The Minnesota Vikings are hoping that they can help Sam Bradford manage the pain in his knee, and they will work hard trying to figure out how to keep him upright. He will be sure that he is being careful with himself, and he is going to have to stay very healthy for the Vikings to have a chance of going to the playoffs. You also need to remember that this could be a very long stretch for Bradford, and that is why they need to be as careful with him as possible. The Vikings can make it very easy for people to get their hopes up when they see Bradford come back and remain healthy.

Anything else that the Vikings do has to get the ball and the defense away from Bradford as soon as possible.

Bradford knows the game well

Sam Bradford is good enough to keep himself safe by getting rid of the ball as fast as possible. He is going to have to go to quick releases so that he is not going to be hit. He can cut down on hits by getting rid of the ball and cutting back on holding on to make plays. He is going to be throwing the ball away more, and he will probably want to take a lot of dump off passes to Dalvin Cook. It makes more sense for him to be careful with himself so that he is healthy enough to play in the playoffs. That would be the time that he should be ready to make plays that will make the Vikings ready to move on to the next round.

Ride Dalvin Cook

Dalvin Cook is going to have to carry a lot of the load in this offense so that the Vikings are not spending all their time trying to figure out how they will make the best plays that get the ball away from Sam Bradford. Bradford can sit there and talk about managing pain, but that does not mean anything if they cannot get the defense to stop hitting him.

Football is a very violent game, and it only takes one hit to get the Vikings back to the drawing board and their backup quarterback. They are not going to the playoffs with Case Keenum starting for them. This means they need Dalvin Cook to be the offensive rookie of the year as soon as possible.

Ride the defense

The defense in Minnesota used to be the hallmark of their team, and they need to step back up so that they can keep the offense in good stead.

The offense has to have as many chances to score as possible, and they need all the minutes that are necessary to run the ball over and over. They cannot turn Dalvin Cook into a workhorse unless they have the time to actually run the ball.

The Vikings need to be very aware of how they manage their offense because that is how you manage Sam Bradford's pain.
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