The Vikings weren’t able to tally a victory in the first preseason game of 2008 – Seattle defeated them at the Metrodome on Friday night by a score of 34-17 – but there were sings of encouragement for Head Coach Brad Childress and his team.
The 2007 Vikings featured the league’s top rushing attack, but in their first outing of 2008, Minnesota’s offense – the first-team offense anyway – displayed some pizzazz in the passing game. Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson dropped back to pass on the Vikings first ten offensive plays from scrimmage, and the third-year signal caller finished the contest going eight-of-11 for 118 yards and one touchdown with zero interceptions.
And it wasn’t just Jackson who gave an encouraging performance for the first-team offense on Friday night; free agent pickup Bernard Berrian showed up with two grabs for 43 yards, slicing through the Seattle defense and coming thisclose to scoring a touchdown.
Bobby Wade chipped in with two more grabs in limited action and Sidney Rice drew a pass interference call in the endzone on a deep pass from Jackson that eventually resulted in a Chester Taylor one-yard touchdown plunge.
But for as well as the Vikings looked throwing the ball in the first quarter, there were also areas that need improvement as the team returns to Mankato for another week of training camp. The defense, although playing a vanilla style of play, couldn’t slow down the Seahawks, who put up 17 points in the first quarter and 34 for the game. Madieu Williams and Pat Williams didn’t suit up, and the rest of the first-teamers saw limited action.
Injuries also became a factor for the Vikings. They lost Heath Farwell to a knee injury in the first half, while Maurice Hicks, Jayme Mitchell and Drew Radovich were all seen limping off with injuries. More details will emerge on the status of those players later this weekend.
All in all, the coaches will take away many teaching points from Friday night’s contest and the team will hit the drawing board again in Mankato this week before they travel to Baltimore for a preseason tilt against the Ravens on Saturday evening.