Saturday, August 13, 2011

Preseason Game 1: Afterthoughts

Alright alright, so how about those Vikings? (Looks at box score, sees 248 total yards)
Alright, so maybe not. Let's be happy that we are 1/4 of the way finished with the preseason and that much closer to real football that matters. I understand the value of the preseason, and especially with a lockout-shortened offseason it is definitely needed, but man is it boring. The Vikings came up short in this matchup with the Titans by a final of 14-3, for those of you who haven't seen that anywhere else yet. These games really are not about who wins, obviously, but getting the team in rhythm and figuring out the depth chart. I saw some things that were impressive tonight and also some areas which are definitely in need of improvement, as well as some players that stood out for both good and reasons. If you want to see a summary, go here. I just want to talk about some of the positives and negatives of the performance.


Things I liked:


Erin Henderson. This guy seemed to be all over the field tonight. He ended up with 10 tackles, 7 solo and 2 for loss. The next most tackles tonight was 3. I don't think he played that much more than any of the other defensive players on first string, so 10 tackles in the box score is pretty beastly. He got in the backfield a couple times and made stops out on the perimeter as well. I look forward to seeing more of what he can do as one of our starting linebackers. Also, I think it is pretty awesome that we have brothers starting at linebacker for us.

Lorenzo Booker. Booker saw extended playing time tonight. He was out there for a good 2-3 quarters of action as our halfback, and I came away impressed. He lost a fumble on what was a very nice strip-recovery by Jurrell Casey, and if ball security continues to be an issue he probably will not be on this list many more times. For now, I'll chalk that mistake up to it being the first preseason game (which 3 other fumbles occured in) and a nice play being made on defense.  Outside of that, he was making the first tackler miss frequently, broke some good runs and overall looked very capable for a 3rd string back.

Donovan McNabb. He ended up 6-11 for 40 yards, but he started out 4 for 5 and had several good passes dropped afterward. It made me excited to see more from him. He looked in rhythm and accurate, and the fact that he can actually MOVE outside of the pocket is a welcome change from the past few years of old Vikings quarterbacks. Our offensive line was not looking so great in this first game and I think that if it continues to be a weakness, his mobility will be a huge asset. Christian Ponder also looked alright as well. I'd like to see him play behind a line that actually protects him, but he made some nice throws on the move and good mobility as well. He also made a couple throws that were not between the numbers, but didn't look like he shouldn't be on the field or anything.

Brandon Burton. The rookie cornerback out of Utah showed some promise in this first game. He broke up a couple passes, made one nice tackle at the line of scrimmage and was solid in coverage in his first NFL action. With the secondary being potentially the weakest part of this team, it's good to see a corner show some skills.


TE Depth. Looks like the Vikings have somewhat of an embarrassment of riches at the tight end position after this first game. Visanthe Shiancoe was scratched with a hamstring, but rookie Kyle Rudolph made a catch and had a good run afterward, Kleinsasser was himself, and though he dropped a big 4th down throw, Allen Reisner looked like a capable receiver as well.

Things I didn't like:


The offensive line play. The offensive line play in this game was for the most part, well, offensive. Christian Ponder was sacked 3 times in about a quarter and a half of play. There were 4 sacks total and 5 tackles for loss for the Titans and there were many other times that our quarterbacks were forced to scramble or throw while being hit. As I mentioned before, the mobility of our quarterbacks might be a very important asset to have if these problems persist. I also worry about the run game as Toby Gerhart doesn't seem to be able to gain yards unless a hole is opened for him. He doesn't seem very adept at making cuts.

Chris Cook. He got beat for a 45 yard touchdown pass pretty badly, and I saw him miss multiple tackles. For a guy whose strength was supposed to be his tackling, he was not showing much in this first game. He needs to step it up if the Vikings plan to keep him as the nickel corner.

Joe Webb. Yes, he did have a few good scrambles this evening, but as a passer he looked pretty bad. He completed 4 of 8 passes for 45 yards and an interception, and most of his yards were gained after the catch. The announcers got on him for running instead of throwing to a wide open Kyle Rudolph on a naked boot, which I agree he should've thrown. But overall, he just looked like a really athletic guy who is better off running than throwing. He had Devin Aromashodu (sic) open for a touchdown and threw a terrible ball also. I am hoping for Christian Ponder to supplant him as the 2nd stringer sooner than later after tonight. However, I wouldn't mind seeing him get used in some way. Webb is a freak athlete and we should find some way to utilize that.




Overall, tonight's game was just a tease. It left me wanting to see more. I liked the plays the offense was running and I think that our passing game will be better than most people are projecting it to be. I am worried about our offensive line though and hope they start to get it together because I think that games are won in the trenches. I am worried about our defense both against the run and the pass, but then again we didn't have our Jared Allen, Antoine Winfield or Kevin Williams playing tonight, which would probably have helped. I also thought Jake Locker looked quite good but struggled with his accuracy at times as well. Next game I will be looking forward to seeing more of Donovan McNabb running our offense, hoping to see Christian Ponder not running for his life half of the time and also for players like Chris Cook and the the guys on the O-Line to step their games up. So that's that. Enjoy.



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