Cardinals: What to watch Sunday, focusing on Vikings offense

There’s no rest for the weary in the NFL, and while the Arizona Cardinals had some extra days off after the Thursday night game against New Orleans in Week 7, the injury report remains long and another talented opponent is up next in Minneapolis.

The Vikings have one player that didn’t practice during the week, and that was defensive lineman Jonathan Bullard, who was added to the injury report Friday with an illness and did not practice. He is listed as questionable.

For the Cardinals, five players were declared out on Friday and four are questionable. Out are center Rodney Houston for the fourth consecutive game, running back James Conner (third), linebacker/special-teams standout Dennis Gardeck (second), guard Max Garcia and cornerback Christian Matthew.

Matt Prater, who hasn’t kicked since Week 4 against Carolina, is questionable, along with tackle D.J. Humphries, cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. and running back Darrel Williams. Murphy was added to the report Friday with a back injury. Humphries didn’t practice Wednesday and Thursday and was limited Friday.

If need be, Josh Jones would be the left tackle replacing Humphries, while Cody Ford and Billy Price will start at left guard and center, respectively. Ford was acquired in a trade on Aug. 22 and Price was signed of the Raiders practice squad on Oct. 4.

Cue the music for the tired cliché often said that “all teams have injuries.”

The Vikings are 5-1, a record fashioned by four one-score victories: Miami by eight, Chicago by seven, Detroit by four and New Orleans by three. They also beat the division favorite, the currently compromised Packers, by 16. Their one loss was to Philadelphia by 17. They do have a group of challenging playmakers on offense that the Cardinals have to contain to have a chance.

Amid that backdrop, surely the most significant “what to watch” for the Cardinals is … the Vikings offense.

The coach

First-year coach Kevin O’Connell was the offensive coordinator (in name only) on Sean McVay’s Rams staff the previous two seasons and also coached Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins in Washington.

The Vikings offense is “similar to the Rams,” according to Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, who explained, “It’s impressive to watch. They do a great job of scheming coverages and scheming fronts, which the Rams obviously are one of the best at doing it. With Kirk Cousins, who has been in multiple systems, they can do a lot at the line of scrimmage. And that keeps you guessing. It’s not shotgun passes, it’s not ‘dot’ run, it’s first, second down, it’s mostly play-action pass.

“And that’s tough on a defense to hide the ball that much and throw passes. You’re hoping they hand off more often from ‘dot,’ and throw it from gun, but it’s not that way with this offense. It’s really 50/50; it’s what you present as a defense. That’s what he gives you, so it’s really tough to prepare for.”

The quarterback: Kirk Cousins

Is there a more maligned quarterback from “outsiders” than Cousins? Perhaps not. Coach Kliff Kingsbury smiled when asked about the perception of the Vikings quarterback and said, “He’s played at a really high level for a long time. Whether it’s Washington or Minnesota, he seems to always have his team in the chase and that’s all you can ask.

“When I watch him, he’s a great decision-maker, a very accurate thrower, has played in a bunch of schemes and has been successful in every one of them, so I think he’s a really, really good player. For whatever reason, people want to give him a bad rap, but he’s played at a high level for his entire career.”

In six games, Cousins has completed 66.2 percent of his passes for 1,502 yards, nine touchdowns, five interceptions, has been sacked 11 times and has a pedestrian 88.7 passer rating. Only eight quarterbacks have more interceptions and his interception percentage is tied for 22nd in the NFL.

Queried about Cousins, Joseph morphed into the Cardinals’ weekly challenge of playing defense in the NFL.

“He can play, no question about that,” Joseph said. “But every week, it’s the same in this league, and everyone’s got players. Everyone’s got a big-time back and couple of receivers and a quarterback that’s playing well. So for us, it’s the same as the Rams, Seattle, the same as the Chiefs, same as the Raiders. So for us, it’s no different. It’s having a plan to stop what they do best. And live with the rest. Make our plays, be great on third downs be great in the red zone. And that doesn’t change for us. But everyone’s got good players. And we’re kind of used to that.”

The ’big-time’ back: Dalvin Cook

As Kingsbury noted this week, “Dalvin is one of those guys; you can bottle him up for the entire game, and then the last one he goes for 70 yards and out-runs everybody. So he’s been a really good back in this league for a long time. And with the weapons they have, I think Kevin’s done a great job of maximizing each guy in the system.”

