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Vikings Territory: 4 Takeaways From Vikings Preseason Game #2
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Dustin Baker Dustin Baker
2021-08-22
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The overreaction crowd certainly won’t subside after the Minnesota Vikings second preseason game.
Here are the four notable takeaways from the Vikings second preseason game.
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In this game, the offense was arguably worse than last weekend. The Vikings netted 227 yards on offense, zero redzone trips, punted eight times, and were dominated via time of possession. Thankfully, preseason play is usually not indicative of regular-season production — the 0-16 Detroit Lions from 2009 and 2017 Cleveland Browns can attest — because there was no consistency on offense. There wasn’t much of anything, in fact.
So far, Minnesota has not scored an offensive touchdown this preseason.
How did the Vikings reach 10 points with no offensive firepower? A Troy Dye pick-six.
This was the big highlight of the game. Dye — who aspires to see playing time in 2021 in relief of Eric Kendricks, Anthony Barr, and Nick Vigil — put his thumbprint on the Vikings preseason. And Indianapolis failed to march up and down the field as Denver did one week ago.
Too, Bashaud Breeland is quietly sneaking up on CB1 or CB2 duties. He’s a Super Bowl champion from his Kansas City days, seeking to be a full-time starter with the Vikings. Saturday helped his cause.
Rookie quarterback Kellen Mond authored a good week at practice — just as Jake Browning stock for QB2 was fading. Browning orchestrated one pretty decent night at the Vikings night scrimmage a few weeks ago at TCO Performance Center in Eagan. But since then, Browning cooled off.
The Colts game was not a good case for it. Mond struggled to make simple plays. With the game on the line, the Vikings offense floundered — again — and Mond missed on a basic completion to Whop Philyor.
Mond has oodles of time to watch and develop, and he’ll need it. Unless he is purposely holding back in the preseason — severely unlikely — the 2021 Vikings would be a flimsy product with Mond at the helm. Put bluntly, he ain’t ready.
Colquitt had a rough outing against the Broncos — Zimmer called him out publicly for it — so he responded by punting the ball eight damn times versus Indianapolis. His average for the evening was 46.1 yards per punt, pinning three of them inside the Colts 20-yardline.
He did just that. Barring another setback next week at Kansas City, Colquitt should be safe on the Vikings 2021 roster.
This press release was produced by Vikings Territory .The views expressed here are the author’s own.
