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2022 Minnesota Vikings (5 Viewers)

Maybe I just have injury PTSD from last year but I don't want to see any of the starters out there. I want to see the young guys like Coley, Adams, Bower, Weatherly, Hodges, Gedeon, Jaleel Johnson. If Adams and Coley both look really good again I can see Jarius Wright being traded soon after. Arizona Cardinals are really struggling at WR with injuries and inconsistency so maybe they would be interested in a good veteran WR seeing as this year is their last run with Larry and Carson both hinting at retirement. 

 
Saw some things I liked yesterday but really didn't like how the 1st team Defense got bulldozed in the 1st Qtr. I want to quit hearing how great they are and start seeing it consistently. 

 
Saw some things I liked yesterday but really didn't like how the 1st team Defense got bulldozed in the 1st Qtr. I want to quit hearing how great they are and start seeing it consistently. 
Agreed. Coverage was really poor. Alexander got completely lost trying to cover the slot (may have bit on play action) and doesn't really look better than last year when he clearly wasn't ready. No matter who you are, you can't fall down when your job is to cover a guy.

Newman doesn't look as good as last year so far. Coverage in general seems to have taken a step backwards. Important to keep in mind that the defensive play calling is pretty generic and they are game planning. So your not seeing pattern matching or other intricate play calls that are integral parts of Zimmer scheme. Also Edwards has been doing defensive play calling (not sure about last night but at least in the first game) and I would expect Zimmer to be calling the defense in regular season.

Still just playing straight up the defensive backs getting beat, including Rhodes, although that was a GREAT play by WIlson one handed catch and all. I don't think you could say Rhodes made that play easy. Great throws by WIlson in this game. He seems ready. Defense wasn't.

On the positive side of things the offensive line did a much better job that previous week. In pass protection and blocking for the run. This was without Boone and Reiff playing. Easton did alright at left guard and Hill wasn't beat too badly that I saw unlike previous game.Seattle has a good defense. They passed that test. It has me feeling pretty good about that area being improved this year. 

The defense kept Wilson from escaping the pocket with disciplined pass rush most of the time. Sometimes they do that pretty well then other times that falls apart. I thought they kept that aspect of the game under control pretty well.

 
Zimmer on Redzone Struggles, Play of the Defense

Reiff and Murray were able to practice more today he said. 

Lots of talk about the offensive line. In regards to Elflein and Easton he says one of those guys may end up playing guard. He likes how they have played and from his comments suggest both players have a chance to start. He gets a follow up question about Joe Berger but says Berger is playing well. Berger did get beaten on his block on Bennett on one of the run plays, but I saw Berger make two nice blocks on other plays from the most recent game. So where would Easton or Elflien play if Boone and Berger are starting (as expected). One of these two guys is going to be the reserve inside lineman you would think, but that's why I found Zimmers comment on this to be interesting.

He says good things about Jaleel Johnson who had a good game, also Bower who has played well in both games (some mistakes too, but he has made many plays) and also Odenibgo. He does not mention Weatherly who I also saw make some good plays. He says these three players stepped up, I wonder what that means for Weatherly (does that mean he is moving down?).

Vikings' roster returns to near full strength a week from third preseason game

Cornerback Trae Waynes, left guard Alex Boone, strong safety Andrew Sendejo, left tackle Riley Reiff, receiver Laquon Treadwell, running back Latavius Murray and linebacker Kentrell Brothers all were back in pads and participated in all of practice after missing Friday night’s 20-13 preseason loss at Seattle.

 
Injured Vikings DE Brian Robison seeks more preseason snaps but status uncertain

Based on Zimmers response about if Robinson needed to play in the preseason I don't think Robinson is at risk of not making the team. However there has been very good play by Tasahwn Bower, Stephen Weatherly, and Jaleel Johnson that perhaps Robison is right to be concerned about making the cut.

