The Vikings had their first pre-season game vs. Tennessee on Saturday. We lost 14 to 3 but the score hardly matters. In the pre-season it's all about who performs, who doesn't and who is here to stay. Here are some pros and cons from the most intriguing positions.
QB: Donovan McNabb looked pretty good considering it was his first game and the team has only had 9 padded practices. However his selection of receivers was lacking variety.
Joe Webb showed off his explosive abilities, but his decision making was mediocre.
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Christian Ponder looked like he had the football smarts to be pro ready, until the blitz came. The speed of the pro game got to him a little bit.
Receiver: Bernard Berrian had a few balls in his area that he didn't catch. He was Donovan's favorite target, so look for him to be more active.
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Percy Harvin was very physical. He was excited to be on the field. He wasn't active in this game, and may be targeted less.
All other receivers looked about the same, and it isn't clear who will fill the other starting receiver spots.
RB: The running game looked effective even though Toby and AP hardly played.
LB: Chad and EJ seemed to plug the holes very well although they looked a bit sluggish. Erin (EJ's brother) seemed to fit well into the OLB position.
Defensive Backs: We saw action from a variety of corner backs. Asher Allen looked fair, and Abdullah didn't play because he was invited to the white house. Antoine Winfield is the only sure thing out there.
Offensive/Defensive line: The first strings hardly played and there isn't much competition for those spots. Hardly any blitzing made it hard to tell how the O line would hold up.
Special Teams: Ryan Longwell still couldn't get his kicks to the end zone on kickoffs despite the new rule. He did bang in a field goal scoring the Vikings only points. Special teams is where players compete, and there will be some tough sledding for the new guys.
All in all the Vikings looked very vanilla. Not that we were excepting any different. It's only the first pre-season game and I won't predict starting jobs until the third game. I will post my next blog this week on fantasy football, enjoy!
