Cardinals @ Vikings post game

[Texas Vike]

They pressured Kyler Murray all game long and held him to 36 yards on the ground.

This was huge. I very much feared that Murray would kill us with his scrambling, but we managed to keep him in check. I didn't even notice if we were doing anything special to defend against the threat of his running. I do remember one play where Hunter missed him, did not keep contain, and Murray skirmished around him on the right for a large gain. But that was an anomaly today. Our D played inspired ball. It helped that PP and HIcks used to be Cardinals. They appeared to be VERY motivated.

[J. Kapp 11]

They pressured Kyler Murray all game long and held him to 36 yards on the ground.

This was huge. I very much feared that Murray would kill us with his scrambling, but we managed to keep him in check. I didn't even notice if we were doing anything special to defend against the threat of his running. I do remember one play where Hunter missed him, did not keep contain, and Murray skirmished around him on the right for a large gain. But that was an anomaly today. Our D played inspired ball. It helped that PP and HIcks used to be Cardinals. They appeared to be VERY motivated.

Rush lanes.

We were 40 rows up in section 140. If you wanted to do an all-22 camera angle, our seats would have been perfect. You could see that our edge rushers were concentrating on maintaining their rush lanes and not letting Murray get outside the pocket. Particularly good at this were Danielle Hunter and DJ Wonnum. They were very disciplined … no spin moves, not a ton of stunts or twists. If you noticed, all four of the Vikings’ sacks came on pressure up the middle. That includes all 3 of Za’Daruis Smith’s sacks, who spent a large portion of the game inside, especially in obvious passing situations. Both of Murray’s interceptions came on plays where he was pressured up the middle.

A lot of credit has to go to Danielle Hunter, who likely sacrificed stats to keep Murray’s scrambling in check. Pundits will wonder what’s wrong with Hunter. I thought he was really good.

As for the motivation of Hicks and Peterson, yeah … it was high. In a team meeting early in the week, both players talked about the bad culture in Arizona. Hicks told the team that if the Vikings got on them right away and busted them in the mouth early, they’d start fighting with each other and eventually fold. That’s exactly what happened. They were bickering and yelling at each other, especially the coaches. Hicks was also not complimentary about the way he was released. Nobody thanked him, and GM Steve Keim never even talked to him. Still hasn’t. It’s all on Vikings.com … Hicks and PP don’t much care for their old team.

[CharVike]

This was huge. I very much feared that Murray would kill us with his scrambling, but we managed to keep him in check. I didn't even notice if we were doing anything special to defend against the threat of his running. I do remember one play where Hunter missed him, did not keep contain, and Murray skirmished around him on the right for a large gain. But that was an anomaly today. Our D played inspired ball. It helped that PP and HIcks used to be Cardinals. They appeared to be VERY motivated.

Rush lanes.

We were 40 rows up in section 140. If you wanted to do an all-22 camera angle, our seats would have been perfect. You could see that our edge rushers were concentrating on maintaining their rush lanes and not letting Murray get outside the pocket. Particularly good at this were Danielle Hunter and DJ Wonnum. They were very disciplined … no spin moves, not a ton of stunts or twists. If you noticed, all four of the Vikings’ sacks came on pressure up the middle. That includes all 3 of Za’Daruis Smith’s sacks, who spent a large portion of the game inside, especially in obvious passing situations. Both of Murray’s interceptions came on plays where he was pressured up the middle.

A lot of credit has to go to Danielle Hunter, who likely sacrificed stats to keep Murray’s scrambling in check. Pundits will wonder what’s wrong with Hunter. I thought he was really good.

As for the motivation of Hicks and Peterson, yeah … it was high. In a team meeting early in the week, both players talked about the bad culture in Arizona. Hicks told the team that if the Vikings got on them right away and busted them in the mouth early, they’d start fighting with each other and eventually fold. That’s exactly what happened. They were bickering and yelling at each other, especially the coaches. Hicks was also not complimentary about the way he was released. Nobody thanked him, and GM Steve Keim never even talked to him. Still hasn’t. It’s all on Vikings.com … Hicks and PP don’t much care for their old team.

