Legit or not legit? Vikings – and Kirk Cousins – will get test in run of prime time

Minnesota has really taken off the past three weeks and when you look at that offense, I think the Vikings are finally where they’ve wanted to be for two or three years now.

They took Dalvin Cook out of Florida State in the second round of the draft in 2017 and he’s a zone runner, a home run hitter. So they have their running back, but then he gets hurt, busts up a knee. Then, last season, Cook was coming back from injury so he wasn’t going to be as effective, not going to be as confident running and cutting.

But they inserted Kirk Cousins in at quarterback and he struggles — and why does he struggle? Well, the run game wasn’t that good. It was pretty bad, actually, and Cousins even when he was in Washington wasn’t a great drop-back pass guy. He’s a play-action guy. He’s going to be much more effective playing off a strong run game. His play-action pass numbers in Washington were off the charts – he consistently led the league in quarterback rating, touchdowns, yards, everything, off of play-action.

So now they have Cook healthy and they have a guy that’s really good throwing off of play-action and creating space that way, that can move outside the pocket and make plays down the field with Adam Thielen or Stefon Diggs.

They go get Gary Kubiak to sit upstairs and put it all together.

He installed a zone run scheme that highlights Cook and allows Cousins to utilize play-action. Look at the results the past three weeks – the Vikings are 3-0, they’ve put up 36.0 points per game, and Cousins has hit 75.6% of his passes with 10 touchdowns and just one interception and is averaging 325.3 passing yards per game.

But the really interesting thing for the Vikings – they have a couple of prime-time games coming up and it’s a weird deal, but that’s where Cousins has struggled.

His record coming into the season in prime-times games was 6-13.

So, what’s he going to do this time in prime time? The Vikings have the Redskins on Thursday and, obviously, he has a history with the Redskins. Case Keenum on the other side has a history with the Vikings. So does Adrian Peterson. It’s going to be an emotional football game. I’d imagine Cousins is looking at this game like 49ers coach Mike Shanahan looked at San Francisco’s game against the Redskins last week.

It’s one he wants to get.

The Vikings are also playing the Cowboys on the road in two weeks on a Sunday night.

In between, they have a game at Kansas City.

As an ex-player, you sit there and almost get upset at the question even being asked. But after a bunch of bad performances in prime time, it’s hard not to start thinking, “Well, maybe there is something to that.”

I’m sure that Cousin has been getting that question this week at his locker, so it’s going to be on his radar. He’s already an emotional guy. He hears the noise. It’s not like he doesn’t hear it.

But what will happen?

We’ll know a great deal about the Minnesota Vikings after these next three weeks.

But if they can get through this stretch playing the way they are right now, they could at least get back to the NFC Championship game.

The 49ers got exactly what they needed, and the Raiders?

The 49ers landed Emmanuel Sanders in a trade with Denver and he is exactly what that offense needed. They have a lot of good receivers, a lot of guys who can catch the intermediate throws.

But they didn’t have a one who can dictate coverage, and Sanders can be that guy. Shanahan can put him all over the place and defenses have to worry not only about where tight end George Kittle is, but where Sanders is as well.

The way the 49ers run their offense, a guy who can dictate coverage in the secondary like that will enhance that ground game even more.

Over in Oakland, the Raiders have been looking for a while. They’re trying to make something happen. They think they have a good football team. If you look at them and what they need, they definitely can use a pass rusher, a guy who can just get after the quarterback.

Of course, if they still had Khalil Mack they might be in first place in the AFC West.

But if they can go out there and grab a Vic Beasley from Atlanta or someone like that, that’s really what they need. Good defenses just have a guy who offenses always have to pay attention to whether it’s a corner, a pass rusher or a guy like Aaron Donald at the 3-technique.

For the Raiders, that piece is a pass rusher and that’s probably where they try to make a move before the trade deadline.

Defense wins championships, and fantasy leagues

Carr was talked into joining a fantasy football league a few years ago by his brother, Darren. He won it. His strategy - picking a defense off the waiver wire each week that had a chance to score points based on their matchup.

The Bengals are 0-7 and they don’t look good. Whatever else is going on up there, the offense just lacks creativity and this week they’re playing the Rams.

I think the Bengals are the worst offense in the league this year, even worse than Miami, and they’re in deep. The Rams just traded for Jalen Ramsey, and he’s going to shut down whoever Cincinnati decides to roll out there. Aaron Donald is going to destroy the run.

I don’t know that Andy Dalton has an answer anywhere on the field, so it could get ugly. If they’re available, I’d take that Rams defense against the Bengals.

David Carr answers your questions

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This story was originally published October 23, 2019 at 3:15 PM.