300 of it through the air. In the 42 games played at Lambeau Field, Green Bay leads 22-18-2. But the news dominating a lot of conversation is which QB is going to start for Minnesota-Shaun Hill or Sam Bradford? He came in on short notice (eight days before the season began).
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Football players do not get 162 or 82 games to scratch their competitive itch. That particular game was played in Bloomington, Minn.in the old Metropolitan Stadium, where both the Minnesota Twins baseball team and Vikings shared the field until 1981. Hoping to keep his choice secret until kickoff, head coach Mike Zimmer might not even let his team know if Hill or Bradford is getting the call. The Vikings were victorious when the teams closed out the 2015 regular season. The Vikings got defensive touchdowns from Eric Kendricks and Danielle Hunter but managed just four field goals on offense and those came after Blair Walsh who cost the Vikings a Wild Card game previous year shanking a 26 yard field goal attempt as time expired missed from 37 and 56 yards in the first half before hitting his next four in the second half.
Rodgers’ two best games against Zimmer-coached defenses were in 2014, when Zimmer was installing his scheme in Minnesota. There will be no spotting of two quarters for the team to get rolling in this one.
Under the direction of Zimmer, the defense returns 11 starters from last season and added some depth at cornerback (Mackensie Alexander) and safety (Jayron Kearse). While the Vikings would love to be able to use Xavier Rhodes to match up against the Packers’ Jordy Nelson, it appears that Rhodes’ knee injury will inhibit him from playing in the game. Alexander could hear his number sooner than later. But it will take a better performance out of him to beat the Packers.
The Green Bay Packers held off a valiant effort from the Jacksonville Jaguars, escaping with a 27-23 victory in week 1.
“We want to get in there, start fast and try to take the air out of the building”, Lacy said.
In his last five primetime games including the postseason, Rodgers is just 1-4 as a starter. With so much uncertainty on offense, it will need to be the defense that does the heavy lifting if the Vikings wish to come out on top.
Yet that is precisely the recipe for success for Minnesota.
Neither Floyd nor Rhodes practiced at all this week in preparation for the Packers. They’re also looking at making other adjustments.
Since then, the Vikings had moved to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, in Minneapolis, where they played their home games from 1982 to 2013. The offensive line and running game never took over.
If the Vikings want to make their home fans happy with a win this weekend, stupid penalties like Griffen’s against the Titans can not happen. As for the total, the number now sits at 43 after opening at 44.5. And that’s what we have to do again on Sunday.
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He blew out his knee on the final practice of training camp, leaving third year Head Coach Mike Zimmer to start veteran journeyman Shaun Hill in the season opener and force General Manager Rick Spielman to give up a first round and fourth round pick to Philadelphia for the already well traveled Sam Bradford. It all depends on how quickly Bradford/Hill can gel with the wideouts-and tight end Kyle Rudolph-in order for this unit to improve its numbers from last season.
