Minnesota Vikings vs. St. Louis Rams: Preview, Keys to Victory and Prediction

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Sep 7, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams tight end Lance Kendricks (88) makes a catch under pressure from Minnesota Vikings outside linebacker Anthony Barr (55) during the second half at the Edward Jones Dome. The Minnesota Vikings defeat St. Louis Rams 34-6. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Keys to Victory

The offensive line must perform

St. Louis boasts one of the most talented defensive lines in the NFL, if not thee most talented. The freakish Aaron Donald leads the way at defensive tackle, with another talent in Robert Quinn also causing headaches for opposing players and coaches. According to Pro Football Focus, the two of them have combined for 48 quarterback pressures this season.

Anyone who’s watched the Vikings play at all this season knows that the offensive line hasn’t exactly been a strong area for this team thus far. However, they did show some improvement against Chicago, although Bridgewater didn’t really take advantage of it until late in the fourth quarter. This is probably the tastiest matchup Donald has had all season, going up against the interior trio of Brandon Fusco, Joe Berger, and Mike Harris of the Vikings (gulp). These three will need to play very well to keep Donald at least contained throughout the game.

Bridgewater must be accurate from the start

In all likelihood, offense won’t come particularly easy for the Vikings this week. Norv Turner has shown that he likes to rely on the run, almost to a fault. However, the Vikings will have to be balanced this week against a talented defense like the Rams, which means Bridgewater won’t be able to get away with 3 1/2 quarters of subpar accuracy as he did last week.

While much of this relies on the play of the offensive line, it will nonetheless be crucial for Bridgewater to take advantage of any opportunity to prevent the Vikings from becoming one-dimensional on Sunday.

The defense must not let Nick Foles beat them

I’ve already accepted the fact that Todd Gurley is going to get his. He’s just one of those players that you can only hope to contain. He’s that good.

However, Nick Foles, well, isn’t that good. He’s been terribly ineffective all season through the air, and I almost feel bad that Gurley has had almost no passing attack to balance what he’s done on the ground. It will be important for the Vikings to make sure Foles isn’t the guy that beats them on Sunday. This especially means getting off the field on third down, which the Vikings have struggled with in the past but have gotten better with this season.

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The Vikings haven’t really let a quarterback beat them single-handedly this season thus far, and Foles will arguably be the worst quarterback they will have faced this season. I’ll be really concerned about this defense if Foles drops a big stat line against the Vikings this weekend.

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