Minnesota Vikings Game Ball: Week 9 Award

Yes, I’m way late on this, but between the shock of the loss on Sunday and some of the other less important events that took place over the course of the week, I nearly forgot all about the Game Ball for Week 9.

Since I’m a little late to this one, and we have a bit of a dearth of deserving candidates again this week, I’m going to pick someone for this go-around. Next week we’ll get back to the voting thing again. . .hopefully the purple will give us numerous different players to choose from.

For this week’s Game Ball recipient, I went with wide receiver Stefon Diggs. Diggs had a stretch where he slowed down a bit after his hot start to the season, something I’m pretty sure could be chalked up to the groin injury he was dealing with at the time. He’s apparently fully healed up now, and he had a pretty fine outing for the Vikings on Sunday, all things considered.

At first blush, the numbers for Diggs look a little strange. He caught 13 passes but managed just 80 yards on those receptions. With the Vikings going to more of a short, quick-hitting passing game following the realization that their offensive line can’t block anybody, I’d expect to see Diggs get a lot more of these shorter catches in the hopes that he can break one for a larger gain.

The 13 catches for Diggs represents the third-highest number of catches in a game in Vikings’ history. The record is actually held by a running back, as Rickey Young had 15 receptions in a 1979 contest against the New England Patriots. Cris Carter is second on the list, as he had a 14-catch game in 1994 against the Arizona Cardinals. Diggs is all by himself in third place, ahead of a raft of players that have had 12 receptions in a game.

Diggs should be a prominent part of this Minnesota offense going forward, but I thought he should be recognized for his performance this past Sunday.

Week 1 Winner: Eric Kendricks, LB
Week 2 Winner: Sam Bradford, QB
Week 3 Winner: Everson Griffen, DE
Week 4 Winner: Xavier Rhodes, CB
Week 5 Winner: Adam Thielen, WR
Week 6 Winner: None (bye week)
Week 7 Winner: Xavier Rhodes, CB
Week 8 Winner: Jeff Locke, P