Of the things Mike Zimmer initially listed as issues following the Vikings' 17-10 preseason-opening victory against the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night, several didn't turn out to be as bad as the coach thought once he'd watched the film.
The one that matched Zimmer's postgame diagnosis? The issues in press coverage.
Defenders were too quick to open their hips after jamming a receiver at the line of scrimmage, Zimmer said, and sometimes gave too much space when playing off receivers. On offense, several of the Vikings' young wideouts struggled to shake press coverage.
The coach thinks he knows why.
"A lot of the guys that we have [had for several years] haven't had an issue with it," Zimmer said. "But it takes work. And then when you play against somebody that you haven't really studied, you know, we had a half-day of [play] cards on it. They might release a little bit different, or they might bump you a little bit different than what we do."
Zimmer is among the coaches who have lamented the NFL's offseason rules, which shortened each team's spring program in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement and prohibited defensive backs from pressing receivers until padded practices in training camp. That has left young players searching for the right way to handle physical play on the perimeter in the NFL, and contributed to an uneven performance Thursday night.
The Vikings won't spend much time game planning for the Seattle Seahawks on Friday night. Rather, they'll look to clean things up in exercises such as the one they used Saturday, when they devoted a sizable chunk of practice to press coverage.
"We're pretty simple in what we do — it's basically, 'Cover your guy,' " Zimmer said. "We didn't have many mental errors. We just didn't cover very good."
