The Minnesota Vikings are coming off the bye week after back-to-back games outside of the United States in Ireland and England. Following a week of rest, Kevin O’Connell and his team get a tough challenge in facing the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, in Week 7.
One of the players that the Vikings will need to contain on the Eagles is Saquon Barkley. The veteran running back has yet to have a breakout game so far this season, and it will be up to the Minnesota defense to keep him from having that outstanding performance against them.
Ahead of the contest, O’Connell revealed that he expects Philadelphia to run the football on them despite Barkley lacking that explosive outing so far this season.
“They’ve had one of the premier rushing attacks for a long time since he’s been there,” O’Connell told KFAN’s Paul Allen on the October 14 edition of “X’s and O’s with Kevin O’Connell.“ “I think they’re going to try to run the football to establish the line of scrimmage, get into efficient, staying-ahead-of-the-chains type of down and distances.
“That doesn’t change the fact that they’ve got weapons on the outside. I know they haven’t quite been able to unlock the same level of passing game that they had a year ago, but it’s always available to them. We’ve got to make sure we don’t give them any easy paths to getting back to where they want to be offensively.
“That’s where the X’s and O’s and all those things have to be in alignment with what we go out and do from a play style standpoint against a team that wants to play physical. It’s not just the tush push. They have some pretty elite players up front, with the ability to win the line of scrimmage. If you give them angles and easy access to space, Saquon Barkley is the best in the league at finding it.”
Eagles Will Be In a Bad Mood Against Vikings
Minnesota will face an Eagles team that’s 4-2 and will be in a bad mood after losing to the New York Giants in Week 6. Recently, right tackle Lane Johnson was honest about how the squad sees itself right now.
“We’re just not very good right now,“ Johnson said on October 9 (h/t The Athletic). “… We were winning, but we weren’t dominating,“ Johnson said. “It’s frustrating. You see the guys that we have — on the offensive side of the ball, we should be doing a lot more to help our defense out. It’s frustrating, but nothing we can’t turn around.”
Eagles’ Offense Has Yet to Get Going
As O’Connell noted, the Vikings know Philadelphia will still look to run the ball, even with limited success this season. Still, it’s crucial not to let the Eagles regain the rhythm they had last year. The Vikings will need to build on the momentum shown by other teams that have frustrated Philadelphia’s offense.
“Last year, do you think we were predictable? Everybody knew we were going to run the ball,“ Barkley said on October 9 (h/t The Athletic). “We still got it off. I also think we got to get back to the attitude, the mindset of, not really giving a f— what people are trying to do.”
It will be interesting to see how this matchup plays out, but the Vikings have caught the Eagles at the right time if they want to secure a win.
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