Kirk Cousins delivered for the Minnesota

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Vikings the type of performance expected from http://www.vikingsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-eric-kendricks-jersey , and demanded by, his big contract.Passing for 219 yards and three touchdowns over the fourth quarter and overtime at Green Bay, Cousins guided the Vikings back from a 13-point deficit to forge a tie with the Packers despite an interception and many other mistakes by the rest of the team.Given this was his first NFC North game and first on the road against Minnesota's primary rival, there was a statement made that afternoon at Lambeau Field."I've seen Kirk do those things before, so it just solidified what type of leader he is," offensive coordinator John DeFilippo said. "You're never out of the game."The Vikings (1-0-1) are fifth in the NFL in total yards, entering Sunday against winless Buffalo. Cousins, however, was quick to point out the Vikings had only seven points through three quarters at Green Bay."We'd love to be more explosive throughout the game as opposed to more concentrated to late in the game," Cousins said. "We want to be an offense that can strike at any time, but also be a threat from the first quarter all the way through the last."The Bills have a long way to go to get there, having handed their quarterback job to rookie Josh Allen during their blowout loss at Baltimore in the opener. The seventh overall pick in the draft showed some progress last week, but with an unsettled offensive line and a lack of game-breaking receivers, this season figures to be a steep learning curve for Allen."All these trials and tribulations that I'm going to go through my rookie year," he said, "are only going to help in the long run."Here are some other key angles to follow for the Bills-Vikings game:MAKING THE CALLThe Bills were outscored 75-9 over their first six quarters until making modest improvement in the second half last week. What changed? Well, coach Sean McDermott took over the play-calling duty from defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, his long-time friend and mentor. They will collaborate now."We're going to do what we feel we need to do in games, and improve," McDermott said, "and we look in every corner to improve."The Chargers had 284 yards, 17 first downs and 28 points in the first half, then just 65 yards, four first downs and three points in the second half."That's something that we can build on this week going in, just having the confidence of knowing we can stop teams from scoring," said Tre'Davious White, one of only three healthy cornerbacks on the roster following the retirement of Vontae Davis and injuries to Phillip Gaines and Taron Johnson.FAMILIAR FACEFrazier took the adjustment in stride. He first began coaching with McDermott in 1999 with the Philadelphia Eagles."We owe it to our players to give us the best chance to win, whatever it may be Youth Harrison Smith Jersey ," Frazier said, "and so that's how I looked at it."Frazier, of course, was the head coach for the Vikings for three-plus seasons after serving as defensive coordinator prior to that. This will be his first return to Minnesota for a regular-season game since his firing after the 2013 season."Just a lot of good relationships back in Minnesota, a lot of fond memories," Frazier said.BAILEY'S DEBUTIf and when Dan Bailey makes his first field goal on Sunday, the crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium will undoubtedly roar with an undertone of sarcasm after those three wide rights by now-discarded rookie Daniel Carlson against the Packers.Kicking trouble has hounded the Vikings throughout Mike Zimmer's reign as head coach since 2014, so they were relieved that a player with Bailey's accomplishment and experience was available this week .The Bills have had more stability lately with Stephen Hauschka, who ranks fourth on the NFL's all-time field goal accuracy list . Bailey is second. Hauschka, who was in training camp with the Vikings as a rookie in 2008, is 33 for 38 on field goal tries in 19 games with the Bills and has converted all 31 extra point attempts."We are fortunate. Hauschka is very steady and a veteran who has kicked in big games," McDermott said. "That was part of the reason why we picked him up."MCCOY HURTINGThe Bills ranked sixth in the league last year in rushing yards, on the strength of a second straight 1,000-yard season by LeSean McCoy, but Bills running backs have only 108 yards on 31 attempts through two games. This has been a rough season so far for McCoy. He's been working through a rib cartilage injury this week, when he was also named in a second case of alleged abuse brought forth by a former girlfriend .Minnesota's defense is not an ideal opponent against which to get on track."They're a good team. It's a challenge. If I'm