Chink in the Armor

What happened to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday? What went wrong? The Arizona Cardinals dismantled the Vikings in a 17-30 purple loss and proved that the Vikings definitely aren’t the invincible force many thought they were. They don’t have an offense that can pick its way through any defense. They don’t have a pass rush that’s unstoppable. No, they proved many things and none of them good.

I was somewhat worried about a game like this, and as each week went by without it, I became less concerned. I thought to myself that maybe this team was as good as it’s record would indicate. I still think they are one of the best teams in the league, top 5 material, but I definitely have them a couple spots lower than they were before Sunday’s beatdown. The problem with a game like this one is that it’s a formula game. What I mean by that is that now opposing teams have a formula to go by. They don’t just have a couple ideas, but a complete game plan they can use to try and do the same thing to the Vikings. The only good thing for the Vikings is that not many teams in the NFL have the type of talent the Cardinals do, so when they execute the same plan it may not be as effective.

The first thing I noticed was the lack of noticing Jared Allen. It seemed as if he was completely shut down, and for the most part, he was. They were using a lot of TEs on his end of the line to double team or chip with the TE to help the offensive tackle. They would then send the RB out to either block, or chip Jared Allen again on his way to running a short passing route. Allen was kept extremely quiet throughout the game and had a completely empty stat line, with the exception of a couple QB hurries and hits as Warner was throwing the ball.

The Cardinals, a pass-first offense with an unremarkable running game, ran for almost twice the amount of yards the Vikings did (113-62). Adrian Peterson was held to just 19 yards on 13 carries, and one of those carries went for 11 yards. That means if you take that run out he went for 8 yards on 12 carries, an average of 2/3 of a yard per run. How did the Cardinals do this? They did it by giving the Vikings offense a different look every time on the field. There were times that the Cards loaded the box with 7, other times where they went 3 down and 8 in coverage. It was amazing what Ken Whizenhunt was able to do on Sunday to confuse the Vikings offense.

Brett Favre had his worst game of the year, throwing his first multiple interception game with the Vikings. He went 30 of 45 for 275 yards and 2 TDs along with 2 INTs. One of the interceptions was just a ridiculously bad throw and he knew it. He should not be throwing the ball 45 times with Adrian Peterson on this team. I know the run game wasn’t effective, but you can’t just go away from it, especially early in the game. I understand when you’re down by 3 scores with time running out, you need to throw the ball and get quick TDs. But, when you’re only down by one score, you cannot go away from the run because you make yourself much too predictable. The Cardinals also have a fantastic secondary that includes two safeties that are asw fast as most cornerbacks. It’s always going to be tough to throw against Arizona, and I would have liked to see a little more persistence on the ground before completely shutting it down and going to the pass game.

Another huge downer is the key injuries to the Vikings during the game. Check out the NFL’s report of the Vikings players that didn’t participate or were limited in practice this week. The list includes 4 of the Vikings starting offensive linemen. It also includes Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin, Bernard Berrian and Visanthe Shiancoe. The biggest injury, however, is to EJ Henderson who fractured his femur on Sunday. He’s out for the season, and some people are saying possibly his career. I sure hope that isn’t the case, but you can watch the play below in which Henderson suffered that injury.

Hopefully the Vikings can come together and put a decent game plan in place to defeat a decent Bengals team this coming up Sunday. Have a good one folks!

Tags: Adrian Peterson, Brett Favre, cardinals, EJ Henderson, Jared Allen, kurt warner, NFL, Vikings