The most interesting PFF grades from Vikings-Cardinals

Ed Ingram, look away.
The most interesting PFF grades from Vikings-Cardinals
The most interesting PFF grades from Vikings-Cardinals /

The grades from Pro Football Focus from the Vikings' 34-26 win over the Cardinals are in. Let's dig into them... 

Za'Darius Smith leads active defense

Smith has been a wrecking ball for the Vikings and Sunday he destroyed Arizona's banged up offensive line (they were down three starters) and racked up three sacks to tie New England's Matthew Judon for the NFL lead at 8.5. 

Smith's 81.6 PFF grade was the highest on the defense, just ahead of Patrick Peterson's 81.0 and Jordan Hicks' 76.5, both of whom were playing a revenge game against their former team. 

Smith tied Danielle Hunter for a team best four pressures in the game, though Hunter didn't record a sack. D.J. Wonnum added three pressures, but Kyler Murray was elusive enough to only be hit two times in addition to the four sacks he took. 

Who was DeAndre Hopkins torching all day?

The only Cardinal who really threatened the Vikings all day was DeAndre Hopkins, who had 12 catches for 159 yards and a touchdown. 

Chandon Sullivan and Harrison Smith got beat all three times each was covering Hopkins, and Hopkins caught five of six targets when he was matched up with Cam Dantzler. 

Rondale Moore had seven catches in the game and five of them were when he was covered by Sullivan. 

Peterson posted a team best 85.2 coverage grade, having been targeted five times and only allowing two catches for 42 yards, 37 of which came after the catch. PFF didn't document any targets to Hopkins against Peterson. 

How did Kirk Cousins do under pressure?

Another week and another efficient-but-not-mind-blowing performance from Kirk Cousins, who completed 24-of-36 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns, not to mention his 17-yard rushing touchdown on the opening drive. 

When Cousins was passing out from a clean pocket he was 18-of-23 for 170 yards and both of his touchdowns. When he was under pressure, he was 6-of-13 for just 62 yards and his yards per attempt dropped from 7.4 while clean to 4.8. 

You maybe noticed if you were watching the game, but Cousins only attempted nine passes 10+ yards down the field. He was 4-of-4  on passes behind the line-of-scrimmage, 15-of-17 on throws 0-9 yards, 3-of-5 from 10-19 yards and 2-of-4 on throws 20+ yards downfield. 

How'd the offensive line do?

Christian Darrisaw continues to establish himself as one of the premier left tackles in football as he posted a 91.7 overall grade, including an 87.7 pass-blocking grade and a 91.2 run-blocking score. 

  • Ezra Cleveland: 79.5 overall, 57.1 pass blocking, 82.7 run blocking
  • Brian O'Neill: 66.7 overall, 68.2 pass blocking, 62.7 run blocking
  • Garrett Bradbury: 66.6 overall, 69.6 pass blocking, 71.1 run blocking
  • Ed Ingram: 41.7 overall, 16.9 pass blocking, 59.7 run blocking

Based on PFF grades, that was Ingram's worst pass-blocking performance of the season. He was charged with allowing two sacks, one QB hit and three QB hurries for a total of six pressures. 

Related: The Vikings are oozing with confidence after another thrilling win

Related: Why the refs flagged Garrett Bradbury for unsportsmanlike conduct


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Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen.  His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011.  Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play.  Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers.  Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.