Just like against the Broncos, the Vikings turned a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit into a tie, allowed the go-ahead field goal after the two-minute warning, and had the ball with a realistic chance to force overtime only to be foiled by a sack and strip of Teddy Bridgewater. “That’s one thing about this football team is they want to fight for each other and these guys want to get back in there and fight as soon as they can”.
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The Arizona Cardinals, the NFC West leading team, beat the Minnesota Vikings Thursday, assuring themselves a spot in the National Football League playoffs. Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer was hurried and rushed the entire game. Palmer threw for 310 yards and two touchdowns and has 31 scoring passes on the year, breaking Kurt Warner’s single-season franchise record. Outside of a poor decision that almost resulted in an interception for Minnesota cornerback Xavier Rhodes, Palmer played as flawlessly as possible. On 3rd and 8 from the MIN 42, Palmer took the snap and then looked to his right.
There was a coherence to an offense that’s seemed at times like an awkward merger of oddly-matched pieces, and the principals in the group – not least among them Bridgewater and Peterson – sounded encouraged with how the Vikings went about their business. He failed to connect with receivers for big plays, and he appeared tentative throughout.
Fortunately for Minnesota, the high-variance nature of young QBs also means they can surprise with strong play. As good as their defense has been, their offensive line isn’t good enough to make a good season turn into a wonderful one. The result was that Dwight Freeney sacked Bridgewater and stripped the ball with Campbell falling on it and ending the match. Of the 11 incompletions, five were thrown purposefully out of bounds, one was batted down at the line of scrimmage and one was an intentional stoppage of the clock. By the time Bridgewater completed the long march to the endzone, the Vikings were above 50 percent for the first and only time all day. Yet despite accruing numerous body blows Thursday, Bridgewater remained steady in the pocket and kept the offense moving as a result. He finished the game with 69 rushing yards, and lost a fumble in the third quarter on a blown trick play when he was supposed to hand off to Wallace. Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (15.00) was the most valuable rusher of the game, but Cardinals RB David Johnson (14.70) wasn’t far behind. For the Cardinals, this win was particularly important to hold off the surging Seattle Seahawks in the NFC West. Arizona still has a three-game lead in the division, now with just three games to play, including the season finale against the Seahawks in Glendale.
Peterson had one of the fumbles on what was supposed to be a reverse.
The Cards recovered the fumble and began to march down the field.
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Minnesota mostly went stride for stride with Arizona, but in a game decided by three points, turnovers put the Vikings on the losing end.
