Christian Darrisaw, Garrett Bradbury and Marcus Davenport are all day-to-day, according to Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell. Davenport missed the season opener with an ankle injury. The 27-year-old pass rusher signed a one-year, $13 million deal with Minnesota in the offseason, after five seasons in New Orleans. Darrisaw suffered an ankle injury in Sunday's season opener but missed just six snaps in the loss. Bradbury was hurt early and was ruled out at halftime with a back injury. "They'll really all be day-to-day," said O'Connell. "They're in now getting different phases of recovery and starting our preparation on Philadelphia. We'll see how those guys do and see how the lineup looks for Thursday." Making the day-to-day status even more tricky for the Vikings is the quick turnaround into Thursday's Week 2 matchup at Philadelphia.
I have a real bad feeling about this game. 0-2 is not very cool. Anyway, maybe a miracle takes place and the Eagles forget there's a game?
The Vikings are the walking wounded yeah it's looks like 0-2 I hope they together real quick and how come KOC and Kwesi-Adofo-Mensah are ignoring the O-line are they trying to run it back again? time to run it forwards not backwards BIG BOY PANTS TIME
Justin Jefferson: “Definitely some tension” after poor game against Eagles, Darius Slay last year The Vikings are making a trip to Philadelphia in Week Two for the second season in a row, but they’ll be hoping that is the only way history repeats itself. Week Two last year saw the Eagles take a 24-7 lead in the first half and cruise to a victory that helped propel them toward the top seed in the NFC at the end of the season. Wide receiver Justin Jefferson spent much of the night tangling with Eagles corner Darius Slay and ended the game with six catches for 48 yards while Slay had a pair of interceptions. On Tuesday, Jefferson said he’s looking forward to matching up with Slay and to putting forth a better showing than he and the Vikings managed last season. “It’s always going to be a great battle with the top corners in the league,” Jefferson said, via Judd Zulgad of USAToday.com. “I’m always excited to have those type of matchups. But definitely we have some things we’ve got to get back [at] them on. Having the loss last year, not having those plays we wanted last year. There’s definitely some tension going into the game.” Jefferson got off to a great start in Week One with seven catches for 138 yards in the first half against Tampa, but he only had two catches for 12 yards in the second half. Rebounding from that as well as last year would be a big boost to the Vikings’ chances of avoiding an 0-2 start. NBC
Rachaad White: Baker Mayfield figured out the Vikings’ defensive signals So what turned things around for the Tampa Bay offense on Sunday at Minnesota? After the game, Mayfield attributed it to the decision to use tempo late in the first half. On Tuesday night, running back Rachaad White added another wrinkle. White said Mayfield figured out the Vikings’ defensive signals. “I just remember Bake came in the locker room, literally at halftime, he said, ‘I got it. We got all these signals,’” White said of Mayfield during an appearance on the Buccaneers Radio Network, via JoeBucsFan.com. “We’re in there talking as an offense and he’s like, ‘I know all these signals. If they do this, they’re going into Cover 2. If they do this, they’re going into Cover 3. Every time I alert this and they do this signal, they’re dropping back to this.’ And I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing.’ . . . I was just listening to him and we were listening to him and we just kind of understood.” That’s good for the Buccaneers, and it’s bad for the Vikings. Minnesota’s defense, under new coordinator Brian Flores, had better buckle down in the remaining hours before Thursday night’s game against the Eagles, or Philly will do the same thing that the Buccaneers did, with the offense getting better as the game went on and last year’s NFC North champions likely falling to 0-2. PFT
The Vikings won’t have at least one of their starting offensive linemen for Thursday’s game against the Eagles and may have another sidelined. Minnesota has declared center Garrett Bradbury out for Week 2 with a back injury. Left tackle Christian Darrisaw (ankle) and edge rusher Marcus Davenport (ankle) are both questionable for the contest. Bradbury suffered his back injury during Sunday’s loss to the Buccaneers, exiting the game after just seven snaps. Austin Schlottmann replaced Bradbury and is expected to start for him on Thursday. Darrisaw played all but six offensive snaps in Week 1. Davenport was inactive for the first game of the season. Via multiple reporters, the Vikings again won’t have outside linebackers coach Mike Smith for Thursday’s game. Assistant head coach Mike Pettine will handle Smith’s duties.
Darrisaw was a beast last Sunday... If he cant go along with Bradburry the Vikings are in even deeper trouble.
