It might have been only one game, but an undeniable message was sent on Sunday night.
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The Carolina Panthers (1-1) will try to extend their home winning streak to 15 games-including the postseason-when they host the unbeaten Minnesota Vikings (2-0) as solid favorites Sunday. I mean, what he accomplished after being here for two weeks, and just under the pressure of coming here against Green Bay, and opening the stadium. In his four games with more than 15 attempts, McKinnon’s gone over the 100-yard mark twice while hitting 50 yards all four times.
In the first regular season contest at U.S. Bank Stadium, Minnesota’s new billion-dollar football venue, new Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford led the team to a 17-14 win over the Green Bay Packers. Normally, this would be the time for any franchise to start thinking about the 2017 NFL Draft.
“He’s got a torn meniscus”, said Vikings coach Mike Zimmer, who declined to put a timetable on Peterson’s possible recovery.
The new 73,000-seater US Bank Stadium has a weird new feature with the tunnel from the dressing room weaving through a restaurant and bar. Regardless of who plays, Zimmer said Minnesota, averaging 1.9 yards per carry in the first two games, must do a lot better in the running game.
“This building was rocking”, Bradford said.
This, of course, isn’t the first time Zimmer has had to move on without Peterson.
History suggested the Packers would spoil the Vikings’ party Sunday night, but in the end the advantage swung to the Vikings in more ways than one. Stewart owners are going to have to decide whether to add Fozzy Whitaker (who had 131 total yards filling in for Stewart) or Cameron Artis-Payne (who has been a healthy scratch the past two weeks, but more neatly fits the “lead back” profile).
The Vikings linebacker said the team is clicking early and building off of what the team had in place at the end of the 2015 season, when the team won the NFC North championship. “I think this is a pretty resilient football team”. Just an unbelievable performance in a critical, early-season matchup. Critics bashed him for being brittle. That triggered the bold trade with Philadelphia to bring in Bradford. When the two combine for less than 20, the Packers are 8-13. Bradford passed for 286 yards and two touchdowns in his first start for the Vikings. “We had opportunities to take this win and unfortunately we didn’t do that”, Matthews said. Head coach Mike Zimmer even sounded pleasantly surprised at how well his quarterback performed in such a hard situation. “You don’t win them with one guy”.
“He can throw the ball”. He could call the plays out and he knew the protections.
“We are going through the evaluation process to figure out what the next procedure will be”, Zimmer told reporters during his weekly news conference.
Randall was responsible for covering Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs most of the night, and Diggs ended up catching nine passes for 182 yards and a touchdown.
Even before losing QB Teddy Bridgewater to a torn ACL late last month, the Vikings were planning to remain run-first. If Bradford can keep playing as he did on Sunday, the Vikings might have to ask themselves some tough questions down the road. “It gives me a chance to see so many more people because they’re so close”.
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While he doesn’t know exactly how long Stewart will be out, Rivera says, “if it’s a hamstring – and every indication is that it is – it’s going to be at least a week or two”. There’s a lot of times that we can’t hear the center. “You’ve got to get to work and get them straightened out”. “The longer you’re in an offense, the smaller that translation becomes from week to week”.