Thank you for this write up. You explained that very well. I like the "eventually will fold." Our D leaves a bad taste in my mouth but maybe we are the over the hill gang all over again. Honestly I thought they would fold at the end but they didn't. Getting turnovers can flip games quickly.

[StumpHunter]

Missed most of the game but wanted to get in a post so PHP doesn't worry.

From what I did watch, I was impressed by the Vikings ability to run the football against a top 5 run defense and the coverage of PP. The guy still has it, and AZ fans are probably pretty upset they let him go.

Ingram sucks at pass blocking and should be benched. I cannot believe there is not a better option on the roster. Joseph is getting there.

Week 8 and the Vikings have finally surpassed 30 points in a game and shockingly (not really) they did it by relying on a run heavy, ball control approach.

[J. Kapp 11]

Rush lanes.

We were 40 rows up in section 140. If you wanted to do an all-22 camera angle, our seats would have been perfect. You could see that our edge rushers were concentrating on maintaining their rush lanes and not letting Murray get outside the pocket. Particularly good at this were Danielle Hunter and DJ Wonnum. They were very disciplined … no spin moves, not a ton of stunts or twists. If you noticed, all four of the Vikings’ sacks came on pressure up the middle. That includes all 3 of Za’Daruis Smith’s sacks, who spent a large portion of the game inside, especially in obvious passing situations. Both of Murray’s interceptions came on plays where he was pressured up the middle.

A lot of credit has to go to Danielle Hunter, who likely sacrificed stats to keep Murray’s scrambling in check. Pundits will wonder what’s wrong with Hunter. I thought he was really good.

As for the motivation of Hicks and Peterson, yeah … it was high. In a team meeting early in the week, both players talked about the bad culture in Arizona. Hicks told the team that if the Vikings got on them right away and busted them in the mouth early, they’d start fighting with each other and eventually fold. That’s exactly what happened. They were bickering and yelling at each other, especially the coaches. Hicks was also not complimentary about the way he was released. Nobody thanked him, and GM Steve Keim never even talked to him. Still hasn’t. It’s all on Vikings.com … Hicks and PP don’t much care for their old team.

Thank you for this write up. You explained that very well. I like the "eventually will fold." Our D leaves a bad taste in my mouth but maybe we are the over the hill gang all over again. Honestly I thought they would fold at the end but they didn't. Getting turnovers can flip games quickly.

In case you all are wondering about the motivation of Pat Pete … watch this.

And PP and Hicks aren’t the only players to come out against Keim. The list includes Honey Badger, Calais, Dockett, Chase, Chan, David Johnson and others. Some pretty good players there.

[J. Kapp 11]

More from Patrick Peterson.

If the owner was leaving critical fan emails on PP’s chair, that’s truly weak. Stark contrast to the culture the Vikings are trying to build.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Good god, we must have the most neurotic fan base in the NFL.

We win and go to 6-1. As soon as Green Bay loses, the Vikings will be 3.5 games in front WITH the tiebreaker.

And we got people here saying that once our luck runs out, we won’t even make the playoffs.

Go ahead and live in your pathetic woe-is-me, sky-is-falling world. I refuse to see 6-1 as anything but phenomenal. Not perfect. Nobody is. But pretty damn phenomenal. This was a great day. I got to tailgate with a fellow VMB member. I got to meet and get autographs from Tommy Kramer and Ted Brown. I saw pure class in Jared Allen get inducted into the Ring of Honor. And I got to watch my Vikings win a big one in USB. There is no way you merchants of doom are bringing me down.

First of all, I must say, Kapp it was great to meet you yesterday! It was a heck of a game to watch for sure. For those saying it was lucky, stop living in the negative. Saying “the interceptions were lucky”, what? It’s called making plays. That’s not lucky. That’s our defensive line getting pressure on Murray to force terrible throws and our DBs capitalizing and picking them off.

