Four Vikings Takeaways From TNF, Including Jordan Addison's Ascension

The Vikings lost another winnable game on Thursday night, falling to 0-2 largely because they continue to struggle to take care of the football. With four fumbles against the Eagles, they now trail 7 to 1 in turnover margin after a pair of games that they somehow managed to lose by just nine total points.

Turnovers are the single biggest story for this Vikings team, but a bunch of interesting things happened during Thursday's game in Philadelphia. Let's set the fumbles aside for a moment and dive into four other takeaways (no pun intended) from another tough loss for Minnesota.

Addison might be WR2 soon

Vikings rookie wide receiver Jordan Addison is the real deal. This is what offensive coordinator Wes Phillips had to say about the 21-year-old earlier this week after he caught a 39-yard touchdown pass in his NFL debut:

"I saw a pro receiver. It didn't surprise me. I saw what I've seen really since he's been here. It's not too big for him. He's comfortable playing football in this league. ... I think his role will expand."

Sure enough, Addison went from playing 56 percent of the snaps in the opener to playing 69 percent of the snaps against the Eagles. And for the second straight game, he showed up in a big way, this time catching a 62-yard touchdown to give the Vikings some life in the third quarter. Addison got open downfield and was able to spin out of a tackle to get in the end zone.

"If you watch his tape from college, he’s catching post routes for Pitt, he’s catching post routes for USC, he’s good at it," Kirk Cousins said. "When he first got here I told him I watched his tape and that was what I saw and he said, 'That’s my favorite route.' He’s a very natural receiver and that’s going to show up in the way he runs routes, the way he catches the football, and the way he, after the catch, makes plays."

Addison is trending up in a big way. The Vikings' current No. 2 wide receiver, K.J. Osborn, seems to be heading in the opposite direction; he caught a wide-open touchdown in the fourth quarter but also dropped two passes against the Eagles. It was another disappointing game for Osborn, who was unable to pull in a contested ball on Cousins' interception against the Buccaneers.

Osborn is going to remain a big part of the Vikings' offense all season because of his run-blocking and general reliability (he didn't have a single drop in 2022). But would it surprise anyone if Addison plays more snaps than Osborn in Week 3? It seems like things are headed in that direction sooner rather than later.

Jordan Addison this season:

🟣 7 catches
🟣 133 yards
🟣 2 TDs
🟣 145.1 rating when targeted pic.twitter.com/GYtaCwct9R
— PFF (@PFF) September 15, 2023

Cousins deserves his flowers

Some will try to write it off because there was "garbage time" involved, but Cousins genuinely played one of his more impressive games in a Vikings uniform on Thursday night. Despite being pressured on 37 percent of his dropbacks, he completed 31 of 44 passes for 364 yards and four touchdowns with no picks. Three of those incompletions were drops.

Man, Cousins was lights out last night. pic.twitter.com/LSsHVInuTh
— Eric Thompson (@eric_j_thompson) September 15, 2023

Yes, Cousins lost a fumble, bringing his total to four turnovers in two games. But he only deserved partial blame for the three against the Buccaneers and he definitely doesn't deserve blame for being blindsided by Josh Sweat's strip-sack.

Playing behind an offensive line missing two starters, Cousins was under major duress against the Eagles' dominant defensive line — and still had a huge day. He navigated the pocket well, like when he stepped up on the deep touchdown pass to Addison. He was decisive with the football, which is the best way to counter pressure.

As usual, his toughness and accuracy were on full display.

“I thought just his decision making, his ability to see the field," Kevin O'Connell said. "I mean, there were some unique coverages to Justin (Jefferson) going on out there and he was able to assess and use some of those play-pass snaps to be aggressive with his arm when we could protect him a little bit. He was standing in there. I do know this: Kirk Cousins played absolutely well enough for us to win the football game."

If Cousins can maintain this level of play moving forward, the Vikings are going to start winning some football games soon.

Pace shines again

How in the world did Ivan Pace Jr. go undrafted?

The undersized All-American linebacker out of Cincinnati was one of the best stories of Vikings training camp, not only earning a roster spot but winning a starting job on Brian Flores' defense. He consistently flashed during practice and looked the part during preseason action.

Everything that was impressive about Pace this summer has carried over to regular season action. He had a strong debut and was even better in Thursday's game against a loaded Eagles offense, recording three pressures and half a sack against Jalen Hurts. Through two games, Pace has an 85.2 PFF grade, including a 91.9 grade on 15 snaps as a pass rusher.

There will be ups and downs during his rookie season, but Pace looks like an absolute steal as an undrafted free agent. His explosiveness, strength, and body control are extremely impressive traits; he's able to avoid and shed blocks as he flies to the football. Pace's range in coverage and ability as a blitzer make him a phenomenal fit in Flores' scheme. Who cares if he's only 230 pounds?

Ivan Pace Jr. is like a real life Super Smash Bros character or something. How do you move like this? pic.twitter.com/6BpUMvsFOy
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) September 15, 2023

The run game is an issue on both sides

Outside of turnovers, the main reason the Vikings lost on Thursday night was their inability to run the football effectively on offense or stop the run on defense. The Eagles won the rushing yards battle by a gigantic margin, 259 to 28.

The Vikings couldn't run the ball in Week 1, either. It's hard to know how much of this is on Alexander Mattison and how much falls on blocking and/or scheme, but Minnesota's new feature back has 62 yards on 19 carries (3.3 YPC) in two games. That's not what the Vikings were hoping to see. The lack of any sort of run game efficiency has forced the Vikings to become one-dimensional and put a lot of pressure on Cousins' shoulders.

"We've gotta do a better job," O'Connell said. "We’ve gotta do a better job of coaching it. It’s on me. We’ve gotta go back to work and find ways to run the football. Whatever personnel grouping we feel like gives us an advantage. We’ve gotta get more connectedness up front. We’ve gotta be able to attack certain fronts when looks present themselves, and just continue to hunt to be efficient, because it’s not a good formula (right now). Especially when you’re putting the ball on the ground, it’s not a good formula to play like that when, as confident as I am in our pass game, it’s just not going to sustain."

Defensively, the Vikings couldn't get stop the run in Philadelphia, which meant they couldn't get off the field at important times. The Eagles ran the ball on 13 of 16 plays when they drove 75 yards to take a 10-7 lead in the second quarter. In the fourth, they used the run game to kill the clock and restore their 13-point lead, effectively sealing the victory. D'Andre Swift finished the night with 28 carries for 175 yards and a touchdown.

The Vikings need their defensive tackle room (Harrison Phillips, Dean Lowry, Khyiris Tonga, and Jonathan Bullard) to play better. They need their outside linebackers to set strong edges and their ILBs and safeties to flow to the ball. Then again, they also might just need the offense to stop coughing up the football and putting them back on the field.

"We just left them on the field way too much," O'Connell said.

It all comes back to those pesky turnovers, doesn't it?

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