It’s been 26 years since the Rams hosted the Vikings in Los Angeles, but that’s what will happen tonight as we’re in for one of the best (on paper) Thursday Night Football games this season.
5 reasons to watch the Rams take on the Vikings on ‘Thursday Night Football’
If the idea of two of the NFL’s best teams facing off in primetime isn’t enough to make you want to watch Thursday Night Football, we have a few more reasons to watch this game.
Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images
The 3-0 Rams will look to stay hot against the surprisingly 1-1-1 Vikings, who fell to the Bills last week at home in Minnesota.
Thursday night games are often snooze-fests, but in the Rams’ 2017 Thursday night game, Los Angeles put up 41 points against the 49ers, narrowly beating San Francisco by a score of 41-39. Quarterback Jared Goff and running back Todd Gurley each posted three touchdowns and Gurley was one of three skill position players to accumulate 100-plus yards in the game. We can’t expect another game that exciting tonight, but maybe if we’re lucky we’ll get one!
If you’re wondering why you should tune into tonight’s game (8:20 p.m. ET on Fox and NFL Network) — other than simply being interested in watching two of the NFL’s best teams compete — here are five reasons we’ll be watching.
1) The Rams are really fun to watch!
Jared Goff has thrown for 941 yards through three weeks and four Rams players already have more than 100 receiving yards while Todd Gurley has 255 rushing yards (and is among the players with 100-plus receiving yards, too). The Rams defense is also pretty good and has accumulated two forced fumbles and four interceptions so far this season. Unfortunately the defense will be missing some star power this week.
Cornerback Aqib Talib is undergoing ankle surgery and was placed on Injured/Reserve on Wednesday and fellow cornerback Marcus Peters is expected to miss time with a calf injury. Linebackers Mark Barron (ankle) and Dominique Easley (knee) are also banged up. With those injuries on defense, expect the Vikings to score more easily, and they’ll need help in that department after putting up just six points on the Bills.
Rams fans are a confident bunch, according to this week’s FanPulse survey.
2) The Vikings are ready for a comeback performance.
The Vikings offense hit a major wall against the Bills, but Minnesota still has four players with 100-plus receiving yards. Adam Thielen has been eating (32 catches, 338 yards, one touchdown) and actually ranks third all-time in NFL history for the most receptions through the opening three games of a season behind Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas (38 in 2018) and Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones (34 in 2015).
Meanwhile Stefon Diggs is developing a strong connection with new Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins. Three of Cousins’ seven touchdown passes this season have gone Diggs’ way. Add in tight end Kyle Rudolph and an on-the-rise Laquon Treadwell and it’s anyone’s best guess where Cousins will throw the ball.
3) Will the real Vikings defense please stand up?
Coming into the year, the Vikings were expected to have one of the NFL’s top defenses. This is a unit that features Harrison Smith, Trae Waynes, Danielle Hunter, Andrew Sendejo, Xavier Rhodes, Eric Kendricks, Anthony Barr, Sheldon Richardson, Mike Hughes, and Everson Griffen, for crying out loud! But through three weeks, the Vikings rank 16th in points allowed (72) and points per game (24), 10th in yards per game (323.3), seventh in yards per play (5.0), and have three interceptions and three forced fumbles.
Those are all solid numbers, but more is expected from Minnesota’s defense. One player who is impressing is Smith, who is joined by Bears defensive lineman Khalil Mack and Chargers safety Derwin James as the only players in the NFL to have multiple sacks and an interception in 2018. Hunter has been making waves, too, recording a sack in all three games to start the season, tying his career high for consecutive games with a sack.
The Rams will be a tough test and if the Vikings defense does well against LA it will go a long way toward proving they are the real deal.
4) Dalvin Cook will hopefully make his return to primetime television
Last year we got to see running back Dalvin Cook on Monday Night Football in Week 1 as he made his NFL debut and rushed for 127 yards on 22 carries. Cook devastatingly tore his ACL in Week 4 and was sidelined for the rest of the season. He returned at the start of this season, ready for a comeback year, but injured his hamstring in the Vikings’ Week 2 game against the Packers and didn’t play in Week 3 against the Bills. It’s not a certainty that Cook plays tonight, but he did practice this week and Mike Zimmer says there’s a “possibility” he’ll play against the Rams. We’re certainly hoping he does because the former Florida State back is a dynamic playmaker, when healthy.
Vikings fans were feeling good until a 21-point point loss to Buffalo last week, according to our FanPulse survey.
5) Records on the line.
Punter Johnny Hekker has 199 career punts placed inside the 20-yard line. He needs two punts placed inside opponents’ 20-yard line to tie Louie Aguair (201) for 50th place all-time in NFL history (since 1976). Jeff Feagles has the most punts inside the 20 in NFL history with 554. Hekker will also be playing in his 100th consecutive game tonight, which is tied for the fifth longest streak among active punters.
Additionally, Goff has seven career 300-plus passing yard games, which is tied for the fourth-most in franchise history. With his next 300-plus yard game, he will surpass Sam Bradford for sole possession of fourth place in franchise history. The Rams are 7-0 when Goff throws for over 300 yards.
Could those things happen tonight? We’ll be watching to see if they do.
Fan confidence meter
Entering this matchup, Vikings fans surveyed as part of SB Nation’s weekly FanPulse poll were much less confident than Rams fans.
Daily Norseman FanPulse: Vikings will lose by 4
Turf Show Times FanPulse: Rams will win by 5
Odds: Rams are 7-point favorites, per Bovada
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