Why I’m excited about the 2018 Minnesota Vikings

In the wake of a slightly less than ideal preseason performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars http://www.thevikingslockerroom.com/authentic-brett-favre-jersey , fans of the Minnesota Vikings. . .as is our wont. . .have started to go about the business of freaking out about the upcoming season and declaring 2018 to be a failure before our favorite team has even taken the field in a meaningful game.Nonsense. Balderdash. Poppycock, even.Sure, we would obviously be much happier had Kirk Cousins and company gone out and lit it up on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. I would like to take this moment, however, to remind you that in their three preseason outings last season, the Vikings’ first team offense produced a total of zero touchdowns. Sam Bradford threw zero touchdown passes in the preseason in 2017. Dalvin Cook ran for exactly zero touchdowns, and the trio of Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, and Kyle Rudolph combined for zero touchdown receptions. All-in-all, the first-string offense played about five quarters of football in the 2017 preseason and generated a grand total of three points.Didn’t seem to affect them as far as the regular season went, eh?So, rather than focusing on the negatives and waiting for the other shoe to drop. . .even though, as previously mentioned Womens Stefon Diggs Jersey , that’s what we’re conditioned to do. . .let’s talk about exactly why we should be excited about this team. Because, man, there sure are a lot of reasons. However, in the interest of time, I’ll limit those reasons to just a few.1) This is still, arguably, the NFL’s best defense, and they may be even betterThe identity of this team is still on the defensive side of the ball. As far as that side is concerned, the Vikings may have taken the best defense in the National Football League and improved it even more. The team has locked up nearly all of the most important pieces of this defense for the long term, and of the 11 starters, the only new face is a guy that not too long ago was named the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year. As far as the starting 11 is concerned, this might be the best defense in the league, and if it’s not it’s in the Top 2.But this defense is deep, too. How deep? On Saturday Chuck Foreman Jersey , the Jacksonville Jaguars. . .a team that was one quarter away from advancing to the Super Bowl last season. . .played their starters on offense for, essentially, the entire first half. They managed seven points. The first-string defense was pretty much done after one quarter of play, so the Vikings’ backups managed to hold the Jacksonville offense completely in check for the entire second quarter. This defense has talent on top of talent, and some lucky teams are going to be the beneficiaries of the Vikings having to cut some very good players.Whoever makes this team on the defensive side will most certainly have earned it. They will have shown that they’re good enough to be a part of the NFL’s #1 defense.2) The offense is going to be betterThe focus of the Vikings’ offseason was the signing of Kirk Cousins, and with good reason. When you give a guy the first fully guaranteed contract in the free agency era, you’re going to be scrutinized for it. Even with the rough performance against Jacksonville, there’s no reason to be worried about the Vikings’ offense at this point.For starters, we haven’t seen Dalvin Cook take the field this preseason. We saw in his brief time last year exactly what sort of impact Cook can have on the offense, and with all due respect to Latavius Murray, teams are going to have to defend an offense with Dalvin Cook on the field differently than they’ll have to defend one with Murray out there. Cook might play in the All-Important Third Preseason Game鈩?against the Seattle Seahawks on Friday. Then again, he might not. I don’t care either way. . .I want him out there against the San Francisco 49ers on 9 September.The rest of the offense is nothing to sneeze at, either, particularly what might be the NFL’s best 1-2 receiver duo right now. Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen (and the rest of the team’s receivers) spent a lot of time working with Cousins this offseason http://www.thevikingslockerroom.com/authentic-fran-tarkenton-jersey , so I don’t think that chemistry is going to be an issue. After all, Case Keenum got just about zero time with the first-team offense last season, and he did just fine.Also, as Ted as said here recently, I’m not nearly as freaked out about the offensive line as I’m apparently supposed to be. On Saturday, when the offense looked rough, the starters on the offensive line were Riley Reiff and four guys that are, in all likelihood, not going to be starting in Week 1. Pat Elflein is going to be back soon. Mike Remmers is coming back. Brian O’Neill is showing more promise than expecte. The depth along the offensive line is better than it has been.Last, we know that John DeFilippo is the new offensive coordinator, and that he likes to do a lot of different and creative things. There is a non-zero chance that the offense we’ve seen from the Vikings this preseason looks absolutely nothing like the offense they’ll display in the regular season. The Vikings aren’t