Where's Za'Darius Smith? Everywhere for the Vikings in three-sack conquest of Cardinals

Mike Smith had been Za'Darius Smith's position coach for three seasons, including two Pro Bowl years, in Green Bay. When Kevin O'Connell added Mike Smith to his coaching staff in late February, it made the Vikings an obvious fit for Za'Darius Smith should Green Bay cut him loose for salary cap reasons after he lost most of his 2021 season to back surgery.

The Packers released Za'Darius Smith on March 14. He had reportedly agreed to a four-year, $35 million deal to return to the Ravens, his first NFL team, but never signed it. The Vikings seized their opportunity to pair Smith with Danielle Hunter, giving him a three-year, $42 million deal on March 22.

While Hunter adjusted to a new role as a 3-4 edge rusher after seven seasons as a 4-3 defensive end, Smith was experienced in the scheme and well-acquainted with the philosophy his position coach succinctly described this spring.

"You guys can look at my history and where I've been: I'm gonna put my best on your worst," Mike Smith said during organized team activities this spring.

He meant the Vikings would move both Smith and Hunter around to different spots in their defensive formation, searching either for advantageous matchups or ways to manipulate protection schemes.

On Sunday, the Cardinals were missing three starting offensive linemen — center Rodney Hudson, left guard Justin Pugh and left tackle D.J. Humphries. It presented a prime opportunity for Mike Smith's philosophy to come to life. And for the second time in Za'Darius Smith's career, the approach produced a three-sack game in a 34-26 win in U.S. Bank Stadium.

He played 54 snaps, twice returning after a knee bruise forced him out of the game. Smith lined up over the left tackle or tight end 17 times, over the left guard 14 times, over the center eight times, over the right guard five times and over the right tackle or tight end 10 times.

All three of his sacks came with Smith in the middle of the Vikings' formation; he beat backup center Billy Price for two of them, and worked past left guard Cody Ford for his final sack, with the clock down to 24 seconds and the Cardinals out of timeouts.

"Right before that last play he made, I [told] him, 'Hey, I need one more,' " O'Connell said. "He goes out and gets it. He was the first one to tell me about it."

For the season, Smith leads the NFL with 8½ sacks. He is tied for fifth in the league with 33 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, though he ranks a modest 34th in ESPN's Pass Rush Win Rate metric. It's a testament to the Vikings' ability to find successful matchups for Smith, and on Sunday, they deployed him in a manner the Packers had used to beat them in an important Monday night game three years before.

Smith had 3½ sacks on Dec. 23, 2019, lining up over center Garrett Bradbury and right guard Josh Kline through much of the game and combining with Kenny Clark to pressure Kirk Cousins up the middle. The Packers won 23-10, clinching the NFC North and locking the Vikings into the conference's final wild-card spot.

Now, the Vikings are three and a half games up in the division over the struggling Packers. They have a realistic chance to host a playoff game for the first time since the Minneapolis Miracle.

Smith, at age 30, has played about 70% of their snaps after missing all but one regular-season game last year. He's already triggered a $500,000 bonus in his contract with 8½ sacks; he can push the bonus to $750,000 if he reaches 10½ sacks, and $1 million if he gets to 12½ sacks.

The Vikings will have to keep him healthy the rest of the way, and they'll face a decision on Smith next spring, when he has a $14.166 million salary cap number and would have $5.05 million of his base salary guaranteed on the third day of the league year.

But at the moment, they're getting exactly what they hoped from him.

"I have been on teams that have guys that are energetic, but when your most energetic guy is also the guy making a ton of plays, it fires everybody up," linebacker Jordan Hicks said. "He is a leader and has the ability to make a play when the time is needed. It seems like week after week he is making a big play when we really need it. We felt his presence when he came back from his knee injury in this game."

How the Vikings use their tight ends: Though Johnny Mundt has started six of the Vikings' seven games and Irv Smith Jr. has yet to make a start, the team had used the two players fairly evenly through its first six games, with Smith playing 210 snaps in that time to Mundt's 180. On Sunday, though, with O'Connell placing an emphasis on the run game, Mundt had 43 snaps to Smith's 34. And though Smith left with an ankle injury, Mundt got a significant share of the early work when both were healthy.

The Vikings had Mundt as their starter even as they opened in 11 personnel. The only time Smith saw the field in the Vikings' first 16 plays was as a second tight end. He finished the day with four catches for 28 yards, and had a nice backside block on Dalvin Cook's touchdown run, but could be losing snaps because of Mundt's usefulness as a run blocker.

O'Connell said earlier this month he views the two players as "pretty interchangeable," but it's worth watching the way the Vikings use the two players going forward — or if they take a look at adding another tight end before Tuesday's trade deadline in light of Smith's injury.

Greg Joseph's accuracy: The kicker missed his third extra point of the year on Sunday, bouncing one off the left upright that would have put the Vikings up by nine points in the fourth quarter, and had a 56-yard field goal blocked before halftime. He's now 1 for 6 on field goals of 50 yards or more this season, and 9 for 14 overall.

Given how impressive a training camp and preseason Joseph had, the Vikings might be inclined to give him time to sort things out, rather than introducing a new kicker to their field goal operation. But when they're playing so many close games, every point counts. His extra point in the fourth quarter would have put the Vikings up by two scores; the miss gave the Cardinals a shot to tie the game with a touchdown and a two-point conversion.