Thoughts on the Vikings-Cardinals Week 3 Preseason Game

The Vikings may not have accomplished their goals in their 18-17 loss to the Cardinals, but they nevertheless helped resolve concerns about their bench.

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The Vikings seemingly wanted to win against the Cardinals, but fell short in an 18-17 mess of a game. While the win may have been culturally important to the locker room after the Vikings’ preseason loss streak, it ultimately doesn’t tell us much about their season-long prospects.

Instead, we look at individual performances from players expected to populate the bench and the practice squad to see what the long-term trajectories for a number of Vikings are.

We’ll start out covering Jaren Hall, with the rest of the discussion after the paywall.

Jaren Hall

Early in the game, things were made pretty easy for Jaren Hall. Bootlegs and one-read plays made it easy for him to get some yards throughout the half. Hall didn’t have a ton of standard dropbacks, though the touchdown to Abram Smith is a good example of one that worked.

On plays like that, he demonstrated quick decision-making on a good throw. Nevertheless, he was still fairly reliant on those bootlegs. In that context, he showcased what he needed to in order to show growth and played with some accuracy.

When he needs to hold on to the ball a little longer, his pocket movement is erratic and he makes it difficult for his offensive linemen. He invited a few of the pressures into the backfield this way, though things got tougher when the offensive line switched out after the first drive to include Christian DiLauro and Josh Sokol.

The throw I liked the most in the first half had to be his throw to Trishton Jackson at the beginning of the two-minute drill, where he threw the ball before the break – understanding the leverage of the route and playing with anticipation. That drill overall showcased some relatively high-level stuff.

If it weren’t for an Aaron Dykes drop, he might have been able to score to finish out the drive. On the final play of the drive, he stayed a bit too long on his read and needed to move on. The decision to pull down and run wasn’t bad.

Locked on Vikings’ Sam Ekstrom on O’Connell’s excitement about Hall

At the break, we were able to hear from general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on Hall. “I like to look at the little things,” Adofo-Mensah said during the broadcast. “The way he climbed the pocket for that high-side pressure, reset his feet and hit it out to the flat… you’re always looking for that next step, that next little moment that shows he’s on that path to growth and that was an exciting start to see.”

Hall’s second half wasn’t as good as his first and an inaccurate throw on the correct read in the middle of the fourth quarter turned into an interception. His tight-window throw to Jacob Copeland over the middle of the field with three minutes remaining will likely be his highlight throw and makes up for – from an evaluation perspective anyway – his interception.

Early in the game, a broken play – the running back and quarterback turned in different directions – turned into a loss. But a fourth-quarter broken play was turned into a positive by Hall, who salvaged a mishandled handoff into a completion for a small gain – enough to set up a 54-yard field goal attempt.

In the end, his final throw was an incredible pass to Ben Sims for 48 yards with 1:17 left, down one point. It was illegal (for two reasons) but he nevertheless showcased good traits that I think should leave us with a positive impression of his play.