Seahawks at Vikings Preview–Final Tune-up for the Show
Joe Oberle
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Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from www.purplePTSD writer and editor of purplePTSD and VikingsTerritory, Joe Oberle.
The Vikings host the Seattle Seahawks at U.S. Bank Stadium for the third preseason game of the 2018 season—and no matter how the coaching staff tries to talk around it, this is a game that one that matters (which is a completely relative term). “Historically,” the starters play into the third quarter so they can prepare for how it feels to come out of the locker room after halftime. But that doesn’t really concern the head coach:
“Well, historically it doesn’t really matter to me what anybody else does, we just go out and do like we’ve did the first two games,” head coach Mike Zimmer said.
Zimmer said on Monday, and offensive coordinator John DeFilippo reiterated on Tuesday, that they haven’t made those decisions on how much the starters will play on Friday night. They have decided what they want to do in the game, however, and that is to play better than they did last Saturday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“I thought it was good that we started off fast against Denver, put up some points, and moved the ball,” DeFilippo said. “Obviously, that wasn’t the case last week [against Jacksonville]. We’re disappointed in how we played and executed. We need to do better. We’re looking forward to coming out against Seattle and doing that.”
DeFilippo blamed himself for some poor play calling (specifically the sack on quarterback Kirk Cousins) and explained his hand in how poorly the offense played against the Jaguars. He also cited poor execution by the team (some high and low throws from the quarterback) and a number of other reasons for the bad offensive performance.
“A little thing here, a little thing there,” DeFilippo said of the offense’s performance. The first third down of the game, the ball could have been brought down six inches, ball could have been caught. We’re playing behind the sticks a lot of the night. I didn’t like my call in the naked [bootleg] with Kirk. There are a lot of things going on there that we just need to do better.”
To be honest, it is probably a tough call for the coaches to figure who is going to even start on the offensive line and then how long they want to risk them to potential injury. Players were dropping like flies against the Jags, so the Vikings signed too more linemen (guard Kareem Are and center Jacob Judd) this week in preparation for the rest of the preseason. But what they really need is guard Mike Remmers back in uniform (he practiced on Monday) and Pat Elflein back at practice.
“It’s not ideal. It’s not what you want,” DeFilippo said of the line situation. “I would love for us to be able to go out and say, ‘Hey, all five of our guys are hearing Kirk’s cadence. At the same time they’re hearing Kirk’s line calls. That they’re all hearing Pat [Elflein’s] line calls, if he was playing center.’ I would love to have that, but unfortunately in the National Football League that’s usually not the case.
“You deal with it, and everyone is going through those issues. So, you don’t waste time thinking about that stuff. You just try to make the best situation out of the situation you have. As coaches we’re problem solvers, so we keep finding ways to keep alleviating those problems.”
So, the Vikings have more problems with who will be suiting up on their own squad than to worry about how long they will be playing against the Seahawks. But Seattle is coming to town, nonetheless.
“Every game is important,” wide receiver Laquon Treadwell said of the upcoming tilt after Tuesday’s practice. “We try to come to every game to put our best on film. Some games it doesn’t go as we want. But it’s always good to get back to practice.”
And Friday will be another practice game, so it is best to approach it in a manner what to look for. The running back battle rages on (LBViking tackled that this week), but since Mike Boone is currently the healthiest of the combatants and is coming off a great game last week, he appears to have the leg up. It will be worth watching the snaps dispersion between Boone and Roc Thomas—and, perhaps, another running back named Dalvin Cook.
“Yeah, Coach and I are going to talk about Dalvin here in the next day or two about where we see him for this football game and the rest of training camp,” DeFilippo said. “I think that will clear itself up here in the next couple of days and we’re looking forward to possibly seeing him out there.”
We hope to see Latavius Murray hang onto the ball, and that Cousins is a bit more accurate than he was against the Jags. The Seahawks won’t present as tough a front as Jacksonville did, but it will still be a good test for the offense.
Defensively we want to watch the Vikings contain Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson and keep him in the pocket. They have shut down their two previous preseason opponents, but will face their toughest opposing quarterback in Wilson.
Can the newly appointed place kicker Daniel Carlson continue his perfect preseason (seven for seven on kicks) or will he relax and miss one?
Who will man the offensive line and will they stay healthy? (That of course the top goal for the entire team—stem the tide of injuries.)
And how will Terence Newman do at the slot corner with both Mackensie Alexander and Mike Hughes hurting and missing time this week.
There are plenty of things to watch for in this final preseason of any import to the starters (game four next week is the final audition for all the backups and is important to them). So you will want to tune and see if the Vikings show a bit better than their they did last weekend. Definitely worth watching.