Vikings

Does Preseason Chemistry Mean Anything?

Photo Credit: Brad Rempel (USA Today Sports)

The Minnesota Vikings will launch their 2018 regular season on Sunday, and in conjunction will flush the results of the preseason — a 3-1 finish for the Vikings, if you cared to know.

It has long been established that preseason results mean little. Of more importance are the individual performances. How did Player A fare from game to game? How was their progress? Did he outperform Player B?

There is reason to believe that strong preseasons can lead to strong regular seasons. Stefon Diggs, for instance, showed his potential on the practice field and in preseason games weeks before taking part in a regular season game back in 2015. On the other hand, Case Keenum’s sub-standard preseason in 2017 had fans wondering if the Vikings needed to sign a new quarterback when Sam Bradford hurt his knee.

Projecting, it seems, can be an inexact science.

The early signs in training camp this year pointed toward quarterback Kirk Cousins having a strong connection with Diggs and Laquon Treadwell. That played out in preseason games as Diggs made seven catches for 86 yards and a touchdown in his 55 snaps, while Treadwell had six catches for 55 yards in 87 snaps — totals that would closely reflect their perceived spots in the offensive hierarchy.

Can that chemistry carry over into meaningful games?

Diggs emphasizes that chemistry isn’t built overnight — it’s worked towards. He and Cousins have been forming a bond since they met in Atlanta for casual workouts after the quarterback was signed. They had a clear connection during training camp as Diggs frequently made splash plays against first-team defensive backs, and they had a pair of deep hook-ups during the preseason that made them look like decade-long teammates.

“You can’t really hope for carryover, but you can practice the right way, keep it going, keep going that way, Diggs said. “You don’t really hope for carry over, but you want the best things to happen, you want good things to happen, but you’ve got to work for them.”

On the flip side, connections with Adam Thielen and Kyle Rudolph were rarer on the practice field throughout August, which also tended to translate to games. Not to say the two pass catchers had bad practices; they were just less noticeable. Considering that Thielen has led the Vikings in receiving yards for two straight years and Rudolph has 15 touchdowns in the last two seasons, it’s safe to say they’ll be leaned upon in the offense. We just haven’t seen the proof yet.

Thielen went catch-less for two games before making four grabs for 26 yards in Preseason Week 3. He finished the preseason with 80 snaps. Rudolph settled for one preseason catch on 65 snaps.

“Games are funny,” said offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, “because you go into games thinking that a certain player is going to get the football and then they come out and maybe they’re playing you in a little bit different coverage than you thought and the ball gets back in the second or third progression or down to the back more often than you anticipate.”

DeFilippo is adamant that the Vikings want to spread the football around to various targets to keep the defense uncomfortable as it adjusts to different personnel groups, but he also pointed out how opponents can throw off his own gameplans with their schematic efforts. That’s when a player can end up getting shut out of the offense.

The first-year offensive coordinator believes that preseason chemistry is very real — and very important, especially when a quarterback is new like Cousins. He said the Vikings have given Cousins longer practice periods than usual to ensure he’s getting on the same page as his weapons.

“I think you go to other places where certain quarterbacks have been there 10, 11, 12 years, and they’ve been in the same system or only been in two systems in their career, well, I don’t think it’s as important,” DeFilippo said when asked about preseason chemistry. “But it was important for us early on to get Kirk a little bit more reps early on in OTAs and training camp than maybe he would next year. I’m just throwing something out there, say it’s a 12-play period, maybe we give eight of the 12 to try to get him caught up and on page with not only the offensive line but all the wideouts and people he’s throwing to.”

The last month and a half has been a feeling-out period as receivers have tried to learn Cousins’ and DeFilippo’s preferences. The fact that both are so new, and so vital, to the Vikings organization might be perceived as a hurdle early in the season, but consider what the Vikings have faced the last two years. Bradford didn’t join the team until early September of 2016 and played his first game two weeks later. Nonetheless, he had a good season despite switching coordinators midway through. Case Keenum didn’t work with the first team until Week 2 of last season, yet he led the Vikings to a 13-3 record and one game from the Super Bowl.

In Rudolph’s eyes, getting a full summer with both Cousins and DeFilippo is a huge step up from the recent rash of last-second quarterback/coordinator swaps.

“Having an entire offseason to work on trust and chemistry, it’s kind of nice,” said Rudolph. “You think back to the last couple years, it was like a day before we played together that we had to do all that work. We’ve had a little over four months, which seems like four years. It’s been good to get to work together as an offense since April.”


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