James Conner ran for only eight yards last week in Seattle and had only seven carries. It was his lowest production in a game since arriving in Arizona.

The veteran running back was asked if he had been frustrated.

"A little bit," Conner acknowledged. "But I'm past it."

I wonder about that. Not in a Conner-souring-on-the-process way. No, I wonder in the way that it sticks with Conner enough that he's not going to let it happen again. Conner was held to 17 yards against the Lions in Week 3; he had 104 the following week against Washington. He had only 24 yards in Green Bay in Week 6; in Week 7 he had 101 against the Chargers.

A lot goes into what got sideways last week in Seattle for the Cardinals' offense, and what needs to change in Minnesota this week. It sure seems to start with a running game, even if the Vikings own the No. 1-ranked rush defense in the league.

"They're very good against the run," quarterback Kyler Murray said. "We've been known to be good running the ball. We didn't do it last week, but we get another opportunity to go out there and right those wrongs."

The Cardinals had a season-low 49 yards rushing in Seattle. Murray is right; they have been known to be good on the ground. They need to be known for it again Sunday.

-- To do damage on offense, as Murray noted, "it starts up front," and the Cardinals offensive line needs to play better than it did in Seattle.

"One of the things I said to the guys in the room on Monday, because they knew it before we even watched the tape, was that it wasn't our best effort and we didn't play as cleanly as we needed to," offensive line coach Klayton Adams said. "But it's not any different than, say, Week 16 last year, when people on the outside aren't paying as close of attention but it's really important to us. Whether you think you played well, or you think you played bad, you have a lot of stuff to get better at. That's the approach every week for us."

Adams said he wasn't going to "coach through the media," so he wasn't going to be specific over any issues. But he did note that the group had to get better getting off on the snap count than it did in Seattle. That figures to be tested again in the loud dome in Minnesota.

-- Got a chance to say hello to rehabbing guard Will Hernandez in the locker room. Hernandez is in good spirits after his ACL tear, and said his rehab is going well. He was walking better than I frankly expected this soon after surgery. A reminder that Hernandez remains scheduled to hit free agency after the season.

-- If Jalen Thompson is back after missing two games, it'll change drastically the defensive work of rookie safety Rabbit Taylor-Demerson, who has played every snap at safety in the two games Thompson has missed.

"You're talking about your role changing like that," coach Jonathan Gannon said, snapping his fingers. "It can change on a Sunday, it has happened on a Saturday. With (safety) Rabbit knew he was going to be the starter all week and that his role was changing. But Rabbit will get his snaps … and if J.T. is back out there, the more good players you have, the better off you are. Every rep is a learning experience, especially for a rookie. He has played some high-leverage snaps for us even when J.T. and Budda (Baker) are healthy. I feel really good about his game."

-- Trey McBride is coming off his franchise-record-for-a-tight-end 12 catches last week, and he is the only tight end with a double-figure catch game. (McBride also had a 10-reception game last season.) Brock Bowers is having a huge rookie season for the Raiders and no doubt should be in the elite TE conversation, but I'm not sure anyone at the position is playing better than McBride.

"Trey's an up-and-coming beast," Murray said. "He is. There's no denying that."

-- Oh, the irony of Josh McCown as a coach for the Vikings.

-- The voting is open for NFL Pro Bowl, if you want to go there. The Cardinals have several potential picks. Like McBride. Like Budda Baker. Like Blake Gillikin. There are a handful of others too. So vote, won't you?

-- Speaking of Gillikin, he had six punts last week and four ended up inside the 20 and he had a 50.2-yard net average. Remarkable (and Pro Bowl-worthy).

-- Staying with special teams, Chad Ryland never wants to miss a field goal. And yes, had he not missed from 47 at the end of the Seattle game there might have been feint hope for the Cardinals (who still needed to recover an onside kick and score a TD with less than 15 seconds left, so yeah, no). But if your kicker is going to miss, rather it be in that situation than perhaps this week when the Vikings game is still in doubt.

-- Jesse Luketa has a sack in three straight games. He is the first Cardinals player with at least a full sack in three straight games since Haason Reddick did it in 2020.

-- He's made some key receptions, but Marvin Harrison Jr. has been held to only 10 catches the past three games, for 135 yards.

-- Interesting stats for Kyler Murray v. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores (who was interviewed for the Cardinals coaching job that Gannon eventually got). Kyler had an amazing game against a Flores-coached defense in 2020, when the Dolphins – for whom Flores was head coach at the time – visited Arizona. Murray had a 150.5 passer rating in the game, and also ran for more than 100 yards.

But the Cardinals lost that game. Of the top 20 single-game passer rating efforts against a Flores-coached defense all-time, that is the only game the passer has lost.

-- It was interesting to hear the brother of Calais Campbell say on a podcast that the Cardinals were one of the number of teams trying to trade for Calais. Campbell ended up staying in Miami, but it's a piece of information that I figured would be of interest for fans.

-- The Vikings are 9-0 when opponents score fewer than 30 points. They are 0-2 if the opponents score at least 30. Something to shoot for. It'll be a test for the Cardinals defense, which has allowed 10 or fewer points for three straight games, because the Vikings can get on the scoreboard.

-- On the flip side, the Cardinals are 6-1 if they score at least 17 points. Which is a remarkable stat and underscores how well their defense has played this season.

-- The last word belongs to Conner, and facing a statistically excellent Minnesota defense:

"We just want to get back in the win column truthfully. We didn't perform the way we wanted to last week so the other stuff is irrelevant. We've just got to play some good football."

See you Sunday. Thank goodness for a dome, given the expected 20-degree temperatures.