5 questions with The Daily Norseman: Joint practice week The Jacksonville Jaguars and Minnesota Vikings are currently participating in joint
practices in Eagan
Jacksonville Jaguars Hoodie , Minnesota, as the teams prepare for a preseason tilt on Saturday at U.S. Bank Stadium.To help us get to know the 2018 Vikings team
better, and to give us some perspective on what to expect from the Vikings
during joint practices and this weekend’s game, I talked to Christopher Gates
from The Daily Norseman — SB Nation’s insightful Minnesota Vikings
community.Let’s see what he had to say...1. The Vikings and Jaguars are arguably
the two best defensive units in the league. All biases aside, which defense
would you rather have and why?Christopher: I’m not sure if there’s really a
“wrong” answer here, since we’re probably talking about the two best defenses in
the league. Both teams have legitimate stars on all three levels, thanks to a
combination of drafting well and making smart signings in free agency. The
Vikings have the advantage of going into their fifth season of the same
defensive scheme since Mike Zimmer was hired, and it’s tough to understate just
how big that is. If we were to base it strictly on talent alone, however, I
think that the slight edge might have to go to the Jaguars. I haven’t crunched
the numbers, but I think the Jaguars might be slightly younger across the board
on defense than the Vikings are, as the Vikings have a couple of key pieces that
have been in the league for a while (Everson Griffen and Linval Joseph were both
drafted in 2010, Harrison Smith in 2012), while I think that most of the Jaguars
key defensive players are fairly young. It’s a very, very close race, but
yeah...slight edge to Jacksonville overall.2. How do you think joint practices —
with different schemes, players and plays from the opposing squad — will help
both teams prepare for not only this week’s game, but the rest of the preseason?
It should be nice for them to hit somebody other than themselves in
practice
Customized Jacksonville Jaguars Jerseys , eh?Christopher: I do think we’ve gotten to the point where the team needs to see someone other than the guys on
the same sideline as they are. Obviously we saw what happened in Jacksonville a
few days ago with Dante Fowler, and the Vikings had a few scraps leading up to
their preseason opener against the Broncos. I think it’s going to be very good
for these two teams to see each other, and from the Vikings’ perspective I think
it’s going to be helpful to take on one of the NFL’s best defenses (and I’m sure
that Jacksonville’s offense will get the same benefit from going against the
Minnesota defense). Even without Jalen Ramsey along for the ride this week, the
Jaguars are a premier defense, and it’s going to be a real test for the new-look
Vikings’ offense to square off with a group like that. Frankly, even if it isn’t
the regular season, the Jaguars’ defense might be the best defense the Vikings
see this season, and it should be fun to watch.3. It was in limited action, but
Kirk Cousins (Go Green!) definitely looked the part in the Vikings preseason
opener. Are you sold on Cousins (and his fully guaranteed contract), or are you
taking more of a wait-and-see approach with Minnesota’s new
signal-caller?Christopher:Obviously we’d like to see how things go for more than
eight plays for the Vikings’ offense, but I do think that Cousins is in for a
huge year in 2018. This is probably the best group of skill position players
that he’s been surrounded by since he’s been in the NFL, with the return of
Dalvin Cook at running back and the Stefon Diggs/Adam Thielen duo on the
outside. The Vikings’ offensive line is going to be a sticking point this year,
as it was last season (and the season before that. . .and the season before
that. . .and the season before that), but I have a feeling that (offensive
coordinator) John DeFilippo is going to be able to do a lot of things to
mitigate those issues and put Cousins in a position to succeed. Even though the
Vikings’ No. 1 offense was only on the field for eight snaps against Denver,
they managed to use five different personnel groupings, and that’s going to help
keep defenses off-balance and hopefully allow Minnesota to reach their full
potential. Case Keenum took the Vikings on a hell of a ride last season, but I
do think that Cousins gives them the potential to reach even greater heights.4.