Said safety Budda Baker, “It’s always going to be about stopping that run game. Dalvin Cook is one of my favorite backs that I’ve gone against, a guy who is really good in the run game, who can make one cut and hit the hole and next thing you know it’s a 65-yard touchdown.”

Cook has rushed for 450 yards (4.8 average) with four touchdowns, including one for 53 yards. In the Cardinals’ 34-33 win over the Vikings at State Farm Stadium last season, Cook rushed for 131 yards on 22 carries (6.0 average).

Minnesota’s Hopkins: Justin Jefferson

Posing a question to Kingsbury, a reporter began by referring to Jefferson as “kinda elite,” to which the coach interrupted and said he’s not “kind of,” then continued after he was asked how he compares to DeAndre Hopkins: “He’s all the way elite. They move him around. Like Hop, he can be on the outside and burn you on a go route or put him inside on an option route. I think that the versatility of both those guys is unique. Great route-runners, great hands, very competitive. There’s some similarities there for sure.”

Joseph said, “It’s no different to Cooper Kupp [Rams] or [Davante] Adams [Raiders] or the big guy in Seattle. What’s his name? DK Metcalf. So many guys every week, I lose track of these names. But, he [Jefferson] is a special player. And he’s been that way for three straight years. We saw him last year, he made some plays last year, but it wasn’t bad. But obviously the plan is always to keep those guys from hurting us.”

In that 2021 game, Jefferson was targeted 10 times and caught six for 65 yards and a touchdown.

Said Baker, “He’s a great player, a guy who can run all the intermediate routes, post balls, also comes out of the backfield and runs routes, as well. All-around type of guy.”

This season he has 46 receptions for 654 yards (third in the NFL) and has at least 100 yards in the last three games. Since entering the league in 2020, Jefferson has had at least 100 yards in 18 games, which is tied for the most in the NFL. With a 100-yard game Sunday, he would tie Randy Moss and Odell Beckham Jr. for the most games with 100 or more yards by a player in his first three seasons.

As for Hopkins, he needs one reception to reach 800 for his career. He will be 30 years and 146 days old Sunday, which would make him the third-youngest player in history to hit 800. Former Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald was the youngest at 30 years and 57 days, while Antonio Brown was next at 30/138.

While Hopkins is expected to continue moving around in the formations, he surely will see former Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson, who is in his second season with the Vikings.

Peterson insisted this week on his “All Things Covered Podcast” that there “ain’t no emotions” playing against his former team, but the previous week he said, “I’m getting two October 30th. Watch what I say. You already know who we’re playing. I can’t wait.”

No emotions?

Cardinals need to limit big plays

One factor in the Cardinals’ defensive success after the first six quarters of the season was limiting big plays.

Despite the big plays on interceptions made by Antonio Hamilton, Marco Wilson and Isaiah Simmons against the Saints, Joseph wasn’t pleased with the big plays allowed. And he let the players know about it.

“To make those three big plays, that was fun to watch,” Joseph said. “But to give up those three big plays that led to 17 points, we don’t like that. Those three plays were the biggest plays we’ve had all year: 60-plus, 40-plus, 50-plus; that’s not good defense.”

That led to what Joseph described as “a spirited meeting” Friday morning after the game.

“They were a little shocked by my attitude on Friday morning, but the standard did dip,” he said. “Making those plays was obviously good for our football team. But giving up three explosive passes that led to points was not good for us. So that’s got to stop. The guys know that we have a higher standard than that. But on to the next; we’ll fix it.

“We just speak the truth; coach the wrong and praise the right and move forward. But we have to understand that’s not good football. Making those plays was good for our team, but giving up three big plays, it’s not good for our team.”

Replacing Rashard

Improving nose tackle Rashard Lawrence was placed on reserve/injured this week and will miss at least four games for the Cardinals. Asked if Lawrence is expected back this season, Kingsbury said, “It’s going to be a wait and see. I’d say it’s a month before we’ll know anything, whether we can rehab it and play or just [stay] on IR.”

He acknowledged that shoulder surgery is possible, saying, “I think it’ll be a month into it [before we know], but [we’ll] let it try and heal somewhat on its own. I think at some point, he’ll have to have surgery, but he may be able to rehab and play through it.”

Joseph adopted the “next-man-up” mantra when discussing replacing Lawrence.

