Viktor
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- Mar 19, 2019
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426.5 yards allowed per game.
"They're obviously letting Russell Wilson be more explosive," Zimmer said. "I think they're No. 1 in the league in pass average [at 8.85 yards per pass attempt].
"They've got terrific receivers, they're all fast … Moore has made some great catches," Zimmer added. "[Greg] Olsen, the tight end, I think that's helped them. They still have Carson as the runner and obviously Russell makes them go."
The statistics will be similar when the Vikings are on offense against the Seahawks, whose defense ranks 32nd at 476.8 yards per game allowed. Seattle is 21st at 27.3 points per game allowed.
The Vikings rank 22nd with 357.8 yards per game and are tied for 16th at 26.5 points per game. While Minnesota's offense stalled in Week 2 against Indianapolis, the Vikings hit the 30-point mark and surpassed 380 total yards of offense in three other contests.
Minnesota is also coming off perhaps its best offensive performance of the season, a turnover-free outing in which the Vikings amounted 410 total yards.
Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson each recorded 100-plus yards in Week 4, and helped produce nearly 90 percent of Minnesota's total offensive output.
The last time the Vikings had a pair of 100-yard receivers and a 100-yard rusher in the same game was back in 2000 with Randy Moss, Cris Carter and Robert Smith.
"I mean, to be honest, it helps the offense out to have me doing the things that I have and to have Adam making plays and having Dalvin run the ball," Jefferson said. "It's kind of hard to stop all three phases. Each week, our offense is getting better and better, we've just got to keep moving forward and keep grinding."
Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll is well-aware of the threat the Vikings playmakers possess, including Jefferson.
"I would think that everybody is really excited about him," Carroll said. "He's just done such a good job of showing kind of what you can expect of him, and he's just getting started.
"It's not just his explosion in and out of his breaks and the natural instincts he has to catch the football, but the run-after-the-catch stuff is really exceptional," Carroll added. "He's just an instant star, so I would think the Vikings fans and coaches and everybody is really fired up about having him."
If Sunday's game does turn out to be a high-scoring affair, perhaps it won't be too much of a surprise given the 2019 matchup was a 37-30 Seattle win — the second-highest scoring total for a Vikings game that season.
That likely wouldn't have happened in the past.
From 2012 to 2015, Seattle's defense led the league in points allowed, and were in the top five in yards allowed per game. In 2016, the Seahawks were third in points allowed and sixth in yards allowed.
That's right about the time Zimmer's unit went on a dominating run, as the Vikings ranked in the top 10 in points allowed from 2015-19, and were in the top 3 in yards allowed from 2016-18.
That run, of course, was highlighted by a 2017 season where Minnesota led the NFL in points and yards allowed per game.
Zimmer said he's a little surprised to see such recently historic defenses on the other end of that spectrum, but noted it doesn't mean both teams will be there all season long.