Are there any young players/roster bubble guys on the Vikings you are hoping to
see something from on Saturday? Are there any Jaguar players you are excited to
see play?Christopher: I’m not sure if you can consider a former first-round pick
a “bubble guy,” but I’d really like to see something...anything...out of Laquon
Treadwell on Saturday. We’ve heard all summer about how he’s gotten better and
he’s been getting rave reviews in camp so far
www.authenticsjacksonvillejaguars.com , but managed to go without a catch last week (Editor’s note — Treadwell actually
had one catch for three yards. H/T to commenter NMVike). The Vikings need a
third receiving threat to take some heat off of Thielen and Diggs, and I think
most of us are hoping that Treadwell is the guy. As far as the defense, I’m
looking to see how the battle for the backup spots on the defensive line is
going to shake out. We know that the starters are set, and the Vikings have a
lot of interesting talent as potential backups at all four spots on the
defensive front. Players like Tashawn Bower, Jaleel Johnson, Jalyn Holmes, and
Stephen Weatherly (among others) are going to be fighting for spots, and their
time to make an impression is running out. As far as the Jaguars side of things,
I think most Vikings fans will definitely be keeping an eye on some of the
offensive line prospects from Jacksonville. The Vikings, as we’ve mentioned
already, have some significant offensive line issues, and we’ll pretty much be
looking at all the teams the Vikings play this preseason to see if anyone that
their opponents might give up on is worth a shot as a developmental prospect or
even a potential contributor.5. The Jaguars and Vikings are coming off of
similar seasons, both losing in the conference championship games. What do the
Vikings need to do to get past that level and win the NFC this
season?Christopher: On defense, the Vikings need to find a way to give their
front-line players, particularly on the defensive line, a little bit more of a
rest over the course of the year. Last season, guys like Everson Griffen were
playing entirely too many snaps for a team that’s supposed to be rotating
defensive linemen, and I think it started to wear them down toward the end of
the season. That’s why the depth chart behind the starters on the d-line is
going to be so important this preseason. As far as the offensive side
Jacksonville Jaguars T-Shirt , the key is going to be the offensive line, whether it’s developing players to the point where the quality of play starts to
go up or finding a way to scheme around it so that the offense can function to
its capabilities. Even with those issues, the Vikings were a 13-3 team last
season and appear (on paper, at least) to have gotten better, so if they can get
those issues squared away, there’s really no prediction that you can make for
this team that could be considered unrealistic.A big thank you to Christopher
for providing such in-depth analysis and giving his opinions on certain aspects.
Be sure to follow him on Twitter, and also follow The Daily Norseman for all of
the great coverage from joint practices and the preseason game between
Jacksonville and Minnesota.Why don’t the Jaguars use Corey Grant more? One of
the biggest complaints coming out of the Jacksonville Jaguars 20-15 win over the
New York Giants was the lack of touches for running back Corey Grant. Actually,
this has been a complaint since about mid-third quarter of the AFC Championship
game against the New England Patriots, after Grant was picking up chunk plays in
the first half.It’s a valid question, but in my opinion the big disconnect is
where Grant is effective versus how good fans think he is. He’s not Darren
Sproles, Tyreek Hill, Tarik Cohen or even Chris Thompson. I feel like a lot of
fans/locals think the Jaguars are squatting on that type of player and in
reality, they’re not.Grant is more along the lines of someone like a Tavon
Austin, they’re both players with big play potential but they’re also both
players you have to manufacture touches for with specific packages against
specific looks.For Grant, if he’s in the backfield in a single back or I-Form
set he’s a giant red flag to the defense. He’s not going to stay in and block,
he’s going to go out for a route or get the ball. This becomes a real issue if
you’re in 11- (1RB1TE) or 12-personnel (1RB2TE), which the Jaguars seem to run
quite a bit. If Grant is in the game as the running back, he’s 100 percent not
blocking and more likely than not getting the ball or a play-fake.That’s part of
why Grant was a ghost in the second half of the game in the playoffs against the
Patriots
Jacksonville Jaguars Hats , because he’s very limited in what you can do and what packages you can run. If the defense doesn’t give you the right look, then
the play is dead. You’ve got to constantly be evolving the looks or having looks
you can also use with other plays so it’s not a dead give away to the
defense.You’re going to need specific packages for Grant, much like he had when
he was in college at Auburn. He’s going to be the motion guy in a 21-personnel
(2RB1TE) look, lining up in the slot and then motioning inside to fake a sweep
or get a sweep to attack the edge with his speed. Or, like we saw in the
preseason, he’s in the backfield with another running back who can potentially
block and goes out for a pass or is a decoy for a delayed screen to the other
side and most of these plays involved Leonard Fournette being in the game. Those
were the plays he was effective in and those are the packages he’s going to be
in going forward.To double back to Sunday’s game against the Giants and why you
didn’t really see much of Grant is more than likely simply because Fournette got
hurt. At that pointyou only have two active running backs, so how much are you
really going to run 21- 22-personnel looks when you only have two guys
available? Not to mention, most of the packages with Grant involved Fournette as
the other back, so the team can utilize both Grant and TJ Yeldon in those
packages with Fournette. I’m sure Yeldon could handle that role, but when you’re
doing install and game planning, Yeldon isn’t working on that role, so then
you’re asking a guy to do a completely different thing than what was game
planned.Grant didn’t get a lot of play/touches because the situations didn’t
allow for it on Sunday, not because they’re squatting on the next Tyreek
Hill.
