Matthew Coller: Studs and duds from Vikings' victory over Arizona

A deeper dive into the Vikings' 10th win of the year.

Dec 1, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride (85) fights off the tackle of Minnesota Vikings safety Harrison Smith (22) and linebacker Blake Cashman (51) during the second quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

EAGAN — The Minnesota Vikings pulled off their most difficult victory of the year against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Let’s have a closer look at the numbers and what head coach Kevin O’Connell had to say about the details of the win…

What went right

Sam Darnold avoiding turnovers, making big throws in the clutch

After three straight weeks without throwing an interception, the Vikings quarterback is suddenly not looking so reckless. In total he has 10 picks, which is still fifth most in the NFL, but there are eight other QBs between 8-10 INTs. His turnover-worthy play rate is also trending in a better direction. After six total TWPs between the Colts and Jags games, he’s only registered five the last three weeks combined.

“Sam, played fantastic and really has now for the better part of, really, since we left Jacksonville with a lot of things that we thought we could show some improvement on and get back to being who Sam's been for us,” O’Connell said. “Most of the year, he's played really good football. I'm really proud of him, but just his journey over these last two, three weeks, putting in a lot of hard work and continuing to kind of grow throughout his in -season journey this year has been really cool to watch.”

The journey keeps producing bigger and bigger sample sizes of excellent play from Darnold. He ranks 8th in PFF grade after Sunday’s game, just behind Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes.

O’Connell was asked on Monday if the last few weeks are the best football Darnold has ever played.

“I know he had some good stretches, but I think when you add in the situation of these games to losing an 11 -point lead on the road in the division, going to overtime and going 6-for-6 in a 90 -yard drive… yesterday was I don't know how many how many times he's had a game in his career where he's been down 10 plus or 13 points and been able to you know manifest that kind of scoring the way… in that moment he feels incredibly prepared,” O’Connell said.

Darnold had several throws late in the game that left the head coach marveling at his arm talent and decision making. His 25 big-time throws are second in the NFL behind Allen and Joe Burrow by one.

“Let's just be honest, how many throws can we all chat amongst ourselves right now and say that Sam's flat out just missed this year?” O’Connell said. “There's just not a lot of them. He's thrown the ball at an incredibly high level, accuracy. Perfect amount of pace, layering the ball, pushing it downfield.”

The short and intermediate passing game

Throughout the season, Darnold has been one of the best deep passers in the NFL but the Cardinals did not allow many opportunities for him to hit on shot plays. He ended up moving the football in the short and intermediate areas instead and he was tremendous with those throws. On passes between 10-19 yards, he completed 5-of-7 for 103 yards and three of them were tracked as big-time throws by PFF. Darnold also went 15-for-15 on passes between 0-9 yards (not including throwaways or knockdowns).

Darnold has the No. 1 PFF grade in the NFL on intermediate throws and No. 2 on short throws over the last three weeks. It doesn’t seem like a stretch to say that the emphasis on the underneath game (particularly in the second half against the Cardinals) has been the biggest key to his turnaround since Jacksonville.

Justin Jefferson back on track

Shockingly, Justin Jefferson is still able to get open and catch the football. No matter how good the offense does around him, Jefferson has set the standard so high that any game where he doesn’t dominate is a front-page story and that was the case after his two-catch showing in Chicago last week. Jefferson shook that off with 99 yards, including a fourth down conversion on the final drive.

O’Connell joked on Monday that there are actually plays in the playbook that don’t have Jefferson as the No. 1 target but it was clear going into Sunday’s game that he needed to be back in the middle of the action. The offense moved him around a lot pre-snap, including even putting him in the backfield.

“We had some different variations with him, either being in the backfield, motioning there, motioning out, just as some kind of things that we have at our disposal, and depending on how the game materializes from a standpoint of soft zone, maybe we can get them some easy touches and a good chance to get a drive starter,” O’Connell said. “Especially on that last drive, to know we could get off to a good start in that drive, get him a touch, and then get on the ball from there.”

Jefferson was also doing work away from the play as usual. He had a key block on a Darnold scramble.

“To make that play and ensure that Sam gets the first down right there, I think he just speaks to where Justin's at in his journey and another 1 ,000 -yard receiving year, a lot of football out in front of him and just how he's turning into a complete player,” O’Connell said.

Dalton Risner’s pass protection, Cam Robinson grinding it out

The best graded linemen in pass pro were Dalton Risner (88.0, zero pressures) and Cam Robinson (74.3, one pressure).

It was a big day for two players who were just added to the starting lineup in the last few weeks.

“I think Cam Robinson played his best game as a Viking yesterday,” O’Connell said. “Working through what he did [with a foot injury that limited him in practice last week] and having a drinking-through-the-fire-hose mentality of game plans kind of stacking on him, it seemed like he had played with a quiet mind and really knew what to do. And his athleticism showed up on the perimeter a few times, really physical, great usage of his hands in pass pro. So that was a huge part of why we were able to sustain, especially late in the game.”

Shaq Griffin rising to the challenge

The veteran corner hadn’t played more than 40 snaps since Week 4 against the Packers but when Stephon Gilmore went down he was forced into action and played 55 total snaps. In that increased playing time, he put together his highest graded game by PFF since 2020.

Whether it was due to the way the Cardinals were playing or losing Gilmore, the defense played more man coverage than usual. Griffin was signed this offseason to add more of a man coverage element to the defense but that hasn’t really materialized. On Sunday he was in his element tracking receivers one-on-one and gave up just three catches for 29 yards.

Jalen Redmond????

The Vikings signed Redmond out of the XFL this offseason and he fought his way onto the roster out of training camp. He has mixed in over the last few weeks but with the defense on the field all day he was asked to play 15 snaps. He picked up four tackles, including two TFLs and O’Connell gave him a game ball.

“There's a reason why he made our team,” O’Connell said. “I think the cool thing about Jalen is he always showed some unique things as a rusher, an interior rusher with some twitch…he's a perfect fit for our scheme with the way we move those guys up front, kind of taking gaps and things like that.”

Blake Cashman was everywhere

The Vikings linebacker was on the field for 82 plays. He rushed Kyler Murray 17 times and dropped back in coverage 38 times and played the run 27 times. Along the way he made 10 tackles, got two pressures made eight stops for negative plays (season high) and gave up 27 yards into his coverage.

Just a reminder of how many things Cashman is asked to do on a weekly basis.

Blitzing, pressuring Kyler Murray

Brian Flores blitzed Murray constantly. On 63% of his drop-backs to be exact and it was quite effective. He only averaged 4.5 yards per attempt when extra rushers were coming his way and both of his picks were vs. the blitz.

Murray was under pressure on 17 of his drop-backs and completed just five passes for 30 yards.

What went wrong

Sam Darnold causing his own pressure

Darnold was dinged with three of his own QB pressures and he held the ball for 3.6 seconds per average pressure. O’Connell did not play the blame game about the free rushers that happened early in the game but the Vikings will need to figure out their blocking against those types of looks because other teams will likely be looking to do the same in the coming weeks.

Aaron Jones fumbles and pass-game struggles

Overall, Jones has been a great running back for the Vikings this year. He has 820 yards rushing at 4.5 yards per carry and 35 receptions for 291 yards and he caught the game-winning touchdown vs. the Cards.

But his fumble issues are reaching a level of concern. He tied his career high with two more fumbles on Sunday and lost one in the red zone against the Bears last week. Jones also couldn’t bring in a potential touchdown pass on a wheel route.

O’Connell gave Jones his vote of confidence and called the pass to him in the red zone to show his trust for the veteran RB. He is well aware that they are going to need the best version of Jones down the stretch.

“If I'm going to tell him, ‘great job,’ as I have a lot of this year when he's played great for us for most of the year, I better be there to tell them that my confidence level is not lacking in any way, shape, or form, when maybe it doesn't go our way,” O’Connell said. “I just think that that's how leaders should operate.”

Getting Hockenson involved underneath

Every week somebody will be left out of the party because the Vikings have a lot of weapons but Hockenson has been such a chain-mover for the offense since returning that only getting him three catches for 28 yards when the Cardinals were allowing some underneath openings seems like a missed opportunity.

Run blocking

Garrett Bradbury was the only lineman who graded on the positive side as a run blocker. Left guard Blake Brandel had his lowest grade of the season as a run blocker (39.5). He has only registered one above average graded game by PFF since Week 2. He ranks 40th of 62 guards in run blocking and 47th overall. Brandel has never played this much in his career and fatigue might be something to keep an eye on as we go down the stretch.

Replacing Ivan Pace Jr.

Pace Jr. is such a unique player because of his blitzing ability that it was always going to be tough to replace his role. Flores only used newcomer Jamin Davis on four plays and had him rush the passer three times and veteran Kamu Grugier-Hill was on the field for 13 plays. The rest of the time it was up to Josh Metellus, who was lined up in the box for 34 snaps. Metellus had eight tackles and played a key role against the run but in coverage was the target six times for 43 yards. He only blitzed on seven plays.

Cards short passing game

One vulnerability of the Vikings defense has been the underneath and quick passing game. Murray completed 20 of 21 throws between 0-9 yards for 143 yards (6.8 yards per attempt). That allowed them to sustain long drives and keep the Vikings offense off the field.

We can expect to see plenty of the short passing game vs. Atlanta.