Dalvin Cook Injury: Vikings running back not expected to play against Eagles

Vikings running back Dalvin Cook is NOT expected to play in Minnesota’s Week 5 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, according to a report from NFL insider Ian Rapoport. “It would take an impressive turnaround for him to be on the field” is how RapSheet described the situation.

Cook has recently been dealing with a hamstring injury. He was ruled questionable on the Vikings’ final injury report after being limited in practice on Friday. Cook didn’t practice at all on Wednesday and Thursday.

Cook is the Vikings’ leading rusher this season with just 98 yards on 36 attempts. That’s a very unimpressive 2.7 average. Minnesota’s other running backs haven’t been much better. Latavius Murray has gained just 64 yards on 19 attempts for a 3.4 average. Third stringer Mike Boone had two carries for 11 yards. Fourth stringer Roc Thomas has four yards on one carry.

The Vikings rank dead last in rushing attempts per game this season with 18.2. It’s hard to imagine they’ll be looking to seriously attack Philadelphia’s run defense, which ranks third overall by DVOA.

On one hand, it seems bad for the Eagles defense that the Vikings won’t be wasting offensive plays on running attempts. On the other hand, it’s Jim Schwartz’s goal to make the opponent one-dimensional in their attack so that his pass rushers can just tee off on the quarterback.

The Vikings’ passing attack will look to challenge a struggling Eagles secondary on Sunday. It’s imperative that Philadelphia’s pass rush generates a ton of pressure on Kirk Cousins. The good news for the Eagles is that the Vikings are allowing the most quarterback pressures in the league by far this season.