Vikings-Packers Q&A: Dalvin Cook runs wild in 2019 debut

On Sunday, the Green Bay Packers host the NFC North rival Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field. Ted “Grover” Glover of Daily Norseman kindly volunteered to answer our questions about the Vikings and provide some insight into their strengths and weaknesses.

APC: Perhaps no Vikings player enjoyed a better Week 1 than Dalvin Cook, who ran 21 times for 111 yards and two scores. Has he become the centerpiece of the offense, or does the team have concerns about consistently giving Cook such a heavy workload after he missed 17 games over the past two years?

I don’t sense any concern on the part of the Vikings coaching staff at all. Cook is 100% healthy, had a great camp, and a great week one, as you mentioned. With Mike Zimmer wanting to get back to emphasizing the run, he is the focal point of this offense, and we saw that play out against Atlanta. He has a good backup in rookie Alexander Mattison, who had 49 yards on only nine carries, so it’s not like Cook is alone in the backfield. It’s a passing league, I get it, but this offense is going to feature Cook and the running game a lot more than they did under John DiFilippo, and that balance is essential if the Vikings are going to have success. With that in mind, I think the Vikings will figure out a way to keep him fresh during the game and throughout the season.

We’d like to thank Ted for his time. Be sure to check out the rest of our Q&A session with Daily Norseman over the course of the week as well as our Q&A session over there. As always, keep your internet machines tuned to Acme Packing Company this Sunday for our comprehensive game-day coverage of Vikings versus Packers.