JOTTINGS

• Mike Zimmer has never faced the Steelers as a head coach, but he faced them twice a year when he was the defensive coordinator for the Bengals, going 4-8 against them. "Pittsburgh's a really good football team," he said. "They're perennially very, very good. They've got a great quarterback, great runner, great receiver. Their defense played really well last week with seven sacks."

• Steelers coach Mike Tomlin on Vikings rookie running back Dalvin Cook: "I have a lot of respect for his skills. His perimeter speed is exceptional. I'm really good friends with his college coach, Jimbo Fisher, so I'm very familiar with his skill set and what he's able to do."

• The Steelers opened with a 21-18 victory at Cleveland, but the first Steelers touchdown came on a blocked punt. The Steelers offense generated only 290 yards of offense, with Ben Roethlisberger throwing two touchdowns to Jesse James.

"We just took what they gave us underneath," Roethlisberger said of the lack of big plays. "That produces opportunities to still move the ball the same way, just not in big chunks." Star running back Le'Veon Bell had only 35 yards of offense following a training camp holdout.

• Vikings defensive coordinator George Edwards on preparing for Roethlisberger: "He does a lot of good things. He's got great pocket presence. He's not a big scrambler, but he does scramble. He's got great feel in the pocket to hang in there, to move to the right, step up, and get the ball down the field. He's tough to bring down." And when it comes to defending five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Antonio Brown, Edwards said it's a tough matchup because he lines up everywhere and makes plays from all spots. "They move him all over the place and do a good job of getting him the ball with their route concepts down the field," Edwards said. "It'll be a tough test for us this week. We're really going to have to work diligently to make sure we handle the leverage and the coverage on him as they move him around."