Lunchbreak: Vikings Listed Among NFL’s ‘Most Underrated’ for 2019

Viktor

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Mar 19, 2019
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If Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer had his way, there would be no hype or fanfare surrounding his team heading into each season.


Zimmer prefers that people doubt his team so they can keep applying a blue-collar mentality before delivering punishing play.


That was the case in 2017 when the Vikings went 13-3 and reached the NFC title game. But with plenty of preseason expectations in 2018, Minnesota disappointed with an 8-7-1 mark and missed the playoffs.


With the regular season still four months away, Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report recently wrote that he expects Zimmer’s squad to get back to their old ways and listed them as one of the NFL’s most underrated teams in 2019.


Sobleski wrote that more equality on offense under first-year Vikings Offensive Coordinator Kevin Stefanski should help Minnesota reach the postseason.


A more balanced attack can be expected and not necessarily from a run-pass perspective, though the Vikings did attempt the sixth-most passes last season. How Stefanski uses the available talent is far more important. Last year, [Stefon] Diggs and Adam Thielen shouldered too much of the workload with a combined 302 total targets.


The coach’s roots are based in the West Coast offense, which is where [Kirk] Cousins thrives, especially in the play-action game. Diggs and Thielen will run more timing and intermediate routes. The team’s tight ends, including second-round rookie Irv Smith, Jr., should be an even bigger part of the scheme. Overall, Stefanski’s fingerprints should be all over the system after he had to adapt on the fly.


Plus, the Vikings fortified the offensive line by signing Josh Kline and drafting three blockers, including first-round center Garrett Bradbury.



Zimmer will still have his hands in the defense, a unit that has ranked in the top 10 in points allowed per game in each of the past four seasons.


The unit features All-Pros and Pro Bowlers at every level, including the likes of Danielle Hunter, Everson Griffen, Linval Joseph, Anthony Barr, Xavier Rhodes and Harrison Smith.


Sobleski said the Vikings will be just fine at stopping opponents.


On the other side of the ball, the Vikings remain a top-five defense. Defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson departed in free agency, but Minnesota made a great move by retaining linebacker Anthony Barr.


Buffalo, Carolina, Houston, Pittsburgh and Washington were also listed as Sobleski’s most underrated teams for 2019.
 
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