Nine of the Vikings' 19 completions in Sunday night's Hall of Fame game win over the Steelers went to tight ends or running backs. Ninety-four of the 161 yards passing and the one touchdown pass went to tight ends or running backs.

"We throw the ball to the tight ends and backs a lot," offensive coordinator Norv Turner said earlier today. "We throw a good mix. We throw the ball up the field a lot, but we throw a lot of short, high-percentage passes."

Turner stresses to the backs and tight ends not to assume that the short passes won't turn into explosive plays, which the Vikings consider to be 16 yards or more.

"All during spring and all during training camp, we're not tackling," Turner said. "The [defender] comes up and puts his hands on you and everyone says, 'He had him tackled.' We we start playing, I told them last week, 'Now we're playing tackle football.'

"If you're throwing the balls we throw and you get one-on-one [with a tackler], you got to make a guy miss, like [running back] Jerick [McKinnon] did [on Sunday]."

On the third snap of the game, McKinnon made Steelers linebacker Arthur Moats miss in a one-on-one situation on a pass that was caught a yard behind the line of scrimmage. McKinnon faked right, faked left and then went right to elude Moats en route to a 13-yard gain.

"When you make a guy miss, it turns into a big play," Turner said. "I don't care if the ball is thrown 16 yards up the field to get a 16-yard gain or it's thrown a yard behind the line of scrimmage to get a 16-yard gain, those 16 yards count. And usually if you're good at throwing to the tight end and the backs, it creates opportunities to throw the ball up the field. And if you're good at throwing the ball up the field, it creates opportunities to throw the ball to the backs.

"We may go through three games and not get big plays to the receivers. But if we're being efficient and effective, those big plays will come."