Minnesota Vikings have clear path toward taking down Detroit Lions' offense and it plays into emerging superstar's hands

Vikings can take advantage of Lions' interior OL

Being able to attack the Lions' offensive line could end up being the key, especially since they have multiple new starters in between the tackles. I asked A to Z Detroit's Mike Payton about how they have played so far this season.

"So far, they’ve been a lot better than we could have expected. That’s not to say that Frank Ragnow and Kevin Zeitler aren’t missed, because they definitely are. But for the most part, Jared Goff has been kept clean. They’ve allowed 54 pressures and seven sacks all year. There’s still a lot of room to grow in the pass blocking department, and there’s reason to have faith that this group will get there in due time. In the run blocking department, not much has changed; the Lions are still pretty good at it.

"Tate Ratledge has been a big surprise. It was expected that he could be good, but I don’t know if anyone expected him ot be this good this early. There’s still room to grow there, but right now it would be a shock if they continued the plan to put him at center."

When you look at the interior of the line, that's where the majority of pressures have come from. Their starting three has allowed 34 of those pressures, with Ratledge (14) and Mahogany (12) leading the way. The interior of the line is the biggest weakness on the offense, and that's where the Vikings can attack. Levi Drake Rodriguez has been a revelation and Redmond has been one of the best players on the interior in the NFL and the Vikings have an emerging superstar on their hands.

With how the Lions have attacked the Vikings consistently with Brian Flores as the defensive coordinator, getting pressure on the interior is goint to be huge.

window.addEventListener('message', function (event) {if (event.data.totalpoll && event.data.totalpoll.action === 'resizeHeight') {document.querySelector('#totalpoll-iframe-383').height = event.data.totalpoll.value;}}, false);document.querySelector('#totalpoll-iframe-383').contentWindow.postMessage({totalpoll: {action: 'requestHeight'}}, '*');