Breathe deeply. It's just a preseason game.
The Minnesota Vikings defeated the Arizona Cardinals by the score of 30-28.
First of all, the score that led to the Cardinals going up 28-24 with 1:11 left in the game was horseshit. The score that was described in the ESPN boxscore as a 6-yard touchdown run by Zach Bauman was far more complicated than that. The best comparison of the supposed touchdown is to the one scored by the Oakland Raiders against the San Diego Chargers in 1978. The "Holy Roller." The rules of the game were changed because of that play. Those changes were forgotten last night. No Cardinals player ever really had possession of the ball once the center gave it up. The play should have been dead after an offensive lineman batted the ball with no effort given to actually recovering it. Hell, the quarterback never really made much of an attempt to possess the snap. Everything that the Cardinals did was an attempt at keeping the ball moving. Just like the "Holy Roller." The game was changed in 1978 and forgotten last night. The official ruling on the field was that no offensive player ever had possession of the ball. So, technically there was never a fumble. So, any offensive player could advance the ball. So, Bauman did. Touchdown Cardinals. Let's all be glad that this play didn't happen in a game that meant something. The quarterback batted the ball backward. An offensive lineman batted it forward. None of that works.
The best thing about the fiasco of the Cardinals touchdown was that there was 1:11 left in the game. Vikings rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater only needed about 45 seconds of that time to lead the Vikings to a game-winning 2-yard touchdown pass to Rodney Smith. The Cardinals don't score and Bridgewater doesn't get the chance to bring his team back. He was remarkably calm throughout the drive. He seemed to have comfortable control of the clock, the down and distance, and his team. If Bridgewater looked like a rookie quarterback making his first NFL appearance last week, he looked like an NFL quarterback that had to bring his team back this week.
For a preseason game this was a very entertaining game. Even before the strange and exciting ending. Expected Vikings starting quarterback Matt Cassel was solid. He played the entire first half. 12-16 for 153 yards and a touchdown. He led the team to three scores. A touchdown and two field goals. The other two possessions ended in a missed field goal and a punt. He spread the ball around. The running game didn't help him or the team too much. That can be expected when Adrian Peterson spent the entire game on the sideline. It's actually impossible to judge any Vikings quarterback when the player that defenses fear the most is munching on sunflower seeds on the sideline. Peterson is so much of the Vikings offense that gaining anything from preseason games is foolish.
The Vikings starters, offense and defense, played the entire first half. The Cardinals starters played the first two series. Starters vs. starters? The game was pretty much even.
The best thing about the Vikings starters was the terrific play of tight end Kyle Rudolph. He dropped some weight in the offseason in order to get quicker for offensive coordinator Norv Turner's offense. I wasn't so sure that he truly needed it but he looks so much quicker. Much quicker than I expected. He had a big play last week against the Raiders. The Cardinals had no answer for him this week. 4 catches for 89 yards and a 51-yard touchdown. Most of the 51 yards was Rudolph "flying" down the sideline. Kyle Rudolph should be an impact player this year. Adrian Peterson and Cordarrelle Patterson will keep defensive coaches up at night. Rudolph might add to that sleep deprivation.
It was interesting to watch Cordarrelle Patterson go up against Patrick Peterson. The Cardinals corner might be the best corner in the game. I think that Patterson is ready to go up against any corner in the league. The kid knows that he's got some special skills but he realizes that he has so much more to learn. That could be the best thing about him. In a league of truly speacial athletes, this kid can be one of the best. I've never seen a player of his size move like he can move.
Carson Palmer. The Arizona Cardinals starting quarterback. 34-years old. Palmer was the only USC quarterback that actually deserved the Heisman Trophy. He was on the verge of being among the elite throwers in the game in 2005. His Cincinnati Bengals completely dismantled the Vikings that season. Pretty much skill position player on that team had career game that day. All because of Palmer. If the defense stepped up that Bengals team could have won a Super Bowl. They might have been on their way either way but Palmer has his knee destroyed by Kimo Von Oelhoffen of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the playoffs. That Steelers team went on to win the Super Bowl but the Bengals had them on the ropes while Palmer was still standing. Carson Palmer gets some grief but he's still a very good NFL quarterback. Bruce Arians is a very good football coach with a fantastic grasp of offensive football.
