The Minnesota Vikings have just concluded the first of two padded practices with the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati. Despite the Bengals playing as one of the top teams in the NFL last year, with a 12-4 record and ranking fourth in total point differential, the Vikings seemingly looked like the better team.
With head coach Mike Zimmer’s former team on the other side of the ball, it was a relatively easy practice to schedule and manage.
When asked by gathered media—which Cold Omaha was not a part of—Zimmer spoke of how his relationship with Bengals’ head coach Marvin Lewis made it easy to schedule and arrange practice.
Marvin and I have been together for so long. I said, ‘What do you want to do?’ And he said, ‘How about we do this?’ And I said, ‘Fine.’ And he sent me the script, and we changed a couple things. But I said, ‘Hey, we’re doing this. Would you want to do some of this?’ He said, ‘Sure.’ It was real easy-going.
– head coach Mike Zimmer
Unfortunately, not everyone was able to make it. Per Matt Vensel at the Star Tribune, ten Vikings stayed in Minnesota, at least two for family emergency reasons. One of them, punt returner Marcus Sherels, was all but confirmed when it was revealed today that his brother—Gophers linebacker Mike Sherels—was admitted to a local hospital for an “unexpected surgery”.
The other nine players were defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd, linebacker Eric Kendricks, cornerback Terence Newman, cornerback Melvin White, running back Jhurrell Pressley, linebacker Brandon Watts, linebacker Edmond Robinson and defensive tackle/end Scott Crichton.
Floyd, Kendricks, Newman, Wright, Crichton, Robinson and Watts were held out of the last practice in Mankato, while Melvin White left partway through the practice to head to the trainer’s tent. That of course leaves Pressley, and hopefully if he has a family emergency, it’s not too severe.
Joe Berger started at center instead of John Sullivan, continuing the pattern of alternating the center spot until they determine a starter.
With that out of the way, the teams started by working on special teams before moving into the meat of practice: scrimmage drills. Overall, the Vikings offense and defense seemed to do well, especially through the first hour.
It was some time before the Bengals could complete more than one pass, and players like Mackensie Alexander, Jayron Kearse and Michael Griffin showing up—as well as the entire defensive line—not just starters Everson Griffen and Brian Robison, but also Danielle Hunter.
Xavier Rhodes even did what he’s known for: phenomenal coverage with iffy ball skills.
Trae Waynes seemed to be doing well, but had to leave practice early. According to Vensel, that was likely due to heat.
It took quite some time for the Bengals offense, ranked fifth in points per game last year, to score against the Vikings defense—a play six yards from the end zone to Brandon LaFell. Interestingly, that play involved Jayron Kearse on the field with the ones.
Teddy Bridgewater connected deep to Diggs at least twice, including this arcing highlight from the slot over Adam Jones:
Bridgewater wasn’t perfect—he threw an interception to Dre Kirkpatrick (or, a dropped interception)—but generally seemed to acquit himself quite well, if the beat reporters on both sides of the story are to be believed and Peter King can be counted on:
Treadwell also showed up, with a one-handed catch from Shaun Hill and a touchdown in the red zone from Bridgewater. That doesn’t mean Treadwell has quite cracked the first team, however, as Diggs and Johnson still started with the ones despite a bad drop from Johnson.
No tweets about the offensive line is probably a good thing. (EDIT: Belay that)
Overall, the impression seems to be that the Minnesota Vikings did very well on both sides of the ball. On defense, they did this despite missing three starters on defense (or four, if you count both Waynes and Newman as two starters) while playing a top five offense. On offense, they performed against the third-ranked team in points allowed per drive.
Showing up better than a perennial playoff contender that somehow took a step forward from that last year is a great sign. The preseason game will tell us more, but for now, we’ve got positive returns.
