AWESOME
Brian Robison, Fred Evans, Letroy Guion, Tremain Johnson. The Vikings backup defensive line continued to dominate, even against the Broncos starters. The Vikes better find a trade partner for one of these guys before they have to make their cuts. It’s an awfully nice luxury to have that much talent up front.
Pioneer Press beat reporters Jeremy Fowler and Brian Murphy quote Brad Childress talking about the surplus defensive linemen: “We’ve had a lot of discussions with a lot of people about a lot of them, and that’s a good thing. I’m sure people will be scrambling to see what kind of accounting they gave of themselves tonight.”
Erin Henderson was in on a lot of plays but most memorably, he was right there to pick up the fumbles, especially Tim Tebow‘s fumbled snap that Henderson nabbed and returned for a touchdown practically before anyone realized the ball had been lost.
Joe Webb yet again showed why he’s such an exciting prospect by ripping off another long run. Had he waited for his blocker at the tail end of the run, he might’ve scored. Remember Daunte Culpepper? Remember how the 6’4″, 270 lbs quarterback used to shrug off would-be sackers? Yeah, Webb’s got some of that going for him.
Javon Walker had to be breathing a sigh of relief when Sage Rosefels got in the game so he could get some balls thrown to him that were catchable. But it was Webb who was playing catch with him when Walker broke his defender’s ankles on a 63 yard touchdown reception.
Lito Sheppard gave his best performance of the preseason, making some nice tackles and providing tight coverage, even if he got flagged on an iffy call. That was reassuring, given the Broncos gave their starters significant playing time.
Colt Anderson continued his strong special teams play and caused a fumble on defense that led to a score.
Rhys Lloyd did what he was brought in to do, finally: Kick the damn ball into the end zone. So he can do it.
Darius Reynaud again showed some shake and bake in the backfield and had a nice blitz pickup on Webb‘s 41 yard run.
BRUTAL
…but then Reynaud also did his best Adrian Peterson impersonation by putting the ball on the carpet.
Tarvaris Jackson threw to the defenders’ side of his receivers, overthrew others, and stared down a lot more. Sure, his receivers dropped some balls they should’ve caught but Jackson reminded us why we’re grateful Brett Favre has a long, unbroken streak of starts.
Joe Webb yet again showed why he’s such a raw prospect by convincingly staring down his receivers, one throw of which was easily picked. But even on that play, Webb flashed his talent by running down the defender to save a touchdown.
Jeff Dugan hasn’t had a great preseason this year, dropping way too many easy catches. That unfortunate distinction continued last night.
Colt Anderson failed to wrap up and straight-up missed some tackles when he was in at safety.
MEH
Garrett Mills failed to haul in a poorly placed pass from TJax and that’s about all he did last night.
Albert Young had a decent showing, including a nice touchdown run during which he actually pushed the pile to cross the end zone. Still, that’s going to be rare and that’s not what he’s going to be asked to do. He’s not going to bounce it outside. He’s not going to make too many defenders miss. He’s not exciting. But it does look like he’s done everything he needed to do to be the Vikings third-down back.
Marcus Sherels sacked Kyle Orton on a corner blitz but then he missed a tackle here and there and, though the coverage wasn’t bad, also gave up a touchdown.
1
The number of interceptions Vikings safeties made last year.
THE TOMLIN HOTLINE
With Ben Roethlisberger suspended for the first four games for being a horrible person, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin had to be dismayed last night to see backup quarterback Byron Leftwich go down last night with an apparent torn MCL that could end his season.
I’m guessing Childress has Tomlin’s mobile number.
WHO’S YOUR MOMMA?
The Seattle Seahawks are reportedly shopping T.J. Hosh-min-ZODE, um, Hoosh-min-zilla, er, T.J. Houshmandzadeh to clear his $7 million-plus salary from the payroll. Just sayin.
SILENT E
It’s Vis-AHNTH, NOT Vis-ahn-THAY Shiancoe. Got it?
OMAHA
That’s what the Vikings call an out route: An Omaha Route.
TWITTER CHAT EVERY SATURDAY
Join us on Twitter every Saturday at 11 a.m. for the Minnesota Vikings Twitter Chat, using the #VikingsChat hashtag. visit the #VikingsChat page for more details.