My 30,000-foot view of the Vikings this season is that they’re just not as intriguing to fans on the periphery as they’ve been in recent years. I started covering the team a few years ago and there’s always been something. It’s the Vikings, after all. A tumultuous 2013 season, a head coach search, the start of Mike Zimmer’s tenure in Minnesota, plenty of Adrian Peterson news, and last year, who could forget, the interwoven sagas of Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Bradford.
This year there are a couple new offensive linemen, a second-round running back, and at least to the casual fan, it doesn’t look like anything has dramatically changed from a team that went 8-8 last season. That year included a disappointing 3-8 collapse to close the season.
Despite the lack of substantial changes in the landscape for the Vikings – and despite an underwhelming preseason from the first-team offense – you could talk yourself into thinking that Minnesota is primed for a good year. Or that it’s ready to sneak up on people.
Cris Collinsworth was out at Vikings practice recently, and it sounds like the popular NBC analyst has done just that. Full disclosure: Collinsworth is probably my favorite color commentator in football right now. He’s sharp, he uses Pro Football Focus information (where he is an investor), and it never comes across like he’s trying to show off to viewers how brilliant he is at breaking it all down.
KSTP’s Darren Wolfson caught up with Collinsworth and asked him if this year’s Vikings team might be more like the 11-win club from 2 seasons ago than the outfit that collapsed and went 8-8 a year ago.
“This is a team, I don’t think anybody is taking too seriously right now,” Collinsworth told Wolfson, “But if those pieces start to fit together, 11 wins is not out of the question.”
He specifically cited the interior offensive line play – Nick Easton, Pat Elflein and Joe Berger – from the preseason game against Seattle. “The first look I head at that new-look offensive line made me think it has a chance,” he said. And he sounded like he’s a believer in Sam Bradford as the quarterback—in his second year in the offense.
Here’s the interview, posted to KSTP.com’s sports page.
The post KSTP-TV: Cris Collinsworth on the Vikings: ‘If those pieces start to fit together…’ appeared first on 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.
Source:: 1500 ESPN Sportswire
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