Preseason game #2: Vikings - Cardinals game thread 8/16

[Slick Rick]

Very excited with what I've been seeing from the 1st teams, especially on offense, so far this preseason. I was a little disappointed in our defense, but I still think that they'll be able to get the job done come regular season time. Just maybe not to the degree that I was hoping/expecting, though.

[maembe]

What are the chances of Rodney Smith making the team. Thielen had a horrible drop on that perfect TD pass from Teddy and Rodney Smith was not at all in the same league as the guys he was matched up against. Maybe we keep 6 wrs?

[Just Me]

Either they missed the fact that the ball was batted or else they ruled that it wasn't batted toward the goal line. I believe it's only illegal if it's batted forward. I just watched it again and it wasn't batted forward. When the ball hit and spun on the turf, it rolled forward.

Eli,

Thanks for the succinct interpretation of the rules. I understand it better now (I thought we got hosed at the time, but now I see where the ruling is probably correct). The part of that play that was frustrating to me was that the Cardinal player wasn't trying to recover the ball, he was trying to keep it in play by "scooping" it out of the "scrum". An argument could be made that he had "control" by the fact he was doing more with the ball than "trying to recover it," but I don't ever see the refs ruling that way as it would require them to assign control "by intent" when the player "bats" a ball. If you look at the play, though, it was obvious he "controls" the ball, even if he doesn't "possess" it (per se).

It did occur to me that this is last year all over again (the defense giving up the losing score in the final two minutes) but the difference was an offense that had a clutch drive after the defense gave up the TD. It's "only pre-season" but it felt nice anyway...

[Webbfann]

Not that I want to defend PA, but it was Bercich who called him Massel lol. I'm currently re-watching the game on NFL Network.

My bad. Was he the one who complimented Cassel for "not only his throws, but also his passes" at halftime?

[Cliff]

Cassel still deserves to be the starter after this game ... but Teddy sure was exciting. Can't wait to see what he can do.

[Webbfann]

Cassel still deserves to be the starter after this game ... but Teddy sure was exciting. Can't wait to see what he can do.

I agree on both counts. I think it's going to be an exciting offensive year for the Vikings! Offense is my favorite kind of defense.

[Skoltastic_Voyage]

Rewatched some of the Adam Thielen plays... This guy is seriously leaving an impression on me. If we need the roster room I think Ponder could go.

[Webbfann]

Rewatched some of the Adam Thielen plays... This guy is seriously leaving an impression on me. If we need the roster room I think Ponder could go.

After watching Cassel and Bridgewater last night I bet Ponder wants to go.

[JellyBean2144]

I know it is only preseason...but dang Teddy looked pretty confident out there, especially on that game winning drive.

[Texas Vike]

I know it is only preseason...but dang Teddy looked pretty confident out there, especially on that game winning drive.

Agreed. His poise was impressive. I also liked his reactions to all situations. When he scored his TDs his facial expression was flatline. Like he just expected it and it was not a big deal.

Seems to me that he sees the field well and he handles pressure very well.

[Just Me]

Agreed. His poise was impressive. I also liked his reactions to all situations. When he scored his TDs his facial expression was flatline. Like he just expected it and it was not a big deal.

Seems to me that he sees the field well and he handles pressure very well.

+1. I thought the same thing. During the actual drive when the camera was on his face, he was the same "flatline" the whole time. "Just a walk in the park" was the phrase that kept coming to mind when I saw his demeanor during the game winning drive.

[HardcoreVikesFan]

http://www.vikings.com/media-vault/vide ... 563dd291d2

This is why I am so excited for the future of this team. Despite the win, Zimmer takes time to coach the team up and let the players know there is still work to be done.


This is a waaayyyy better approach than the typical Frazier, "great job Minnesota Vikings," post game spiel.

[Raptorman]

Rewatched some of the Adam Thielen plays... This guy is seriously leaving an impression on me. If we need the roster room I think Ponder could go.

It looks to me like he is a good route runner. Of course I don't know the routes but when he breaks a turn, you can tell it was meant to break. If it was up to me, I'd keep him. Probably over Simpson.

[Mothman]

http://www.vikings.com/media-vault/vide ... 563dd291d2

This is why I am so excited for the future of this team. Despite the win, Zimmer takes time to coach the team up and let the players know there is still work to be done.

This is a waaayyyy better approach than the typical Frazier, "great job Minnesota Vikings," post game spiel.

Frazier would comment on their need to clean up mistakes and get better too but I definitely like the way Zimmer handled that. I like the job he's doing so far. Hopefully, the team will just keep winning. Next week, they'll be on the road for the first time this year. It will be interesting to see how that goes.

[Eli]

It did occur to me that this is last year all over again (the defense giving up the losing score in the final two minutes) but the difference was an offense that had a clutch drive after the defense gave up the TD. It's "only pre-season" but it felt nice anyway...

I'm not sure how much you can read into a preseason game with 2nd and 3rd string players on the field, but yes, the way the defense played was a little too reminiscent of last year.

The Vikings just don't have many players capable of covering receivers. That's going to hurt them, maybe very badly, in blitzing. I suspect that they're going to get burned - a lot - as they try to figure out how aggressive they can be. This is another area reason why I don't think Barr at LB is ideal. I suspect they'll be rushing him a lot from the LB position and often shorting themselves one man in coverage, which they can't afford to do.