Vikings offense has its moments in joint practice with 49ers
EAGAN — Around 9 o’clock on Wednesday morning, Kirk Cousins stood in the shade in a hoodie and talked about his return to practice after missing several days due to a positive COVID test. He told his wife that it was the best five days to miss because he only lost one full speed practice. Cousins reported feeling fully recovered from his bout with the virus and headed off to the practice field.
“I’m feeling good, ready to go, and this will be my first time back on the field, so I’m looking forward to that,” Cousins said.
About an hour and 45 minutes later, the Minnesota Vikings’ starting quarterback made it pretty obvious that he missed football in his brief time away.
The Vikings practiced against the San Francisco 49ers at TCO Performance Center and a good chunk of the two hours on the field were both teams’ first units going 11-on-11.
On the first drive Justin Jefferson came flying out of the backfield for a reception that would have been a significant gain and then Cousins fired a pass over the middle into the hands of Adam Thielen on a third down for a first down.
“You like that?!?” Cousins screamed, with an expletive mixed in that drew some shock and applause from the packed stands. That’s about as jacked up as you’ll ever see Cousins.
“There’s always a little bit more juice, for obvious reasons,” Cousins said about the joint practices. “You want to go against something different, and I think that’s why it’s really valuable to have these practices. And Kevin strategically wanted to make sure that we get a lot out of these two days.”
The offense continued to roll on their opening drive with an effective screen pass to Dalvin Cook for another presumed explosive gain.
There was one notable change from the last time Cousins practiced last Wednesday: Right guard Ed Ingram took all the first team reps during practice. He had a very good showing against the Raiders in the Vikings’ preseason opener and that apparently convinced the coaching staff that it was time to move veteran Jesse Davis to the second team. With Chris Reed still on the shelf with an injury, Davis took backup reps at left guard for the day.
In the backfield, Alexander Mattison was the only other running back aside from Cook to take first-team reps. Bisi Johnson and Ihmir Smith-Marsette worked in with Jefferson, Thielen and KJ Osborn.
When the second team trotted out, Kellen Mond was leading them but Sean Mannion wasn’t far behind. Mond’s first set of reps resulted in him taking off to run and Mannion hit back-to-back completions with his opportunity.
It’s hard to say for certain whether Mond is ahead in the backup QB competition based on having a better overall performance in the preseason opener against the Raiders but he certainly did not fall behind Mannion. The 49ers practices represent a chance for him to take the reins on the QB2 position.
“The thing that I liked about Kellen was that there was some resiliency there,” offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said of Mond’s game against the Raiders. “There was a couple plays he’d probably like to have back or maybe would’ve liked to have let go and throw into a window, and you know what? He just kept playing. There was no flinch. There was no blink. He just kept playing and ended up making a great throw on a fourth down and leading us down for a touchdown and really giving us a chance at the end of that game.”
Receiver Trishton Jackson was not participating. That gave Jalen Nailor a chance to run with the 2s. He made a circus catch on a throw behind him from Mond.
When the 1s returned to the field, superstar pass rusher Nick Bosa and Vikings left tackle Christian Darrisaw ramped up their battle. On one play, Bosa flew by him on the edge, giving the second-year tackle a reminder of the league’s elite at full speed. But on the following rep, Darrisaw stuck Bosa in place despite his best efforts to break free on a pass rush.
Cousins hit on another impressive pass to Jefferson, this time a dime down the sideline. But the drive ended with an interception on a throw downfield in Cook’s direction. Cousins aggressively ripped off his chinstrap and walked over to talk with QB coach Chris O’Hara.
On the following drive, Cousins stepped up into the 49ers’ pressure and found Thielen over the middle for a first down but the offense slowed down with an incompletion toward the sideline to Jefferson and a short pass to tight end Johnny Mundt on a bootleg. This time Cousins walked over to Jefferson and Thielen to have a discussion between sequences.
At the goal line, Cousins produced a touchdown pass to Mundt, who got the majority of the first-team work. Legendary coach Mike Shanahan, who was in attendance, must have been proud of the number of play-actions he saw on both practice fields.
Mond couldn’t punch the ball in, in part due to a low throw in the direction of a running back. Mannion dropped one in the bucket to Albert Wilson in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.
When it came to the two-minute drills, Cousins threw behind Jefferson to start things off but then found his No. 1 receiver along the sideline for an explosive play to bring them into field goal position. Jefferson shrugged off an apparent pass interference to fight for the ball and then turned on the jets to get into 49ers territory. Greg Joseph finished off the possession with a field goal from 45 yards.
Overall the offense turned in a solid day against a defense expected to be toward the top of the NFL.
“To be able to get [Cousins] back for these two practices with the Niners where we’re playing a challenging front, a different scheme… to see some different looks and different coverage structures is… big for us,” Phillips said.
Mond started out his final drive opportunity slowly but then came alive with downfield connections to Bisi Johnson and Ihmir Smith-Marsette. After catching a first down pass, Smith-Marsette had to be held back from creating a scuffle but the fight was averted when a linemen held him back. Joseph kicked another field goal to “win” the game.
“Kellen has come a long way from when we first got here in the spring as far as the urgency with his drops, the footwork, being able to get through those progressions like we talked about,” Phillips said. “He’s very diligent in his preparation and he studies it and knows it and it’s just a matter of taking that knowledge that he’s got and continuing to show it out here on the field.”
Joseph then stayed out for six more field goals and made four from between 35 and 50 yards. Mannion did not get a two-minute try.
As the Vikings progress through training camp en route to Week 1, which is in just 25 days, they appear to be finding both comfort with the offense and answers to the biggest questions we asked coming into camp. Wednesday’s practice against the 49ers was another step in that direction.
