Mike Zimmer was asked this week if he believed he would see a "new team" on Sunday, with the Minnesota Vikings' first-year coach saying he wanted to see the old team, the one who had been so successful in the preseason and the season's first game.
Sunday at Buffalo looked a bit too familiar for Minnesota, both in terms of the recent play and the "old" team. The Vikings' offense couldn't do much against the Bills and the defense allowed a last-minute comeback as it did so often last year.
Zimmer preached positives in his postgame press conference, but Minnesota returns home after a 17-16 loss with Buffalo scoring with one second left in the game to pull out the win.
Here are five takeaways:
If Zimmer needs talking points for finishing, both drives and the game, he has them. The Vikings could have put the game away a few different times. Minnesota had four turnovers on defense, yet managed six points on the ensuing drives. Given prime position after one fumble recovery, the offense only managed five yards and had to kick a field goal.
Offensively, the Vikings drove down the field and appeared ready to put the game away late in the fourth quarter. Minnesota had a first-and-goal at the 7-yard line and suffered sacks on back-to-back plays and had to settle for a field goal and a 16-10 lead. Buffalo eventually erased the lead with the touchdown to rookie receiver Sammy Watkins with one second left.
The Watkins play ended what was otherwise a strong defensive effort and was another example of not finishing. On the game-winning drive, the Bills converted on fourth-and-20, third-and-12 and second-and-20.
The fourth-and-20 conversion was the most glaring breakdown. Linebacker Chad Greenway had his back to the line of scrimmage while talking to the secondary when the ball was snapped. Greenway was in coverage on tight end Scott Chandler, who had the big catch for 24 yards.
Eight sacks last week brought the brunt of the criticism on Minnesota's offensive line. Yet, rookie quarterback Bridgewater shared in the blame. Same goes this week as the Vikings allowed five sacks.
The two most egregious sacks -- the two on consecutive plays after reaching the 7-yard line -- were on the line. Jerry Hughes beat left tackle Matt Kalil quickly on first down and then defensive tackle Marcell Dareus beat right tackle Phil Loadholt on a stunt on second down, Loadholt spinning around in the process. Yet there were times Bridgewater held the ball too long or didn't have receivers to throw to.
Minnesota's much-maligned line held up well in run-blocking against the league's top-run defense, but the pass protection was an issue against a team that entered Sunday tied for second in the league in sacks.
Of course, when given time, Bridgewater wasn't sharp for the second-straight game. The Vikings did give the rookie chances to make plays with clean pockets but Bridgewater was inaccurate and made mistakes. A week after three interceptions, Bridgewater threw two interceptions on Sunday.
His inaccuracy was an issue on the first interception. Trying to hit tight end Chase Ford, Bridgewater had the pass deflect off a linebacker who had his back to the play and it bounced directly to a defensive back.
On the second interception, Bridgewater stared down receiver Adam Thielen on an out pattern and had the defensive back step in front of Thielen for the interception, ending a second straight drive with an interception. The pass was not thrown soon enough or was a poor decision by Bridgewater.
Receiver Greg Jennings made a one-handed catch on a pass behind him on one inaccurate throw. Jennings spoke with Bridgewater after the second interception and had Bridgewater settled down. Jennings also had a strong game, helping Bridgewater after the talk. Jennings had two catches on the next drive, which finished in a touchdown to receiver Cordarrelle Patterson.
Jennings had six catches for 77 yards, while Bridgewater finished 15-of-26 passing for 157 yards. The touchdown to Patterson was Bridgewater's first passing score of his career and the first since Matt Cassel had a passing touchdown to Matt Asiata on the first drive of Week 2.
The final drive overshadows a strong performance from the defense, which created four turnovers. Minnesota held strong last week against Detroit, but didn't create turnovers. The Vikings had three takeaways on defense in the past five games.
For 57 minutes, Minnesota's defense had answered the call. Defensive end Everson Griffen had three sacks and a forced fumble. Defensive tackles Sharrif Floyd, Linval Joseph and Tom Johnson had sacks. Chad Grenway, in his return after missing three games, had a forced fumble to go with a team-high 15 tackles. Harrison Smith forced a fumble and Anthony Barr had two recoveries.
Up until the final drive, the Vikings had allowed 293 total yards. C.J. Spiller had a 53-yard run before leaving the game with an injury. Minnesota gave up 65 yards on the other 18 runs for Buffalo.
For the second straight week, rookie running back Jerick McKinnon dominated the carries. The matchup couldn't have looked tougher. The Bills had allowed just for 67.5 yards per game and have Mario Williams, Kyle Williams and Marcell Dareus along the defensive line.
The Vikings were also playing with backups at center and right guard for much of the game as John Sullivan and Vladimir Ducasse left because of injuries on the same play. Mike Harris, a tackle who filled in at guard for Ducasse, was playing out of position.
But with McKinnon running hard, Minnesota had success on the ground against Buffalo. McKinnon had 19 carries to backup Matt Asiata's six runs. McKinnon finished with 103 rushing yards, the first player to go over 100 yards on the Bills this season. McKinnon's 29-yard run was the longest Buffalo has allowed this season.
Asiata had 24 yards on his six carries and had an 11-yard run. Even fullback Jerome Felton got in the mix with a 21-yard run. McKinnon looks to be the player to give the Vikings some threat on the ground without Adrian Peterson.
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