Wentz’s head.
“[We] had no issues moving the football,” O’Connell said after the game. “It was points, and that has not really been our problem. “We were able to rectify some things on third down, but a lot of self-inflicted [errors] showed up in the red zone that made it hard to put the ball on the end zone.”
Minnesota has been playing a game of whack-a-mole all season. They’ll lock down one aspect of the game, only to struggle in another area.
In Week 2, Bijan Robinson ran for 143 yards against them in a game where Michael Penix Jr. only threw for 135 yards. Wentz threw for 350 yards in Dublin, and Aaron Rodgers only had 200. Still, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat them 24-21. The Vikings limited fifth-round rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel to 190 yards passing in London, but Quinshon Judkins had 110 yards on the ground.
“We’re just hurting ourselves,” Justin Jefferson said after the Eagles game. “We just gotta execute our plays to the fullest.”
“I mean, really how the game went was us being able to execute when we got those [opportunities on third-and-long],” said Josh Metellus. “We didn’t, and that’s how you get the result like that.”
The Vikings must adjust quickly with a four-day turnaround. They have multiple questions to answer, starting with who starts in Los Angeles and who starts at center. Still, much of their success hinges on execution.
Every loss they’ve had has been a winnable game. The problem is that the Vikings solve one issue, only to have another arise. They must stop that pattern to avoid falling behind in a challenging division.
