That’s exactly what the Vikings did. The Packers opened on the road with a win in Jacksonville.
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The defending NFC North champs needed the help from their defense in scoring 25 straight points after being shut out in the first half with the NFL’s 2015 rushing leader smothered. About Walker, I have no idea why he wasn’t a bigger part of the game plan. His interception was returned 77 yards for a touchdown, while a ball Mariota tried to pull back from Murray hit the ground where a Vikings defender picked it up and ran 24 yards for another TD.
With Teddy Bridgewater convalescing back in Minnesota, Adrian Peterson flailing for any running room against a Dick LeBeau defense keying on him, and Blair Walsh in desperate need of a sports psychologist, the Vikings weren’t winning unless their talented defense carried them across the finish line.
As expected, Tampa Bay promoted linebacker Josh Keyes from the practice squad to the 53-man roster, waiving tight end Alan Cross. Mularkey said he was impressed with how Mariota threw the ball away earlier in the game. “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”. I thought the protection was very good and I thought Lane played really well.
There is that small question of who will play quarterback, and no, we won’t find out if it’s Sam Bradford or Shaun Hill until the end of the week.
It’s nearly as if Zimmer, who made his bones in this league as a long-time defensive coordinator, looked at his favorite side of the ball in the locker room at intermission and implored them to make a play or in this case, two or three.
Zimmer remained mum on his quarterback situation.
The rival Green Bay Packers come to the brand new US Bank Stadium for the Vikings’ home opener next Sunday night in primetime. With Teddy Bridgewater on the shelf for Minnesota, the fan of purple and gold chose to do something good for the kids in the area, starting the Teddies 4 Teddy program. Keyes’ promotion came because Devante Bond hasn’t fully recovered from a hamstring injury. But there he was in flawless position after Everson Griffen pressured Mariota and forced him to rush his pass. Who knows how much debate there was inside the coach’s room, but Hill proved that Mike Zimmer was right to spend the week saying, “We have confidence in Shaun Hill”.
He added the decision has not been made.
Mariota called it a “case of me trying to do too much”. Although Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota had a big game for 271 yards and two touchdowns, the Vikings negated the Titans running game, holding DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry to only 45 yards on 18 carries. The Vikings, though, stormed back to outscore Tennessee 25-6 after intermission.
After allowing Tennessee to rack up 194 yards in the first half, including 145 yards passing, Minnesota only gave up 122 yards to the Titans offense in the game’s final two quarters. But Tennessee failed on a two-point conversation, and that was it.
“We just executed better”, free safety Harrison Smith said, “and things worked out”.
On Sunday, Taylor squared off frequently against the Jaguars’ prized offseason signing, defensive tackle Malik Jackson. “We just beat ourselves”.
Next up are the Packers. Vikings coaches have praised Bradford as a quick study, but the 15-year veteran Hill was the safe pick for the first week.
While Walsh made field goals of 50, 33, 45 and 30 yards, he hooked left kicks of 37 and 56 in the first half. They scored the game’s first points on a 28-yard field goal by Ryan Succop with 4:45 left in the first quarter.
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But the Vikings this time got the W, just as Bridgewater had requested.
