On To The Vikings...

[NJCardFan]

Why would you underestimate them like that. They don't have that record by accident.

Seattle is very very dangerous and it looks like they are hitting there stride late a loss to them certainly isn't something to be ashamed of

Their wins have come against:

DetroitX2
San Diego
KC(when they were struggling)
Chicago
St. Louis
Oakland
Atlanta

Their losses were against:

SF
GB
Seattle
Denver

Contenders beaten: 0, although you can make a case for Atlanta

Contenders lost to:

3 of 3 played. I'm not impressed.

 

[Dr. Jones]

Dude.... This game will be no joke. A desperate team that plays after an embarrassing loss is always scary. Especially with the entire NFL watching. If we don't step on their throats early, this could be another long night.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Zeno]

I haven't paid much attention to the Vikings, I had no idea how injured they were on defense...

Safety Harrison Smith, linebacker Anthony Barr, defensive tackle Linval Joseph -- who missed all or most of Sunday's game -- were all non-participants during the Vikings' walkthrough Monday evening. Safety Antone Exum was also not practicing, while safeties Andrew Sendejo and Robert Blanton were watching on the side.

In short, the Vikings were again without arguably three of their four most important players on defense, and they were without all four safeties on their active roster on Monday.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/po...ony-barr-not-practicing-for-vikings-on-monday

 

[crisper57]

I haven't paid much attention to the Vikings, I had no idea how injured they were on defense...



http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/po...ony-barr-not-practicing-for-vikings-on-monday

How hurt do you have to be to be unable to go through a walk-thru? Honestly, I'm asking.

 

[BullheadCardFan]

Dude.... This game will be no joke. A desperate team that plays after an embarrassing loss is always scary. Especially with the entire NFL watching. If we don't step on their throats early, this could be another long night.

+1

I believe the Vikes will be really fired up after their big loss. We need to get ahead in this game and keep the pedal all the way down. No letting up and no letting Teddy to get his confidence.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

We haven't beat the Vikings since 2009. This game worries me.

 

[Zeno]

How hurt do you have to be to be unable to go through a walk-thru? Honestly, I'm asking.

That is a good question.

The Cards aren't exactly the picture of health but that Viking injury list on their defense is bad. Not one healthy safety on the roster? Yikes.

I still expect this game to be tough, nobody likes getting embarrassed, there will be some pride involved, heck even the awful Cardinal team that got trounced 58-0 came back and won the following week 38-10.

 

[crisper57]

Vikings tend to lose when they forget Adrian Peterson is on the team. Then when he doesn't get his touches, he reminds them through the media and they make adjustments the following game. With fresh legs, his 25-30 touches tend to result in a ton of yards and victories.

The Cards have to stop him. They have to get up early and take the Viking running game out of the equation.

 

[crisper57]

@DailyNorseman

Minnesota #Vikings Declare Barr, Joseph, and Smith OUT For Thursday

http://www.dailynorseman.com/2015/12/8/9870474/all-your-injuries-are-belong-to-the-vikings

In the case of Exum, it was revealed that he will miss two to three weeks with a fractured rib and a sprained AC joint in his shoulder.

http://www.vikings.com/team/injury-report.html

DT Linval Joseph Foot DNP
S Andrew Sendejo Knee DNP
LB Anthony Barr Groin/Hand DNP
S Harrison Smith Knee/Hamstring DNP
LB Brandon Watts Rib DNP
S Robert Blanton Knee DNP
S Antone Exum Jr. Rib/ Shoulder DNP
DE Scott Crichton Ankle LP

Will they be able to dress enough safeties? Carson is licking his chops.

 

[NMCard]

The Vikings seem to have a pretty good coach we know how important that has been for the Cards. Zimmer seemed really angry at his OL after the Seahawks game. I hope the Cards don't have any let downs with this game. They need to stack a few more wins to maintain the momentum going into the playoffs. The 2 seed is very important.

 

[DVontel]

Minnesota won't be playing their 3 best defensive players.

Extremely big.

 

[Redneck Voodoo]

Minnesota won't be playing their 3 best defensive players.

Extremely big.

I read Barr, Joseph and Smith. Maybe more by game time. Yeah, that's huge.

 

[mmvikes]

I thought this would be a tough game even if we were healthy. Short week, away, against a solid team. Now with our defense in the shape it is in, nearly impossible. But any given Sunday, ( or Thursday) any team can win. I think our hope lies in AP. If we can avoid abandoning the run game early, give him plenty of carries, he can carry the team while keeping Carson off the field. To me, the key to getting Adrian his carries is Teddy. If Teddy can convert 3rd downs early so we can continue to pound with Adrian, eventually he will wear down any defense. If Teddy is off, three and outs or 5 and outs will put us too far behind, and Norv will put the game in Teddys hands and AP will again get few carries. That is a recipe for disaster for us this year.
Zimmer will have the defense playing better this week, after that Seachickens debacle, but without the horses it is going to be tough. The Cards are way to tough to let build a big lead.

 

[BillsCarnage]

2015:

Followed a 31 yard (10 attempt) effort against the Niners with 29/134 against the Lions.

Followed a 26/60 effort against the Chiefs with 19/98 against the Lions (again). He then went on to have 103, 125, & 203 yards in the next 3 games.

Followed a 13/45 effort against GB with a 29/158 effort against ATL.

And now he had his worst day by any measure 8-for-18 against Seattle.

