The Minnesota Vikings pulled off a third straight victory on Sunday. They welcomed a few familiar faces to U.S. Bank Stadium, then sent the Houston Texans home with a loss. All phases of the game looked sharp, and a defender took home weekly honors.
Jonathan Greenard wins DPOW for Minnesota Vikings
This offseason the Minnesota Vikings allowed Danielle Hunter to go find his payday elsewhere. Despite putting up a career-high sack total, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah saw the edge rusher as an aging commodity that is often injured. That led to Minnesota signing Jonathan Greenard, who happened to swap teams with Hunter. His first huge impact for the Vikings came against his former team as well.
JG!!! 😤@jongreenard7 has been named NFC Defensive Player of the Week.
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 25, 2024
📰: https://t.co/FJ5bIfnrQO pic.twitter.com/tOxMQeNPEo
When the Texans came to town on Sunday, Greenard was ready to go and he showed up all over the box score. The Vikings edge rusher brought down opposing quarterback C.J. Stroud a whopping three times. He finished with three quarterback hits and three tackles for loss as well.
Related: Stephen A. Smith Has Finally Seen the Minnesota Vikings Light
That sort of production more than warrants NFL Defensive Player of the Week honors. It isn’t lost on Greenard how big of a game he had, and how much fun he had doing it.
“To actually get a true sack here and feel the crowd noise – it was awesome.”
Greenard on his Texans game (Vikings.com)
The MIN D is absolutely unhinged.
— Josh Cohen (@JCohen_NFL) September 23, 2024
The scheme is batshit crazy, and they're also getting awesome individual efforts.
Last week Blake Cashman looked like the best player on the field. This week, Jonathan Greenard went off.
Flores has these guys rolling. pic.twitter.com/uCM2iLBrsa
With his NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors in tow, Greenard became the 37th player to win a conference award under head coach Kevin O’Connell. The Minnesota leader knows he has a star in the making as well, and had high praise for his start to the season.
“There was always the get-off. Just the explosiveness of his ability to get off the ball. Then speed, power, athleticism as a rusher really fits with how we want to play with the different variations of pressures. The sacks are going to come when you have the pressure rate that he’s had through the first two games. So not surprised, but love, love what J.G. is doing.”
Kevin O’Connell on Jonathan Greenard (Vikings.com)
The more that the Minnesota Vikings can get from their pass rush, the less they will have to rely on the secondary. The secondary has seen a massive improvement in its own right, and that helps the pass rush to get home. Brian Flores has each unit of his defense working in sync.
Related: The Minnesota Vikings MVP Nobody is Talking About
Minnesota will face a new test on Sunday against Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers. It sounds like the quarterback will go at less than 100%, and that should be music to the ears of Greenard and his teammates.