Coming off their bye at 5-1, the Minnesota Vikings have an opportunity to come out of it hot with a win over the Arizona Cardinals at home on Sunday afternoon.
The two teams matchup relatively well with two high-powered offenses and defenses that have shown a lot of struggles. The Vikings also don’t have the full advantage of a bye week, as the Cardinals will be playing the Vikings on 10 days rest instead of just seven.
Despite that, the Vikings still have plenty to be optimistic about. Here are five reason for optimism heading into week seven.
The Cardinals have the 28th-ranked pass defense
The Vikings best opportunity to take advantage of the Cardinals is in the passing game. The Cardinals rank 29th in pass defense so far this season and the secondary is not their strongest. Outside of Byron Murphy, their cornerback room is not great. With three really talented wide receivers in Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen and K.J. Osborn, the Vikings can do a lot of things to take advantage of that. Rub routes, bunch formations and motion will help them do just that.
Stop DeAndre Hopkins, stop the Cardinals passing game
The Arizona Cardinals passing offense has been very inconsistent this year and a lot of that had to do with the absence of DeAndre Hopkins who missed the first six weeks due to a suspension for performance enhancing drugs. This past week, Hopkins took his rightful place as the apple of Kyler Murray’s eye. Hopkins was targeted 14 times for 10 catches and 103 yards. If the Vikings can find a way to stop Hopkins on Sunday, they have a good chance of stopping the Cardinals passing attack.
The Vikings self-scouted themselves this week
One of the difficulties the Vikings have had this season is having a brand new coaching staff and new schemes on both sides of the football. The cohesiveness hasn’t been there the way they would have wanted, but the flashes of brilliance have been. The bye week presented the team with an opportunity to scout themselves to get a better perspective on where their weaknesses are. That time should help the Vikings improve over the rest of the season.
Danielle Hunter is back
There were a lot of questions about Hunter early in the season. Defensive coordinator Ed Donatell spoke up on that and wasn’t worried, as it takes some time to adjust to how different it is for an edge rusher. He had what you might consider a “breakout game” against the Miami Dolphins where he had one sack and six pressures. With Za’Darius Smith having played as well as he has so far this season, Hunter will be likely to see some easier protections which will be great for the Vikings defense.
The Vikings are a very healthy football team
The Minnesota Vikings have had tremendous injury luck thus far. Outside of missing Andrew Booth Jr. and Lewis Cine for multiple games, the Vikings have only had a few players miss a game due to injury and only one game missed from a starter due to injury. That was Harrison Smith against the Detroit Lions after suffering a concussion against the Philadelphia Eagles. That type of injury luck isn’t sustainable, but it has been and will continue to be, a catalyst for the Vikings’ success.
