Nose tackle Harrison Phillips wanted to keep it humble while discussing the 23-7 beat-down his new Vikings team handed its oldest, most bitter rival from Green Bay inside a raucous, giddy U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday.
"That wasn't their full unit up front offensively," Phillips said. "So I'm not sure that's their real outfit or not."
A Vikings player politely taking pity on the Packers might be worse than trash talking. But Phillips had a good point.
While the Vikings were at full strength, Green Bay was as beat up as you will see an NFL team heading into Week 1 of a season. Both starting offensive tackles missed the game. The starting right guard had to play right tackle. A backup center had to play right guard. And early in the second half, the starting left guard was out with a concussion.
Advantage, Vikings and new coordinator Ed Donatell's completely-new-looking 3-4 defense that had played nary a snap together in the preseason.
One of the few miscommunications of the entire game came with the Vikings leading 7-0 and the Packers going for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1. With 12 defenders roaming about the field, a timeout was called as linebacker Jordan Hicks left for the sideline.
"It was just personnel miscommunication," Hicks said. "Just normal Week 1 stuff."
Said Phillips, "If that's our biggest mistake, we can get that fixed easy and move on."
The Vikings moved on immediately. The Packers lined up in shotgun formation with four wideouts, figuring the Vikings wouldn't buy the notion that Aaron Rodgers would try an inside handoff to A.J. Dillon.
Not a single Viking looked surprised when Rodgers did indeed hand off to the 247-pound running back. Phillips shed his blocker and was the first to meet Dillon about one plastic blade of grass from the goal line.
"Thanks goes to coach Donatell putting in a good play and trusting me to make a play there," Phillips said. "Eric [Kendricks] came down great to pull the center away and kind of split the double team, and I was able to get there. And Za'Darius [Smith] crashed down pretty good too and helped out."
Phillips said the goal-line stand began with safety Harrison Smith making back-to-back tackles for no gain and a 6-yard gain.
"We're a bend-don't-break defense, so we'll defend every blade of grass this season," Phillips said. "It started with coach Donatell. We weren't fooled. We knew they wanted to run the football there. Harrison Smith gave us a chance to get out there again. And then, thank the Lord, I was able to make a play."
Phillips had three tackles and also a pressure that led to Harrison Smith's interception with 35 seconds left in the first half. That's right, the team whose defensive identity last year was giving up a record amount of points in the final two minutes of halves came away this time with an interception of the two-time reigning league MVP.
"Again, that wasn't their first unit up front, so we want to stay humble about it," Phillips said. "Just tried to take advantage of that. I ran a pretty good game with Danielle [Hunter]. He set it up for me because he's Danielle and they have to respect him.
"A sack, fumble there for me would have been nice. But I'm happy with a pressure and the interception. This was a good win. Coming from Buffalo, we talked about winning the division and winning at home. So this was a big win. It wasn't an end-all, be-all must-win. But it was big. We have some pretty good vibes going right now."