The refs were horrendous this game. That whole crew never seemed to be on the same page at any point in the game.

Was a blast hanging out with Tommy Kramer all weekend along with meeting Ted Brown. Glad I was able to hook you up with those guys Kapp! Heard a lot of stories from Kramer this weekend. He often reiterated how much he likes Cousins paired with KOC and how toxic everything was with Zim. Talked about how he told Flynn off when he made the Walker trade. Him and I went partners and played pull tabs until about midnight last night. Won some money!

Overall just a great weekend and love seeing this team now sitting at 6-1. SKOL

[CharVike]

Good god, we must have the most neurotic fan base in the NFL.

We win and go to 6-1. As soon as Green Bay loses, the Vikings will be 3.5 games in front WITH the tiebreaker.

And we got people here saying that once our luck runs out, we won’t even make the playoffs.

Go ahead and live in your pathetic woe-is-me, sky-is-falling world. I refuse to see 6-1 as anything but phenomenal. Not perfect. Nobody is. But pretty damn phenomenal. This was a great day. I got to tailgate with a fellow VMB member. I got to meet and get autographs from Tommy Kramer and Ted Brown. I saw pure class in Jared Allen get inducted into the Ring of Honor. And I got to watch my Vikings win a big one in USB. There is no way you merchants of doom are bringing me down.

First of all, I must say, Kapp it was great to meet you yesterday! It was a heck of a game to watch for sure. For those saying it was lucky, stop living in the negative. Saying “the interceptions were lucky”, what? It’s called making plays. That’s not lucky. That’s our defensive line getting pressure on Murray to force terrible throws and our DBs capitalizing and picking them off.

The refs were horrendous this game. That whole crew never seemed to be on the same page at any point in the game.

Was a blast hanging out with Tommy Kramer all weekend along with meeting Ted Brown. Glad I was able to hook you up with those guys Kapp! Heard a lot of stories from Kramer this weekend. He often reiterated how much he likes Cousins paired with KOC and how toxic everything was with Zim. Talked about how he told Flynn off when he made the Walker trade. Him and I went partners and played pull tabs until about midnight last night. Won some money!

Overall just a great weekend and love seeing this team now sitting at 6-1. SKOL

Ted Brown was a solid player. Tommy was my favorite player when he 1st started. You were never out of a game with him in there. He had some ups and downs but that goes with every person. He was in the lime light and people saw/read about it. That great last comeback season he had was one of his best. He was on fire the entire season. That's not easy.

[Cliff]

They didn't have any more luck than the average team can have on any day in my opinion. Those INTs weren't "luck" sometimes balls go sailing and the players have to recognize what happened and make the play. If anything they're lucky Peterson didn't pick off a 3rd. The fact that Kirk *didn't* throw any INTs also isn't luck. You can count the fumble as "lucky" but is something like that happening out of the ordinary once or twice a game?

They both had plenty of calls go for and against them, so I didn't see any extra luck there. Our kicker missed an extra point and a field goal but at least he nailed someone in the face while doing it. Certainly didn't seem lucky.

Even when they were down for a few minutes it felt like the Vikings controlled the game from start to finish. Then they did what they've done nearly every game this season: finish.

It was a fun game to watch.

[Maelstrom88]

Irv Smith expected to be out awhile with a potential high ankle sprain.

[Texas Vike]

I think a lot of posters pointing to luck are missing the boat entirely.

Only one team has more RZ TDs than the Vikings (Chiefs have 23, we have 18). We're at 67% TD when getting to the RZ. (Shout out to Phil Mackey for pointing this out on PD) KOC's creativity at the goal line is probably the most important difference between last year's team and this year's. Remember that sinking feeling that our OL wasn't strong enough to just get 1 yard for a TD or on a 4th down? Even when we had 2 or 3 tries it was far from a guarantee in year's past. Instead of brute force, KOC uses intelligence. Movement, sweeps, etc. Put something on tape one week and then use it to create doubt in your opponent with a similar look the next... it's beautiful to watch.

