Byron Murphy, Jr.: Murphy is on one, as people like to say, when it comes to intercepting footballs. He has recorded an interception in each of the past three games to bring his season total to four. Three of those have also occurred in Minnesota’s past three road games, dating back to the Vikings win over the Packers in Week 4.
Justin Jefferson: The Vikings star needs 55 receiving yards to pass Torry Holt (6,784) for the most by a player in his first five NFL seasons. He is aiming for his eighth consecutive game with at least five catches. Jefferson made his first NFL start against Tennessee in 2020 and racked up 175 yards, including a 71-yard touchdown, on seven catches in his third pro game.
Vikings interior OL vs. Titans DL Jeffery Simmons
The Vikings triangle – left guard Blake Brandel, center Garrett Bradbury and right guard Ed Ingram – is tasked this week with protecting Darnold from one of the league’s best pass-rushing defensive tackles.
Simmons is a two-time All-Pro Second-Team pick. Since his breakthrough in 2021, he ranks fifth among defensive tackles with 24.5 sacks, trailing Chris Jones (38.0), Cameron Heyward (27.5), DeForest Buckner (26.5) and three-time Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald (25.5), who retired. In that span, Simmons has also amassed the fourth most solo tackles (114) and sixth most tackles behind the line of scrimmage (37).
Point-blank, he’s a one-man wrecking crew – and a big ask of Minnesota’s interior OL to neutralize.
The Vikings guards have been tested this year by the likes of Dexter Lawrence, Quinnen Williams, Braden Fiske and Grover Stewart. In the past three weeks, Brandel has been dinged with 11 pressures and four sacks per Pro Football Focus. Overall, Ingram has allowed 3-plus pressures in four contests and a sack in five. Bradbury has generally dropped a strong anchor; he’s credited with 2.3 pressures a game (21 total).
Simmons, 6-foot-4 and 305 pounds, threatens offenses with a special combination of burst, strength and nimbleness. His agility makes him dangerous as a looper on pass-rush twists and challenging to block 1-on-1. In the run game, Simmons’ lateral quickness makes it tough to successfully double team him – and is helpful to him reading the flow of the ball and shedding blocks, and shooting/penetrating gaps.