Oakland Raiders Week 3 opponent preview: Minnesota Vikings

Offensive weakness: Offensive Tackle

The Minnesota Vikings offense has some notable weaknesses, specifically at the tackle position. Eight-year veteran Riley Reiff and Brian O’Neill, a sophomore player from Pittsburgh both have had issues in pass-blocking and lack the push in the running game. Reiff is stronger at run-blocking than O’Neill, but that’s probably from his six more years of experience.

O’Neill does a good job at traveling and pushing the defender out and around the defender. Reiff is much better at pass-blocking, which is a common trend for left-tackles. O’Neil’s pass-blocking is below average due to his footwork and lack of using his strength to his best ability.

His legs are where his power is, and where most tackles strength is. Watching him play, he doesn’t get good power on the first impact which is where a left end, who are more run-stoppers, can get underneath him and push him back.

About 70% of the runs the Vikings ran against the Packers were either up the middle, zone-blocking to the left, or off-tackles to the left, which says what they think about the second-year right tackle. The Raiders, however, have a strong defensive line which can help them penetrate the backfield on passing plays.

One play which stood out to me the most was the 75 yard run by Cook. It was a zone-blocking scheme in which the whole line moved to the right but Cook did a counter and there was some good blocking by the guards then Cook just made some tacklers miss and it was a great run by Cook.