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The Vikings were favored to win their first game of the regular season in Cincinnati, but the team underperformed and headed home with an upsetting loss. Two key players missed the game due to injuries and they both showed up on the first injury report ahead of this week’s game in Arizona.
It’s promising that the Vikings’ first-round draft pick is at least a limited participant, but that was the case last week as well. Christian Darrisaw has missed most practices up to this point in his early career and if he’s able to play he’s going to have his hands full with Chandler Jones coming off a five-sack performance.
Rashod Hill got the start last week in Darrisaw’s absence and gave Vikings fans an even bigger reason for wanting to see the 23rd overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Anthony Barr was a limited participant in last Wednesday’s practice, but he hasn’t been on the field since. His presence was severely missed in the run game as the Vikings allowed Joe Mixon to finish with 127 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Barr’s knee injury has been kept on the downlow since early August and it’s clear the defense needs their play caller back. Nick Vigil played solid against the Bengals in that role, but he too found himself on the injury report this week as a limited participant with an ankle injury.
The fourth and final player on Wednesday’s injury report was Harrison Hand, who likely won’t see starting snaps at cornerback without any severe injuries. Hand had a nice play on special teams last week, but he didn’t practice on Wednesday due to a hamstring injury.
Two big reasons for the Vikings first loss of the season were due to getting gashed in the run game and early mistakes by the offensive line. Barr and Darrisaw should be looked at as two players that could help fix those issues, but it remains to be seen if they’ll play against the Cardinals on Sunday.
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