Minnesota Vikings Preseason Game #1

The Minnesota Vikings outlasted the Buffalo Bills 17-10 in preseason game #1 onThursday night. Thanks to the NFL Network replay of the broadcast I was able to watch the game yesterday. It's fun to hear the local announcers call the games for the replays. In this case, we got the Bills announcers. They didn't sound too happy with Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer calling for some extra pressure on their rookie quarterback in the final minutes of the game. I guess that they prefer the usual vanilla preseason effort throughout the game. Zimmer simply prefers winning and he's done a lot of preseason winning in his three years as the Vikings head coach. This win puts his record in these meaningless games at 13-1. As with most, if not all, of those wins this win wasn't pretty. But it was a win. Despite the mostly sloppy performance there was some good.

Dalvin Cook, RB. The Vikings first team offense didn't do much. They gained a single first down in three opportunities. The little that they did right usually involved putting the ball in the hands of Dalvin Cook. Five runs for 13 yards and four catches for 30 yards. The offensive line didn't give him many opportunities on the ground but his receiving talents were fun to see. The Vikings have an all-around back and he's going to be a big part of the Vikings offense.

Stacy Coley, WR. 3 catches for 67 yards. Stacy Coley's nice receiving game may have put him in the lead for one of the final receiving spots on the roster. His transition from catch to run on a crossing pattern was striking. He was so smooth in moving from route runner to ball carrier that it was as if he never caught the ball at all. And he took it upfield for a 38-yard gain. No hesitation, no deceleration. Just smooth motion.

Patrick Elflein, C. It seems like it's been a while since the interior of the Vikings line was able to get the interior of the defensive line off of the ball. When Patrick Elflein entered the game it looked like the interior of the line was winning most of the matchups. The defensive line was moving backwards. He rolled one snap back to Taylor Heinicke. Apparently he had a few errant snaps in training camp. That's a concern and has to stop. I look forward to the moment that Elflein's a fixture on the first team offensive line.

Case Keenum, QB. The solid play of Case Keenum and the shaky play of Heinicke likely strengthened Keenum's hold on the backup quarterback job.

Tashawn Bower, DE. The Vikings are going to have some tough roster decisions to make at defensive end. As an undrafted free agent Tashawn Bower had a significant climb to be a factor in that decision. He's made that climb by the first preseason game. He had a sack and a tackle for loss. At times it looked like he could do whatever he wanted with the Bills blockers.

Pass Rush. Everson Griffen, Tashawn Bower, and Jaleel Johnson got sacks. Three sacks isn't a high number but the pass rush routinely had the Bill quarterbacks on the run. The Vikings have legitimate NFL linemen on their third and fourth units. It was a blast to see a defensive line of Bower, Will Sutton, Jaleel Johnson, and Stephen Weatherly destroy the pocket around the quarterback. All of the Bills offensive linemen were on their heels. Bower tipped the pass on the play.

Punt and Kick Coverage. If the Vikings had gotten anything going in the return game the entire special teams would've been a highlight. The Vikings punters pinned the Bills inside the 20 four times. Three were inside the 10. Taylor Symmank had three of the four inside the 20, including a 60-yarder that was downed at the 6-yard line. A couple kickoffs kept the Bills returners in the endzone. One that was returned was stopped at the 10.

Penalties. The Vikings had only three penalties. That's an incredibly low number for a preseason game. Especially the first preseason game. The Bills had 10. The three Vikings penalties negated significant plays. That's still very bad. Although the hold called on guard T.J. Clemmings that offset a long pass interference penalty on the Bills was more myth than real. It looked like the Bills pass rusher simply gave up and fell to the ground rather than being hauled down by Clemmings.

The bad of the game for the Vikings centered on two areas.
Pass Protection
Run Defense
The concern here is that these were the two main areas of concern last year. The return of left tackle Riley Rieff and the eventual decision on the starting center should solidify the offensive line. The Vikings need to get the starting five set so that they get comfortable and coordinated. The sooner that happens the better. Right tackle Mike Remmers is getting torn up for whiffing on a block and getting his quarterback sacked. The target on him is a big one due to the significant free agent contract he signed in the offseason. Unimpeded runs at the quarterback happened far too often last season so fans and media honks are especially concerned about it continuing. Sacks happen due to the unfortunate fact that there are talented football players on the other side of the line. Remmers and his line mates just can't let them happen that easily. That's how quarterbacks end up in traction.
While the Vikings 2017 run defense didn't get off to a roaring start I have faith that they'll be fine. The line and linebackers are too talented not to be solid against the run.

That's one look at some of the good and bad of the Vikings shaky but winning start to the 2017 preseason. The preseason is a tricky thing. The only purpose of these games is for the coaching staff to get a look at some of their players, mostly younger players, in a game environment. It's foolish to try and put too much importance on these games. They're just part of the roster evaluation process and getting ready for the games that actually mean something. Sometimes bad things are actually good things. It everything was peachy in the preseason a team could get a false sense of security. Still, winning is nice.