Minnesota Vikings at Arizona Cardinals: Second quarter recap and third quarter discussion

It’s halftime in Glendale, and the teams have gone into the locker room with the Arizona Cardinals holding a 24-23 lead over the Minnesota Vikings.

The quarter started off with a great defensive play for the Vikings, as Eric Kendricks stuffed Chase Edmonds on a 3rd-and-1 run to force a three-and-out and another punt by Arizona. That drive led to yet another Vikings’ touchdown, as the Kirk Cousins show continues. He found Justin Jefferson for a 14-yard touchdown, his third touchdown pass of the afternoon, to extend the Minnesota lead. Unfortunately, Greg Joseph missed the extra point, keeping the lead at 20-7 with just under nine minutes remaining in the half.

The Cardinals made a deep push on their next possession, thanks to a bit of a fluke play that bounced off of two Vikings and into the hands of former Gophers tight end Maxx Williams for a big gain. Despite Danielle Hunter getting a sack of Kyler Murray, the Cardinals still got into the red zone. After a play that was originally called a fumble recovered by the Vikings was (correctly) overturned, Murray made the Vikings pay on a 12-yard run into the end zone. The extra point was good and the score moved to 20-14 in favor of Minnesota.

The Vikings then went three-and-out with Dalvin Cook getting stuffed on a 3rd-and-1 play (and getting injured) after the two-minute warning. The Cardinals wasted no time, as Murray hit rookie Rondale Moore on a 77-yard bomb where the Vikings just totally lost the rookie in coverage. The extra point was good and, just like that, the Cardinals found themselves ahead 21-20 with a minute and a half remaining in the second quarter.

Minnesota took the lead back on a 52-yard field goal from Greg Joseph to make it 23-21, and it looked like that’s how they’d go into the locker room. . .but the Cardinals got into position for notorious Viking killer Matt Prater to attempt a 62-yard field goal and, of course, he made it. That gave the home team a 24-23 lead going into halftime, and the Cardinals will get it coming out of the locker room.

This has been an incredibly entertaining football game, but I’m not sure how long the Vikings can handle a shootout against the Cardinals here. Hopefully the defense can get some stops and the Vikings can sneak out of here with a win.

The Vikings trail the Cardinals by a score of 24-23 at halftime at State Farm Stadium. Come on in and join us for the third quarter of play!