Minnesota Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes made a statement against the Arizona Cardinals, intercepting a pass and returning it 100 yards for a touchdown.
The offense of the Arizona Cardinals is an explosive one. They have a great balance of run and pass that can keep defenses on their toes. The Minnesota Vikings are no exception, as they struggled in week 11 to stop them as well.
One big play can make the difference in a football game. For the Vikings, that play happened in the second half of the game. With the Cardinals marching down the field and threatening to score, it looked as though Arizona was going to put points on the board.
However, that wasn’t the case. Xavier Rhodes made sure the Cardinals wouldn’t score on that drive in this video as shared on the official NFL Twitter account:
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/800417556049735680
Carson Palmer dropped back and looked at his offense. He saw he would have a player cutting to the outside near the front of the goal line, and decided that would be his best option during this play.
However, it is likely he didn’t see Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes watching the play from the end zone. Rhodes stepped in front of the pass and returned it 100 yards to the end zone to give the Vikings a 20-10 lead in the second quarter.
This big play by Rhodes helped to remind everyone that the Minnesota Vikings defense is still a dangerous unit that can make things happen at any moment. It also shows that even veteran quarterbacks make mistakes once in a while.
Next: Watch Thielen's TD vs Arizona
Congratulations to Xavier Rhodes on the big play and the longest return of his career. More importantly, this was big for putting the Minnesota Vikings defense back on the map, since the media has been talking about a decline in their play as of late.