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Scouting report: Vikings at Arizona

December 9, 2015 at 5:15AM

Wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald Jr. of the Arizona Cardinals (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Game 13

Vkings at Arizona

7:25 p.m. Thursday

University of Phoenix Stadium

TV: NFL Network, Ch. 4

Radio: 100.3-FM, 1130-AM

About the Cardinals (10-2)

• Arizona leads the NFL in total offense (419.5 yards per game) and scoring offense (31.8 points per game).

• Cardinals RBs Andre Ellington (toe) and Chris Johnson (broken leg) are sidelined, but David Johnson and Kerwynn Williams combined for 158 rushing yards in Sunday's 27-3 victory over St. Louis.

• QB Carson Palmer has 29 TD passes, two away from Kurt Warner's franchise record. Palmer is on pace for a career-high 4,900 passing yards.

• Arizona is fourth in total defense (316.8), fourth in rushing defense and eighth in passing defense.

• S Rashad Johnson has five interceptions, and S Tyrann Mathieu has four.

• The Cardinals are on a six-game winning streak.

Player speak WR Larry Fitzgerald Jr.

• The Minneapolis native, 32, is the youngest player in NFL history to hit 1,000 receptions.

• Fitzgerald is third in the league in receptions (91) and seventh in yardage (1,047). His career high in catches was 103 in his second season; he is on pace for 121.

• On the Cardinals' strong season: "We have so much talent at different positions … no egos, just guys working hard to reach our goals."

• On playing on a short week: "I hate Thursday night football. It's no fun, you don't have time to heal your body up, I'd say there are two guys on each team [who won't play] that if we were playing on Sunday, they would be able to go. Especially for the Vikings, it's even tougher on the teams that have to travel."

Coach Speak Bruce Arians

• Arians, 63, is in his third season in Arizona (31-14) and was the NFL coach of the year in 2014.

• He was 9-3 as the interim head coach in Indianapolis in 2012 after a long stint as Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator.

• On Palmer's recovery from last year's knee injury: "During his time when he was rehabbing he also did a lot of mental preparation on our offense and watching every throw he made for a year and a half. He didn't miss a beat."

• On Vikings coach Mike Zimmer: "I don't respect anybody in this business more than I respect Zim. He probably has the most well-coached defensive teams."

CHRIS MILLER

Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians (The Minnesota Star Tribune)