Why they lost: Green Bay Packers stall out at Minnesota

Randall Gets Dominated

In Week 1, the defense proved itself as a whole to be on the upswing. They held a talented and explosive offense to 23 points while making them wholly unbalanced, including a clutch 4th down stop to end the Jaguars’ final drive.

Leading that charge was Damarious Randall, who ended up as Pro Football Focus’ highest-graded CB across the league for Week 1. The other secondary players around him were routinely picked on — especially Quinten Rollins — but he was a rock for the group.

Wow, things sure change fast.

Stefon Diggs put Randall to work all night. On five targets with Rollins covering him, Diggs caught five passes for 134 yards.

One of those catches was a touchdown where Diggs literally got Randall turned around;  while having Randall on his outside shoulder, he subtly stepped around him without losing speed, causing Randall to spin all the way around, which gave Diggs an extra little step to be open for the reception.

Even had the TD not connected, Rollins also grabbed onto Diggs during his pirouette (and in the endzone as well) so there would have been a free 1st down tossed in regardless.

Speaking of penalties, it was another one on Randall that essentially sealed the game: Rollins played Diggs extremely close on that particular 3rd down, doing enough to prevent an actual catch but doing enough to draw a pass interference flag from the ref.

At the end of the night, Rollins finished with a PFF grade of 22.1 — the lowest of any player for the entire week (excluding Monday night). In a game where the defense as a whole played excellent (constant pressure and multiple hits/sacks on Bradford, shutting down Adrian Peterson, only 17 points allowed), he was the weak link that gave Minnesota its only needed point of attack; with the Green Bay offense faltering, it was all the Vikings needed to eventually win the game.