Vikings vs Colts combined 11 personnel offense
After a rough five days following their return to action after the buy the Vikings, now 5-2, looked to bounce back with a victory against the Indianapolis Colts. A lot can change in a week of Football the Colts have benched last year’s first round pick Anthony Richardson in favour of veteran Joe Flacco and the Vikings have a new starting left tackle on the roster following the season ending injury of Christian Darrisaw.
However, if you had to combine them to make the best starting 11 personnel offense (1 running back, 3 wide receivers, and 1 tight end) which players would make the team?
QB – Sam Darnold MIN
It’s time! For the first time this season Sam Darnold is the starting quarterback in these combined XI’s. Darnold is currently has a quarterback rating of 107.2 a completion percentage of 67.2% and is forecast by ESPN to finish the season with a TD:INT ratio of 34:12… all crushing his a pervious career highs. Believe in Sam Darnold!
RB – Jonathan Taylor IND
Taylor returned to action last weekend with a bang, over 100 yards for the third time in five games and a touchdown. Taylor has missed 3 games this season but is still responsible for 25% of the Colts touchdowns this season. There isn’t running back in the AFC who I think is as important to their team as Jonathan Taylor is to the Indianapolis Colts.
WR1 – Justin Jefferson MIN
The best in the league, who against the LA Rams, moved into the top five of all time receiving yard leaders the Minnesota Vikings. He’s 137 yards behind Adam Thielen, will he catch him against the Colts? Oh, and if you need any more convincing that Justin Jefferson is the best in the league, he is now the youngest player to be named to the Madden 99 club twice!
WR2 – Josh Downs IND
Downs has brought in 68% of his targets this season which is impressive considering one of his quarterbacks this season has been wildly inaccurate. Unfortunately for us Vikings fans, the Colts are playing their accurate QB “going forward”. Downs leads his team in receiving touchdowns (tied with 3), yards after the catch (164), and receiving yards per game.
WR3 – Jordan Addison MIN
What do you do with Jordan Addison? Berated for not getting open despite having great separation numbers against the Rams. Criticised for a cryptic post which was actually just him promoting his own brand FREE3. If Addison does nothing wrong he still isn’t getting targeted, KOC needs to draw up some quick plays to him to rebuild that trust with Sam Darnold that’s been non-existent since week 4. Then we will get the Addison we all know back.
TE – TJ Hockenson MIN
HE’S BACK… HE’S ACTUALLY BACK! Tonight TJ Hockenson will play and I am not alone in being delighted about this. The weapon this team has been crying out for, Hockenson will provide a steady target over the middle that will bring consistency to a very boom or bust offense. You can’t stop the Hock!
LT – Cam Robinson MIN
With Darrisaw out for the season and Colts starting left tackle Bernhard Raimann also out for Sunday night’s game, the honour of being the left tackle of this combined XI falls to a man who started this week as a Jacksonville Jaguar. Kwesi moved fast to acquire the veteran lineman in a trade, and future conditional day 3 picks is a price nobody should quarrel with to acquire the 36th out of 122 ranked tackles by PFF.
LG – Quenton Nelson IND
Nelson is quite frankly a beast! When he came into the league in 2018 he was pancaking defensive linemen for fun and transformed the interior of the Colts offensive line. Nelson will likely spend his entire career in Indianapolis because you don’t let good offensive linemen like this leave.
C – Ryan Kelly IND
Do you want a center than can block the pass or block for the run. Two centres who’s skillsets this year have been polar opposites of each other. Kelly has struggled with the run game but not as much as Bradbury has struggled with pass blocking and that’s why I’ve gone for the 9-year man out of Alabama
RG – Dalton Risner MIN
The Colts right guard has struggled, the Vikings starting right guard from the first 7 games of the season has been worse… Step up Dalton Risner! A cult favourite in within the Fan Club, Risner has now been elevated from IR and is “in the conversation” to play Sunday. The only reason the Vikings may not start #66 is wanting to keep as many of the same linemen starting in the wake of Darrisaw’s injury.
RT – Brian O’Neill MIN
With Darrisaw out for the season the Vikings need stability and consistency from the opposite end of the line. O’Neill gives you that, he’s consistently good. It’s time for O’Neill, a team captain, to step up to yet another level and I have every bit of confidence that he will do exactly that.
What do you think of my starting offense? Would you change anything?
