Sam Bradford is the first Vikings QB to win NFC offensive player of the week since Brett Favre in 2009

...but it didn't mirror to the front page.  So:
https://vikefans.com/observations-from-t...he-saints/

https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/09/13/mike-zimmer-minnesota-vikings-coach-eye-surgery 

To listen to the men who have worked with Zimmer is to believe that this country music fan with one good eye (and “no ass,” according to Vikings cornerback Terence Newman, who says, “I don’t know how his jeans stay up”) has a better rapport with his largely twentysomething, mostly African-American roster than any coach in the league.

“I’m not gonna say he’s a players’ coach, because he hates that,” says Minnesota safety Harrison Smith. “Other coaches, the way they talk to players, it’s just not ... real. Nothing about [Zimmer] is fabricated, nothing’s fake.”“I didn’t know Mike when I went to Dallas,” says Bill Parcells, who took over the Cowboys five years after Switzer resigned. But Parcells soon saw that his new defensive coordinator “was passionate, committed. He was a tireless worker. Cared about players. I inherited some people who weren’t like that. But Mike was a guy I gravitated to.”
“It’s like he grew up in the inner city, man,” says Sanders. “He relates to everyone. And he’s intelligent. What Zim said was going to happen in a game, it happened. When your best players see that and start buying in, then everybody follows.”
That was the path the Vikings were on one year ago. Coming off a 2015 season in which quarterback Teddy Bridgewater emerged as a budding star and the Vikes snapped the Packers’ string of four division titles, expectations were high. They had but one flaw. “I can still remember talking to [Minnesota GM] Rick [Spielman] before last season and saying, ‘Man, if Teddy goes down, we’re in trouble,’” Zimmer says. “ ‘We can’t lose Teddy.’”

VOTE for the @pepsi Rookie of the Week!
Tweet player's name + #NFLROTW:Cohen. Hunt. Cook. Fournette. Watt https://t.co/DmrQ0DSis6

OK, let's just get all the rationalizations out of the way: only one game, Saints are mediocre, etc.

But: Left Tackle is a cornerstone position for every NFL team, and when it is weak, the entire OL is weak. LT has been a sucking wound for the Vikings since 2012 - really, since 2001 when Todd Steussie left. I was among those dubious that Reiff could solve the problem, but based solely on Monday night, he was damn good. No pressure on Bradford's blindside, LG Easton was free to take assignments without needing to babysit the LT, and I don't remember many plays with a TE assisting Reiff (some of you guys who break down film can correct me if needed).

IMO Reiff was a 1-game ray of hope as big as Bradford, Cook, Diggs, Theilen - because the others would have been less effective if he had failed.

Remmers, OTOH...don't get me started..

...

It’s unlikely Cook’s mark on the Vikings’ 2017 offense will be as profound as Peterson’s was in 2007. But for a team that has planned to replace Peterson with a trio of running backs, Cook looked awfully close to a featured back in his first game.

He was on the field for 51 of the Vikings’ 65 offensive snaps, carrying 22 times and being targeted with passes five more times. Not counting two kneel-downs by Sam Bradford, the Vikings had just six rushing attempts that didn’t involve Cook.
And after he opened the fourth quarter with a 32-yard run, Cook was still in the game to the end, breaking a 33-yarder on a third-and-7 to allow the Vikings to run out the clock at the Saints 12.
According to NFL Research, Cook recorded two of the three fastest speeds by a running back in Week 1, when he hit 20.45 and 19.98 miles per hour on his two long runs.
http://www.startribune.com/dalvin-cook-l...444099203/

for a #28???David Johnson Reportedly to Have Surgery on Wrist Injury, to Miss 2-3 Monthshttp://bleacherreport.com/articles/2732838-david-johnson-reportedly-to-have-surgery-on-wrist-injury-to-miss-2-3-months?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial