Week Nine Preview: Minnesota Vikings vs Detroit Lions
The Minnesota Vikings now head home after a rough two game road stretch that saw their five-game winning streak come to an abrupt end. A welcomed trip home to the friendly confines of U.S. Bank Stadium is hopefully just what the doctor ordered for the battered and beleaguered Vikings.
Minnesota’s week nine opponents will be another NFC North rival, that is allegedly much worse off than the Vikings. The purple will take on the Detroit Lions this Sunday at noon, Central Time and the game can be watched on FOX.
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The Detroit Lions (4-4) are coming off a road loss to the Houston Texans in a game in which their rushing attack never got going and Matt Stafford looked flustered for most of the contest.
Does any of this matter to the Vikings who now have interim offensive coordinator, Pat Shurmur, taking over offensive play-calling duties for Norv Turner? Probably not as they need to get back to winning and now see a Lions’ team that Mike Zimmer’s crew has had mixed results with over the past two seasons.
In 2014, the Lions swept the season series; in 2015 the Vikings returned the favor. Zimmer and his defense have largely kept Stafford at bay, especially in their winning efforts. What sticks out the most in the Viking victories over the Lions last season is the running game on both sides of the ball. The Vikings held the Lions to a combined 115 yards rushing last season all the while trampling the Lions for a combined total of 339 yards.
Quarterback, Sam Bradford, did not play the Lions last season but Shurmur faced them and was handed a thoroughly destructive 45-14 defeat. Shurmur’s quarterback, Mark Sanchez, was sacked six times and hit nine more in a shelling that Shurmur would no doubt love to forget.
Essentials to win the game
As noted, the Vikings have had plenty of success running the ball versus the Lions in 2015; much of the same must happen on Sunday as well or Minnesota could find themselves dropping their third straight game. Detroit currently is giving up an average of 110.6 rushing yards per game, good enough for 17th in the NFL. The Vikings somehow have to get the run game going early in this one; when is the last time the Vikings had a rusher run for more than 100 yards in a game? If that were to happen on Sunday, they will have a great chance of defeating the Lions.
The Vikings will now go on without Norv Turner as their offensive coordinator. Turner’s stepping down surprised Shurmur as he will now be coaching the tight ends and taking over the offense as a whole. Shurmur’s job is to get Bradford comfortable and into a rhythm early in this game. Over the last two, Bradford has looked scared stiff and rightfully so as the offensive line has offered him anything but. If he can go back to looking like he did in the first few games this season, the Vikings should win this game.
Possible downfalls to avoid
As always, playing down to one’s opponent is something every team in the NFL needs to avoid on a weekly basis. Obviously, the Vikings know they should have easily beaten the Bears on Monday and should be able to defeat the Lions this week. Knowing what should happen and having it manifest on the playing field are two entirely different things, especially when playing as poorly as the Vikings are right now.
The Lions and the Vikings have two of the worst rushing attacks in all of football right now. The Lions are 27th in the NFL while rushing for an average of 85.5 yards per game; the Vikings are 31st and averaging a mere 71.9 yards per game on the ground. The downfall for the Vikings to avoid would be allowing the Lions to establish the run game before they do. Stafford can be dangerous without a run game and lights out if he gets even the smallest amount of time after play-action.
Player spotlight
The eye-bleedingly-vibrant flood spotlight will be on Shurmur and what he does to give Bradford better protection. According to Ben Goessling of ESPN, Alex Boone is still in the league’s concussion protocol and Zac Kerin did not practice on Thursday; there is no telling when they will be back at this point. If Boone and Kerin cannot go, Jeremiah Sirles and Willie Beavers may have to step in and up.
The Lions have a pass rusher in Kerry Hyder that they like to line up all over the place, finding him the most favorable matchup. This season Hyder has five sacks and according to Michael Rothstein of ESPN, he has truly surprised many with how complete his game has become.
This section just would not be complete lately without highlighting the other team’s rookie that have been excelling in their first season. Lions’ rookies, Taylor Decker at left tackle, Graham Glasgow at left guard and Miles Killebrew at safety have been great finds for Detroit.
Is this the week the Vikings’ defense hits their stride again? In order to have that happen, Tom Johnson will have to come back healthy and take advantage of going against rookies. If Johnson or Shamar Stephen win their one-on-one battles, Linval Joseph and Everson Griffen could have huge days.
Game projection
The Lions like to get the ball out quickly and connect on their deep opportunities to wideout Marvin Jones, who is fifth in the NFL with 656 receiving yards. Detroit has had their fair share of injuries at the running back position, making it even more necessary to having a healthy Theo Riddick in the backfield. If the receivers can win their matchups against the stout corners of the Vikings, Stafford could have a big day.
The Vikings will get back to what they do best, getting after the quarterback. If Zim’s Reapers can take advantage of a defensive line that has given up 19 sacks to date, Stafford could be in for another long day. In the last meeting of these two teams, he was hit 13 times and sacked seven. Zimmer’s defense is certainly capable of reproducing this performance on Sunday.
This game all stems on both teams inability to run the ball well. Whichever team can get at least a few gashing runs to keep the pass-rushers at bay, will win this game. The Vikings have shown zero ability to gain any momentum on the ground and will look to rebound defensively from last week’s debacle.
Bradford and Stafford may be in for a big day as this contest could turn into a shootout with both teams having had their missteps defensively the last few weeks. Stafford may be the one running for his life instead of Bradford this Sunday as Zimmer’s defense has something to prove and will certainly have his number.
Bradford finally gets enough protection and tears it up for 300-plus yards; Stefon Diggs hits paydirt again as does Kyle Rudolph. Zimmer’s defense gets back on track with three or more sacks and the Vikings get a much needed win 27-18.
Justin Ekstrom can be followed on Twitter @thesportscrib21 and be sure to follow and comment about vikings32 on Facebook and Twitter.
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