going to be showing anything of importance over the next couple of weeks, so I’m not particularly worried about the offense.3) There is, literally, no reason not to be excitedSeriously Womens Paul Krause Jersey , folks, I’ve been a fan of this team for over 30 years. This might be, from 1 to 53 on the roster, the most talented Vikings team of my lifetime. Better than 1998, better than 2009, better than any of them. (Obviously I can’t speak to the teams of the 70s, so our older contingent will probably have something to say about that.) This team is on the short list of Super Bowl contenders. Some outlets even have this team at #1 in their preseason Power Rankings.There’s a reason for that. This team is really, really good. The expectations for this team are really, really high. And there’s every reason to expect that this team is going to, at the very least, meet those expectations.You may not be excited for the 2018 Minnesota Vikings right now, based on what we saw at U.S. Bank Stadium a couple of days ago. But you should be. . .and, I have a feeling that in a few weeks, you absolutely will be. He got his first opportunity to talk with the Twin Cities media" Minnesota Vikings 2019 NFL DraftTranscript: Conference Call with Minnesota Vikings sixth-round pick Marcus Epps He got his first opportunity to talk with the Twin Cities mediaCDTContinuing with our series of transcripts of conference calls with the Minnesota Vikings’ 2019 NFL Draft class John Randle Jersey , here is the call that was held with one of the Vikings’ three sixth-round selections, Wyoming defensive back Marcus Epps. Enjoy!<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="HpxhOb">I’d like to start by saying thank you to the Wilf family, Mr. [Rick] Spielman and Coach [Mike] Zimmer for taking this chance on me and giving me this opportunity. I am so excited to be a Minnesota Viking. I can’t wait to get up there and go to work and do whatever the team needs me to do.Q: What was this day like for you just waiting to get picked?A: It was a long process. Took a while but in the end it worked out. I went to the team I wanted to go to. Everything worked out perfectly.Q: Did you head in thinking you’d be drafted today and why is this the team you wanted to go to?A: Going into the draft, I had thought about sixth or seventh round or possibly undrafted. Just throughout the process you hear everything so you never really know. It’s unknown where you’re going to go but I had a lot of good conversations with Coach Jeff Howard. He liked me a lot and really believed in me so I knew he was pulling for me. I had real good conversations with him and Coach [Jerry] Gray. I am glad to be a Viking.Q: What did it mean to you as a walk-on to be a three-time captain in school history?A: It means a lot. To be able to lead such a great group of guys for not one or two, but three years. It was incredible that they thought of me as a captain of their team for so many years.Q: What type of experience do you have with special teams?A: Early in my career, I played a lot of special teams at Wyoming. As my years went on, they tried to phase me out a little bit more. I am definitely looking forward to playing special teams and helping the team in any way that I can.Q: How did you end up there as a walk-in?A: I didn’t have anybody recruiting me so I was thinking of going the junior college route but I had some connections. Somebody sent my film up there really late in the process. They ended up liking me but it was too late to offer a scholarship so they asked me to walk on.Q: What was it like making the switch from Los Angeles to Wyoming?A: It was different but it wasn’t anything that I couldn’t handle. I wasn’t worried about where I was at or anything like that. I was just worried about playing ball. That is what I love to do and Wyoming is the place that gave me the opportunity to do that. I wasn’t really concerned with where I was at or the culture change or anything like that. I just wanted to play ball.Q: How did your son, Braxton, change your outlook on life?A: It changed tremendously. You go from more of just thinking about taking care of yourself to taking care of another human. It’s definitely been different but it’s been a beautiful thing as well just watching him grow.Q: Do you look at this as an opportunity to prove people wrong?A: Yeah, definitely. He loves going to the facility. All my teammates love him and he loves to play with all of them. He plays inside the facility since he likes that so it’s been great.Q: Do you look at this as an opportunity to prove people wrong?A: A little bit. But that chip is always on your shoulder. I am just more looking forward to proving the Minnesota Vikings organization right and proving myself right and to all the people who believed in me.Q: Do you feel the pro day process helped you get noticed more?A: Definitely. Just going into the whole process of pro day I knew I had to do something to make people go back and watch my film. I worked really hard at EXOS down in Los Angeles and they got me ready to perform like that.Q: What skill do you think it was you showed you could do that you will need at the NFL?A: My versatility or my football IQ. I feel like I can play different positions anywhere the team needs me or wants me to play. I am willing to put the work in and get it done.