Vikings Preseason Week 2 vs. the Ravens: Takeaways

The Minnesota Vikings have begun to play out their roster battles, and their second preseason game of the year might help clarify some of the fringe starting battles and the bevy of backup spots available across both sides of the ball.

They lost 13-3, though we all understand the result doesn’t matter as much as what the process has revealed. Without most of the starters playing, we have nothing to evaluate the Vikings’ top-line talent or their readiness for the season.

Nevertheless, we’ve learned quite a bit about the team and what depth they can rely on as the season begins. Let’s talk about it.

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J.J. McCarthy started off his day inaccurately sailing a pass to Myles Price on the sideline and ended his day doing the same. In between those two less-than-wonderful throws were some egregious missteps and a big play that might define his upside.

A deeper analysis of McCarthy’s day may or may not be incoming, but the long-and-short of it is that he didn’t do much to wash away the bad taste he left — McCarthy-led offenses continued their operational errors and his passes in the red zone obviated what might have been an impressive moment on a deep throw to Tai Felton.

On that play, McCarthy slid up against edge pressure and used that movement in concert with his throwing motion to generate more power, slinging it deep to Felton. The placement wasn’t perfect, but it also wasn’t egregious.

But skying the two passes he had to open receivers in the end zone, including an extremely open Price, undercuts the glimpses of upside we could see.

McCarthy also oversaw another drive inhibited by process penalties. It is, of course, the case that offensive linemen can be responsible for false starts on an individual level. But the pattern points to an underlying issue: McCarthy himself.

When he’s overseen the offense, process penalties have been an enormous issue. That problem died down as we entered the final stretch of the season and the offense had been simplified, but any question about his ability to handle the full offense remains unanswered.

McCarthy still demonstrated a very high time-to-throw (2.92 seconds) which was nevertheless much lower than his time to throw in the previous game. Wentz’s time to throw was just 2.57 seconds. McCarthy’s decisions invited pressure and he saw pressure on nearly 55 percent of his dropbacks.

Not all of the pressure was his fault. Henry Byrd and Vershon Lee played extremely poorly against the Ravens’ second-team unit, putting McCarthy under substantial pressure throughout the game. Joe Huber wasn’t much better.

But making sure a known issue doesn’t get worse is something quarterbacks like McCarthy need to work on.

Did the other quarterbacks perform better? Well, Wentz pretty much did — but not enough to a degree that one should feel remarkably comfortable in him as a backup option. McCarthy represents a favorable comparison that makes Wentz look outstanding by comparison, but outside of that specific comparison, Wentz was disappointing.

The offense operated on time, but he didn’t demonstrate good operational control beyond that, and though his on-paper accuracy (81.8 percent completion rate) was good, the ball location on those throws didn’t enable receivers to maximize their yards-after-catch.

The pocket management against unfavorable pressure looks was a concern as well; two sacks on 13 dropbacks isn’t entirely his fault but it’s also not completely outside of his control. He leaned away from pressure and the ball died on him even on short throws. Jeshaun Jones, Dontae Fleming and others did excellent work making Wentz’s statistics look good — a dying ball in double-coverage to Jones was the best Wentz gain of the game and it wasn’t as impressive as McCarthy’s throw to Felton.

Brosmer was a bit of a disaster; he wasn’t accurate, he couldn’t manage the pocket and didn’t seem capable of aligning his footwork with the structure of the play.

Outside of quarterbacks, there’s more good play from the Vikings backup skill depth. Price didn’t show out quite as much as he did in the previous game, but he did look good. On top of that, Felton looked great, making good on the camp hype he’d been building up.

Dillon Bell and Jeshaun Jones also had productive moments, though they’ve been starting well behind the other two when it comes to the receiver depth chart. It’ll be difficult for either to make a case ahead of Felton and Price.

