The Viking Age
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Minnesota Vikings beat Oakland Raiders 20-12

By Dan Zinski

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The story of tonight’s game was the weather. Lightning in the vicinity of the stadium caused an evacuation of TCF Bank and a delay of over an hour.

The other big talker was the continued poor performance of kicker Blair Walsh who missed three field goals and an extra point on the evening.

Mike Zimmer noticed that Blair Walsh isn’t kicking the ball very well. Boy did he notice.

Conditions were obviously not optimal with the rain and wind down on the field, but Walsh still has to make those kicks.

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Walsh recently signed a contract extension and with the way he’s been going, the Vikings might be wishing they had held off on giving him that deal.

There were good things to take out of this game too, including the performance of Teddy Bridgewater who looked in command during his stint in the first half.

Bridgewater’s best pass of the night was a sweet delivery to his favorite target Charles Johnson for a touchdown.

The running game hasn’t looked particularly potent without Adrian Peterson but at least the passing game looks like it’s coming along.

On the defensive side, the big news was Eric Kendricks getting the start at MLB ahead of Audie Cole. It looks like Kendricks has locked down the starting job as everyone expected he would.

The big negative for the defense was Trae Waynes and Terence Newman both getting torched by Oakland receivers, though Waynes’ torching luckily was followed by an incomplete pass.

Do we have to be worried about Terence Newman not being able to run? He looks very slow.

With Antone Exum injured, we got no real forward movement on the whole safety issue. Robert Blanton is the starter until further notice.

Captain Munnerlyn once again was not out there with the first team nickel defense but he did get in later and made a few tackles.

Oh, and this happened during a sideline interview. Great job Adrian.

It was a pretty long night for everyone, especially with the weather delay. But it was a very very long night for Blair Walsh.

Blair Walsh is not enjoying his preseason so far.

Next: Five young Vikings whose stock is rising

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