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The Vikings loss to the Titans helped us learn about the state of the roster
The Minnesota Vikings had an up-and-down performance in their 24-16 loss to the Tennessee Titans.
Wins aren’t that important in preseason games. What is important is evaluating players and seeing how players stack performances week after week.
Each preseason game is an opportunity to learn about the roster and see how the final 53-man roster will be constructed.
Saturday’s game told us a lot about where the Vikings currently sit. Here are the 7 things we learned.
Twitter is all over the place in regards to the 2022 first round pick
During the Minnesota Vikings’ 24-16 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Saturday night, there was a lot of discussion about Lewis Cine.
The Vikings’ first-round pick in 2022, Cine only played two defensive snaps before breaking his leg in week four. Reps are crucial for Cine during this preseason, as they are needed for his growth.
Fans are split on Cine’s future. There is a loud segment of the fanbase that is calling him a bust, including Sumer Sports’ Eric Eager, who opined about that during the game.
Lewis Cine appears to not have the instincts to play deep or the physicality to play near the LOS. A whiff. https://t.co/ecUq2UYbaP
— Eric Eager 📊🏈 (@ericeager_) August 20, 2023
Social media is filled with differing opinions on Cine
Despite the 24-16 loss, multiple Vikings players saw their stock rise on Saturday
The Minnesota Vikings fell to the Tennessee Titans by the score of 24-16 on Saturday.
While the win would have been nice, that is not the goal for these preseason games. The main objective is to find those final contributors on the back end of the roster. These will be the depth guys who fill out the 53-man roster and the practice squad this team will help develop throughout the year.
This exercise will show who took the necessary steps closer to that 53-man roster and who may be further away from being a Minnesota Viking in 2023.
Who took a necessary step forward and who took a step back? Let’s dive into that in today’s stock up, stock down.
From different play callers to injuries, @jzulgad breaks down the major points of interest from Saturday’s game
The highlight of the Vikings’ 24-16 preseason loss to the Tennessee Titans on Saturday night at U.S. Bank Stadium happened postgame in the home locker room when teammates sang happy birthday to quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Cousins also got a nice ovation from the announced crowd of 66,689 when the scoreboard wished him a happy 35th. Other than that the game got the Vikings one step closer to the end of the preseason — that will come next Saturday against Arizona — and the start of the regular season on Sept. 10 against Tampa Bay.
The Vikings have now lost nine consecutive exhibition games, and Kevin O’Connell is 0-5 in the preseason as the Vikings’ head coach. As O’Connell spoke about that latest loss on Saturday, he appeared as eager as everyone else to get done with the meaningless games and have the real thing begin.
But there were a few points of interest. Here are four of them.
Thompson left the game shortly after his excellent play on punt coverage
According to head coach Kevin O’Connell, special teams ace NaJee Thompson left Saturday’s game against the Tennessee Titans with concussion-like symptoms.
The play where Thompson got hurt was an excellent play from him. He got a tackle on punt coverage and the returner didn’t get a chance to move.
Special Teams Appreciation Post@najee_thompson 😤😤
📺: @fox9 pic.twitter.com/9W72fzWG9T
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) August 20, 2023
It makes sense that Thompson started developing concussion symptoms after this play since his helmet flew off. As it happens often with concussions, symptoms can develop later on, as Thompson played longer into the game.
This is something that Thompson has been doing all preseason and is why he likely will make the 53-man roster. He is relentless on every special teams unit and that pops off on the screen.
We will likely get an update on Thompson early next week.
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There were some standout performances on Saturday night, both good and bad
The Minnesota Vikings played an inconsistent game in a 24-16 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Saturday night.
From the jump, the offense looked good, but they kept misfiring. It was all little things, like dropped passes and missed blocks, but they still drove down to score three field goals in the first half.
Once the third team went in on defense, the Titans went wild with 17 consecutive points and ended up with 7.0 yards per carry and 281 rushing yards.
Over the course of the game, here are the studs and duds from Saturday night’s game.
The Vikings allowed 280 rushing yards in their 24-16 loss to the Tennessee Titans
The Minnesota Vikings had an up-and-down performance, but fell short to the Tennessee Titans 24-16 on Saturday night.
The Vikings took a 9-7 lead into the half before the Titans scored 17 consecutive points to hold them off at the end.
The Vikings got the ball to start the game as they did last week against the Seahawks and Nick Mullens had success in the first half. He completed 13-of-23 passes for 151 yards and a single rush for nine yards. He looked more comfortable under center and was making throws on the run.
Malik Willis played the entire game for the Titans and looked much improved from his rookie season. What was really impressive was the composure Willis had in the pocket. He was poised and making sound decisions throughout. He did throw one interception to Troy Dye among his 17 attempts, where he completed 10 of them for 84 yards and a touchdown to pair with 91 yards on 11 rushes.
The biggest part of the game was the lack of run defense for the Vikings. Both the second and third-team defenders struggled mightily in defending the run. They allowed 7.0 yards per carry and 281 yards rushing, including runs for 55 yards and 33 yards with the latter going for a touchdown.
Jaren Hall looked more comfortable on Saturday night. He made crisp decisions and was let down by his receivers dropping well-thrown balls. Hall finished 4-7 passing for 49 yards, but did lead his first touchdown drive in his NFL career with a one-yard touchdown run by DeWayne McBride.
The Vikings will finish their preseason next week with joint practices against the Arizona Cardinals on Wednesday and Thursday with the final preseason game on Saturday afternoon at noon.
Going into tonight’s game, here is an updated cheat sheet of the Vikings roster complete with jersey numbers
The Minnesota Vikings are set to take on the Tennessee Titans at home on Saturday night at 7 pm central time.
The game will be an interesting one for both sides, especially after the two teams had joint practices on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Titans won’t be playing quarterbacks Ryan Tannehill or Will Levis with Malik Willis getting all the snaps on Saturday night.
The Vikings likely won’t be playing any of their starters and both Akayleb Evans and Mekhi Blackmon will likely be out as well after suffering injuries on Thursday.
With the second and third teamers going to get the majority of the snaps and it can be tough to remember everyone’s number. Here is your cheat sheet with every Vikings’ number including links to player profiles for the majority of them.
Get caught up on everything before the Tennessee Titans take on the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday night
On Saturday night, the Minnesota Vikings are set to host the Tennessee Titans in their second preseason game, the first at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Looking at the game, there are multiple interesting elements to keep an eye on. From the two days of joint practice, we learned a lot about both the Vikings and Titans.
Due to those practices, we won’t be seeing the starters on the field, but the second and third-team players will get plenty of reps.
Here is all of our preview content to get you caught up for Saturday night’s game.
Here is how you can watch the Vikings take on the Titans Saturday night
The Minnesota Vikings are hosting the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday night at U.S. Bank Stadium after two days of competitive joint practices.
Saturday’s game will likely not feature any starters, as they competed against each other in practice this week. That will allow the second and third teams to get a lot of playing time. There are plenty of players who need great performances to secure their spot on the final 53-man roster.
Here is everything you need to know so you can watch Saturday’s game.
