“What injury?” he replied.
Since being sidelined in the third quarter of a 37-30 loss at Seattle on Dec. 2, Cook has been listed on every Vikings injury report, first with a chest injury, then — after the star running back left a 39-10 victory over the Chargers in Los Angeles — a shoulder injury.
He missed two of those games, losses to Green Bay and Chicago in the final two games of the regular season, before returning to run for 94 yards in last weekend’s 26-20 playoff victory at New Orleans.
“I never got injured; I got banged up,” Cook explained. “An injury and getting banged up are two different things. I didn’t get injured this year, I got banged up. We took a precaution of sitting me out and taking care of me so I could get ready for the stretch.”
That strategy clearly worked; Cook was terrific against the Saints, establishing the Vikings’ run game early and scoring on 1- and 5-yard runs. He also caught three passes for 36 yards as Minnesota advanced to Saturday’s divisional-round game against the top-seeded 49ers in Santa Clara, Calif.
Cook was on Tuesday’s injury report (shoulder) but listed as a full participant in practice.
“I’m good, everybody on the team’s good,” Cook said. “We’ve got (the) starting lineup that we started with Day 1 going into this game. I’m fine, just to let you all know it’s all about us at this point, it ain’t all about me.”
Still, it’s not crazy to ask about Cook’s health.
For one thing, since being drafted in the second round of the 2017 draft, Cook has missed 20 games because of knee, hamstring and shoulder injuries. For another, the Vikings are a much better team when Cook plays, and even better when he plays well — 10-1 when he runs for 90 yards or more.
And before you say, yeah, every NFL team does well when they have a running back that runs for about 100 yards, consider that since Cook was drafted, the Vikings have had only four 100-yard rushers who weren’t Cook: Latavius Murray (twice in 2017, once last season) and Jerick McKinnon (once in 2017).
To have a chance against the 49ers (13-3), the Vikings (11-6) will in all likelihood need another big game from Cook, who, finally healthy, has had a breakout season. After leading the NFL in rushing early, he has run 278 times for 1,229 yards in 15 games including his playoff debut against the Saints.
The 49ers, who got a playoff bye after winning the NFC West, finished second in the NFL in total defense, giving up an average of 281.8 yards a game. Against the rush, however, they were 16th, allowing 112.6 yards a game.
Cook vows to be ready.
“If you saw me after (Sunday’s) game, I was cheering but I knew we’ve got to go play San Fran. That’s a tough team,” he said. “Right after that, I was keyed in and ready to go. If you heard me after the game, I said, ‘That’s just one. That’s just one down.’ We can celebrate and do what we do; that was a big win. But it’s one, and we’ve got to get ready to play.”
Cookin’
Here’s a look at the Vikings’ record since taking Dalvin Cook in the second round of the 2017 draft when he …
- PLAYS: 17-11-1
- RUNS FOR 70+ YARDS: 12-3
- RUNS FOR 90+ YARDS: 10-1
"cook" - Google News
January 08, 2020 at 06:00AM
https://ift.tt/2tIr6nJ
No more injury talk for Vikings' Dalvin Cook. 'I'm good,' he says - Grand Forks Herald
"cook" - Google News
https://ift.tt/33G1AMo
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment