Report: Linval Joseph Likely Out On Sunday

On Sunday afternoon at TCF Bank Stadium, the Minnesota Vikings will take on the defending NFC champions, the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks are 6-5 on the season, but they possess the second-best rushing attack in the National Football League (behind the Vikings). If the reports coming out of Vikings' camp are true, the purple will have to face that rushing game without one of their main components.

Nose tackle Linval Joseph, who has been playing out of his mind in his second season in Minnesota, has missed practice each of the past two days with a foot injury. To compensate, the Vikings have been practicing with Sharrif Floyd, who usually plays next to Joseph, in Joseph's spot at nose tackle. Tom Johnson has gone to Floyd's spot, and Kenrick Ellis is the main backup for both of them.

Joseph signed with the Vikings as a free agent before the 2014 season, and had a bit of a down year after being involved in a pre-season incident where he got shot in the leg at a night club. He's been a huge force in 2015, however, in both the run game and the pass game. According to Ben Goessling of ESPN, Joseph's injury apparently isn't "serious," but he'd be hard-pressed to play this week.

It definitely won't be the first game the Vikings have played this season without a key component of their defense. In different stretches this year, they've been without Floyd, defensive end Everson Griffen, middle linebacker Eric Kendricks and, most recently, safety Harrison Smith. Despite that, the Vikings still have the #2 scoring defense in the NFL, and the #4 defense against the pass.

UPDATE: It just came across that Joseph is out of practice today, too, so it doesn't appear that the big man will be out there on Sunday.

We'll have the full injury reports for both the Vikings and the Seahawks later on today. For now, however, it looks like the Vikings' big man in the middle is going to miss this one.