The Vikings seem unlikely to get rid of Datone Jones and Tom Johnson has played well, in addition to Johnson is 4 defensive tackles. Hunter Griffen Bower and Weatherly would make eight defensive linemen. So unless the Vikings keep nine or ten linemen, I am guessing at nine. It does raise the question of if they would keep Robison over Weatherly, or Shamar Stephen, if they only kept eight linemen. 

I think the Vikings should be trying to carry more offensive linemen for depth which makes keeping more defensive linemen more difficult, although that may end up being the decision as the defensive linemen are better players.

 
Injured Vikings DE Brian Robison seeks more preseason snaps but status uncertain

Based on Zimmers response about if Robinson needed to play in the preseason I don't think Robinson is at risk of not making the team. However there has been very good play by Tasahwn Bower, Stephen Weatherly, and Jaleel Johnson that perhaps Robison is right to be concerned about making the cut.

The Vikings seem unlikely to get rid of Datone Jones and Tom Johnson has played well, in addition to Johnson is 4 defensive tackles. Hunter Griffen Bower and Weatherly would make eight defensive linemen. So unless the Vikings keep nine or ten linemen, I am guessing at nine. It does raise the question of if they would keep Robison over Weatherly, or Shamar Stephen, if they only kept eight linemen. 

I think the Vikings should be trying to carry more offensive linemen for depth which makes keeping more defensive linemen more difficult, although that may end up being the decision as the defensive linemen are better players.
I could see Datone Jones being cut...hasn't shown much and the youth is there for depth.

 
I could see Datone Jones being cut...hasn't shown much and the youth is there for depth.
Yeah maybe.

If the under tackle spot was more solid then the depth there wouldn't be as necessary and they could keep 6 DE and 3 DT for example.

Because of Tom Johnsons age they have to think about the depth there and what it will look like next season. Tom Johnson will be a free agent. So Jones becomes kind of a important depth piece there until they are sure Johnson can be a starter.

All of these things clogging up the roster because of Shariff Floyd's injury. Haven't heard a peep about him.

Jones hasn't stood out to me and I am not even sure how much he has played. Arif in recent podcast said he thought Jones has been doing well, so I will take his word for it. I have not read too much about Jones standing out in camp or in recent game reports though. I have read some good and bad things in regards to Stephen who we know from last year he can't be counted on to start or have too many snaps. I think he can be good in small doses. Maybe he is on the way out. He is decent though.

It is a good problem to have. I just am worried about other teams getting a nice player that the Vikings have to let go in the numbers crunch.

I think it would also be good to keep extra offensive linemen for depth. But the number of good players at defensive line makes that pretty hard to do.

 
I really don't want to be the "Panic in the Preseason" guy but our 1st team Defense looks like hot garbage and has all 3 games. I know everything is Vanilla and such but Jesus should Hoyer to Garcon look like Montana to Rice? 

 
I really don't want to be the "Panic in the Preseason" guy but our 1st team Defense looks like hot garbage and has all 3 games. I know everything is Vanilla and such but Jesus should Hoyer to Garcon look like Montana to Rice? 
It definitely looked off.  The offense was bad and the defense was worse.

 
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I can't really disagree with that Beo. Coverage has been terrible throughout. Not stopping anyone right now.

Zimmers statements about the game not really any different. Says the offense was average as well.

I'm kind of glad i didn't see the whole game. Saw the first quarter and enough to know the first teams not playing well.

 
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So where do people stand on starters playing the 4th preseason game? Got to say, I am in favor of it, particularly on offense. 

 
So where do people stand on starters playing the 4th preseason game? Got to say, I am in favor of it, particularly on offense. 
Yeah there are a bunch of articles making a mountain out of a mole hill based on Zimmers comments from most recent press conference.

I listened to the presser and what Zimmer said was sounded very non-committal to me in regards to this, but of course the press runs with it.

I trust the coaches judgement in regards to this. If the starters play a whole quarter or longer it would be unusual, but whatever they think is best for the team to get them ready for the Saints.

