Notebook: Zimmer pleased with Vikings' progress heading into bye week
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Mike Zimmer will admit to not being patient as he's watched his Minnesota Vikings.
Zimmer has wanted to see immediate results in his first year as Minnesota's coach. Even through navigating some difficult moments -- the loss of star running back Adrian Peterson being the biggest blow -- Zimmer was focused on wins.
Early on, wins were elusive. The process of developing the Vikings in Zimmer's image was a close second in importance.
As Minnesota was rewarded with wins the past two weeks, Zimmer has seen the growth in his young team.
"I do believe that we are building what I envisioned this football team to look like," Zimmer said Monday, a day after the Vikings' 29-26 win against Washington. "We still got a long way to go, but the mindset of being able to overcome any kind of obstacle and continue to play hard, and obviously we got to play smarter in a lot of situations. But I've always said I like how this team works and how they continue to compete and practice and I think it's starting to show up a little bit at the end of games . . .
"I think for the overall confidence of the football team, the overall morale of the program of where things are going on I felt like that was a good victory for us.
Minnesota enters its bye 4-5 and no longer in last place in the NFC North. The Bears, who the Vikings play following their Week 10 bye, are 3-5 after their bye this week. Detroit leads the division with a 6-2 record. Green Bay is 5-3.
The playoffs seemed a far-fetched idea when Minnesota was 2-5, maybe even for Zimmer. But the past few weeks have shown a team adapting to its new coaching.
Zimmer's defense is ranked ninth in the league in total defense and leads the NFL with 30 sacks. The offense made strides in Sunday's win by scoring 29 points, 22 in the second half. The point and yardage totals Sunday were the third-highest for Minnesota this season and the most since Week 4.
The past two games have demonstrated a resiliency after a last-second loss in Buffalo. Minnesota beat Tampa Bay in overtime and the offense came through in the second half on Sunday with three touchdowns to erase deficits.
"I see how there were some times earlier in the year when things were going bad and we didn't muster up what we needed to do," Zimmer said. "This ballgame there was a lot of fight going on, a lot of heart and even though it wasn't pretty at times, we were able to overcome them."
Reports of Peterson plea: Peterson has played only one game this season and has been away from the team while he faces charges of injury to a child, stemming from dealing out punishment to his son using a tree branch. Reports surfaced Sunday that Peterson could be nearing a plea agreement and the charges would be lessened to misdemeanors.
Zimmer said he hasn't monitored Peterson's legal situation in Texas and didn't want to speculate on the chances of Peterson rejoining the team this season.
"You know, I only go by what I see," Zimmer said. "Adrian has always been great with me. He's been top-notch, first-class, did everything I asked him to do. I'm not going to speculate on what happens, 'if' and 'when' and all this. When and if it happens then I'll be glad to talk to you about it."
Fullback Jerome Felton said he's kept in contact with Peterson.
"He's standing strong and doing as good as he can despite the circumstances, but I showed him my support," Felton said, adding he hopes Peterson will be able to return.
"We'll be excited if we get him back," Felton said. "That'll bit a big bonus. He's obviously one of the top players in the world. That'll be exciting if we can get him back."
Out of sync: Rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater threw for 268 yards in Sunday's victory and completed 26 of his 42 passes. However, Bridgewater still hasn't been able to get in sync with receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, who's considered one of the team's best playmakers.
Bridgewater was 1 of 7 targeting Patterson on Sunday, while going 25 of 35 to the team's other receivers. Zimmer agreed Bridgewater and Patterson aren't on the same page.
"Yes, I'll leave it at that," Zimmer said. "It's nothing between the two. It's they're not precise enough. We're not trying to get Cordarrelle involved in the offense. We'd love for him to be involved but there's guys that have to make sure that they're in the right places more."
The most glaring example was on Minnesota's first drive when Bridgewater overthrew a wide-open Patterson.
"I thought he had lost it in the sun, but apparently he didn't," Zimmer said. "He had a different route that was called. The defensive back blew the coverage and so he can take it up the field. Teddy was expecting him to be a little more inside, so it was really more of a miscommunication than really anything else, honestly. He should have hit it, and I think Cordarrelle could have done a better job catching it as well."
Give me 28: Heading into Sunday's game, Zimmer asked the offense to score 28 points. In a video released of Zimmer's postgame speech, the request brought about jokes because the Vikings scored 29 points.
Offensive coordinator Norv Turner joked that Zimmer should have asked for 28 points a month ago. A win and more offensive success allowed for a few light-hearted moments.
"Really, it was just about we hadn't been scoring very many points so I wanted to give them something to shoot for," Zimmer said of his request. "Probably should have asked for more sooner. But it was great. We got down there and scored touchdowns when we needed to. That's the mark of a good football team, I think, is when the other team goes down and scores, somehow, some way you've got to respond, whether it's going down to score or punch them off the ball. I felt like we did that a few times yesterday."
Rudolph closing in: Tight end Kyle Rudolph, who had double sports hernia surgery following Week 3, might be ready to rejoin the team following the bye. Zimmer has said Rudolph is getting closer, but no determination has been made when Rudolph will play.
"I think he's going to work a little bit tomorrow in some of the individual things, so we'll see where he's at and where he's going to go from there," Zimmer said.
Vikings alter practice squad: Minnesota signed quarterback Pat Devlin and tight end RaShaun Allen to the practice squad on Monday. The Vikings placed quarterback Chandler Harnish on the practice squad injured list. Harnish had his foot stepped on in practice last week and suffered a Lisfranc foot injury.
Minnesota released tight end Ryan Otten from the practice squad.
Devlin, 26, is in his fourth season out of Delaware but hasn't appeared in an NFL game.
"He did a good job in the workout, so we'll see," Zimmer said. "We're always trying to develop players from the practice, but I'll just leave it at that."
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