A Look From The Vikings Side (With My Apologies)

Just wanted to drop by and say "My bad" to all of you good Seahawk fans out there. Jacson, who I see has done his game preview already, dropped me an e-mail earlier in the week to ask if I was interested in posting anything leading up to the single most interesting pre-season game EVER between the Seahawks and Vikings tonight. The Air Force decided (last-minute) to send me to a training course in late July, and it's basically just been kicking my ass up one side and down the other for the last four weeks. I have a bit of a soft spot for the Seahawks, having been stationed at McChord AFB for a few years and attending one regular season game and two pre-season games at Qwest Field. (The regular season game was the one where Shaun Alexander scored about 80 touchdowns in one half of football, so I've pretty much repressed that.)

So, with that out of the way, let me give you a brief look at what the Vikings are going to be looking at tonight. . .or, more accurately, what I'm looking for as a Vikings fan.

The Vikings were inconsistent on offense in their loss to the Titans, as you would probably expect from a team that has a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator, and a new quarterback. Despite that, I thought Donovan McNabb looked pretty good in his brief time on the field, and would expect a bit more improvement out of him this evening. My guess is that he plays into the second quarter, with Christian Ponder coming in to relieve him. (Ponder was named the #2 QB for this game after having been the #3 guy against Tennessee.) He needs to develop timing with his receivers, specifically Bernard Berrian, if the Vikings are going to be able to get themselves any extended drives on offense. Percy Harvin and Greg Camarillo won't play tonight for Minnesota, and I'd be surprised if Adrian Peterson got more than two or three carries, so a lot of people are going to have opportunities to step up tonight for Minnesota.

Defensively, the Vikings sat four of their starters against Tennessee (cornerbacks Antoine Winfield and Cedric Griffin, defensive tackle Kevin Williams, and defensive end Jared Allen). I would expect all of those guys to see at least a little bit of action this evening. Griffin probably won't play much, as the Vikings are bringing him along slowly after he tore both of his ACLs in the span of ten months. . .he tore one covering the overtime kickoff of the 2009 NFC Championship Game in January of 2010, and tore the other one against the Detroit Lions in October. The big issue for the Vikings is going to be their secondary, as behind Winfield and Griffin is a whole lot of inconsistency with guys like Chris Cook, Asher Allen, and Brandon Burton. Minnesota's front seven should still be pretty good, despite the losses of DT Pat Williams and LB Ben Leber, but it won't make any difference if the secondary continues to be bad.

And there you have it. If anyone has questions about the Vikings that they want to throw on here, I'll answer them in the most expedient manner possible. Again, my apologies to all of you in the Field Gulls community for not getting anything up here sooner.