Dalvin Cook Injury: Shoulder "Feels Good," Week 16 Return Possible
Dalvin Cook's injured shoulder "feels good today," and he could play through it on Monday night against the Packers, according to Mike Zimmer.
During his Monday press conference, Zimmer was asked about Cook's status after not addressing it following the Vikings' win in Los Angeles. His answer was good news for those worried about Cook's shoulder. As for whether or not Cook could see a full workload against Green Bay, Zimmer was noncommittal.
"It’s too early, but I think an extra day obviously helps," Zimmer said. "We’ll just have to see how the week goes."
Cook left the game early in the third quarter and was quickly ruled out for the remainder of the afternoon. He did stay on the sideline instead of going to the locker room, which suggests the fact he didn't return may have been precautionary. The Vikings did the same thing with Cook when he was injured against the Seahawks two weeks ago.
It's worth noting that these are believed to be separate injuries. The one that forced him out of the Seahawks game was a chest/clavicle injury that first popped up against the Broncos in Week 11, and Cook may still be dealing with pain from that. This is an injury to his left shoulder, but also does not appear to be super serious.
Cook had gained 43 yards from scrimmage on 12 touches prior to exiting. He's been slowed by various injuries over the past four games, failing to exceed 75 yards in any of those contests. Prior to that, Cook had gone over 115 yards in eight of the first ten games, including four with over 170 yards from scrimmage. He is still third in the league in that department and led all running backs in Pro Bowl voting.
After Cook left the game, Mike Boone had a productive second half with 56 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries. Ameer Abdullah added 25 yards on just five carries. Those two were needed since Alexander Mattison was inactive for the first time in his career with an ankle injury.
"Yeah, well we were hoping we didn’t have to, but we felt like we had some guys that were talented runners," Zimmer said about the team needing all of its depth at running back. "Ameer and Boone have been playing really good on special teams, so that helped them to stay and once they got the opportunity, and I really felt like for a couple weeks, Boone’s been wanting to have a chip on his shoulder the way he’s been running, showing in practice and the things that he’s been doing."
We'll know more about the health of Cook and Mattison as the week progresses and the Vikings begin to practice in preparation for a big game on Monday night.