At running back, Zavier Scott showcased what made him such an exciting running back addition last year, but only as a runner. It seems likely that he’ll lose the third running back spot for pass protection reasons; Demond Claiborne, also a liability in pass protection, seems more capable there and has better big-play potential as a runner.

Defensively, we saw an early outstanding performance from the second unit that nearly shut out the Snoop Huntley-led second team for the Ravens.

Helping that along came more highlight plays from Elijah Williams, who has an uphill battle for a spot on the defensive line despite his excellent camp and preseason performances over the last two years. With the Vikings all but assured to keep Jalen Redmond and Levi Drake Rodriguez along with draft picks Domonique Orange and Caleb Banks, there may only be one spot left between veteran Isaiahh Loudermilk, Williams and a rotational nose tackle who took snaps last year in Taki Taimani.

Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins complicates that picture as well. The Vikings ostensibly moved him to outside linebacker, but he looked much more effective on the inside and could move back to the defensive line. In this game, we saw the potential Minnesota saw in him when they drafted him — but only on the interior instead of the edge.

We saw some other position shakeups on defense as well. Chazz Chambliss, an edge rusher, played quite a few snaps at off-ball linebacker. He didn’t look fully comfortable in coverage or as a quick trigger in the run game, but was an effective blitzer and did recover some of that comfort in coverage with a thunderous hit over the middle to prevent a first down.

Jake Golday, who primarily played off-ball in the first preseason game, shifted around in this second showing, lining up at times on the edge. This was an expected role for him, both because of his history in college as an edge rusher before switching to off-ball linebacker, and because of comments made by him and the Vikings coaching staff.

That alignment helped create pressure but also didn’t compromise anything in the run game, with Golday setting the edge well enough to string out an outside run to the sideline. Also at linebacker, Ivan Pace made a showing — again, primarily as a blitzer. He didn’t complete the process of the sack when he got into the backfield, but it was enough to flush Huntley out of the pocket to secure a tackle well short of a first down.

Edge rusher Tyler Batty showed out a bit too, earning two pressures on his ten pass-rush snaps. He was a steady run defender on top of that and might provide more depth than the Vikings could have reasonably expected this season.

We also saw more from Jacob Roberts, who added to his outstanding preseason so far with four killer tackles near the line of scrimmage and another two besides. Adding a pass-rush pressure on top of that is a nice cherry on top.

In the secondary, eyes were on fifth-round rookie Chuck Demmings (whose nickname, according to Josh Metellus, is “the Prophet,” a reference to his proclivity to cite scripture in the locker room. It could also possibly be a reference to rap-rock supergroup Prophets of Rage, of which Public Enemy’s Chuck D was a member).

Demmings has forced himself into a battle for the third cornerback spot with new free agent signing James Pierre and has looked outstanding in camp in doing so. His preseason hasn’t looked bad either, and he had a good moment in this game against LaJohntay Wester, forcing a drop, and looked good in coverage besides.

Also impressive was Da’Veawn Armstead, an undrafted cornerback that we highlighted in our UDFAs to watch piece in early May.

At safety, the Vikings saw more good play from Jay Ward, though his presence in light of Theo Jackson’s absence suggests that the Vikings have made their decision about who will start at safety alongside Josh Metellus. Also notable was Jacob Thomas’ reappearance as a “starter” for this game, suggesting he’s on the second team.

Jakobe Thomas, one of the competitors for a backup safety spot, once again did not play. But unlike with Jackson, this likely suggests his ongoing injury concerns have held him out of more evaluative exhibition games. That’s unfortunate for the drafted Thomas but does create an opportunity for the undrafted Thomas to make the roster.

There’s reason for optimism at the bottom of the Vikings’ roster, even if some of them don’t come from the areas we hope to see. Caleb Banks is still coming along slowly, and he himself pointed out after the game that he’s not yet in game shape. But with undrafted and late-drafted rookies and second-year players making their case, there’s a solid foundation to build on if the Vikings can do a better job resolving concerns at the top of the roster.