Josh Freeman’s first night as the starting quarterback of the Vikings didn’t go all that well as Minnesota moved up a spot in the race to the bottom of the barrel in the NFL by losing 23-7 to the previously winless Giants.
Freeman was 20-of-53 during the game for a completion percentage of 37.7, which is ghastly compared even to Freeman’s modest accuracy totals while with the Buccaneers. Freeman didn’t have much practice time with the Vikings before being thrust into the starting lineup, but coach Leslie Frazier said Tuesday, via Master Tesfatsion of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, that he thought Freeman had practiced well and that he wouldn’t do anything differently if he did it over again.
And he won’t do anything differently for the Week Eight game against the Packers. Frazier said Freeman would start again, a decision that isn’t much of a surprise despite Monday night’s results. Freeman wouldn’t be in Minnesota if the team had any real faith in the ability of Christian Ponder or Matt Cassel to handle the job and the team has to hope he’ll do better with more experience in the system.
It would also help if the Vikings could generate a rushing attack more potent than the one that gained 30 yards on 14 carries on Monday night. Frazier mentioned that as a priority for this week, although it’s difficult to imagine Adrian Peterson finding much running room if defenses continue to have no reason to respect or fear the Vikings passing attack.