It’s no secret the Vikings’ passing offense ranks near the bottom in the 32-team NFL. Even more to the point, improvement could well be the key to whether the team wins the NFC North.
Guard Mike Harris acknowledges expectations that the line must do its part to help quarterback Teddy Bridgewater have time to throw as the team prepares for Sunday’s home game with the Seahawks, and looks toward four more regular season games.
“We’re coming along (with pass protection),” Harris said. “We’re not perfect, where we want to be, but each week in practice we’ve been harping on working on stuff that we need to work on…like (defensive) stunts, picking up blitzes. The run game—I feel like that’s our strong ability—because we have big tough guys that like to move guys around.
“If we can have a good balance of run and pass, this team will be able to beat anybody. The team goes as far as we go. I know we have a lot of pressure on us.
“We (the line) didn’t do so well a couple of weeks ago against the Packers but I feel like we’ve grown from that and we ought to continue to play better.”
Bridgewater was sacked six times in a 30-13 loss to the Packers in Minneapolis last month. He has thrown only eight touchdown passes this season and while he sometimes holds on to the ball too long, pass protection is an issue for the division leading 8-3 Vikings who top the NFL in rushing yards.
This Sunday the Vikings’ offense faces a Seahawks defense that is among the NFL’s best against rushing and passing. The defensive unit includes formidable players such as end Michael Bennett and cornerback Richard Sherman. “Playmakers are at every position that we’re going to have matchups with, and (we need to) go out and execute,” Harris said.
The Seahawks aren’t bad on offense either, including quarterback Russell Wilson who threw five touchdown passes in a win over the Steelers last Sunday. His passer rating of 97.4 puts him near the top among NFC quarterbacks. His strong arm and mobility will test the Vikings defense.
Vikings defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd acknowledged the major challenge of keeping Wilson in the pocket. “Him and Aaron Rodgers (Packers) are the only two (quarterbacks) I can truly think of that can throw touchdowns from the 50-yard line on the run,” Floyd said.
The Seahawks played in the last two Super Bowls and despite a 6-5 record now certainly aren’t a team to sleep on. Seattle has dealt with injuries while playing some of the NFL’s best teams and losing three games by a total of 10 points.
Harris is a West Coast guy and has known of Seahawks coach Pete Carroll back when he was coaching USC to powerhouse seasons. He expects Carroll will have the playoff-worried Seahawks ready on Sunday. “Just a players’ coach,” Harris said. “I feel like guys just want to go out and play hard for him because he has a winning history. …”
Worth Noting
With expected temps well above freezing today, the Vikings plan to practice outdoors at Winter Park. The forecast for Sunday in Minneapolis calls for similar temperatures with perhaps a high of 42.
Stefon Diggs, the Vikings rookie wide receiver from the University of Maryland who leads the team in receptions with 40, was asked if there’s a major difference between Big Ten defensive backs versus those in the NFL: “Yeah, it’s a big difference. As far as the NFL, everybody is pretty much good.”
Vikings center John Sullivan, who has missed the entire season because of a problematic back including surgery, said this week he isn’t in pain and expects to be on the field in 2016. Sullivan comes to Winter Park for rehab but watches all the games, home and away, on television at his residence where he and his wife have a four-month old baby, the couple’s first child.
That was former Gophers football coach Jerry Kill and wife Rebecca having dinner at Murray’s Restaurant earlier this week with WCCO Radio friends Sid Hartman, Dave Lee (with wife Julie), and Mike Max.
With the signing of Korean slugger Byung Ho Park, the Twins have yet another player on the 40-man roster who has experience playing first base. Joe Mauer apparently will be given most of the time at first next season with Park as the team’s likely designated hitter. But others on the roster also have experience at first including Trevor Plouffe, the team’s regular third baseman, and Miguel Sano (an infielder headed to the outfield), and Kennys Vargas, Max Kepler and Adam Walker.
Vargas impressed in 2014 with his hitting but not last year when he fell off from .274 to .240—with home runs and RBI declining from 9 and 38, to 5 and 17. He looks like a player who perhaps isn’t in the Twins future, partially because he doesn’t fit well in the field except first base. A switch hitter, Vargas might complement the right-handed hitting Park as a DH. Kepler and Walker are likely to play in the outfield in the minors next year.
The 5-2 Gophers basketball team earned its most impressive win of the season on Monday night against Clemson, and plays South Dakota tomorrow at Williams Arena. Expectations this season are minimal for Minnesota but the Gophers could be a surprise team if they continue to score like they did in the 89-83 victory over Clemson.
Freshman forward Jordan Murphy led all scorers with 24 points and had a team high 10 rebounds. The 6-6, 230-pound Jordan once scored 44 points for Brennan High School in San Antonio.
Former Gophers coach Jim Dutcher praised Murphy’s advanced fundamentals for a freshman. “He’s got a good basketball I.Q.,” Dutcher told Sports Headliners.
College basketball has new rules to speed up play, but deliberate fouling in the closing minutes can still be agonizing to watch. ESPN2 viewers saw Illinois State drag out the end of its game against Kentucky on Monday night when it took about 10 minutes to use up almost two minutes on the game clock. The Gophers-Clemson game was joined in progress on ESPN2 because of the slow finish with Illinois State and Kentucky.
Don Lucia’s Gophers hockey team hopes to have continued outstanding performances from sophomore forward Leon Bristedt tonight and tomorrow evening against Ohio State at Mariucci Arena. Bristedt has at least a point in seven of the last eight games and leads the team with 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in 11 games this season. His seven goals have already surpassed his freshman total of five in 35 games last season.
Bristedt, from Sweden, is one of only four non-North Americans ever to play for the Gophers, a program whose rosters have been dominated by Minnesotans. The others are Bristedt’s Swedish teammate Robin Hoglund, and NHLers Erik Haula (Finland) and Thomas Vanek (Austria).