Arizona Cardinals at Minnesota Vikings preseason: Second half discussion

We’re at halftime at U.S. Bank Stadium, with your Minnesota Vikings leading the Arizona Cardinals by a score of 17-3.

The Vikings got the football first and gave Jaren Hall the start at quarterback for this one. Hall, who has had his struggles in the first three preseason games, had his best drive of the year to start this one out, marching the Vikings downfield on a 75-yard drive that was capped with a 1-yard DeWayne McBride touchdown run to take an early 7-0 lead.

The Vikings’ defense then stepped up, as rookie Jay Ward hammered Cardinals’ starting quarterback Clayton Tune and forced a fumble that Troy Reeder recovered at the Arizona 5-yard line.

It only took the Vikings one play to cash in, as Hall found Abram Smith out of the backfield for a 5-yard touchdown, and just like that it was 14-0 in favor of the Vikings.

The Cardinals got on the board on their next drive with a 38-yard field goal from Matt Prater to make it 14-3.

After the field goal, the defenses took over. The Cardinals had an opportunity for more points midway through the second quarter but Prater pushed a 43-yard attempt wide left to keep the score at 14-3. Hall then got an opportunity to run the two-minute drill and pushed the Vikings deep into Arizona territory and set up a 26-yard field goal attempt for Greg Joseph, who split the uprights to make it 17-3 heading into the locker room.

Hall looked pretty impressive early on when he had the second-team offensive line in front of him, but has had just about no time with the third team out there. It appears that Jordan Ta’amu will take over for the second half of this one.

We’re at halftime at U.S. Bank Stadium with the Minnesota Vikings leading the Arizona Cardinals by a score of 17-3. Come on in and join us for the final half of the preseason!