Kirk Cousins‘ performance in his first season with the Minnesota

Vikings is already inspiring fierce debate amongst fans and analysts Adrian Peterson Jersey , but his offensive line’s play isn’t.More Vikings coverageTop Tweets: Minnesota teams send best wishes to GophersVikings sign veteran guard KlineVikings agree to terms with kicker Dan BaileyVikings add RB depth, re-sign Ameer AbdullahFormer Vikings guard Easton agrees to four-year deal with SaintsOnce again, the group struggled mightily to keep their quarterback upright and sustain a consistent running game.Right guard Mike Remmers was the only member of the O-line to miss fewer than 150 snaps — that’s 2-3 games worth, depending on the week — playing 99.71 percent of the time.Center Pat Elflein (82.11 percent), left guard Tom Compton (79.64 percent), and left tackle Riley Reiff (75.45 percent) missed time.Their backups played frequently. The damage: Tackle Rashod Hill (50.33 percent), guard Danny Isidora (20.36 percent) and center Brett Jones (18.17 percent).One of the group’s few bright spots, rookie right tackle Brian O’Neill (76.12 percent) started 11 games.Cousins was sacked 40 times this season, tied for 10th in the league, while the Vikings allowed 95 quarterback hits, good enough for 15th.But while the passing game suffered John Randle Jersey , the running game was often nonexistent.The Vikings averaged just 93.3 rushing yards per game, and were particularly ineffective on the left side, logging 20 running plays to that side for negative yards, third in the league.It’s tough to shift much of the blame onto the running backs.Dalvin Cook (46.72 percent) and Latavius Murray (43.86 percent) ultimately split the workload, as the former once again battled injuries, starting just 10 games.Other notes from this season’s snap counts:— Fullback C.J. Ham (13.23 percent) was the only other runner to log significant playing time. Rookies Mike Boone (3.43 percent) and Roc Thomas (2.76 percent), as well as midseason pickup Ameer Abdullah (0.57 percent) played sparingly.— Adam Thielen (96.19 percent) was the only Vikings pass-catcher to play at least 1,000 snaps.— Third-year receiver Laquon Treadwell (51.67 percent), who was expected to have an increased role this season, saw his share of the snaps rise just 9.74 percent.— Veteran Aldrick Robinson (23.98 percent), brought in after Week 2 Alan Page Jersey , outpaced several of the Vikings’ younger receivers.— Training camp/preseason darlings Chad Beebe (4.38 percent) and Brandon Zylstra (1.62 percent) played sparingly.— Safety Harrison Smith (98.56 percent) led the defense in snaps for the third straight season.— Defensive end Danielle Hunter (84.41 percent) saw his share of the snaps increase 7.11 percent, and earned his first Pro Bowl nod.— Cornerback Mackensie Alexander‘s (54.38 percent) playing time jumped 20.52 percent over last season with starters Xavier Rhodes (74.11 percent) and Trae Waynes (66.6 percent) missing significant time.— Undrafted rookie Holton Hill (36 percent) also got a long look at cornerback.OFFENSEPLAYERPlays (1051)%Cousins1051100.00%Remmers104899.71%Thielen101196.19%Rudolph92588.01%Diggs983.16%Elflein86382.11%Compton83779.64%O’Neill80076.12%Reiff79375.45%Treadwell54351.67%Hill52950.33%Cook49146.72%Murray46143.86%Robinson25223.98%Morgan23121.98%Isidorra21420.36%Jones19118.17%Conklin14613.89%Ham13913.23%Beebe464.38%Boone363.43%Thomas292.76%Coley191.81%Zylstra171.62%Smith90.86Abdullah60.57DEFENSEPLAYERPlays (1039)%Smith102498.56%Hunter87784.41%Kendricks87584.22%Barr80877.77%Rhodes77074.11%Richardson71869.10%Waynes69266.60%Joseph66964.39%Harris62359.96%Griffen58456.21%Alexander56554.38%Weatherly52350.34%Hill37436.00%T. Johnson34232.92%Wilson33632.34%Sendejo32431,18%Gedeon30929.74%J. Johnson26025.02%Hughes24323.39%Kearse20219.44%Iloka11611.60%Holmes585.58%Bower535.10%Parry504.81%Sherels292.79%Brothers50.48 Monday night’s game between the Vikings and Seahawks features a pair of old-school defensive coaches who harp on running the ball offensively. So why do defensive coaches want to run the ball so much?“Because it’s the best way to not screw it up,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll told reporters on Thursday.“It’s the best way to play the game because the games are always lost [when] you make errors. That’s why the turnover issue is of paramount importance to us. It’s the most important thing that we taught. It’s the first thing I ever say to our team every single year we get together. Every year I start there because that’s what determines the outcome of the games. When we don’t turn the football over, our winning percentages are ridiculously high. . . . When we’re in the plus, our numbers are phenomenal and they always have been. How can you play to make that factor a strength of yours. Right now, we’re plus-11. That’s a good spot to be, but if we wind up plus-18 or something like that, we’re going to have hell of a finish this season. We’ve got to keep going and pushing on it. That calls both sides of the ball and everybody’s consciousness to get that done. I think most all defensive coaches are pretty tuned in to that.”The approach has worked well for the Seahawks, who have turned a rebuild into a reload and, at this point Randy Moss Jersey , a likely playoff berth.“We have a chance to finish and do something with this season,” Carroll said. “There’s a chance. Hope is alive. Hope is strong in the building and in the locker room and we’re in control of it. If we play really good football this week, then we set up next week. Each one of these weeks, they’re playoff weeks and they’re championship games. I know you hear me say that a lot, but this is what we’ve been preparing for — to play at this time and play really well and be familiar and comfortable with the challenge of that. Nothing better than finishing in sports. You finish well and you do right at the end of the games and the end of seasons, and this is it. It’s fourth quarter time.”Indeed it is, for both the Vikings and the Seahawks. And while the Seahawks can arguably lose on Monday night and still nail down a playoff berth, the Vikings are getting closer and closer to the loss that will knock them out of postseason consideration.