 
Yeah there are a bunch of articles making a mountain out of a mole hill based on Zimmers comments from most recent press conference.

I listened to the presser and what Zimmer said was sounded very non-committal to me in regards to this, but of course the press runs with it.

I trust the coaches judgement in regards to this. If the starters play a whole quarter or longer it would be unusual, but whatever they think is best for the team to get them ready for the Saints.
Agreed, I trust Zimmer's judgment but fear his judgment may be swayed by fear of backlash if injury were to happen. He should do it anyway. What they've done is not vanilla for the sake of being vanilla in preseason. The plays are no different from the offense they ran all last regular season, with the same results. I do hope his comment wasn't some manipulation tactic. They definitely should not play starters token minutes as a punishment. They should play starters because they are not yet good at what they do.

 
For another point of view here is an article that contains the Pff preseason grades for Vikings players in the 3 games so far.

https://www.dailynorseman.com/2017/8/30/16230352/minnesota-vikings-offensive-player-ratings

In the chart you see a whole lot of red (bad) and not much green (good).

Joe Berger is the only lineman green. Pat Elflien is orange (below average) all other linemen are red.

Dalvin Cook, Stacey Coley and Bucky Hodges are the only skill players green. Adam Theilen are yellow (average).

Its not very promising with only a few bright spots and two of those are playing second team offense against worse defensive players. Cook is the only starting skill player who has been good.

 
Considering how the pre-season has gone for the Vikings, I could see THEN and only then, that you want the starters to maybe play, but I'd think and hope only like one good series of about 8-10 plays.  Training camps are long enough and with inter-squad scrimmages and controlled scrimmages with teams I would think it's more important to see what players ranked 45 to 65 can do for the club.

 
For another point of view here is an article that contains the Pff preseason grades for Vikings players in the 3 games so far.

https://www.dailynorseman.com/2017/8/30/16230352/minnesota-vikings-offensive-player-ratings

In the chart you see a whole lot of red (bad) and not much green (good).

Joe Berger is the only lineman green. Pat Elflien is orange (below average) all other linemen are red.

Dalvin Cook, Stacey Coley and Bucky Hodges are the only skill players green. Adam Theilen are yellow (average).

Its not very promising with only a few bright spots and two of those are playing second team offense against worse defensive players. Cook is the only starting skill player who has been good.
I still have no idea how PFF came up with the 14th overall Oline ranking.  I am just hoping that they can somehow keep Bradford healthy through 16 games. 

Still interested to see if Peter Kings prediction that "Dalvin Cook wiil be top 5 running back by Halloween" is anywhere close to coming true.  Maybe he should have predicted that he will be top 5 prior to Halloween before they collapse in the second half of the season.  I don't think they are built to go the distance with their paper thin Oline talent. 

 
How they arrived at that rating for the Vikings offensive lie was by using previous years ratings for the players the Vikings have.

Riley Reif's ratings have declined according to them the last two or three years, which I think is troubling. I tried asking some Lions fans about their opinion about this and they didn't seem to think Reif was that bad. He has been injured, so hard to say how well he is doing right now. I thought the offensive line as a whole and particularly the left side played better against the Seahawks with Hill and Easton over there than they did against the 49ers with Reif and Boone over there.

As expected the press made a big deal about Zimmers comments but the Vikings haven't played their starters much in the 4th game. I missed the first quarter though. Just got home.

 
Mackenzie Alexander is playing and he does an alright job in coverage against Grant on an end zone play. But then he gets in Grants face talking trash after the play and gets called for unsportsmanlike conduct giving the Dolphins a 1st and goal.

Alexander gets yanked from the game by the coaches and the Dolphins score a third TD.

Then the Vikings give up a safety with only 24 seconds left in the half.

Not good.

 
They're playing professional ultimate frisbee at halftime. It's way more interesting than the football game

Sam Brown looks more lost on the field than anyone I've ever seen.

