Zimmer said he’d be “sugar-coating it” by calling the loss of Teddy Bridgewater to a dislocated knee and torn ACL on August 30 as anything but a big blow.
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Minnesota’s clinching score also came from the defense.
Tennessee Titans running back DeMarco Murray (29) dives over Minnesota Vikings cornerback Terence Ne … Backup center Nick Easton (ankle) and backup tight end MyCole Pruitt (left knee) have been ruled out.
Minnesota Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks (54) returns an intercepted pass 77 yards for a touchdow …
Tennessee Titans kicker Ryan Succop (4) kicks a 28-yard field goal against the Minnesota Vikings in the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn.
“He’s going to have to kick them through”, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. “I mean with all the game experience he had past year, all the things that he’s had to go through since he’s been here, I would think he’d be, and again, we’ve done some things to hopefully even ease him into some things that should help him advance pretty good”.
“To be able to have success and win that game just kind of solidified for me that I can play at this level and have some success”, Mariota said. Even though Minnesota won, Sam Bradford will likely replace Shaun Hill under center in Week 2, providing a boost to Peterson’s value.
“We always huddle (with the assistant coaches) and decide what to do, ” Zimmer said about who will start next Sunday night against Green Bay in the first regular-season game at U.S. Bank Stadium.
“I was excited coming into the season, ready to play in the first game, and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to, so I was pretty upset about it”, Rhodes said. “We got a win and that’s what we came here to do”. Diggs led all wideouts with 103 yards on seven catches while Rudolph had four receptions for 65 yards. But there he was in flawless position after Everson Griffen pressured Mariota and forced him to rush his pass. The pressure put on Marcus Mariota was turned all the way up as the battle at the line of scrimmage began to sway towards the purple.
Zimmer told reporters Friday that he has made a decision on the starter but would not reveal it.
Mariota called it a “case of me trying to do too much”. To back Murray up, the Titans also brought in rookie Derrick Henry with their second-round pick. But Tennessee failed on a two-point conversation, and that was it. He averaged 7.2 Yards Per Attempt and completed a number of downfield throws, including a 13-yard strike to Diggs on third-and-10 as the clock was winding down on the second half. Walsh added two more field goals in the fourth and Danielle Hunter added a 24-yard fumble recovery.
“So we’ll take it day by day”, the coach said. “We talked about that all of the offseason, getting turnovers and we did that (Sunday)”. It would be nice to see him get more involved with the offense because he is just so good with the ball in his hands.
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Next up are the Packers. If that sounds familiar, Walsh was playing in his first game that counted since missing a 27-yard field goal wide left with 22 seconds remaining in a 10-9 playoff loss to Seattle in January. Teddy Bridgewater has never posted a game with that many completions of at least 10 yards, and Bradford has done so just once.
