Early thoughts. Before anything else something has to be said, and that is the Vikings are a better team than ours and are building on a solid foundation last year. Not much is changing for them i think so they can hit the ground running.
Our O vs their D.
They got the better of it overall but the Pats got theirs too vs a very good unit. The Pats gave up some Pressure, Campbell with 2 sacks and Wilson 1. But there are 2-3 other sacks that didn't come from them. So it isn't like they preformed much worse than the rest of the OL. And the main thing i like is how many stunts they played against reportedly. That is great practice. Hopefully they can build on it and protect better.
Some starts and stops by pass catchers. Diggs with his best day yet. Finally looking like a #1 for the first time in a while IMO. It's the consistency that is important here. Some good and bad from everyone else. Baker silent today i think... Didn't help his case while Chism has another roster worthy day. In the end though the story is Williams. You look at all the passes Williams had thrown and his way. This practice wouldn't probably have a much different feeling if half of those plays were complete for probably big gains. Nothing to be done about it. Just have to try to work through it. Williams is just too tempting to lessen his work load on. Keep feeding him and trying to get him right till week 1.
As for RBs... I am kind of sick hearing about Henderson catching balls. Do it in games.. but that 60 yard dump off TD... i am for it in games but not in practice. Stuff like that bails the rest of the O out when they need to work on themselves. Henderson is a star to be. We know that. Let's see how everything else can work without him.
Our D vs their O.
I think we got something like 7 sacks against them. The D like came to play. Sacks from K'Lavon Chaisson, Milton Williams, Keion White, Harold Landry, Jeremiah Pharms, Anfernee Jennings, Isiaiah Iton. Run stuffs from Christian Elliss, Jennings, Khyiris Tonga, Landry. Interception from Marcus Jones. PBU from Kobee Minor. Some good things here for sure.
Some names which are absent... Farmer and Swinson. But overall the D made some big plays. I did get the impression the Vikings WRs still did some good things vs our DBs... IDK if Davis was actually out there or not. And if not... that is no Gonzo, Davis or James in the backfield. That would be a thin group so even if our safeties played very well if without Davis 100% it be hard to hold even a Jefferson-less Vikings pass catching crew down. 10 defensive flags on the secondary speaks for itself.
On the whole both teams missing a lot of guys but the Vikings seemed to get the better of it overall (though our D got their better of their O... those penalties though...), but not by a huge amount and a fair amount was unforced errors. If those were cleaned up i think the Pats win the day handily.
Right now the Goals for the Patriots the rest of the way are clear in preseason.
#1 Help the OL develop as a whole. It is the entire unit which needs to gel, not just the rookies. Campbell is trending up i think, that needs to continue.
#2 Williams needs to get more up to speed. Waaaay too inconsistent and he can give a much needed big play spark. They need to do everything they can to get him ready. I think he's too central to the kind of O they want to run. And you don't want the choices to be just ignore him/take reps away or take shots and hope you get lucky on occasion. If everyone else more or less does there job they will move chains in the passing game.. but they need a home run hitter in the passing game at the intermediate/deep level.
#3 Maye needs to find his overall time and consistency in this new offense.
#4 Offense as a whole needs to get cleaner... No drops, fumbles and such (seems the O is already clean more or less on penalties which is nice).
#5 Get healthy, particular in the secondary.
Those to me are the 5 key things at this point for this team to be successful. #5 seems like hopefully just a matter of time. Davis is close. The OL i think will get there enough for week 1. I kind of am okay with the trend. They won't be perfect but they should be passible. 2 3 and 4 are in the air. I think 4 is the most achievable right now as good coaching goes a long way to help that. 2 and 3... totally on those players.
