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* Adrian Peterson did not play.
* Minnesota didn't need him. Matt Cassel threw accurately, got the ball out quickly and led the Vikings to an easy opening drive TD. For his reward, the home crowd got twice as excited when Teddy Bridgewater came in as they ever were when Cassel was on the field. Cassel does look noticeably affected by pass pressure.
* Bridgewater was a pretty hot mess in this game. He was still processing the action a little slowly and ran around like a chicken with its head cut off. He's got to play under better control than he did this game if he's going to supplant Cassel as the starter. I understand the week 2 Arizona game went a lot better for him.
* Cordarrelle Patterson has been the hot sleeper WR pick all summer of the FFL website I read the most. Looks like I read a good site. The Vikings got the ball to him as an outside receiver and as a slot receiver and he beat tight coverage from Tarell Brown a couple of times. They ran an end around with another WR that I have to believe will be run for Patterson in the regular season. He said he's grown up and prepared better for this season, and it shows. Definitely looks like their best receiver.
* Minnesota's got a strong offensive line. Chris Long is going to have his work cut out setting the edge against Phil Loadholdt. Charlie Johnson did some pretty impressive work at guard. They're going to pull-block a lot. With Matt Kalil, and Jerome Felton at fullback, these guys can run-block.
* When you're playing against the Viking defense, you better get a hat on Chad Greenway. They had a couple of sacks, though I think it's still fair to ask where their pass rush is going to come from without Jared Allen. For this game they were in love with dropping the left end into coverage and blitzing a safety or a LB off the right edge. Got Anthony Barr a sack. Secondary looks more physical and aggressive.
* Then again, the Raiders look absolutely awful so far. The starting offense couldn't even cross midfield. Matt Schaub had difficulty finding open receivers and had passes dropped when he did find any. They killed themselves with sloppy penalties - vintage Raiders! - and special teams units looked poor. Oakland just does not look like a well-coached football team.
* The Viking announcers, who yell BOOM! when the Vikings kick off, are much too enthusiastic for a preseason game. They also trash-talked the Raiders and I thought play-by-play man Paul Allen still held a grudge over Minnesota losing Super Bowl XI and refused to say the number of the game, though most of the Internet believes he can't read Roman numerals.
* The Viking cheerleaders looked nasty. They don't wear the Germanic barmaid look well and there were a lot of bad hair days and bad makeup jobs.
* I'm looking a lot more forward to playing Oakland in November than Minnesota opening week. The Vikings look like a tough out. They'll face Brady, Brees, Rodgers and Stafford in their first six games, so the Rams game is a big one for them if they can pick it up.
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