Vikings trample Jets in exhibition game

To my amazement, I got to watch most of this game (pre-season TV coverage is very hit-and-miss). It was an odd game, although the Jets certainly have lots of talent, it didn't really show either team's offensive capabilities. New York QB Pennington must have wished he'd stayed in bed: throwing two picks run back for Viking touchdowns would have to count as a bad day in anyone's books. Minnesota's starting QB didn't do too much: because of the turnovers, he barely saw the ball and only managed 2 completions on 4 attempts for 27 yards.

Adrian Peterson certainly had a good outing: 70 yards on 8 runs, with his first NFL touchdown. If he can do that on a regular basis, then Minnesota's rushing attack will be excellent this year (Chester Taylor is very good, but he wore down toward the end of last season as the feature back). Two high-calibre running backs (plus Mewelde Moore as 3rd down back) equals a very good running game indeed.

The Vikings defence looked pretty good, although there were some breakdowns in run defending, and the Jets running game looked better than I believe it really is: nobody was making those kind of gains up the middle last season against the Vikings. And, as the starters were being replaced by backups and third-stringers, the dreaded open-field arm tackle became the most common mistake by Viking defenders. Lots of opportunities were wasted because the first man to the ball tried to arm-tackle . . . and missed.

The Star Tribune's coverage is here and here.