Their starters might play all the way in to the second quarter.
Tarvaris Jackson might complete some passes to Vikings players for the first time in a long time.
The game might actually go for two days. . .Saturday AND Sunday.
It is. . .the most interesting pre-season game in the world.
We don't get excited about the pre-season often. . .but when we do, we prefer the Vikings and the Seahawks.
(My apologies to the people that make Dos Equis.)
Yes, on Saturday night the Minnesota Vikings will travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Seattle Seahawks in pre-season football action. In the completely meaningless pre-season standings, the Vikings are currently 0-1 after their 14-3 loss to the Tennessee Titans last week, while the Seahawks are 1-0 and coming off of a 24-17 victory over Minnesota's opponent in Week 1 of the regular season, the San Diego Chargers.
The intrigue in this game. . .as much intrigue as a pre-season game can hold, in any case. . .comes from the fact that Vikings fans will see a couple of familiar faces on the Seattle sidelines this evening. Seattle's new quarterback is Tarvaris Jackson, who spent his first five years in the National Football League with the Vikings. In theory, he should be throwing passes to another former Viking, wide receiver Sidney Rice, who spurned the Vikings when free agency got underway to sign a big money deal with Seattle. I say "in theory" because Rice missed Seattle's first pre-season game with a shoulder issue, and nobody is quite sure whether or not he will be out there for the Seahawks this evening.
On offense, the Vikings have to be hoping for a bit more consistency than they got in their first pre-season contest, when they generated just a field goal. Donovan McNabb looked pretty good at quarterback for his first time in game action with his new teammates, and he will have to continue that improvement this evening so that the Vikings can really get some good work in on offense. On defense, the Vikings simply have to avoid the sort of mental lapses that caused them to give up their touchdowns against Minnesota. . .one of Tennessee's scores came when cornerback Chris Cook, essentially, stopped playing after a Jake Locker fumble, allowing a Titans receiver to get wide open. The other touchdown came after a bad penalty on an uncatchable pass on third down by reserve cornerback Marcus Sherels.
Since this one will be played on the West Coast, it will get off to a bit of a late start, with kickoff scheduled for 9:00 PM Central time. You can follow along with the pre-season action right here at SB Nation Minnesota, and The Daily Norseman will also have a Game Thread open for your commenting pleasure. Local television coverage for the game will be provided by KARE-11, and local radio coverage can be found on KFAN on their new frequency, 100.3 FM.