Minnesota Vikings vs Chargers: Preseason week 3 game review
By Adam Carlson
The Bad Things
- Red zone execution. The biggest takeaway from this game should be that the first team offense needs to finish drives. The team can seemingly pick up first downs at will, but when put in first and goal situations, they need to settle for field goals far more often than they should.
- Michael Griffin just doesn’t fit. I thought the Vikings made the wrong move in bringing in Griffin to the Vikings during free agency this year and so far he hasn’t done anything to prove me wrong. At this point, the guy Minnesota was hoping could be a starter will be lucky to make the first round of cuts.
- Patterson gadget plays. As I said on last week’s Purple People Podcast, the Minnesota Vikings can’t keep throwing Patterson out on only gadget plays because defenses will recognize his usage. That’s exactly what happened when end around got stuffed for a big loss. It wasn’t fooling anyone.
- Slipping on the turf. The amount of players slipping and falling on the turf at U.S. Bank Stadium should be a concern. There also seemed to be quite a few players leaving the game due to injuries. Whether the team/players need to make adjustments or this was a fluke, it shouldn’t continue like this.
- Why would you show us this again? When San Diego running back Olliver went down on a play, the real-time action didn’t seem so bad. But that replay was brutal to watch. The rippling of the skin on his leg let everyone know that a muscle inside his leg exploded. Absolutely disgusting injury, but hopefully he heals up well.
Next: The Interesting Occurrences