www.authenticsminnesotavikings.com

[hongwei28]

The part of the story where we step back from the ledge Hi kids...how goes it?I know everyone is less than amused with what we saw from our intrepid heroes in purple on Saturday. It was a sloppy game , full of penalties and poor execution on offense. There were more injuries to the offensive line, the first team offense didn’t look anything close to ready for prime time, the first team defense couldn’t stop a screen pass, and special teams once again floundered.It doesn’t matter.**The new penalty rules matter, though. But that’s for another post.I mean, to an extent it does, but it really doesn’t. These are just nothing more than dress-rehearsal practices, featuring mostly understudies. The approach a team takes to a preseason game is different than a regular season. There is no game plan installation, there is no film study of the opponent. It is focused on player evaluations, and on practicing concepts, plays, and techniques that they’re learning in training camp, regardless of what the other team is doing on the field.I watch it to look for player development, and those are important things. Having the strongest 53 man roster possible helps win games. But I quit taking stock in preseason statistics and results from the first team players in 2005, unless one of those positions is up for grabs.‘Ted’, you’re thinking, ‘what in Odin’s name does 2005 have to do with anything?’Let’s travel back to the not too distant past, gang, for a quick walk down memory lane. At the end of the 2004 season, the Vikings traded away WR Randy Moss to the Oakland Raiders (aka the Last Red McCombs Eff You), signaling that the offensive torch had passed to QB Daunte Culpepper. Even without Moss, Culpepper said he ‘felt like a Jedi Knight’ running the Vikings offense. Daunte was coming off an MVP-caliber year in which he completed almost 70% of his passes, threw for over 4,700 yards, 39 TD’s, and only 11 interceptions. It’s an understandable quote to make in context during that time , so I won’t go into a whole diatribe of how the Jedi are literally the worst Special Operations force in the history of the Universe. I won’t mention that with all their collective psychic powers they were unable to detect that the Sith Lord of Sith Lords was literally down the street from their headquarters, impersonating a senator and getting ready to stage a coup. Nor will I mention that for all their greatness, and how much they were ‘loved’ and ‘respected’, NO ONE in the Republic’s Army gave them a heads up about Order 66...NOR did they detect such a plan through their ‘superior’ psychic abilities. No, I won’t mention that the most overrated Special Operations force in history got wiped out in about two hours because they were completely caught off guard, and when they got ambushed, they brought light sabers to a blaster fight. Good job, good effort Jedis. No, I won’t discuss any of that, because that wasn’t the point of Daunte’s quote. But it’s ironic that when he referenced the Jedi back then how true he was in referring to the 2005 team, because woof...that 2005 team got ambushed and wiped out.In the preseason, though, the Vikings new-look offense was lights out. Culpepper went an incredible 36-44 for 520 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. They looked close to unstoppable, and people thought the Vikings were going to be a tough out in the NFC North. Then the regular season started, and the Vikes were absolutely horrible, starting 2-5. They were blown out in three of those losses by more than 20 points, the offense had issues running and throwing the ball, and during post Love Boat 38-13 humiliation in Carolina, Culpepper had his knee destroyed. Brad Johnson took over for the rest of the year, and the next season Daunte was in Miami.If you want an even more recent history, let’s go back to just last year. With a new look offensive line, and exciting rookie Dalvin Cook to replace long time fixture Adrian Peterson, it was expected Sam Bradford the Vikings offense would get on track, and we’d see a lot more downfield passing.Then LT Riley Reiff got hurt early , much like Mike Remmers has this year, and missed most of the preseason. The offense didn’t look in sync at all, and if anything seemed to get worse with each game. There was a fair amount of consternation throughout the land, and a lot of folks thought that the offense was going to be another big mess, like it had been in 2016.Then they came out and lit it up against the Saints in their first game of the year. And even after they had to absorb the losses of Bradford and Cook less than a full quarter into the season, the Vikings still fielded a top 10 offense, won the division, and advanced to the NFC Championship game.I’m not worried yet, and you shouldn’t be, either! Are there things to keep an eye on, though? Sure. No one is happy Remmers and Pat Elflein have missed most/all of camp, and that’s giving the offensive line a mini-vibe right out of 2016. That said, assuming Elflein and Remmers start practicing this week, and they should, that group should settle down and the Vikings can concentrate on finding a LG. There are things to like about Danny Isidora, Tom Compton, and Aviante Collins, guys who are considered the top candidates for the job, and RT Brian O’Neill is flashing in camp as well. Finally, if there has been a surprise on the offensive line, it’s been C ‘Yukon’ Cornelius Edison. He has played pretty well under the circumstances, and I’ll be stunned if he doesn’t make the final 53. I guess my point is that the overall depth the Vikings have on the line is immeasurably better now than it was in 2016, or even last year, and we won’t have to worry about anything like this anymore. At least not on darn near every snap, anyway:Folks if you look up what ‘addition by subtraction’ means, you’ll get this clip of Matt Kalil. Anyway , the o-line needs to get settled and work together as a unit for a couple weeks before the first regular season game and if they can do that, I don’t have a lot of worries here.The only other nagging concern I have is at kicker. Most of you already know the Vikings ended the kicking competition by releasing Kai Forbath a little while ago and handing the job to rookie Daniel Carlson. It’s not that I don’t have confidence in Carlson per se...it’s just that kicker memories conjure up a post-Apocalyptic Vikings Dystopia, where everything is dead, including my feelings and my football soul. Forbath wasn’t ‘Blair Walsh with the yips’ bad for the Vikings, and he made