Preseason Game 2: Titans @ Vikes

Fallers

Oli Udoh, T
There are rough nights, and then there is the night Udoh had Saturday. In the first quarter, he was flagged for illegal use of hands and holding on back-to-back plays. In the second quarter, he was side-swiped and thrust to the ground at least three times. Udoh lined up against Titans edge rusher Rashad Weaver most of the night. Weaver, a former fourth-round pick, only started four games last season. Still, Udoh stood little chance.

The swingman tackle is now in his fifth year, and the Vikings have two starting tackles who struggled with injuries at points last season. In other words, the Vikings have to be concerned about Saturday night’s performance.

Kene Nwangwu, RB
He did not play against the Titans, which is precisely the point. At the beginning of training camp, Nwangwu was competing in many second-team reps. He suffered an injury about a week and a half ago and has not practiced since. In the meantime, Ty Chandler impressed in the team’s first preseason game against Seattle.

Pair Chandler’s continued participation with the second team with the games McBride and Dykes had, and Nwangwu might be facing an uphill battle to prove he is worthy of regular-season reps.

N’Keal Harry, WR
The Vikings coaches were looking forward to observing Harry in another preseason game. The former New England Patriots first-round pick hit the ground running in Minnesota. He has secured numerous toe-tap catches. His size offers an element that the offense — beyond K.J. Osborn and the tight ends, of course — is lacking. Harry’s spot here is not an indictment of his play in practice or preseason games. It is more a sign of the competitiveness of the Vikings’ wide receiver room.

Great night for tight ends, receivers not so much

The Vikings already have very good tight end depth with Josh Oliver and Johnny Mundt. Against the Titans the backups to the backups shined. Following up on a strong showing against Seattle, Nick Muse continued to be a main target for Nick Mullens, catching three passes for 46 yards on four targets in the first half. Muse has a good chance to stick on the practice squad.

Ben Sims, a 6-foot-4, 250-pound UDFA from Baylor, had the biggest offensive play of Mullens’s time in the game with a 33-yard reception on a play-action pass toward the sideline.

The receivers did not have many opportunities to evaluate. Trishton Jackson started the game coming off a good week of practice against Tennessee that saw him get first-team reps. He caught two passes for just 10 yards and dropped a pass that would have gained a first down.

The battle between Jalen Reagor and Brandon Powell was certainly not decided on Saturday night. Reagor was targeted five times and caught two passes for 10 yards. At least one of the incompletions appeared to be a 50-50 ball that fell to the ground.

Powell caught an 11-yard pass and got the first punt returning duties. Reagor was the first returner vs. Seattle.

Thayer Thomas and Lucky Jackson got into the game in the second quarter. Thomas had two receptions for 22 yards on a two-minute drill that resulted in a field goal.

Following the game, Kevin O’Connell assessed the receiver competition.

“Particularly that receiver room, without Jalen Nailor getting very many reps since day one, it's really allowed more guys to compete in that first huddle outside of J.J., K.J. and really Jordan,” O’Connell said. Then you start to look at Jalen Reagor. Brandon Powell has had an excellent training camp, doing so many things I don't think people realize sometimes, all the different jobs he can do. Jalen Reagor’s speed, we kind of tried to get him over the couple times tonight. Either the pocket or coverage didn't allow it. His speed is a real factor. When I think about just the depth of getting Trishton [Jackson] back from that kind of near scare we had, getting him back, getting all these snaps for him, I think that group is going to be very tough for us to figure out, whether it's five or six.”

Offensive line struggles

It was a miserable game for the Vikings’ offensive line, especially swing tackle Oli Udoh. On the second drive of the game Nick Mullens was forced to throw the ball away and took a huge hit. Then the O-line got two holding calls and an illegal hands to the face flag. Two of those were on Udoh. In the second quarter Mullens took a sack and had instant pressure on another play, both allowed by Udoh. To his credit, he participated on the first team throughout the week of hard practices against the Titans in place of Brian O’Neill. Still, that’s not what the team wants out of its swing tackle.

The run blocking didn’t help Ty Chandler state his case for the team to feel good about their RB2 position. Tennessee owned the line of scrimmage and the second-year running back finished with 11 carries for just 24 yards.

Sheldon Day stands out in D-line competition

Journeyman DT Sheldon Day got work early in the game and stood out, getting a strip sack of Willis and playing a role on a number of run stuffs. The Vikings will have tough decisions on the defensive line. Ross Blacklock, who they acquired in a trade last offseason, was playing into the second quarter and Esezi Otomewo was mixing in early in the game on pass rushing downs.

“That group is going to be tough to figure out what the numbers look like behind some of those guys I mentioned,” O’Connell said. “What does it look like depending on the personnel grouping where we need a three and five technique, we need a bigger body nose behind Tonga. Making sure it all works while we can potentially keep the numbers we may have to at some other positions. It's not going to be easy.”

Vikings post-game Playback:
- Nick Muse & Ben Sims showed up in run blocking; both can catch and run. Super deep TE group.
- Nick Mullens played extremely well. Loved the way he used his legs. Decisive and in command.
- OL got beat with quickness across face too many times
- Sheldon Day had a nice day collapsing pocket from inside
- Benton Whitley very disruptive- needs to finish the plays tho
- Troy Dye pass coverage perfection on INT + showed up in run game
- Special Teams won the day

The backup O-line is still a concern

One of the stories of the Vikings' preseason opener was the struggle of their offensive line, with both Nick Mullens and Hall being pressured on more than 40 percent of their dropbacks. That remained a weakness on Saturday. The Titans had six quarterback hits and three sacks, and Vikings offensive linemen combined for four penalties (and two more that were offset or declined).