All lousy defenses

...Their defense has a good front line but better playmakers in their secondary. Their safety especially with smith, when healthy, can be a player that can cause team fits. They have athletic lbs that can keep up with DJ, but I'm not really sure how well their pass coverage is as a group. Their corners only have one big physical corner in Xavier Rhodes and have 2 experienced nickel types of corners in captain mutterlyn and Terrance Newman. I think if we play our game it will be a fun one to watch because it could be a repeat game like we had against the lambs Sunday.

According to this analysis the Vikings secondary is horrible at pass plays over 20yrds - 108 QB rating. What is the Cards' strong point on offense? Yup, throwing it deep.
http://www.azcardinals.com/videos/v...-Preview/450edea3-a29c-40a1-97f9-87c260f410e7

Vikings are so banged up right now and they have to sleep in a hotel on a short week. Sure, it's the NFL, but everything is stacked against the Vikings in this one.

 

[Azlen]

I'm not really afraid of this game maybe as much as I should. Minnesota's defense is really banged up and having a short week, road game against the top offensive team in the league is not favorable for the Vikes. I also trust the defense's ability to stop the run and AP. If healthy, I think the Vikes are still a year or two away from being a real contender but as injured as they are, it shouldn't be a difficult game for the Cards to win.

 

[daves]

We haven't beat the Vikings since 2009. This game worries me.

Yeah, but the 2012 game (14-21 loss) featured Skelton at QB and LSH at RB. The 2011 game (10-34 debacle) featured Kolb (21-42-232-0TD-2INT) being replaced by Bartel (2-6-22-0-1) (and 3 TDs by AP).

Those were entirely different Cardinals teams. I know, i was in Minnesota for both games! Ugh.

And the 2010 game, also in Minnesota, featured Scud and Hightower on the Cards and Favre on the Vikings. (The Cards built a 24-10 lead only to blow it in the last 3:34 and lose in OT.) Again, Ugh.

Not saying it'll be easy, but don't be worried just based on the last three results with three awful QBs at the helm of the Cardinals!

This Vikings team is much better than those teams, but the Cards are almost entirely different and much, much, much better. And this game, unlike the last three, is at UofP Stadium.

...dbs

 

[crisper57]

Minnesota won't be playing their 3 best defensive players.

Extremely big.

And they may only dress 2 safeties, both of which DNP yesterday with injuries of their own. The Cards went from tough to a nightmare match-up for that scenario.

 

[az jam]

I thought this would be a tough game even if we were healthy. Short week, away, against a solid team. Now with our defense in the shape it is in, nearly impossible. But any given Sunday, ( or Thursday) any team can win. I think our hope lies in AP. If we can avoid abandoning the run game early, give him plenty of carries, he can carry the team while keeping Carson off the field. To me, the key to getting Adrian his carries is Teddy. If Teddy can convert 3rd downs early so we can continue to pound with Adrian, eventually he will wear down any defense. If Teddy is off, three and outs or 5 and outs will put us too far behind, and Norv will put the game in Teddys hands and AP will again get few carries. That is a recipe for disaster for us this year.
Zimmer will have the defense playing better this week, after that Seachickens debacle, but without the horses it is going to be tough. The Cards are way to tough to let build a big lead.

Stopping AP is certainly the key for us. (Cards fans). However, I'm glad that we are playing at home.

 

[crisper57]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/12/08/vikings-place-exum-on-ir-address-safety-shortage/

The Vikings placed safety Antone Exum Jr. on injured-reserve Tuesday and addressed a glaring need at the position by signing Shaun Prater and promoting Anthony Harris from the practice squad.

Interesting comment on the story below:

The last time the Vikings played at Arizona in prime time was 2009, and they lost 30-17. That loss started a streak that has seen the Vikings go 2-17 in prime time games. The two wins were at Philadelphia on a Tuesday (!) night and at home against a 3-13 Redskins team.

 

[crisper57]

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Darren Urban ‏@Cardschatter 3m3 minutes ago
G Earl Watford added to #AZCardinals injury report for #MINvsAZ. Watford was inactive last week.

 

[GatorAZ]

Rest Ellington so he's good for the home stretch. It would be nice to get Redding back for this one.

 

[Zeno]

How can Watford injure his hand in a walk through?

I would assume that all the "Limited" will be healthy enough to play and the DNP's will either be out or game time decisions.

 

[Jetstream Green]

How can Watford injure his hand in a walk through?

I would assume that all the "Limited" will be healthy enough to play and the DNP's will either be out or game time decisions.

Wonder if he snuck a cell phone onto the field... sincerely Thomas Jones

 

[crisper57]

ESPN article on Viking Injuries:

In all likelihood, the Vikings will be in the playoffs if they can take care of a pair of home games against the Chicago Bears and New York Giants on the last two Sundays of this month. It might make sense for them to rest their injured players, take advantage of a 10-day break between the Cardinals and Bears games and try to get healthy for the final three contests of the regular season. In some cases, the short turnaround between the Seahawks and Cardinals games might not give the Vikings a choice.

This sounds like some of the posters on this board before the damn Rams game!

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/po...ony-barr-not-practicing-for-vikings-on-monday

 

[crisper57]

How can Watford injure his hand in a walk through?

I would assume that all the "Limited" will be healthy enough to play and the DNP's will either be out or game time decisions.

Dunno but he's on IR now.