Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer did his best to hide his starter at quarterback after the Vikings lost Teddy Bridgewater to a major knee injury August 30, and after they traded their 2017 first-round draft pick to Philadelphia for Sam Bradford.
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“I just figured it’d be good sports talk radio”, Zimmer cracked. “I knew that we played Green Bay at U.S. Bank Stadium the next week. It’s the Packers and we just have to do what we do, play our style of football on both sides of the ball, special teams and just keep on grinding”.
The Vikings acquired Bradford from the Eagles in exchange for a first-round pick next year and a 2018 fourth-round pick. Vikings coaches have praised Bradford as a quick study, but the 15-year veteran Hill was the safe pick for the first week.
The mystery finally ended when Shaun Hill, 36, took the field for the Vikings’ first series for his first start since 2014 when he was with the St. Louis Rams.
BRIEFLY: Vikings tight end Rhett Ellison was in for 13 plays in Sunday’s 25-16 opening win at Tennessee, his first action in any game since suffering a serious knee injury in the 2015 regular-season finale at Green Bay. He’s been around the league long enough to know that it’s the media’s job to hound him with the question until there’s some resolution. “I’m just happy that he is playing at a high level, and I expect that from him”. Hill had a solid afternoon, completing 10 of his 17 passes that traveled at least 10 yards downfield, but Bradford has the stronger arm and might be more effective at making the Packers pay for loading up to stop Adrian Peterson.
Smith threw for 363 yards and two touchdowns to rally his team from a three-touchdown hole, then scored on third-and-goal on the first possession of overtime for a heart-stopping 33-27 victory over the San Diego Chargers in their season opener Sunday.
Vikings kicker Blair Walsh kicked four field goals, including a 50-yarder. He was called on to punt three times on Sunday, averaging just 37.7 yards and placing one of those three punts inside the 20-yard line.
A victory on the field is always a good thing, but there’s no denying that the Vikings have some issues to resolve. While the Vikings didn’t score an offensive touchdown, Hill did what he was asked. Rhodes was inactive after going through stretching before the Titans game and hearing a pop in his knee. Same goes with Rishard Matthews, considering the Vikings were missing top cornerback Xavier Rhodes.
“We know what we expect on defense and we have a standard that we want to meet”, linebacker Eric Kendricks said.
Terence Newman started at the other outside spot, with Captain Munnerlyn in his usual role in the nickel package.
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“It can’t get any better, ” Fusco said.