 
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Zimmer on Cuts, Floyd, Team's Play This Preseason

Zimmer says he didn't think the defensive backs played well in the fourth game (he doesn't talk about them being bad all preseason, including the starters) and that he talked to Alexander about the penalty for unsportman like performance. Going back a month or two I recall Zimmer making a comment about the players who boast and talk trash the loudest are sometimes the players who shouldn't be talking, and I think Alexander may be one of those guys. He has gifts no doubt but he hasn't played well and he played a lot in week four which is not a good sign as far as him being a starter early on in the season.

He mentions that when they cut down to 53 that they will also be looking at the waiver wire and the final 53 some of those players may not be with the team in week one of the regular season (if they pick up some players cut). This seems like a good comment for the players who do make the team to keep working hard.

Reading the tea leaves as far as his comments about Michael Floyd I think Zimmer is planning on Floyd to play once he gets back from suspension, that he likes how Floyd has done, he is a good blocker, good on the back shoulder throws and that Bradford likes him.

I notice that Treadwell played earlier on in the game and that Wright did not. I did miss the first quarter so if Wright was in I may have missed it. Thinking about this, Zimmers positive comments about Wright and Treadwell playing in week 4 of the preseason has me wondering if Treadwell will play much while Floyd is out or not. On the flip side of this Treadwell missed time with injury so maybe they just wanted him to play for that reason. All of this together does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling about Treadwells outlook and maybe he takes a backseat to Floyd when he gets back from suspension.

I would like to be wrong and I've been trying to be as optimistic as I can be about Treadwell making progress enough to play and be a factor this year, but I still have a lot of doubts about that actually happening.

 
I went from super confident right before the preseason games to scared to death we are on the verge of a 4-12 season. It is really hard to look back on these 4 games and like anything about it. I hate to say it but maybe Zim is just a really good Defensive Coordinator. 

 
I went from super confident right before the preseason games to scared to death we are on the verge of a 4-12 season. It is really hard to look back on these 4 games and like anything about it. I hate to say it but maybe Zim is just a really good Defensive Coordinator. 
Zimmer does seem like he has taken a more active role with the offense this year. In press conferences he seems to be talking about the offense more than he has the defense. He doesn't talk about the defense much at all from my perspective as much as previous years, when he would kind of not talk about the offense much.

There are a lot of people who are concerned and I suppose I am too. Others are in panic mode, which a 4-12 season prediction sounds a bit more like panic.

If I were to really panic. I might wonder if Zimmer can see things as well post eye surgery as he did before and maybe that is a problem that can't be fixed.

Maybe the Vikings are going to have a poor start to the season if the preseason games are an indication of how they will play in the regular season. I have a more wait and see approach to that. Zimmer seems to think that the defense will be fine with the starters in based on his comments. I guess we will see.

 
Miami Dolphins Interested In Kentrell Brothers

I like Brothers but Eric Wilson and Ben Gedeon have looked good at times as well. Wilson a bit more than Gedeon. In any case these two LB may make Brothers expendable.

Vikings Reportedly Trade for CB Tramaine Brock from Seattle

29 years old played well for the 49ers but got in trouble with domestic abuse charges. Based on how the secondary has played in the preseason I think its good that they added him.
I'm surprised more teams didn't go after Brock.  Solid add

 
I'm surprised more teams didn't go after Brock.  Solid add
The Vikings coverage has been really good the last couple years but really poor during this preseason, which is worrisome.

Personnel hasn't changed except for Captain Munnerlyn. The plan was for Alexander to take over the slot corner position but this move signals that they are still trying to get better there.

In preseason Xavier Rhodes and Harrison Smith have blown coverage as well as Alexander. So it wasn't just the depth guys making mistakes. Coverage has been so poor that Exum has looked good comparatively. Exum is more of a safety (who takes bad angles against the run) but has played some nickle corner as well.

Brees and the Saints will definitely be a challenge. Hopefully they can get it together.

