8 things to watch during the Vikings preseason game vs. the Saints
By Chris Schad
What can we learn about the Vikings’ new offense?
One of the biggest Achilles heels of the Vikings in 2018 was the performance of their offense. With things fading down the stretch under offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, Mike Zimmer made the decision to send the wunderkind to the curb in favor of his own rising star, Kevin Stefanski.
The result was a more run-oriented offense that provided more balance for Minnesota as they attempted to make their playoff push.
Even though the Vikings fell short of making the playoffs to avenge their loss in the 2017 NFC Championship, Zimmer saw enough in Stefanski to hand him the keys to the offense this year. Minnesota also took the opportunity to bring in Gary Kubiak as an offensive advisor, who also brought in his son Klint as the quarterbacks coach and Rick Dennison to coach the offensive line.
All of those things look nice on paper, but as the Vikings hit the Superdome, we just want to know what this all means in terms of how the offense will look in 2019.
While it’s unlikely that Stefanski will lay out all of his cards on the table in a preseason game, we can try to pick up small things that will be different from the DeFilippo disaster last year.
If the Vikings can put together a couple of good drives, there could be things to pick up on such as play selection and how they intend to use certain players such as Dalvin Cook and Irv Smith Jr.
A touchdown drive right off the bat does not mean Minnesota will be an offensive juggernaut (see 2018 opener against Denver), but a good start would be better than seeing more of the same from a year ago.