Christian Kirk showing growth as offensive weapon.
Cardinals insider Bob McManaman offers his position-by-position grades on how the team performed on Sunday against the Vikings:
Passing offense: C-
No touchdowns, one interception and four sacks. Josh Rosen got better when the Cardinals went to the no-huddle, but it was too late by then. Dropped passes finally weren’t an issue, but the big plays never materialized. Christian Kirk had a decent game with 77 yards on six catches.
Rushing offense: D
Arizona finished with just 61 yards on 29 carries, and the longest run of the day only went for 10 yards. Once again, David Johnson was kept in check, finishing with 55 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. He lost another fumble and the Vikings turned it into a Dan Bailey field goal.
Pass defense: B-
Adam Thielen caught 11 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown, but his longest was only for 17 yards, so it’s not like the Cardinals got beat deep. The front six did a decent job getting their hands up to knock down balls, and Arizona sacked Kirk Cousins four times, including a strip sack by Chandler Jones that Budda Baker returned 36 yards for a touchdown.
Rush defense: D-
The Vikings ran for 195 yards, including a career-high 155 by Latavius Murray, who entered the game with just 106 yards on the season. Minnesota averaged 6.1 yards per carry as a team. On the season, Arizona is allowing an average of 151 rushing yards per game and this unit isn’t getting any better.
Special teams: C
Penalties continue to dog the Cardinals here. They had three more on Sunday. They never got anything going in the way of returns. About the only saving grace was punter Andy Lee, who averaged 48 gross yards and 43.7 net yards on six punts.
Coaching: D
Same problems, week in and week out. One irritating element is the fact the team has been outscored 42-0 in the third quarter of games this season, which suggests the staff -- and particularly coach Steve Wilks -- doesn’t have a real good handle on how to come out of the locker room after halftime.