“Obviously, he’s a big part of our run defense and he’s been playing really well as a nose for us and that’s a big part of being a 3-4 defense, controlling the A gaps, especially with this [Vikings] run game that runs lateral,” he said. “He’s had a good year thus far, so losing him won’t help. It’s not good for your team to lose your starting nose, but next man up. We’ll see what happens on Sunday, but we’ve got guys who are capable and guys who are eager to play for us.”

Leki Fotu is the only defensive lineman on the Cardinals’ 53-man roster over 300 pounds and the only healthy D-linemen are Fotu, J.J. Watt, Zach Allen, Michael Dogbe and Jonathan Ledbetter. Practice-squad linemen eligible to be elevated are Antwaun Woods, Andrew Brown and Manny Jones. Woods is more of a nose tackle than the others.

UPDATE: Woods was elevated Saturday to the game-day roster, along with tackle Badara Traore likely because of Humphries’ injury.

Player of the week

A case could be made that Simmons should have been NFC Defensive Player of the Week instead of Wilson.

Simmons’ interception return for a touchdown was longer (56 yards to 38), his was one-handed in the middle of the field compared to Wilson’s coming on a pass that went up in the air off the hands of wide receiver Marquez Callaway, and Wilson was the coverage victim on the 53-yard touchdown catch by Rashid Shaheed on the fourth play of the game.

Wilson did have the acrobatic leap into the end zone, but should that sway the selectors? Of course, the reality is that Player of the Week awards don’t mean much, and for Simmons, his varied roles will be crucial in helping slow Minnesota’s offense Sunday.

Joseph couldn’t stop praising Simmons this week.

“Isaiah is playing really well,” he said. “He really is. The last six weeks of football has been impressive to watch this guy play. He’s done a lot of slot corner for us and he’s doing a good job at it. He’s a tall, obviously rare athlete. His coverage stuff, his football IQ is high, he’s not making mistakes, he’s tackling hard. So I’ve been impressed with him the last six weeks and hopefully, it gets better and better.

“You watch him in practice; he is feeling good about what he’s doing. And he wants more; he wants more. So to watch him after the first week, not play as good, but then bounce back into practice and study and put the time in as a pro and to watch him play good, it’s been impressive.”

Simmons said, “I came out a little rusty, didn’t play the way I would like to. I just continued to stay true to myself, do what I needed to do as a pro athlete. I never really had any worries from the first game. Everyone thought what they wanted, count me out, whatever. I wasn’t worried about none of that. I knew everything was going to come back and fall into place. It was only a matter of time.”

Early in the season, after his snaps were reduced in the second and third games, I posed the question if too much had been put on his plate, not only with his hybrid role but having the green dot and relaying the defensive calls to his teammates.

No one would admit it then, but Joseph did this week, when he said, “I thought Week 1, it was too much for him. [We decided to] kind of settle him down and take some things back, calm him down a little bit and give it back to him slowly. It’s worked for us. He’s playing cleaner. He’s playing better. And it’s good for everyone involved. But it wasn’t a punishment; it was more let’s give him less and allow him to grow at his own pace.”

Joseph noted that Simmons and numerous players didn’t play much in the preseason. In fact, seven defensive starters including Simmons didn’t play at all in the three preseason games. While claiming he could get the green dot back in the future, linebacker Zaven Collins has done fine handling it since Week 2.

“Sometimes as a coach, you gotta help them help themselves,” Joseph concluded. “The players want to play and play every down, but it wasn’t right for him early. Now it’s coming back to him.”

Quiet Byron

Cornerback Byron Murphy Jr., along with the remainder of the secondary, will have to be on their game against the Vikings. It appears that cornerback Trayvon Mullen Jr. will be active.

Murphy is in his contract year, and it’s difficult to imagine what the cornerback room would be without him. Jalen Thompson received a contract extension in early September, but cornerbacks are usually pricier than safeties and the Cardinals could be challenged to give Murphy a market deal.

Joseph knows how good Murphy is and that he continues to get better.

“He’s still growing each week as a player,” Joseph said. “[But] he’s a real guy. He wants to cover the best guys each week, and he’s done a good job doing it. His confidence, his football IQ is so high right now, so I don’t worry about him. We rarely talk about him in meetings, which is a good thing.

“If you’re talking about a player too much, it’s kind of a bad thing. He kind of blends in, he plays well, and he’s not being challenged a lot out there on Sundays. He’s a really good corner at this point in his career.”

Don’t hesitate to comment or ask questions on Twitter @hbalzer721 or email me: howard@gophnx.com