Kene Nwangwu’s Kick Return is NFL’s Longest Play…

EAGAN, Minn. — The Vikings fell 34-31 to the Ravens in overtime Sunday.

The bitter road loss dropped Minnesota to 3-5 and joined a collection of close defeats that seem to be intertwined with the identity of the Minnesota Vikings, who haven’t seized momentum at the opportune moments of close games.

The offense scored touchdowns on its first two possessions before recurring inconsistency settled in. The defense picked off Lamar Jackson twice but gave up 500 net yards, including 247 on the ground.

Here’s a deeper dive at some “next-day stats” with an eye on the ever-increasing number of Next Gen Stats. References to rankings across the league include all Week 9 games except for tonight’s game between the Bears and Steelers.

1. Going the distance and going for speed

One of the very best parts for Minnesota was Kene Nwangwu returning the opening kickoff of the second half 98 yards for a touchdown. It was the first kick return touchdown by Minnesota since 2016.

According to Next Gen Stats, Nwangwu traveled 115.9 yards on the play for the greatest distance of any ball carrier in the NFL in Week 9.

Nwangwu topped out at 20.6 miles per hour for the fifth-fastest speed by a ball carrier.

Dalvin Cook also was among the top 20 in longest plays and fastest speeds by ball carriers this week.

Cook traversed 109.5 yards (fourth-longest) and reached 19.94 miles per hour (12th-fastest) during his 66-yard scamper.

Not surprisingly, the run by Cook also involved the longest tackle by a defender. Ravens safety Chuck Clark traveled 84.6 yards before tackling Cook at the Baltimore 19-yard line.