MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota Vikings elected to use running back Dalvin Cook on a limited snap count on Sunday against the Detroit Lions. He didn’t play the whole game, but he put together a full day’s work at US Bank Stadium, rushing for 89 yards on 10 carries in the Vikings’ 24-9 win.
Cook was injured his hamstring in Week 2 against the Green Bay Packers. After sitting Week 3, he returned Week 4 against the Rams, but played on a limited basis and reaggrivated the injury, focing him to miss the following four contests.
If Cook wasn’t back to 100 percent, he sure hid it well, exploding for a 70-yard run that set up a touchdown late in the second quarter.
”Pat [Elflein] got his block, the backside tight ends got on their block, I just hit it right down the middle and it opened up,” Cook said. “Then he tripped me up. He stole it. I have to get that last leg down.”
The Vikings used their gifted running back in the passing game as well. He caught four passes for 20 yards on four targets and once lined up as a reciever while Latavius Murray was in the backfield.
”You can use him as a decoy, you can use him actually in the play, they always have to have eyes on him and he ran 22 miles per hour, he’s fast so you have to account for him all the time,” center Pat Elflein said.
He finished with 119 total yards from scrimmage.
”It felt great,” Cook said. “I kind of tested it out. You get kind of nervous in those situations but it is how you find out if you are good to go. I was good to go then.”
Cook’s teammates were happy to see him back in action.
“It’s pretty impressive,” right tackle Brian O’Neill said. “He’s a special talent and a special person. I’m really happy for him to get out there and play again and have a run like that. I hope that’s just the start and that it gets the wheels rolling for him.”
”I joked he is the white tiger, when you go to the zoo and you want to see a white tiger and they say he isn’t coming out today, you are disappointed and you’re like, ‘that is why I bought the ticket, to see the white tiger,’” quarterback Kirk Cousins. “That’s Delvin. When you get him, he’s special.”
The Vikings’ 2017 second-round pick suffered an ACL tear the last time he faced the Lions. Having played only seven of a possible 25 games in his career, Cook said he appreciated the support he’s been given.
“I want to say thank you to my teammates, the fans, everybody standing behind me and pushing me through,” he said. “It is tough. You want to be out there with your teammates and I wsasn’t able to be out there. It is tough. Getting back out there was fun. Mentally it breaks you down, you have to be tough enough to get through the process.”
The post Dalvin Cook explosive in return vs. Lions appeared first on 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.
Source:: 1500 ESPN Sportswire
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