Vikings snap counts: Thielen set career high in plays, too
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen had the game of his life against Green Bay -- 12 receptions (on 15 targets) for 202 yards with two touchdowns. The 12 receptions matched his season total from a year ago.
Perhaps not-so-coincidentally, Thielen also had the highest snap-count total of his career.
Entering the Packers game, Thielen had appeared in 75 percent of Minnesota's offensive snaps in seven of 14 games. His high of 95 percent (56 of 59 snaps) came in Week 12 against Detroit.
With Thielen emerging as the go-to guy in Green Bay, he was on the field for 75 of 78 snaps (96 percent), just the third time this year he's been at 90 percent or higher (the other was in the fifth game of the season against Houston, when Stefon Diggs didn't play).
Thielen has been in on half of the Vikings' offensive plays in every game this season but one, against Indianapolis, when he was injured and couldn't finish the contest.
After his performance in Lambeau Field, Thielen now leads Minnesota in receiving yards with 960, leaving him 40 yards shy with one game remaining of being the Vikings' first 1,000-yard receiver since Sidney Rice in 2009. Thielen and Diggs (903 yards) have an outside chance of becoming the first Minnesota duo to post 1,000-yard seasons in the same year since Randy Moss and Cris Carter in 2000.
Some other notes from Saturday's snap counts:
-- With Adrian Peterson sidelined, Jerick McKinnon got the brunt of the work at running back. In fact, he had his most snaps of the season -- 54 (69 percent). His previous high was Dec. 1 against Dallas (51). McKinnon rushed 11 times for 50 yards and caught five passes (on six targets) for 35 yards.
-- After being on 37 snaps combined in the first two games, tight end David Morgan had just eight offensive snaps since entering Saturday. Morgan got seven snaps (9 percent) against Green Bay and hauled in his first NFL reception.
-- OL Zac Kerrin's 17 offensive snaps (22 percent) were his third-most in a game this season.
-- Safety Harrison Smith played every snap after missing two weeks with an ankle injury. He was one of four players to be in on every defensive snap.
-- Cornerback Terence Newman's 38 snaps (64 percent) was his third-fewest in a game this season. The previous two weeks, Newman had been in on 82 percent and 91 percent of the defensive plays.
-- Defensive end Justin Trattou played on defense for the first time since Week 4. He had one snap, raising his season total to six.
Here's the complete offensive and defensive snap counts for Minnesota against Green Bay in Week 15:
GAME 15: PACKERS (OFFENSE)
| PLAYER | PLAYS (78) | % |
| Sirles | 78 | 100% |
| Clemmings | 78 | 100% |
| Easton | 78 | 100% |
| Boone | 78 | 100% |
| Bradford | 78 | 100% |
| Rudolph | 75 | 96% |
| Thielen | 75 | 96% |
| Berger | 62 | 79% |
| Diggs | 57 | 73% |
| McKinnon | 54 | 69% |
| Patterson | 45 | 58% |
| Johnson | 29 | 37% |
| Asiata | 25 | 32% |
| Ellison | 21 | 27% |
| Kerin | 17 | 22% |
| Morgan | 7 | 9% |
| Wright | 1 | 1% |
GAME 15: PACKERS (DEFENSE)
| PLAYER | PLAYS (59) | % |
| Sendejo | 59 | 100% |
| Kendricks | 59 | 100% |
| Barr | 59 | 100% |
| Smith | 59 | 100% |
| Rhodes | 53 | 90% |
| Joseph | 51 | 86% |
| Griffen | 51 | 86% |
| Robison | 46 | 78% |
| Munnerlyn | 46 | 78% |
| Stephen | 39 | 66% |
| Newman | 38 | 64% |
| Hunter | 38 | 64% |
| Waynes | 27 | 46% |
| Greenway | 13 | 27% |
| Johnson | 10 | 17% |
| Trattou | 1 | 2% |
Dave Heller is the author of the upcoming book Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow as well as Facing Ted Williams Players from the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived and As Good As It Got: The 1944 St. Louis Browns
