The Starters And Their Night In Canton
Adam Warwas
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Finally, Minnesota Vikings football to talk about that doesn’t come in Twitter/Vine/Periscope form (no offense everyone who did a great job covering training camp). Actual Minnesota Vikings football was on our televisions tonight, however, and nothing tops that.
Here are some notes from how the starters did in limited action in Canton tonight:
A Robert Blanton tackle on a well diagnosed screen play followed by a nice Xavier Rhodes run defense play set the Vikings defense up with a third and long on Pittsburgh’s first drive which got even longer on a third down delay of game penalty. The Steelers resorted to another screen play on third down, but despite plenty of room, the Vikings defense closed in quickly to force the punt.
Marcus Sherels took that booming long punt back for a decent return and Teddy Bridgewater and company took the field around their own 39 yard line. A well-placed first down pass to Kyle Rudolph immediately moved the chains as Rudy broke two tackles after the catch.
Jerick McKinnon then ran right on first down for a short gain, with little room to run. On second down, however, he took a quick pass on the flats and juked a defender out of his cleats, mowed over one other guy, and gave Norv Turner another fresh set of downs.
On the ensuing first down, Bridgewater felt some pressure and had no options down the field. He took off running for a gain of six, and probably could’ve gained more, but wisely slid to safety at the right time. The following play was a reverse to Mike Wallace which was well diagnosed. On third down, another calm pass from Bridgewater went to Rudolph, who slipped yet another tackle to get that first down.
A quick toss to Charles Johnson on first down gained nearly nothing as the Vikings set up just inside the redzone. A low pass to Wallace, which could’ve been a scoring play, set up third and long. In a clean pocket, Bridgewater took time and checked down to Jarius Wright who got denied of a first down on a huge hit from Lawrence Timmons. McKinnon was handed the ball on a fourth down attempt, but the offensive line struggled to get a push and the Vikings offense stalled out in series that likely would’ve yielded three points had if this were the regular season.
When the Steelers took over, it appeared that most of the Vikings defense was comprised of second stringers, signaling the end of the action for the starters. This was not overly surprising given that there are four more preseason games to get through following the Hall of Fame Game.
In this short glimpse at the starting lineup, it was tight end Kyle Rudolph that seemed to stick out the most, which is fun considering he has become somewhat of a “forgotten man” these days.
We’ll have plenty more notes and observations coming up so keep it dialed in to Vikings Territory.