Vikes and Jags Hope to Stay Cool in the Heat of Joint Practices

On Aug. 15 and 16, the Vikings will host the Jacksonville Jaguars to two joint practices in preparation for their preseason game on Saturday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium. In 2016, the Vikings travelled to Cincinnati for practices with the Bengals before their preseason tilt, and a few scuffles broke out. The Vikings coaches hope that won’t repeat itself.

“The biggest thing is that we want to get work done against a good team,” Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said. “It’s important that our guys know that we’re not going to put up with any trash talking, we’re not going to put up with any fighting. We’re not here for that, we’re here to get better. Coach [Doug] Marrone and I have talked about it. We’re really all about getting work done, we don’t way to get in any kind of conflicts like they apparently had in Washington. I didn’t see it, but things like that.”

It has to be welcome relief from the Vikings players going against each other for several weeks, particularly since they recently had to separate a couple of their own players after Xavier Rhodes took offense at being torched by Stefon Diggs for a long touchdown in practice (of course, Diggs then threw the ball up into the stands). Zimmer held them out of a walk through after the bad feelings continued to the next day. Zimmer said the players “didn’t make him happy,” and he has certainly continued with that message this week to his own players.

“I’m sure you saw around the league some of the stuff that goes on but we’re pros,” safety Harrison Smith told the Pioneer Press. “We’re going to do it in a productive manner Coach Zimmer, he’s out there for one reason, and that’s to get us better at football. It’s not to be better at fighting.”

Vikings fullback C.J. Hamm agrees. The opportunity to play another team is a great respite in a long, hot training camp.

“Yeah, it’s fun,” Hamm said. “We don’t to hit each other all the time, so it’s a nice change of pace for us, and we are looking forward to the opportunity.”

While joint practices aren’t widely used around the league, Zimmer appears to have interest in them. Back in the Mankato camp days, the Vikings used to hold training camp practices with the Kansas City Chiefs since they were practicing “up the road” in River Falls, Wisc. But that practice went by the way years ago, first due to annual fights that would occur (and that fans in attendance would anticipate) and the Chiefs moving their camp to Missouri in 2010. Zimmer taking over as Vikings coach in 2014 has rekindled interest in the practice of shared practice, and he took his team to Cincinnati, Ohio, last season, to scrimmage with a team that he had worked for previously.

“Yeah, I got to go to the ranch for about three days, that was the number one reason,” Zimmer said with a smile. “No, schematically everything was pretty similar defensively to both sides. We got a lot of good work done I thought that week. It was really, really hot and humid. I’m thinking back on it, but it’s always good when you get to go against A.J. Green. We get to go against [Leonard] Fournette this week. We’re not going to be pounding him or anything like that, but it’s good to see great players on the other side of the ball.”

Players they won’t see include cornerback Jalen Ramsey and defensive end Dante Fowler Jr., who were suspended for violating teams rules in a post-practice altercation and berating the media for filming it. Such a development could send a message to the two teams that fighting on Wednesday and Thursday at practice is not going to be tolerated. The Jags will be missing a couple of good players, but that won’t diminish the value of the practices to Zimmer.

“They’re a good football team, went to the AFC Championship game last year,” Zimmer said. “Whoever they bring, they bring, and whoever they don’t, they don’t. We’re just going to go out and try to improve. They’re defense is very similar to a lot of defenses that we’re going to face this year, schematically, so I think that that will be good, especially for our offense. They’re a downhill, power running football team, which is going to be good for our defense.”

The joint practices with the Bengals were played in sweltering temperatures in southern Ohio, and that probably contributed to the players’ temps rising. Highs for Wednesday Thursday at 83 and 84 degrees, respectively, so coaches will likely be keeping a close watch on their charges. But it shouldn’t be a problem. The Vikings starters only got their beaks wet against the Denver Broncos on Saturday and they clearly relish the opportunity to hit someone else. And the Jags will be great competition for them.

“It’s going to be a competition,” Hamm says. “They’re a great team. Last year they did great things on both sides of the ball. So, it’s just going to be a good competition for us to go out and just have fun playing ball.”

 

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