Keys to Victory, Vikings @ Cardinals

The Vikings had a ugly loss on a blown call vs the Bengals week 1. But despite the blown call, we didnt play like we wanted to win the game. Theres alot of things we have to fix to get to .500 on the year, and here is my analysis on it.

Stop the pass rush: Chandler Jones and JJ Watt

Cardinals LE Chandler Jones had a record 5 sacks last week vs the Titans. Meanwhile Vikings rookie LT Christian Darrisaw was out with a injury, and so LT Rashod Hill got the start, and it did not go to well. He had multiple holding and false start penalties, and allowed pressure on 28.7% of plays. This can’t happen against Chandler Jones. Christian Darrisaw returned to practice this week, but his availability is unknown for this weekends game. Hill needs to step up, we need to stop Chandler Jones, if its having fullback CJ Ham help double up Jones, or have LG Ezra Cleveland help block him, Jones needs to be Zimmer’s number 1 priority in game planning for this weekends game. Meanwhile, Watt will have to get threw the anchor of our offensive line, Brian O’Neill, which i’m not too worried about, and hopefully for a good reason. 

Contain Kyler Murray

The Vikings are typically bad against mobile QBs. Take Russel Wilson for example. This can’t happen, we need to figure out how to contain him. Whatever works needs to be done. Kyler is the first of 3 scrambling QBs the Vikings face this season, (Wilson week 3, Lamar Jackson week 8) so Kyler will help prepare us for those games. Eric Kendricks, Xavier Woods, and Harrison Smith even needs to be prepared to be on QB spys to prevent Kyler from shredding our D appart.

Corners need to step up

The corners, specifically Bashaud Breeland looked terrible vs the Bengals. Breeland was constantly burned by Ja’Marr Chase, Mackensie Alexander had a dropped interception, Pat Pete looked good minus 1 play. Cam Dantzler needs to be active, not a healthy scratch, and if Boyd and Hand need to play more then play them. We cant be getting burned every play, and the safeties in Xavier Woods and Harrison Smith need help, because they cant be 22 different places at one time.  

#SKOL