A daily dispatch from Eagan

Off their game on stormy day

After canceling the morning walk-through and moving practice back 10 minutes as a storm passed just to the north, the Vikings returned to the TCO Performance Center fields after Sunday's off day. Swimming through 72% humidity in front of a sparse crowd, the Vikings went another day without their starting defensive tackles participating in team drills. Tight end Kyle Rudolph watched from the sideline with a sleeve on his right leg. And the field goal unit's up-and-down summer continued with two misses in eight attempts.

Snappers lacking consistency

Neither long-snapper looks to be performing with the kind of consistency the NFL demands, with snaps that appear too high and too many that come in too low. Veteran Kevin McDermott and rookie Austin Cutting each snapped four times to holder Matt Wile on kicker Dan Bailey's eight attempts. Bailey made three of four attempts with both snappers, including 1-for-1 with each player during the situation segment. Bailey and Wile turned a poor snap from McDermott into a field goal. Meanwhile, Bailey's only miss with Cutting came from 45 yards out after a poor snap.

Zimmer with DBs

Coach Mike Zimmer never strays from the defensive backs for too long. He paid special attention to the young corners during the fourth period's one-on-one segment. "Don't look at the quarterback!" he barked at undrafted rookie Nate Meadows, who lost coverage on Jeff Badet, who used the separation to cut quickly to the sideline for an easy catch. Later, he corrected rookie seventh-round pick Kris Boyd, telling him to "get on top of the receiver" when he makes a 45-degree cut to the sideline. Boyd stayed behind receiver Jordan Taylor and gave up an easy completion.

Downs does it all

Second-year linebacker Devonte Downs turned heads during the seventh period. In an 11-on-11 segment, he broke through the line and deflected a pass from Sean Mannion. He then plucked the ball out of the air and went the other way for a touchdown.

Camp chatter

"We're going to try and hit him. Just like we do every other quarterback." — Zimmer when asked how it will feel Friday night to face Teddy Bridgewater, the former Vikings starter and current Saints backup.

Injury report

• Rudolph missed his second straight practice but Zimmer said, "He's just got a minor little thing. He'll be fine."

• Offensive tackle Aviante Collins and defensive end Ade Aruna remained sidelined. Defensive tackle Curtis Cothran returned to practice. Starting defensive tackles Linval Joseph and Shamar Stephen went through individual drills but still have not participated in a team portion of practice this summer.

• Mike Hughes and David Morgan are still on the physically-unable-to-perform list; Tashawn Bower is on the non-football injury list.

MARK CRAIG