what was arguably the most clutch field goal in team history against the Saints in the divisional playoffs last year. You have to make extra points as well, I get it, and Forbath missed way more of those than he should have. Which is why Daniel Carlson is the kicker today, and not Forbath.I’m just worried that Minnesota will need to make a big field goal in a really pivotal point in the season...and we’re going to trot out a rookie to make that kick. I’m not saying he can’t, I’m just saying I’d be more comfortable with a veteran right now. Hopefully, he’ll change my mind in short order.But overall, there’s a lot more to like with thisteam than there is to be worried about. The offense should be okay, the defense looks fierce, and the pieces are in place for a serious run at the Super Bowl. So, let’s step back from the ledge for now, and let the rest of the preseason play itself out.And then after the first regular season loss, let us all lock arms and jump off into the abyss together. Kirk Cousins took the third-and-5 shotgun snap with 3 minutes left and Minnesota holding an eight-point lead.He decided to run for it.The San Francisco defense converged as Cousins crossed his 40-yard line, so the most expensive player in Vikings history lowered his head as he tried to power his way past the first-down marker.Cousins took a shoulder to the back from 49ers linebacker Elijah Lee as he tumbled to the turf and came up just short, a dangerous way for a franchise quarterback to try to move the chains, but his determination to experience victory in his Vikings debut on Sunday afternoon was not to be reasoned with."Hey, when the game's on the line, we're trying to get the first down. Go for it," coach Mike Zimmer said. "I'm all in."Cousins passed for two touchdowns and the Vikings forced four turnovers, fueling a 24-16 win over the 49ers in the season opener that stuck Jimmy Garoppolo with his first loss in eight games as an NFL starting quarterback .The Vikings actually kept that late drive alive by a 49ers neutral zone infraction penalty on fourth-and-1, before punting four plays later. Harrison Smith's interception, the third by the Vikings against Garoppolo in the second half, sealed the game with 1:35 remaining.Asked afterward about that head-first hustle , Cousins acknowledged the risk of such a play and said he might have been better served with a stutter-step or some kind of move to try to make Lee miss."We had played too hard at that point to just slide early and give up on that," Cousins said.Cousins completed 20 of 36 passes for 244 yards without a turnover. He faced plenty of pressure, highlighted by DeForest Buckner and his 2陆 sacks, and there were a handful of awkward-looking plays produced by the Vikings. Cousins was right on target at just the right times , though, delivering several clutch throws in traffic including the scoring passes to Stefon Diggs in the second quarter and Kyle Rudolph in the third quarter."That's NFL football. I think that if you're not really accurate and you don't have that confidence to let it rip, you're going to be holding the ball and getting sacked, you're going to be spraying it everywhere," Cousins said. "If you're waiting for guys to be open, you're going to be waiting a long time."Cousins, who signed a three-year, $84 million, fully guaranteed contract with the Vikings this spring, clearly savored his first regular season contest at U.S. Bank Stadium, where the Vikings are 15-3, including the playoffs since it opened. The last player to emerge from the tunnel during pregame introductions, Cousins said the honor was undeserved and should have been reserved for Diggs, wide receiver Adam Thielen, left tackle Riley Reiff or running back Dalvin Cook."It's just an example of the team welcoming me with open arms, and I'm so grateful for this opportunity that I've been given," Cousins said, "and I just want to make good on it with every chance I get."Here are some other key angles that emerged from the game:GETTING TO GAROPPOLO: Garoppolo finished 15 for 33 for 261 yards and a touchdown pass to rookie Dante Pettis late in the third quarter, but the Vikings sacked him three times. Mike Hughes returned the first pick 28 yards for a score."There's not one word to put on it. We went against a very good defense, and we all didn't play as good as we could," 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. "Lots of quarterbacks struggle against that defense. Jimmy did some good things, but by no means was he perfect."COMEBACK COMPLETE: Cook had 16 carries for 40 yards and six catches for 55 yards , a productive return to live action after tearing the ACL in his left knee about 11 months earlier. He lost a fumble at the San Francisco 29 after spinning and muscling his way through a crowd of defenders for a 15-yard gain.Cook declared his knee and body fit for a full season, but his mind was also on his family. His uncle and childhood confidant, Anthony Jones, a running back for Florida International University, was wounded in a drive-by shooting in Miami on Thursday. Cook's grandmother raised him and Jones, her son."Just going out there, competing, playing my heart out, that's what he wanted," Cook said.KITTLE'S DROP: Garoppolo and the 49ers had their hands full against the league's leading defense of 2017, losing wide receiver Marquise Goodwin to a first-quarter quadriceps injury and two right guards to foot injuries. They had success rolling Garoppolo out on misdirection plays, and tight end George Kittle was the biggest beneficiary with five catches for 90 yards.The one he didn't make stood out. Wide open up the seam, Kittle had what would've been a 30-yard completion fall off his fingers at midfield. The third-down interception by Hughes came on the next play to give the Vikings a 17-3 lead."It didn't end the way we wanted," Kittle said, "but I feel like we definitely had some momentum going and if we can do that we'll be a pretty good offense."DEFENSE DIGS IN: The 49ers gave Garoppolo an opportunity with three straight three-and-out possessions by the Vikings in the fourth quarter. Rookie Fred Warner, starting at middle linebacker with Reuben Foster suspended, led the team with 12 tackles, including one for loss. He also had one quarterback hurry, one pass breakup and the forced fumble on Cook."Middle linebacker is one of the toughest positions to come in as a rookie and play and be effective," said cornerback Richard Sherman, who made his 49ers debut. "I think he did an admirable job."

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