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The Minnesota Vikings opened the preseason portion of their schedule with a 20-10 victory over the Houston Texans, and it appears that starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy was able to finish his first-quarter assignment without any injury. A year ago, McCarthy suffered a season-ending injury in the opening preseason game of the year.
However, the Vikings saw punt returner Rondale Moore go down with a significant leg injury while returning a punt in the first quarter. Moore left the game on a motorized cart and with a towel over his head. It appears that the speedster may be out of action for a significant length of time.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell did not offer a prognosis on how long Moore will be out of action, but he indicated that the hit that brought Moore down had many of the earmarks of a hip-drop tackle. Those type of tackles have been outlawed by the NFL, but no penalty was called on the play.
Moore appeared to have the inside track on the team’s punt return position. This could turn out to be a huge blow for the Vikings because they were looking at Moore to provide a significant upgrade in the return game. Minnesota ranked last in punt returns last year and they may have to give Lucky Jackson the next look as the team’s primary punt returner.
While losing Moore could be a big blow for the Vikings in the return game, it appears that O’Connell will have a powerful team on both sides of the ball. While they were beaten significantly in a pair of losses to the Detroit Lions last year, they may be able to get the best of their division rival in at least one of the meetings this year.
The big move the Vikings have made in the offseason is installing McCarthy as the team’s QB1. He appears to have all the tools needed to provide an upgrade at the position. Sam Darnold did a solid job for the Vikings last year as the team’s starting quarterback, but O’Connell clearly believes that McCarthy is ready to lead the team.
The Vikings appear to have a solid defense under coordinator Brian Flores. They have made significant improvement on the defensive side of the ball in each of the past two seasons, and linebackers Andrew Van Ginkel and Blake Cashman appear to be major game changers.
If second-year pass rusher Dallas Turner can step up, the Vikings could be formidable on defense.
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