Viktor
Well-known member
- Mar 19, 2019
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Lowest lows
1. Overreaction by officials
In Week 4, Smith was ejected in the second quarter after a hit on Texans tight end Jordan Akins. Officials flagged the Vikings safety for targeting a defenseless player and opted to disqualify him for the rest of the contest. Ejection is not an automatic consequence for the penalty.
Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer spoke to media members following Minnesota's 31-23 defeat of Houston and emphasized that Smith is not a dirty player and had meant no harm on the play.
"They want to give us a penalty, fine, give us a penalty. But don't eject guys," Zimmer said. "This guy's one of the best players in the NFL and one of the best people in the NFL."
2. Not a very merry Christmas
Minnesota's defense had an abysmal performance at New Orleans on Christmas Day.
The Vikings allowed the Saints to rack up 52 points, the most allowed by Minnesota since 1963.
Harris seemed to have a particularly frustrating outing. Although none of New Orleans' touchdowns are specifically credited against Harris, analytics site Pro Football Reference counted three missed tackles against him – more in one game than in any previous season. Entering last year's campaign, Harris had totaled eight missed tackles over five seasons; he added an additional 10 missed tackles during the 2020 season to bring his career total to 18.
"It always starts with having yourself prepared physically from the offseason, learning what you need to address from this year, get that fixed and then as a leader, as a veteran, being a guy who can help those around him jell together more than we did this year. We did some good things. Obviously, there's a lot to improve on but being realistic about those things, evaluating yourself realistically and taking the coaching points from every coach and then collectively getting that together when we get back here."
– Smith on taking responsibility for improving on defense in 2021
"I've been here my entire career. It's been great from everything down to the locker room, to the executives, the coaches, to the city itself and how it's treated me and my family. It definitely holds a special place with me. In terms of what it might take and what that might look like, that's not really in my realm. I'm just a person who tries to enjoy the situation that he's in. Make the best light of it, be the best person I can be, be the best teammate I can be and help everyone around me try to be better people and better players as well."
– Harris on whether he hopes to return to the Vikings for the 2021 season
"Harrison has been awesome, especially around the young guys. He's encouraging, he helps try and teach them, he's not an outspoken guy, but around the players he's a really good leader. On the sideline he's great, he's encouraging. You know, he's helping the young DBs. I think he's a great attribute for us. He wants to win just as much as everybody and he's done a lot of winning in his career. He's really helped be kind of the backbone of the defense."
– Vikings Co-Defensive Coordinator Adam Zimmer
"Obviously, I wasn't a fan of it. I thought I did kind of what I could do while still being an active football player on the defensive side of the ball. To avoid those things, tried to lower the target. Tried to tilt my head out. But that's just kind of how we're seeing things go."
– Smith after being ejected from the Vikings Week 4 game at Houston
Pressing Questions for 2021
1. Will Harris be back with the Vikings for a seventh season?
Since joining the Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2015, Harris has played a significant role for the team, from a special-teams ace early on to becoming a full-time starter alongside Smith in 2019. Despite a tough year for Harris this past season, there's no denying the value he adds to Minnesota's defense.
But will the Vikings be able to retain the safety heading into 2021? Harris last year was signed to a one-season franchise tag, meaning if he doesn't re-sign with Minnesota, he'll hit free agency when the new league year opens on March 17.
It's no secret that the Vikings cap situation is tight, and it also remains to be seen how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect the league-wide salary cap for 2021. Harris has expressed a desire to say in Minnesota, and it will be interesting to see what transpires this spring.
2. How will Minnesota bolster the safety group?
As stated earlier, the Vikings safety group isn't exactly deep.
Even if Harris does return in 2021, there still are very few options – at least experienced ones – behind him and Smith. The Vikings will likely return the young safeties they had this past season, and it remains to be seen if they will bring back Iloka as a veteran presence in the group.
Will Minnesota add any new safeties through free agency or early on in the NFL Draft? It's certainly worth paying attention to over the next few months.