We have reasons why the Minnesota Vikings can beat the undefeated Los Angeles Rams on the road in Week 4.
Beware the wounded animal. It’s a phrase Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay should wear out between now and Thursday.
His 3-0 Rams will feel confident about starting Week 4 with a win over the wounded Minnesota Vikings. The Vikes are hurting after being humbled at home by the previously winless Buffalo Bills and rookie quarterback Josh Allen.
Everything went wrong for a Minnesota offense unable to protect Kirk Cousins in the pocket. Cousin couldn’t look after the football as he threw a pick and lost two fumbles.
He wasn’t helped by an anemic running game that produced 14 yards from six attempts.
The last thing the Vikings need is to face a Rams team already in high gear. An offense led by Jared Goff, Todd Gurley and Robert Woods is purring. So is a defense underpinned by Ndamukong Suh and Aaron Donald.
Look a little closer though, and the Rams should be wary about these Vikings.
One reasons is Cousins, who beat the Rams as quarterback for the Washington Redskins in Week 2 of the 2017 season. He was near-flawless, posting a 97.6 rating and throwing for a touchdown.
Of course, those Rams didn’t have Suh alongside Donald. They also didn’t have Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters locking down Cousins’ receivers on the outside.
Cousins may still manage to avoid these two premier cover men after both suffered injury during Sunday’s 35-23 win over the Los Angeles Chargers:
The Vikings should feel good about Cousins potentially targeting backups. He was under siege against the Bills but still managed to pass for 296 yards. Not bad for a QB sacked four times and rarely enjoying enough time to plant his back foot in the turf.
Receivers Adam Thielen (14 grabs for 105 yards against Buffalo) and Stefon Diggs can punish an under-strength L.A. secondary.
Punishment will only be meted out if Cousins has more time, though. He was barely afforded any during 55 pass attempts in Week 3:
Those numbers will have Suh and Donald climbing the walls waiting for Thursday Night Football. They should also encourage Minnesota offensive coordinator John DeFilippo to keep the ball on the ground.
The big names along the Rams’ D-line haven’t had much success stopping the run. Melvin Gordon averaged 5.3 yards on 15 carries in a losing effort, as the Chargers amassed 141 rushing yards.
L.A.’s D’ is a surprisingly tepid 14th against the run after yielding 105.3 yards per game. Latavius Murray needs to buckle his chin-strap and act like a bell-cow back.
One thing lost in the furor of losing to the Bills is the Vikings still-exceptional defense. The unit had to deal with several short fields thanks to turnovers and a dire outing from the special teams detailed by ESPN.com’s Courtney Cronin:
"The Vikings started eight of their 12 drives inside the 20-yard line and began five of those drives inside the 10-yard line. Matt Wile had punts of 31 and 39 yards in the first half."
Goff is in the form to punish similar mistakes:
Ironically, the Vikings are one of the few teams unlikely to fear Goff. They shut him down during a 24-7 win in Week 11 of last season.
The Vikings showed Gurley run-heavy fronts and took away the deep ball with safety help. Goff missed on 14 of 37 throws, while Gurley was held to a meager 56 total yards.
Eliminating big plays will be the priority for a defense already guilty of surrendering “10 plays of 20 yards or more this season,” per Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune.
A bigger focus will be having the right attitude, after tight end Kyle Rudolph said slips like the one against Buffalo have been common, per Cronin: “Unfortunately, you go back and look at the last three years of football that we played. We’ve done this once a year.”
These lapses are on the coaches. Mike Zimmer must ensure his players aren’t taking anything lightly this week.
The Vikings looked past the Bills because their focus was already on these Rams, according to the Star Tribune‘s Sid Hartman:
"If you ask me, the Vikings overlooked the Bills with a big game coming up against the Rams in Los Angeles on Thursday night. The game played out like a bad dream."
The Rams can turn a bad dream into a nightmare. Yet Week 3 proved no result can be taken for granted in the NFL.
Just ask the wounded and dangerous Vikings.