Here are four things to watch for when the Vikings visit the Eagles on Thursday night on Prime Video: Justin Jefferson needs to get his. Feeding Jefferson is always one of the first orders of business when the Vikings draw up a game plan. He had 12 targets last week, which was actually ahead of last year’s pace of 10.8 per game. Jefferson finished the game with nine catches for 150 yards, but after Cousins' late second-quarter INT in Jefferson’s direction, he threw the All-Pro’s way only twice more in the final 30 minutes -- both in short yardage. The Vikings know they need to keep feeding Jefferson throughout games, but if last year’s matchup is any indication, they’ll have to be creative doing it. The Eagles held Jefferson to six catches for 48 yards on 12 targets in 2022. The Vikings tried freeing Jefferson up from outside CBs Darius Slay and James Bradberry, who will miss Thursday's game due to a concussion, by moving him into the slot vs. Avonte Maddox. Jefferson had all six of his receptions when lined up in the slot (26 routes) and zero when lined up outside (20 routes), per Next Gen Stats. Could the Vikings get cute and, say, line up Jefferson in the backfield for a play or two? We did see it occasionally last season. One way or another, Kevin O’Connell needs to scheme his star receiver open because the Vikings might not have enough weapons to consistently get him separation strictly on the outside. Plug back in the Eagles' high-powered offense. Dismal might be far too strong of a word to use, but the Eagles’ offense certainly was well-contained in last week's opener at New England. The Patriots held them to 251 yards -- 138 fewer than their 2022 season average and the second-fewest they’ve had under Nick Sirianni. He and new coordinator Brian Johnson must find ways to prevent bogging down the way they did in Week 1, including a long dry spell in the second quarter that included four straight three-and-outs. The Patriots played more zone than man coverage, but they blitzed selectively -- and effectively -- to help contain Hurts. Mostly, though, they forced Hurts to throw underneath. His longest pass play netted 23 yards, and Hurts didn’t attempt a pass longer than 20 yards downfield all game. Hurts also didn’t do a lot as a designed runner, according to Next Gen Stats, with only five called carries for 26 yards. This was not the same Eagles offense we saw last year, even if philosophically not much has changed. The emphasis should be on generating more big plays, but also sustaining drives better and more consistently. Brian Flores’ defense showed improvement Week 1. The Vikings fired coordinator Ed Donatell this offseason after Minnesota ranked in the bottom five in many defensive categories. Enter Flores, the former Dolphins head coach and Patriots defensive coordinator, who whipped the Vikings’ defense into respectable shape in Week 1, especially early on. The Vikings held the Bucs to 95 yards and four first downs in the first half, limiting them to 2.2 yards per carry throughout the game. But Minnesota also couldn’t get off the field on three long second-half drives that ended in Tampa scoring an at-the-time go-ahead TD, kicking the game-winning field goal and running the clock out to seal the win. The Vikings' defensive depth remains shaky, and pressures were hard to come by without Marcus Davenport, who is questionable for this game (ankle). Would Flores consider a zone-heavy scheme against a run threat of Hurts’ caliber? Flores traditionally has played a lot of man coverage, but Baker Mayfield faced zone on 31 of his 35 dropbacks, via Next Gen Stats. Perhaps Flores didn’t fully trust his corners in man vs. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, so it would make sense to take a similar approach vs. A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Co. Eagles have the horses up front to test Vikings’ offensive line. It was an up-and-down Week 1 for the Minnesota offensive line, as Cousins took two sacks on 46 dropbacks and the run game averaged a meager 2.4 yards per carry, with a long run of 9 yards. The Bucs’ front is no joke, of course, but this week’s matchup looks even more daunting. The Eagles boast rare D-line depth as eight different players registered at least one pressure last week, led by impressive performances from rookie DT Jalen Carter and LB Haason Reddick. Minnesota’s job -- especially dealing with Carter, Fletcher Cox and Jordan Davis (who also had a strong game last week) -- will be a lot tougher with center Garrett Bradbury (back) ruled out and LT Christian Darrisaw (ankle) questionable. Austin Schlottmann replaced an injured Bradbury last week and had some struggles in pass pro. If the Vikings can’t keep the A-gaps clean, it could be a long night up front for the offense. The Eagles can send waves of rushers at you for 60 minutes. NFL.com
And still they do nothing do they even care it's so frustrating and I'm amazed at the loyalty of JJ you expect your team to try be elite BUT NO IT’S JUST THE SAME OLD SAME OLD ( sigh)
Both left tackle Christian Darrisaw and outside linebacker Marcus Davenport are active and will play after both were listed as questionable with ankle injuries. Thats good news for the left side of the o-line.
