The Minnesota Vikings opened their preseason at beautiful US Bank Stadium with a 20-10 win over the Houston Texans. Preseason games are often difficult to judge. Teams approach them with various strategies and those strategies are rarely shared with observers. Despite that, the win was a solid showing by the Vikings in all phases.
After starting his Vikings coaching career with six consecutive preseason losses, Kevin O’Connell has guided his team to four consecutive wins. That might mean something.
Any thoughts on the 2025 Minnesota Vikings will always begin with quarterback J.J. McCarthy. He got the start yesterday but played a single series. It’ll probably be his only appearance of the preseason. So, how did he play? “Fine” would be my assessment. The special teams did him, and the offense, no favors as a muffed catch and a holding penalty gave the offense a poor start at the 12-yard line. After three passes to Jordan Addison and two Jordan Mason runs, McCarthy had the Vikings at the Texans 49-yard line. It was all positive to that point. Locating Addison in his progression is always a good thing. While the third forced a dive and nice catch, it showed that McCarthy really just has to put the ball within reach of Addison and Justin Jefferson. His brilliant receivers can make plays and will make plays. McCarthy doesn’t have to be perfect. He just has to give his pass catchers a chance. On this occasion, he put that ball where only Addison could get it. From the Texans 49, Mason ran for nine yards. Then things got a little shaky. A screen to C.J. Ham was destined for failure from the start and lost three yards. McCarthy followed that with his worst play of the drive. He missed an open Lucky Jackson high. Hit that and the Vikings are sitting nicely in the red zone. On 4th-and-four, O’Connell decided to leave the ball in his quarterback’s hands. It was the right decision as McCarthy ran for eight yards and the first down. Incomplete to Addison, five-yard run from Mason, and incomplete to Mason forced the Vikings to settle for a Will Reichard field goal. While I hoped that O’Connell would give McCarthy another fourth-down chance, grabbing the points was the right decision. If he’d managed to connect with Jackson, I would have easily given McCarthy an “A” for his brief appearance. As it was, I’d give him a “B.” It looked like he made the right decisions throughout the lone possession and it ended with points. There’s the obligatory J.J. McCarthy critique.
The Vikings offense, defense, and special teams did play the rest of the game. Here are some takeaways.
The worst part of the game was the serious leg injury to Rondale Moore on what appeared to be one of those jackass “hip-drop” tackles. I really thought the league was trying to do something about that bullshit. Maybe they should put some real tackling work back into training camp practices. Moore had worked his way back from a brutal right knee injury suffered last summer while he was with the Atlanta Falcons. Now, he appears to have a serious injury to his left leg. Just brutal.
The second worst part was late in the game when rookie center Zeke Correll was injured with what has already been diagnosed as a fractured ankle. Brutal.
One preseason game and two players are probably done for the season.
Texans quarterback Davis Mills started the game over starter C.J. Stroud. Mills carved up the Vikings defense on their first series. It was a ten-play, 74-yard drive and the Texans were rarely stressed by a defense missing nine probable starters. Other than an incomplete pass and a false start penalty, every play went for positive yards. After that casual march down the field, the Texans rarely did anything positive against any Vikings defensive combination. After gaining 74 yards on their first possession, the Texans gained only 120 yards on their next nine possessions. Their final three possessions ended with interceptions. So, the Vikings defense started slow but was stout throughout the game.
Perhaps the greatest concern so far in training camp has been the play of the Vikings backup quarterbacks. Those concerns should now be less than they were. Sam Howell played the rest of the first half and was solid. He guided the offense to a field goal and a touchdown. He powered the ball from a yard out for the touchdown. He was accurate. He completed 11 of 13 passes for 105 yards. He appeared to make good decisions. The only thing that stopped him and the Vikings offense was the end of the half.
Things didn’t go so smoothly for Brett Rypien. In his three possessions, the Vikings gained one first down. They punted three times. He completed 1 of 4 passes for six yards. His three misses weren’t close. His play was much like the play that had folks worried about the Vikings quarterbacks.
Max Brosmer may have been the revelation of the game. He started a little slow but warmed to something close to hotness. He was certainly aided by a defense that kept getting the ball for the offense. In that sense, his opportunities were much better opportunities than those given Rypien. Brosmer’s first opportunity came on the Texans 40-yard line. That led to a touchdown on a nice Brosmer throw to fellow undrafted rookie Myles Price.
That ends the quarterback observations.
Preseason Game #1 Standouts:
-Jordan Addison was great on his three catches.
-Jordan Mason looked the part of a bruising compliment to Aaron Jones
-Zavier Scott may have zipped past Ty Chandler in the competition for RB3.
-Tai Felton had a couple catches and a terrific gunner rep on punt coverage.
-Jeshaun Jones was a just-missed Brett Rypien deep throw from an explosive game.
-Gabriel Murphy provided nice pressure and finished with 1.5 sacks.
-Elijah Williams was stout in the middle of the defensive line.
-Kahlef Hailassie was in the right spot for two interceptions.
-Ambry Thomas also had an interception.
-Will Reichard was perfect on kicks.
There’s a punting competition in Minnesota. The Vikings punted three times against the Texans. Incumbent Ryan Wright had a 54- and a 49-yarder. One was pinned inside the 20-yard line. Challenger Oscar Chapman had a 52-yarder. Thanks in part to Tai Felton’s terrific coverage, the punt nearly resulted in a Texans turnover. The muffed football was there for the taking but the Texans covered it.
If I were to pick an MVP for the Vikings Preseason Game #1, that player would probably be Zavier Scott. He’s an interesting player. I’ve always been intrigued by running backs with legit time as a receiver in their background. Scott is such a player. He played at least a year as a receiver in college. Since the Vikings signed him to the practice squad after he was among the final cuts of the Indianapolis Colts last season, I hadn’t seen him play for the Vikings until yesterday. He’s been a nearly year-long mystery. He looked great against the Texans. He gained 40 yards on seven carries and caught a pass for 11 yards. He’s a much tougher/harder runner than I expected.
The New England Patriots are up next in Preseason Game #2.
