Vikings Thursday Practice Recap: Cousins Throws 3 Picks as Defense Dominates

It was not a sharp practice for Kirk Cousins and the Vikings' first-team offense.
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Kevin O'Connell and the Vikings have decided not to play many of their starters at all during this preseason, which means they need to make up for those game-like reps elsewhere to keep players progressing on schedule for the regular season opener.

The coaches are able to simulate game reps throughout training camp by putting the team in various situational drills. The night practice earlier this month helped create a game-like atmosphere, and the starters on both sides got a ton of reps in the two days of joint practices against the 49ers.

Thursday was another day that acted as a fill-in for preseason action. The Vikings held what O'Connell called a "scrimmage" at TCO Stadium, where all of the 11-on-11 action came in the form of drives that included a game clock, a chain gang, and even things like an unofficial halftime.

Before we get to the takeaways, some injury notes. Top draft picks Lewis Cine and Andrew Booth Jr. did not participate in this practice. Booth hurt his ankle in the last preseason game, while Cine appears to be dealing with a knee injury. O'Connell said they would be held out but could possibly play on Saturday night in the Vikings' preseason finale. Irv Smith Jr., still recovering from his thumb injury, caught some passes off to the side but did not participate. Janarius Robinson and Dan Chisena were also out.

Let's get to what happened on the field. Spoiler alert: it was a great day for the Vikings' first-team defense.

Cousins throws three picks as defense shines

The Vikings started things out by having the first-team offense go against the second-team defense, and vice versa. It went about as you'd expect. Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson connected a couple times against Tye Smith and Kris Boyd, the latter going for a touchdown. Sean Mannion and the second-team offense had a drive stall out against the first-team D.

Then the ones went against the ones and we got the first signs that it was going to be a long afternoon for the offense. Za'Darius Smith was unstoppable all practice long, starting with his involvement in two sacks and a TFL on the drive. Cousins then ripped one to Jefferson that may have been slightly higher than he wanted. Either way, it deflected off of Jefferson's hands and into the arms of Harrison Smith for an interception.

That was just the beginning.

Cousins was under pressure several times on the next drive, which also featured a false start by, I believe, rookie right guard Ed Ingram. The drive ended up going nowhere, so the Vikings punted.

Cousins' next drive was another series against the second-team defense, which resulted in two touchdown passes to Jefferson. But that's simply what's supposed to happen against backup defenders.

The next time we saw the starting units go at it was in a red zone period that was a complete disaster for Cousins. His first throw, intended for Adam Thielen was nearly intercepted by Patrick Peterson in the end zone, with the veteran corner settling for a PBU. Cousins' next pass went straight into the chest of Za'Darius Smith, who had dropped into coverage without Cousins seeing him. Because Smith is an edge rusher, it wasn't particularly surprising that he dropped the ball.

Cousins then missed Jefferson in the back corner of the end zone with Cameron Dantzler covering. After that, he finally did throw an interception, as Harrison Smith jumped in front of K.J. Osborn on the goal line, took off with the ball, and handed it off to Eric Kendricks, who took a cavalry with him all the way to the opposite end zone. Cousins' final two dropbacks resulted in a Chandon Sullivan PBU and another Za'Darius Smith sack. In total, he went 0 for 5 with a pick and a sack in the red zone period.

But again, we weren't done. After the 2s got some red zone work, the starters lined up deep in their own territory against the starting defense. That resulted in Za'Darius Smith's fourth sack of the day and a Harrison Phillips run stop.

Then, to end practice, the Vikings did a 2-minute drill with the offense trailing by four. After completing five consecutive passes to move the ball, Cousins' final throw of the day was his third interception of the day; he ripped one over the middle that wound up in the hands of a leaping Kendricks.

"Some good, some bad today in practice," Cousins said afterwards. "I was just frustrated with the way I finished up. We made some plays early as an offense, which is good to see. You’d like to think you’d rather make the mistakes now and learn from them and start to tighten the screws as we get closer and closer." 

"You just go back and watch the film and you talk about why you did what you did and how to maybe retrain that habit and maybe make a better decision and how you see things better and be a step ahead. Silver lining is hey, a couple of mistakes made here, but a lot better than making them down the road. I have a sour taste in my mouth now based on the way practice went, but we did make some plays early and the State Fair started today, so have to remind myself of that."

You can look at this one of two ways. The optimist would say it's encouraging for the defense to be playing this well and that the offense will learn from this and be fine. The pessimist would say it's a little concerning that Cousins threw five interceptable passes in one practice barely over two weeks away from facing the Packers' star-studded defense in a game that counts.

The reality is that it's probably somewhere in the middle: the defense looked incredible and the offense has some things it needs to get fixed quickly.

Other notes

  • Sean Mannion took all of the live reps with the twos today. Kellen Mond didn't get any, nor did the newly-acquired Nick Mullens. Both players only handled a walkthrough series. Mullens is still learning the offense and stayed after practice to throw with Myron Mitchell. O'Connell hasn't yet said whether he'll be up to speed enough to play in the preseason finale in Denver on Saturday night. Mannion had a solid connection going with Bisi Johnson in his two drives against the first-team defense. He also threw a touchdown pass to Trishton Jackson when the 2s faced off in a red zone period.
  • If you missed the news from earlier in the day, the Vikings released veteran punter Jordan Berry. That leaves rookie Ryan Wright as their only punter. Wright's four punts on Thursday went for 39, 50, 39, and 56 yards (and none of them were near the end zone, so he wasn't trying to manage distance). One of the 39-yarders was nearly blocked and ended up with Wright on his back. He'll aim for more consistency against the Broncos.
  • I already talked about how good Za'Darius Smith was, but Harrison Phillips, Danielle Hunter, Dalvin Tomlinson, and even Armon Watts all had some nice moments. The Vikings' defensive front has a chance to be special this season.

Up next: preseason game No. 3 in Denver on Saturday night. Then, on Tuesday, the roster will be cut down to 53 and preparation for the Packers will be in full swing.

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