The Cardinals play in the NFC West. The best division in the league. The Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers are the toast of that division but they are hardly alone. The Cardinals beat the Seahawks in Seattle last year. Supposedly, that's impossible. The Cardinals are going to miss their idiot linebacker Daryl Washington to another suspension but they still have an excellent defense. Led by defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, this defense is right there with the terrific defenses of the 49ers and Seahawks.
I went into this game hoping to see something of Cardinals rookie receiver John Brown. He was a third round pick out of Pittsburg St. Many have compared him to a receiver that Arians had in Indianapolis by the name of T.Y. Hilton. The rookie did make a nice 22-yard catch for his NFL team. Antoher J. Brown was the Viking-killer last night. 2013 undrafted free agent Jaron Brown had two catches for 86 yards. The first 51 came on a short pass that he took for damn near a touchdown. Vikings corner Xavier Rhodes should have had him down but he spun out of that undressing and was down the sideline. The remaining 35 also came against Rhodes. The Vikings corner had nice coverage but couldn't prevent the catch. Both plays were about the receiver making a play. Rhodes has to turn that around.
Speaking of Cardinals receivers, it would simply be wrong to not to mention Larry Fitzgerald. He had two catches for 24 yards on the night. A typical preseason game for a player of his stature. Fitzgerald is right there with Walter Payton, Charlie Waters, Carl Banks, Barry Sanders, Sterling Sharpe, and a few others as my favorite non-Vikings players. It helps that he learned some of his craft at the hands of Cris Carter, Randy Moss and Jake Reed as a training camp ball boy for the Vikings in the late 1990s. Fitzgerald is simply a fantastic receiver. His playoff run to Super Bowl XLIII might have been the best postseason performance ever for a receiver. He's a walking, talking, playing how-to manual for anyone thinking about catching footballs for a living.
Another Cardinals player that I have to mention is safety Justin Bethel. He's earned a Pro Bowl invite as a special teams player so he is a player of some note. I've been following Bethel since his itty-bitty Presbyterian College team came to Berkeley to play Cal. I was at that game. He was the best football player on the field that day. Bethel was everywhere. He's a football player. The Cardinals are loaded in the secondary and Bethel is going to make some money in free agency.
The Vikings won the game. They did some good things. The worst things to come from the game were on defense. A fact that probably kills head coach Mike Zimmer right now. The Cardinals were 4 for 4 on fourth down conversions. Two resulted in touchdowns. One being the horseshit touchdown with 1:11 to go in the game.The other two were on the 10:06 drive that opened the second half. A ten minute drive. There are few things more devastating in football than a drive of this duration. It's a beatdown. A complete beatdown. Both fourth downs were on short yardage and the Cardinals moved the Vikings defense and moved the sticks. When an offense converts a fourth down it's like getting a turnover. There were no turnovers in this game. Which is pretty surprising for a preseason game. The Cardinals conversion of four fourth down attempts feels like four turnovers.
The Vikings defeated the Cardinals 30-28. An entertaining game for an NFL preseason game.
The only thing that many really care about is this:
Cassel 12-16 yards 153 yards 1 td 125.3 qb rating
Bridgewater 16-20 177yds 2 tds 136.9
I really can't see Mike Zimmer and Norv Turner going wrong with naming either one the starter. It's sort of assumed that the decision will be made this week. Cassel will provide leadership that can only come with experience. Bridgewater is the better passing talent. Even now. The Vikings have a brutal early schedule with the Rams, Patriots, Saints, Falcons, and Packers. Do you throw Bridgewater into the fire early? That's the decision that needs to be made. One of the greatest tests for a quarterback is bringing a team back in the final minute. Bridgewater did that brilliantly last night. He never seemed flustered. He just played football. Zimmer asked him to play the game like he's been doing since he was 5. That's what he did. Teddy Bridgewater is the future of the Minnesota Vikings. It all depends on when the Vikings want to start that future.
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