Cook to get MRI today...

Given the Vikings' luck, especially this season...anyone expect good news from that MRI??

@"Jor-El" said: Given the Vikings' luck, especially this season...anyone expect good news from that MRI??

Dalvin Cook appears to have avoided serious injury, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said, after the star running back strained his groin in the third quarter of Sunday’s 27-26 loss in Seattle.
Cook underwent an MRI on Monday that went “pretty well,” Zimmer said, and the fact Cook didn’t end up on injured reserve indicates the Vikings believe his injury will cost him fewer than three games, if any at all.
Zimmer acknowledged Cook has a chance to play Sunday against the Falcons, but the Vikings also have a Week 7 bye that could give him two weeks of rest.
“We’ll see how he does this week,” Zimmer said Monday.
The Vikings’ backfield found a new gear against the Seahawks, with backup Alexander Mattison stepping into Cook’s heavy workload and finishing with a career-high 20 carries for 112 rushing yards. Mattison, the second-year back, has filled in for Cook during games, but would get his first NFL start against Atlanta, if Cook is sidelined.
“He’s been in that role before,” Zimmer said. “I don’t think that’ll change at all.”
Cook’s game-breaking ability has paced the Vikings offense, which has three straight games with at least 410 yards. He remains the NFL’s leading rusher with 489 yards and seven touchdowns in five games, and just started to get involved again as a receiver in Seattle.
Cook and Mattison combined for a season-high eight catches for 48 receiving yards, many of the plays from screens, giving quarterback Kirk Cousins another way to move the chains when he’s got both running backs healthy.
“That was a big factor for us,” Zimmer said. “Really, it’s different every single week by who you’re playing and how they’re defending the backs and the coverages they’re running. Hopefully, we’ll continue to get it going good.”
Cook, who has appeared in 34 of 53 games so far in his NFL career, has dealt with shoulder, ACL and hamstring injuries, and said he wanted to make this fourth season his first playing 16 regular season games.
The Vikings offense has relied on him. Only three running backs — Dallas’ Ezekiel Elliott, Las Vegas’ Josh Jacobs and Cincinnati’s Joe Mixon — have more than Cook’s 104 touches this season.
Cook refocused his offseason training regimen in Fort Lauderdale around weightlifting — “putting on some more muscle, and putting it on the right way,” he said — in an effort to be more durable, but this groin injury is the latest test.
“It’s all about being on the field for my teammates,” Cook said last week. “That’s the main goal.”
https://www.startribune.com/groin-injury-to-vikings-cook-does-not-appear-serious/572719241/

I'm starting to net-out that I dont think Cook is a workhorse RB...

Maybe for a game or 2 let him sniff 30 carries, but not most games. 

With Mattison, he doesnt have to be. 

If he is out a few games, so be it. Cousins has to get beyond Thielen and Cook. The offense has to evolve. Cook can't be counted on to stay healthy and if they run him into the ground each game, he won't be. I appreciate his impact on the game but he can't be the only target.

You'd think they wouldn't have invested so heavily in a guy who can't be counted on to stay healthy as you put it.

Cook is worth the money despite these injuries. He's just a massive game changer. 

@"StickyBun" said: Cook is worth the money despite these injuries. He's just a massive game changer. 

@"purplefaithful" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Cook is worth the money despite these injuries. He's just a massive game changer. 

He's the field tilter left on O after Diggs was traded...

One thing to consider with Dalvin Cook and his groin injury: Vikings host the Falcons on Sunday, and then have a bye. Cook could miss one game and have to two weeks to recover.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 13, 2020

@"StickyBun" said: Cook is worth the money despite these injuries. He's just a massive game changer. 

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Cook is worth the money despite these injuries. He's just a massive game changer. 

This. Running backs get hurt. It's just what they do. See Barkley, CMC, Coleman, McCoy, Ekeler, Michel, Chubb, Lindsey, Mack, Cohen, Hyde...

@"comet52" said: You'd think they wouldn't have invested so heavily in a guy who can't be counted on to stay healthy as you put it.

No way I'd play Cook Sunday, Mattison is a pretty good one game replacement and it'll give Cook at least two weeks to mend.

@"StickyBun" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Cook is worth the money despite these injuries. He's just a massive game changer. 

This. Running backs get hurt. It's just what they do. See Barkley, CMC, Coleman, McCoy, Ekeler, Michel, Chubb, Lindsey, Mack, Cohen, Hyde...

Christian McCaffrey, highest paid RB, has been out since Week 2 with an ankle injury. Like you say: its a position that gets injured. 

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"StickyBun" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Cook is worth the money despite these injuries. He's just a massive game changer. 

This. Running backs get hurt. It's just what they do. See Barkley, CMC, Coleman, McCoy, Ekeler, Michel, Chubb, Lindsey, Mack, Cohen, Hyde...

Christian McCaffrey, highest paid RB, has been out since Week 2 with an ankle injury. Like you say: its a position that gets injured. 

which is exactly why they shouldnt be give so much of the cap space IMO.  they are relatively easy to find and fairly easy to get hurt,  keep the cap hit low and the cupboards stocked with cheap young ball carriers and let them go to FA when their rookie deals are up.  you may not have a Cook,  but a couple Mattisons with a better OL could be just as devastating IMO.

Get healthy Dalvin...

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"StickyBun" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Cook is worth the money despite these injuries. He's just a massive game changer. 

This. Running backs get hurt. It's just what they do. See Barkley, CMC, Coleman, McCoy, Ekeler, Michel, Chubb, Lindsey, Mack, Cohen, Hyde...

Christian McCaffrey, highest paid RB, has been out since Week 2 with an ankle injury. Like you say: its a position that gets injured. 

which is exactly why they shouldnt be give so much of the cap space IMO.  they are relatively easy to find and fairly easy to get hurt,  keep the cap hit low and the cupboards stocked with cheap young ball carriers and let them go to FA when their rookie deals are up.  you may not have a Cook,  but a couple Mattisons with a better OL could be just as devastating IMO.

That they're running backs and not QBs, WRs, LTs and DEs, and are easily replaced, and are frequently hurt, is already baked into their market value. It's why they don't make as much money as those other positions. AS much as you might think they're overpaid, there is only ONE running back in the top 50 contracts, and TWO in the top 75. Cook is ranked 78th. 

It's great that he is leading but the offense has to go beyond that. There are going to be games where he is not going to get to run roughshod over everyone. Then what are they going to do? 

@"Vikergirl" said: It's great that he is leading but the offense has to go beyond that. There are going to be games where he is not going to get to run roughshod over everyone. Then what are they going to do? 

Yes, there will be games when we can't run, but considering the Vikings have played the Packers (3rd ranked run defense), the Colts (4th ranked run defense) and the Seahawks (3rd ranked when we played them, now 10th), I like our chances of keeping the ground game going.