Fifth-year tackle Oli Udoh has 18 career starts and should theoretically be one of the Vikings' best preseason linemen, but he had a rough outing. Udoh was flagged for illegal use of hands and holding on consecutive plays in the first quarter and generally seemed to struggle in pass protection. That's not an encouraging sign for the Vikings, who would love to have confidence in Udoh as their swing tackle.

Any injuries to the Vikings' starting OL this year could be crippling.

Bonus thoughts

The Vikings have some serious tight end depth. T.J. Hockenson, Josh Oliver, and Johnny Mundt didn't play, which opened the door for Nick Muse, Ben Sims, and Colin Thompson to combine for 115 receiving yards on seven catches.

NaJee Thompson looks like a difference-maker as a punt gunner. He's almost certainly making the 53-man roster, assuming he can make a quick return from the concussion protocol.

Nick Mullens was solid enough in this game that he still seems likely to remain the Vikings' No. 2 QB for the foreseeable future, despite progress from Hall.

Ty Chandler and DeWayne McBride couldn't get much going on the ground, but McBride had an impressive catch-and-run for 11 yards. The Vikings RB who had the best night was newly-signed Aaron Dykes, who had three carries for 19 yards and popped a 38-yard kickoff return to open the game.

Greg Joseph is a perfect five-for-five on field goals this preseason.

The Vikings got gashed for 281 rushing yards by the Titans, but O'Connell said after the game that they weren't playing their normal looks because it's the preseason. These were second, third, and fourth-stringers playing a vanilla scheme. It's not something to be concerned about at this point.

Players who had at least one nice moment on defense include Troy Dye, Sheldon Day, Andre Carter II, Theo Jackson, and Benton Whitley. Ivan Pace Jr. was also impressive again in limited early-game action.

Offensive coordinator Wes Phillips called plays for a stretch in the second half, which allowed O'Connell to evaluate all three phases while Phillips got in some reps. O'Connell said they'll do that again next week against the Cardinals and that another offensive coach or two may also get a shot to call plays in that game.

Lewis Cine

I don’t know what to make of Lewis Cine. His first play looked great, getting to the ball and completing the tackle. He also earned a sack with smart play and solid fundamentals on a scrambling quarterback. He finished with seven combined tackles, six of them solo.

But the game might still have been a net negative for him. On top of getting hurdled on a running play – one where Julius Chestnut ran for a big gain – Cine was inconsistent about his ability to read plays quickly and get to his landmarks. It was a better game than last week, but that wasn’t a high bar.

Ty Chandler

Ty Chandler has been impressive in practices and he performed well against Seattle. Though his numbers against the Titans in the second preseason game are pedestrian, his actual play was excellent (2.2 yards per carry). He rarely went down on first contact, made decisions quickly and accurately as a runner and showed up in the passing game.

There are reasons to be concerned about Kene Nwangwu’s refinement as a running back and with his camp injury keeping him out of the first two preseason games, we have little evidence that he’s developed as a runner. Chandler, on the other hand, looks like a complete back that may be called upon during the season to take on a primary role.

The primary thinking among those who cover the Vikings is that Chandler has overtaken Nwangwu as the second back. It’s hard to tell without Nwangwu participating, but it is worth noting that Nwangwu took those second-team snaps when healthy.

Jaren Hall

Hall played well against the Titans, which is also a nice contrast to his game against Seattle. His statistics don’t do a very good job telling the story as he was the victim of multiple receiver drops and a dodgy offensive line, but he generally made the right decision, stepped up in the pocket and found ways to get the ball in winning locations for the receiver.

He still doesn’t play with astounding timing or accuracy, but it was a nice change from his initial showing for the team. Given that the Vikings apparently signed a quarterback – the XFL’s Jordan Ta’amu has not yet been announced as having signed with the team – there was pressure on Hall to perform, even as a developmental rookie.

Oli Udoh

Oli Udoh was subject to two penalties early against the Titans and had trouble with pass protection aside. Udoh gave up a second-quarter pressure resulting in a near-sack and overall found himself losing on the edge quickly. The fact that his worst snap occurred on a player moving to the inside, where he should be playing better, is even more concerning.

Udoh doesn’t have a great argument to make the roster ahead of Vederian Lowe and though Blake Brandel is listed as a guard — and had some moments of rust — I would prefer him to kick out to tackle during the season should any injuries force the issue.

He wasn’t the only one to struggle — Austin Schlottman had significant problems

Benton Whitley

It was kind of surprising to see how well Benton Whitley played. He logged multiple pressures and even made contact with the quarterback twice. He lost contain against Malik Willis once, but it was overall a good play. He outplayed the more well-regarded Luiji Vilain while both were on the field at the same time and made a great argument to be put on the practice squad after cutdown day.

Andre Carter was up-and-down from what I could tell, though his worst play came as he dropped back into coverage. Those are forgivable, though we didn’t see him generate much pressure on his own, making his best plays as a result of hustle more than technical proficiency.