If preseason is any indication they do seem perhaps somewhat improved against the run. Buffalo had some good runs on them the first week, but they did a pretty good job of stopping it against the Seahawks and 49ers. They did give up some runs to Kenyan Drake in the first drive against the Dolphins in the 4th game but I didn't see those to comment.

 
Vikings announce 53-man roster

QB (2)
Sam Bradford
Case Keenum

RB (4)
Dalvin Cook
Latavius Murray
Jerick McKinnon
C.J. Ham

Wide Receivers (6)
Stefon Diggs
Adam Thielen
Laquon Treadwell
Jarius Wright
Rodney Adams
Stacy Coley

Tight Ends (3)
Kyle Rudolph
David Morgan
Bucky Hodges

Offensive Line (9)
Riley Reiff
Nick Easton
Pat Elflein
Joe Berger
Mike Remmers
Aviante Collins
Rashod Hill
Danny Isadora
Jeremiah Sirles

Defensive Line (9)
Everson Griffen
Linval Joseph
Tom Johnson
Danielle Hunter
Brian Robison
Stephen Weatherly
Tashawn Bower
Jaleel Johnson
Shamar Stephen

Linebackers (6)
Anthony Barr
Eric Kendricks
Kentrell Brothers
Ben Gedeon
Emmanuel Lamur
Eric Wilson

Defensive Backs (11)
Xavier Rhodes
Trae Waynes
Terence Newman
Harrison Smith
Andrew Sendejo
Mackensie Alexander
Tramaine Brock
Marcus Sherels
Antone Exum Jr.
Anthony Harris
Jayron Kearse

Kicker (1)
Kai Forbath

Punter (1)
Ryan Quigley

Long Snapper (1)
Kevin McDermotth

RELEASED
G Willie Beavers
WR Moritz Böhringer
G Alex Boone
DT Dylan Bradley
CB Sam Brown
TE Kyle Carter
DT Chunky Clements
OL T.J. Clemmings
LB Noor Davis
T Reid Fragel
WR Isaac Fruechte
QB Taylor Heinicke (Injured)
RB Bronson Hill
WR Cayleb Jones
G Zac Kerin
K Marshall Koehn
LB Elijah Lee
QB Mitch Leidner
DE Sam McCaskill
RB Terrell Newby
DE Ifeadi Odenigbo
CB Jabari Price CB
TE Josiah Price TE
CB Horace Richardson
CB Tre Roberson
LB Edmond Robinson
WR R.J. Shelton (Injured)
T Austin Shepherd
CB Terrell Sinkfield
DT Will Sutton
P Taylor Symmank
G Freddie Tagaloa
S Jack Tocho
TE Nick Truesdell

PLACED ON INJURED RESERVE:
DT Datone Jones

PLACED ON RESERVE/PHYSICALLY UNABLE TO PERFORM:
QB Teddy Bridgewater

PLACED ON RESERVE/NON-FOOTBALL INJURY:
DT Sharrif Floyd

PLACED ON RESERVE/SUSPENDED:
WR Michael Floyd

ACQUIRED VIA A TRADE FROM SEATTLE:
CB Tramaine Brock

 
Kyle Sloter has some impressive pre-season highlights.  If he is as good as advertised, the Vikings should seriously think about protecting him by putting him on the active roster.  Yeah I said it.  As it stands now any team could come along and claim him from the Vikings practice squad.  I mean teams are trading for Jacoby Brissett because of his impressive preseason play.  I don't see any reason the Jets wouldn't be interested other than they are the Jets.

 
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Good stuff Bia......I'm glad the Vikes decided to dump some vets and try a fresh look at OL.  Let's hope Elflein and Easton are up to it, here they like Isadora also.

 
Good stuff Bia......I'm glad the Vikes decided to dump some vets and try a fresh look at OL.  Let's hope Elflein and Easton are up to it, here they like Isadora also.
Yeah I feel good about it based on what I saw in week two of the preseason.

Isadora is kind of important for depth and also long term as this may be Joe Bergers last season.

 

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