[VikingLord]

- Very impressed with the efficiency of the Vikings offense inside the red zone yesterday and overall. The Vikings play design in those situations is impressive, with multiple options after the snap. I personally can't follow the ball and all the motion, so I can't imagine how difficult it is to defend. They've got Reagor running pre-snap motion, a real running threat, excellent routes by the WR's. That first TD to Mundt was a thing of beauty. Very efficient when they have scoring opportunities and as an added bonus, they seem to be getting better and more comfortable executing in those situations as well.

- Very impressed with Cousins yesterday. Cardinals brought the pressure all game and Cousins handled it very well.

- Along those lines, anyone else impressed by how hyped Cousins was after the scores? He seems like he is really into it this year. Love the determination and leadership. The other players see it and feel it and it does make a difference.

- I liked what I saw from the DBs yesterday. Coverage was generally better but they were flying up to hit and make plays. Dantzler and Peterson seem to be playing with chips on their shoulders now. Sullivan made some nice plays, and of course, Smith and Bynum showed up as well.

- Does anyone else just feel a different *vibe* from this year's team? I mean, on Smith's INT you could see Peterson doing like a dance mid field. He couldn't do anything to help block, but he was seriously dancing mid field. I loved it. And then the team overall just seems to be enjoying it, from Zadarius Smith to Cousins to Thielen. Heck, even Bradbury got an unsportsmanlike penalty called on him. Granted, never like to see a penalty, but come on, when does an offensive lineman ever get called for one of those? Might be the rare example of a good penalty in that it reflects passion and investment.

I really don't know how the score of the game was as close as it was. It felt like the Vikings dominated the Cardinals (kind of like how I felt after the Vikings beat the Saints). Obviously, some things to clean up and still room to improve, but I like what I saw from the team overall.

Just got to keep this rolling now. If there is a challenging part of the schedule, these upcoming games are it. They seem to be putting it together though, and this is the time of the year when teams that want to challenge for the title start putting it together. I'm very optimistic on this team.

[Texas Vike]

Irv Smith expected to be out awhile with a potential high ankle sprain.

Which makes getting a trade done for a TE before tomorrow's deadline even more important. The Colts are looking out of things and have some interesting young talent. Any others?

[Maelstrom88]

Irv Smith expected to be out awhile with a potential high ankle sprain.

Which makes getting a trade done for a TE before tomorrow's deadline even more important. The Colts are looking out of things and have some interesting young talent. Any others?

Albert Okwuegbunam from the Broncos and Gisecki from Miami.

[StumpHunter]

- Very impressed with Cousins yesterday. Cardinals brought the pressure all game and Cousins handled it very well.

Had to check the numbers because most are saying the Oline played well and you are correct, he was under pressure a lot. 7th most per dropback.

Not sure about him handling it well though. Cousins averaged 4.8 YPA (19th out f 27) , 0 picks 0 ints and a fumble and had 62 yards passing under pressure yesterday. He did have 2 scrambles in that situation so and I know he ran for a TD so maybe that is what you saw?

- I liked what I saw from the DBs yesterday. Coverage was generally better but they were flying up to hit and make plays. Dantzler and Peterson seem to be playing with chips on their shoulders now. Sullivan made some nice plays, and of course, Smith and Bynum showed up as well.

PP had a great game, only giving up 2 receptions, with 37 of the 42 yards given up coming as YAC on a 38 yard play I don't remember seeing.

Dantzler gave up 77 yards (12th most), 9 receptions on 10 targets and Sullivan gave up 102 yards (3rd most), 10 receptions on 12 targets.

PFF didn't like Smith's coverage (graded 54th of 68 qualifying safeties) while Bynum had a good grade at 62.4 in coverage.