The Sports Xchange

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — The Vikings are the least penalized team in the league with 32 flags, but Minnesota employs the league’s most penalized player in cornerback Xavier Rhodes, who has eight penalties that have been accepted and one more that was declined.

This week, Rhodes will be the center of the Detroit Lions’ attention in his one-on-one matchup with former All-Pro receiver Calvin Johnson.

Rhodes picked up his eighth penalty when he was called for holding in the win over the Chiefs. Coach Mike Zimmer seemed to give him a pass on that one and some of the others as well.

“What happened on the penalty last week is he thought it was a run,” Zimmer said. “The tight end came out and kind of hit him and threw him down and he thought it was a run.

“He’s been working real hard at (avoiding penalties). He talked to me again this week about some of the things he needs to work on. He’s conscious of it. And there is point where … I don’t want penalties, obviously, but I do think aggressive penalties are better than non-aggressive penalties.”

Rhodes is expected to shadow Johnson for the third straight meeting between the teams Sunday at Ford Field.

He has contained Megatron fairly well, holding him to four catches for 53 yards in last year’s meeting at Detroit (a 16-14 Lions win) and eight of Johnson’s 10 catches for 83 yards and a touchdown in the Vikings’ 26-16 win at TCF Bank Stadium in Week 2.

As prescribed by Zimmer’s bump-coverage scheme, Rhodes is one of the more aggressive corners in the league.

Johnson finally looked like his old superstar self in last week’s 37-34 overtime win over the Bears. He caught six passes for 166 yards, one touchdown and had the 57-yard grab in overtime to set up the winning field goal.