The Worksheet, a fantasy football overview by Rich Hribar, breaking down everything you need to know for the Week 8 Arizona Cardinals at Minnesota Vikings Sunday afternoon game.
| Arizona | Rank | @ | Minnesota | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 | Spread | -3.5 | ||
| 22.75 | Implied Total | 26.25 | ||
| 22.3 | 15 | Points/Gm | 23.2 | 13 |
| 25.1 | 27 | Points All./Gm | 19.7 | 12 |
| 70.3 | 2 | Plays/Gm | 63 | 17 |
| 61.7 | 11 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 63.7 | 20 |
| 4.9 | 29 | Off. Yards/Play | 5.4 | 16 |
| 5.8 | 24 | Def. Yards/Play | 6 | 30 |
| 38.82% | 18 | Rush% | 36.24% | 27 |
| 61.18% | 15 | Pass% | 63.76% | 6 |
| 38.43% | 8 | Opp. Rush % | 41.36% | 12 |
| 61.57% | 25 | Opp. Pass % | 58.64% | 21 |
- The Vikings have a 70.9% pass rate in the red zone, the highest rate in the league.
- Arizona is averaging a league-low 5.1 yards per passing play.
- Minnesota is allowing 7.3 yards per passing play, 30th in the league.
- Just 4.2% of the offensive plays for Minnesota have gained 20 or more yards, 30th in the league.
- Minnesota has allowed a touchdown on 33.3% of red zone plays, the most in the league.
Quarterback
Kyler Murray: Murray was able to close last week as the QB9 (17.2 points). Nothing was overly flashy here as Murray was 20-of-29 for 204 yards with one touchdown pass to go along with 30 yards on the ground, but a down scoring week and multiple front-end quarterbacks on bye elevated things.
Despite the non-descript counting stats, Murray’s 7.0 yards per pass attempt were a season-high. Murray has thrown one or fewer touchdown passes in five of his seven games. His touchdown rate (2.5%) is still well behind his career rate of 4.1%.
Minnesota has not been good versus the pass, allowing a league-high 8.4 yards per pass attempt, a 68.6% completion rate (29th), and 12.2 yards per completion (29th). The one saving grace for Minnesota has been they have allowed just a 2.9% touchdown rate, which is seventh in the league. Their peripheral metrics versus the pass suggest they have been lucky to post a rate that low, but this is also the one area where Murray has let down the most. Maybe we can double-dip on regression to the mean for both parties here.
This game has matchup appeal for Murray paired with the potential to be a shootout. These teams played in a 34-33 back-and-forth matchup a year ago to offer that shootout upside for Murray as a QB1 option.