good enough, I'll go out there and compete," McCoy said.NOT SO SPECIALVikings special teams coordinator Mike Priefer has been under pressure for more than just the place-kicking problems. The Packers blocked Matt Wile's punt and turned it into a touchdown last week, the most glaring mistake that wasn't a missed field goal."We're going to have to clean it up," Zimmer said.Kyle Sloter: QB On The Rise ? Before the Vikings won the Kirk Cousins derby earlier this year, they won the lesser known 3rd String QB derby for Kyle Sloter’s services at the end of pre-season last year.It was somewhat intriguing after John Elway and the Broncos cut Sloter, as there were a number of teams bidding for Sloter’s services - the Vikings being one of them. The Vikings had Sam Bradford, Teddy Bridgewater, Case Keenum and Taylor Heinike under contract to end training camp, but cut Heinike loose and entered the bidding for Sloter.Ultimately the Vikings and Rick Spielman prevailed, outbidding the other teams by paying Sloter nearly active roster pay for a practice squad quarterback.Shortly thereafter, the Vikings put Sloter on the roster to avoid his being poached off the practice squad - despite having three veteran quarterbacks under contract and either healthy or thought soon to be.It was unusual to see so much NFL interest in a rookie quarterback with only one seasonplaying quarterback at Northern Colorado who went undrafted just a few months earlier.But despite his relative lack of experience, the interest in Sloter was not unfounded.Here’s why.SLOTER’S COLLEGE CAREERNicholas Martin from Behind The Steel Curtain did a great interview with Sloter prior to the 2017 draft http://www.vikingsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-everson-griffen-jersey , where he was picked up by the Broncos as an undrafted free agent 15 months ago.Here is another draft diamonds piece on him from Bleacher report - outlining his bad luck during his college career.Kyle Sloter was recruited as a QB at Southern Miss, where he redshirted his first year and was told he would start the next year by his coach just before he was fired.He was later buried on the depth chart by the new coach, which led to his transfer the following year to Northern Colorado.Sloter got off to a bad start there as not of his credits transferred there from Southern Miss, requiring him to do extra work and miss two out of every three practices in the spring, and then later requiring an internship that caused him to miss two months of practice time.That allowed another QB to start, but in his second game he broke his collar-bone and Sloter got his first starting opportunity.He threw for 408 yards and 6 TDs coming in to replace the injured starter - and won the game 55-52.He finished the season (2016) going 198/319 for 2,656 yards (8.3 avg), 29 TDs and 10 INTs.So, basically 1 out of 7 of his completions was for a TD.Huh.But that was his only season starting in college. And 319 attempts isn’t much.At his pro-day there were 45 mph winds so they moved it inside, and he worked out on a basketball court with borrowed sneakers.Not surprisingly, his workout didn’t go well.Anyway, it was enough for the Broncos to take a flyer on him as a UDFA, in part based on draft profiles like this from nfl.com:At 6’4”, 215 lbs. (now 221 lbs), he has near prototype size for an NFL quarterback, and while his pro-day led to some disappointing stats (lower due to worse conditions than Combine), his Wonderlic score was 38 - higher than Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, and every quarterback in the 2018 draft.And during the 2017 pre-season with Denver, Sloter finished with a 125.4 passer rating - highest among rookie quarterbacks.Here is the video:Add to that the highlights from the Vikings - Denver game:Reading through the Behind the Steel Curtain interview with Sloter, it’s clear he has dealt with some adversity in his college career, battled through it, and didn’t waste the opportunity when it finally presented itself.It’s also clear that he has advanced knowledge of reading defenses for a young quarterback and is very smart.He’s also athletic with a great arm - as his deep out to Caleb Jones showed.Last year with Denver, he was shocked when he was released after the performance he had in pre-season - and with Siemian, Lynch and Kelly as competition, I’m surprised too. He looked better than all three Saturday night.ON THE RISE ?I suspect that Sloter is not content to remain a 3rd string quarterback, and is gunning for Siemian’s job as backup this pre-season.It’s too early to say whether or not Sloter will win that challenge - I’m guessing the coaching staff will favor Siemian’s experience - but Sloter’s performance against Denver may have stepped up that competition.Don’t be surprised if that continues throughout pre-season.
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