With most of their impact players sitting on the sidelines sans pads, the Minnesota Vikings took on the Tennessee Titans in their fourth and final preseason game of the 2018 season. For the third straight preseason game now, the players entering the game in the first half struggled a little bit only to be picked up by the reserves in the second half.
With the starters out, Trevor Siemian got another chance to (for the first time) showcase to fans and coaches why he should be the backup quarterback behind Kirk Cousins. While it wasn't his worst performance of the preseason, one would say again that he failed to impress and was overshadowed by his backup. Finishing the day 6-for-11 for 55 yards and a passer rating 68.4, Trevor left the door open for the debate among backup quarterbacks burning hot.
Once again, third string QB Kyle Sloter came in late in the game, rallied the troops, pushed the team to a win and was no question the more impressive quarterback in the game. Sloter's day ended 11-for-15 passing for 130 yards, a touchdown and a passer rating of 121.5. More importantly, when Sloter gets into the game there's a flow, there's an energy and the game opens up underneath and overtop the defense. Sure you could say that he's facing the 3s and 4s on the other team's defense, but he's doing something with it.
Other notable performances came from the likes of Brandon Zylstra who caught 4-of-5 passes thrown his way for 54 yards including a pretty 24 yard touchdown pass in the second half from Sloter.
On the defensive side of the ball DT Jalyn Holmes had a day tallying three tackles and 1.5 sacks on the defensive line and in the secondary it was preferred rookie free agent Holton Hill finishing the day with six tackles and filling in with four punt returns for 31 yards and one kickoff return for 54 yards.
Rookie kicker Daniel Carlson had a bounce back day after missing two field goals last weekend versus the Seahawks going 2-for-2 on field goals and 1-for-1 on extra points.