That was painful to watch. I'm just going to point out that a major factor in the first game was the craptastic not ready for prime time play of Devante Harris. - He was awful in that game. I know Saints coaches liked him in 2 camps but he wasn't up to the challenge. He's since been cut, but before that he was replaced by Ken Crawley, a player I never thought would be up to the challenge but has been. For the most part he's been terrific, yes occasionally burned (see TB, Godwin late deep with the game winner) but he's been a real pleasant surprise overall. Lattimore obviously has developed since Game 1, a Pro Bowl selection.
Yeah no doubt the Saints secondary has improved since that game.
Bradford seemed like he could do no wrong in that game. Cook was definitely a factor keeping the Saints off balance as well. Murray and McKinnon have done a good job, but not quite the same threat that Cook was.
Just watching some stuff on TV right now talking about the game and the match ups. One interesting point brought up is how well McKinnon has done as a receiver and that he has improved as a runner as the season goes on. I agree with this. McKinnon has been doing a better job of finding creases running between the tackles recently. He completely gashed the Bengals on receptions, but the Bengals were missing linebackers in that game, making it somewhat anomalous, the Bengals blew coverage on McKinnon once early for a big play, then the Vikings went back to the same play again later on in the game and he had a big play again.
Not really expecting that against the Saints, but they are missing some linebackers and coverage will likely be stretched with them having to focus on Diggs and Thielen, so maybe McKinnon finds himself pretty open against them for some big plays.
Kyle Rudolph practiced in full on Wednesday and may be back from his ankle injury that has limited him. This adds another receiving threat if he is healthy, although I do like what the Vikings did playing Avantae Collins at TE in their last game against the Bears, having the dual threat TE can make the play action passing game a bit more of a threat. I still hope they use Collins some, even if it is only for a handful of plays. I can see playing him being a good way to double team Cameron Jordan. Rudolphs main weakness in my view is he isn't that good a blocker.
Pat Elflien has practiced in full, so it will be interesting to see what the Vikings do there. Some have speculated it might be best to have Berger play left guard instead of Sirles. He hasn't played there this year or really ever before, although I'm sure he could do it. The Vikings have used him at right guard most of the season, electing to have Easton play center and keep Berger at right guard when Elflien was out before.
Its good that the Vikings have options with their offensive line combinations. I wonder what the best five actually is and if the Vikings may mix and match where linemen play during the game or not. The argument for consistency would suggest Berger back to right guard where he has played the most and kicking Remmers back out to right tackle. In the last game Remmers played well at right guard with Hill at right tackle though. Sirles has played the most left guard besides Easton who is out.
I guess the question as far as who the best five are, is if Hill or Sirles is the better player. One of those two would become a reserve with Elflien coming back to the line up.
Xavier Rhodes practiced in full as well. The only Vikings who were limited in practice Wednesday were Shamar Stephen and Terrence Newman. Newman is important, but I would expect him to play. Shamar Stephen plays in the DT rotation, but Jaleel Johnson seemed to fine as his replacement. The Vikings were very good against the Bears running game with Johnson in there for 20 snaps. So I wonder if Stephens health matters much or not. He did have a limited practice and may be able to play. We are only talking about a handful of snaps anyways. Tom Johnson plays a lot of snaps and Linval Joseph, with Brian Robison mixing in on passing downs.
