Week two of preseason has come and gone; with it we get closer to the real football of the regular season. A few things have become more apparent. Referees have thrown more flags than ever before and have made some bad calls already. The Vikings found themselves on the end of one of these dubious refereeing calls and with it a flashback of last season’s plight, where they threw games away within the last two minutes. A bad snap and fumble saw, what should have been a turnover on downs inside the red zone, a bizarrely-ran touchdown score by the Arizona Cardinals to take a very late lead. A game-winning drive by future starter Teddy Bridgewater kept Mike Zimmer from throwing a few more F-bombs around the locker room.
Bridgewater was still in the game due to the defense allowing the Cardinals to march down the pitch and eat over 10 minutes of game clock in the third quarter. After showing such promise the previous week in holding the Oakland Raiders until late in the game to score, negative play from last season has reared its ugly head once again. Yes, it is preseason and the team has gone through a complete philosophical change when it comes to style of play, but this defense is expected to be greatly improved from last season.
The defense allowed nearly half the opposition’s 3rd down attempts and all of its 4th down conversions (4/4 seeing two scores in the process). This is a team that was one of the worst last season on 3rd down attempts. A move away from the Cover 2 philosophy under Les Fraizer to Mike Zimmer’s Man Press theoretically should greatly improve this statistic as the team transitions from a “keep them to short passes” to a “let’s not let them catch the ball” approach.
The team has had several injuries on the defensive side of the ball, which isn’t news to anyone who saw how depleted the secondary got last season. Several potential starters are still out, including big signee Linval Joseph, who is recovering from a gunshot wound. Josh Robinson, who according to reports in on thin ice and Robert Blanton is finally getting back on the practice field. This is not to make excuses for the defensive unit that surrendered very bad plays; a missed tackle by potential star CB Xavier Rhodes went for over 50 yards, and the entire unit only recorded one sack.
Despite the downfalls, there are some signs of improvement. The defensive line had constant pressure on the Arizona quarterbacks as it almost got a safety from a QB scramble. Everson Griffen and 1st round pick Anthony Barr look very lively off the line, and both are highly graded on the PFF report. The new scheme throws exotic looks at opposing QB’s to make it hard for them to tell where the pressure is coming from, but it also makes it hard for defensive players to learn.
Going into week three of preseason, the team that allowed the most points last year has to show that it can stop quality passers and not rely on outscoring the opposition in a shootout. Unless the secondary can improve its play and stay healthy, the Minnesota Vikings may be looking at another long season.
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