Howdy y'all! We are just TWO DAYS AWAY from our 2018-2019 season opener and I am so incredibly excited!
Basic info: 1:00 PM Eastern time start, at US Bank Stadium, airing on FOX.
So we had a good preseason, 3 wins, 1 loss, none of which I found exciting, except for maybe the Seahawks game where we won 21-20.
Pre-season Recap:
Minnesota at Tennessee - (W) 13-3
Seattle at Minnesota - (W) 21-20
Jacksonville at Minnesota - (L) 14-10
Minnesota at Denver - (W) 42-28
Really, I was glad to see the highlights, and rolled my eyes at the stupid mistakes, but the older I get, the less the preseason means to me. You get 10-15 minutes of your starters so they can get the rust off, and then start putting your second and third choices through their paces, and mix in the guys who will never play an NFL snap out of the preseason or a practice squad just in case you've got a guy who's actually gold and not just a flash in the pan. Didn't the Detroit Lions go 4-0 in the preseason of the year they went 0-16? Pretty sure that was the year I started realizing preseason doesn't mean anything.
Focusing on this Sunday, I'm glad we're getting the 49ers game out of the way early. They're going to be a good team this year (HOW could the Cheatriots be so stupid as to toss Garoppolo for an aging Brady??) and I want a chance to knock them on their butts before they've had a chance to gel. Honestly, I don't know anything about their O-line, their runningbacks Breida and Morris, or their WR Pettis. Their starting WR, Pierre Garcon was on my fantasy team a couple years back and I liked him, he was a good earner, but are good fantasy stats for an 11 year veteran any kind of guarantee of a good offense in a new season?
I think I'll pick on running backs today.
Looking up Matt Breida, he's a 2 year veteran, undrafted, age 23, from Georgia Southern, and last year he had 105 carries for 465 yards, average 4.4 and 2 TDs. Looking more closely at his stats, he had 1 fumble and no other turnovers, 21 receptions out of 36 targets for 180 yards with a long of 32.
Their number two, Alfred Morris is a 7 year veteran, aged 29, from Florida Atlantic with 115 carries for 547 yards (4.8 avg) and 1 touchdown last year. He had 7 receptions from 9 targets for 45 yards with a long of 13. And one kick return for 12 yards...in 2016...with Dallas. BUT he's had zero fumbles in the past three years after 11 fumbles the three years before that. That's a good stat.
So these guys look solid. But as a comparison, in Dalvin Cook's rookie year (last year) he had 74 attempts for 354 yards with a long of 33, two touchdowns, one fumble, and one fumble for loss. Plus 11 receptions out of 16 targets for 90 yards with a long of 36 yards.
On the flip side, we're starting Kirk Cousins (QB), Dalvin Cook (RB), Adam Thielen (WR), and Kyle Rudolph (TE). All of this I am very pleased about, but I'm also nervous as Cousins has not had as much time with this team as Garoppolo has had with his.
I particularly like Adam Thielen (I know plenty of people think he's nothing special) and I'm happy enough to have him split time with Stefon Diggs - and I hope our coaching staff has a good system where they both get enough snaps to be effective, but not so many they wear down and collapse in the playoffs.
I'm hoping we win the offensive battle.
Really, though, despite looking at the RBs today I think this will probably be a clash of two bend-but-don't break defenses. I'm predicting myself eating my fingernails to the bone during the entire game. Honestly, I'm kind of wondering if it's going to be a miraculous play by Marcus Sherels (or a lineman!) that makes the difference and swings us to a W.
My prediction: Vikings 24 - 49ers 21.
Other thoughts: best wishes to former Gator Keanu Neal (currently playing safety for the Atlanta Falcons) who tore his ACL and is out for the season. Hate my Gators getting hurt, even when they've gone up to the NFL and play for not-my-Vikings!
SKOL!
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