Putting Bradford in the starting lineup only eight days after he was acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles would have been asking a lot, and part of the Vikings’ decision to start Hill no doubt had to do with the 36-year-old’s familiarity with the offense and adjusting protections against the blitzes brought by Titans defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau.
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Zimmer said Hill did a good job, and Sam Bradford has been studying up as well.
“We all understand what it takes to win in this league”, he said.
I do think the Titans’ were out-coached in this game, which helped the Vikings to victory.
After controlling the ball for more than 17 1/2 minutes and producing 194 total yards in the first half, the Titans managed only 122 total yards, 74 coming on their meaningless touchdown drive that feebly answered 25 straight Vikings points.
“The turnovers obviously were catastrophic”, Mularkey said. “One thing was I told him that he didn’t have to be anyone else but himself”.
Overall, if I were game-planning against the Vikings, I’d use the same defensive game plan the Titans (and many others) have used- crowd the box to stop the run, force the Vikings passing game to beat them in the red zone, while pounding away at the Vikings defense on the ground to set up the pass and easier conversions on third down. But stopping the 2012 MVP was the biggest goal of the Tennessee defense, and the Titans swarmed him early and often. But he was also targeted seven times and caught five passes for 35 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
“The defense came through for us and made some big plays, so they pretty much bailed us out, ” said Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson. I really didn’t feel like they did anything to stop us.
Hill only threw seven passes in three appearances last season for Minnesota, and he completed only two.
Hill, who went 18 of 33 for 236 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions, seemed comfortable with the uncertainty.
Andre Johnson #81 of the Tennessee Titans drops a pass in the end zone during the first half of a game against the Minnesota Vikings at Nissan Stadium on September 11, 2016 in Nashville.
DeMarco Murray scored twice on touchdown passes from Marcus Mariota, which gave the Titans a 10-0 lead at halftime.
The Vikings forced a three-and-out on the next Titans possession, and then capitalized on a fumbled exchange between Murray and Mariota.
The Ugly was mainly Blair Walsh’s missed FGs, particularly the one just before the half, which looked about 20 yards wide- and that was his second attempt- and miss- at it. Walsh shanked a 27-yarder in their 10-9 playoff loss to Seattle when the laces weren’t out. Zimmer sent Walsh out to attempt a 56-yarder at the end of the first half, and the kicker was well short despite being lined up in the middle of the field.
“I was staying at (Douglas’) hip but I was going to undercut (the route) regardless”, he said.
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The Titans just simply need to clean up mistakes and not turnover the ball, they had the Vikings reeling before letting them back into the game. The quarterback spent his first four pro seasons as a backup with the Vikings and also played and started for the 49ers, Lions and Rams along the way. They took a 10-0 lead into halftime after Murray jumped into the air and dove over a defender to finish off a 6-yard TD catch. Tennessee fell to 2-15 in its last 17 home games since the 2014 season’s start, both wins happening at the Jacksonville Jaguars’ expense.
