FanPost

Stock Market Report 2.0 Vikings-Lions

Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

Well, the Vikes beat the Lions in a game that is best remembered for Justin Jefferson breaking the rookie record for receiving yards. Today's game was only important for draft pick consideration and entertainment. Thanks to some help from the refs the Lions pulled off a higher draft pick but the game was entertaining from start to finish. Anyway lets kick this off!

Blue Chip Stocks:

Justin Jefferson: No surprise here, Jefferson sets a new rookie record with 1400 receiving yards on the year. In addition to breaking Randy Moss's Vikings record Jefferson has put himself in strong position for OROY honors. Jefferson made some excellent catches today and was a very bright spot on the Vikings offense.

Alexander Mattison: Mattison once again earned his "I" today. He had an excellent 4th down conversion attempt where he took a short pass 28 yards to the house, he also had 95 yds rushing, a rushing TD, and 50 yds through the air. This was against a very bad Lions defense but Mattison filled in very well for Dalvin Cook.

Hercules Mata'afa: The Vikings defense was not great again today but Herc had the Vikings 1st sack since the Bears game in Minnesota! Running straight up the middle like the Vikings oline was defending Stafford Herc got a nice sack and also racked up a TFL.

Kirk Cousins: The first 3 plays looked like bad Kirk was making another appearance to give the Vikes a chance at a top 10 draft pick, but after a shaky start Cousins lit up the Lions. Kirk threw for 404 yards on the day and 3 TDS while running in a 4th. He also had 2 potential picks dropped but was crisp in the 2 minute drill to end the half.

Chad Beebe: Beebe was on the receiving end of a 40yd TD pass at the end of the 1st half to put the Vikings ahead going into halftime. Beebe made a great catch and seeing his opportunity, blew past a few Lions on his way to the endzone. He also was solid on punt return duties.

Harrison Smith: Harrison caught a beautiful pass from Matt Stafford and was one of the better Vikings defenders out there today. In a game that was a shoot out Harrison and Herc provided a few defensive bright spots.

Solid Investments:

Adam Thielen: Thielen had a solid game today, overshadowed by Jefferson's record setting day, Thielen had some big catches for chunk yards.

CJ Ham: Ham stood out today too. Getting a nice 14 yard catch on the Vikings opening drive as Kirk was getting swarmed and later catching a pass 5 yds out and running another 25 yds before being taken out of bounds. Ham has had some struggles this year but today was a good day.

Eric Wilson: Wilson made some good plays in the running game today and led the Vikings in TFL, at 2 but still Wilson has played his way into a starting role and decent contract next year.

Penny Stocks:

Jeff Gladney: Gladney had a decent game making a few tackles and breaking up a pass. Both Gladney and Dantzler have improved all season and with a full offseason of work should continue to improve.

DJ Wonnum: Wonnum had an alright day as well, getting in on a few tackles and playing with energy.

Ezra Cleveland: The Vikings interior line struggled again today but Ezra was still serviceable. The Right side of the offensive line has been better since he stepped into the guard role.

Junk Bonds:

Dakota Dozier: The Vikings interior Oline is the main issue and Dozier is the biggest reason. Dozier was bad again today. Collecting a holding penalty on the first drive while also tripping up Cousins as he was trying to step up in the pocket. Left guard is a huge issue for the Vikings oline and if Ezra is the left tackle of the future the Vikes will need 2 starting guards.

Anthony Harris: Harris was really hard to watch today. He dropped a pick that hit him in the hands and then got burned by Marvin Jones on a long TD pass. Some of the struggles at safety have come because the Vikes are trying to protect the rookie CBs but Harris like Harrison has not been as good this year.

The Interior Dline: Other than a sack by Herc and some solid effort by the rookies, the Vikings Dline was just bad again today. Stafford had all day to throw and our DTs did not record a single tackle. Hopefully the return of Michael Pierce next season will help with that.

Dan Bailey: Another missed XP and FG for Bailey. Vikings kicker problems continue after a brief respite and its fair to wonder if the Vikings move on from Dan Bailey after the season.

Marwan Maalouf: The Vikings special teams unit issues continued today, giving up some big returns and missing kicks. While Zimmer is obviously sticking around next year, its time for a new Special Teams coach.

Buy/Sell

Buy Today was fun: Even though there was nothing to really play for today's game was exciting and fun to watch. In a season where the Vikings have been up and down today's game was a perfect summary, early offensive struggles and bad defense but still competitive.

Sell losing out on draft position: A win is always fun but there was some truth to folks saying a higher draft pick would have been better in the long run. The Vikes are still in a position to move up if they want but a loss might have made it easier.

Buy the win: The Vikes pulled out a win today despite doing several Vikings things that kept the Lions in range. They were finally able to execute a 4th down conversion inside of 2 minutes to seal the game after failing miserably in Seattle on the same tactic.

Sell this team could hang with the top dogs: While the Vikes put up points today and defeated the Lions, this game would have been much uglier if the Lions defense was slightly better. Both teams did not have great days on defense but the lions are just slightly worse, this game does not say much about where the Vikings are trending overall.

Conclusions:

The season for Minnesota is over, and for a 7-9 season this year was exciting anyway. The Vikings kept it interesting until the very end and in a year where everything was up in the air that was a bright spot. There was plenty to like about some of the young players the Vikes picked up and some stuff that is same old Vikings. Whether it was terrible Oline play or speculation that Rick will use a 3rd round pick on a kicker next year some things will not change until Minnesota hoists the Lombardi. Thanks for reading folks, I am going to try my hand at an end of season stock market report at the end of the week.

This FanPost was created by a registered user of The Daily Norseman, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the site. However, since this is a community, that view is no less important.