Monday Morning Mailbag: Padded Practices and Cousins' Red-Zone Ability

[Viktor]

Hi Eric. Would you say that the Vikings defense is ahead of the offense, or the other way around? I know the offense is pretty much intact except for some O-line tweaking, but the defense could surprise a lot of people. Your thoughts.


Well, for the first time in the Mike Zimmer era, the offense has actually started training camp ahead of the defense. With so much continuity on defense over the past five seasons, training camp was usually seen as a chance for that veteran group to add elements to their game and not necessarily learn about the new faces on the unit.


This year, as you mentioned, it's the offense that is in that boat. Sure, there are a few new faces, but there's a chance that the Vikings open Week 1 plenty of familiar faces.


Let's envision Minnesota trots out "22 personnel" (2 running backs, 2 tight ends and a wide receiver) on play No. 1 against the Packers. If Pat Elflein and Dakota Dozier are our hypothetical guards, that means every offensive lineman was on the 2019 roster. The same goes for Kirk Cousins, Dalvin Cook, C.J. Ham, Kyle Rudolph, Irv Smith, Jr., and Adam Thielen. That's continuity at its finest.


The expectation for the offense — and everyone from coaches and players have said this — is that they start fast and take another step forward in 2020.


As for the defense, there could be five new starters (three cornerbacks, a defensive tackle and a defensive end). There are plenty of veterans in the starting lineup, but that entire group will likely use camp to try and get on the same page.


But, as I wrote last week, don't think that a new-look defense suddenly has lower expectations.


Long wait for football. One question, it's third-and-long and Cousins is sacked in the red zone. What can he do to change this out come? Thanks.


— Steve from Woodbury


Yes, it has been a long wait, but hopefully you're excited by the above news. Onto your question…


Here were Cousins' stats inside the opponent's 20-yard line in 2019: Completed 30 of 51 passes for 187 yards with 16 touchdowns, an interception, four sacks and a rating of 97.8.


Overall, I think Kirk was pretty efficient in the red zone, minus the rare mistake of an interception in Week 2 at Lambeau Field. He took four sacks, but that's probably a combination of the opposing defense, the Vikings offensive line and Cousins himself.


You know what 3rd-down play in the red zone does come to mind for me when I think about Kirk?


The one in overtime to Kyle Rudolph on the road against New Orleans in the playoffs. Ball game.