Vikings teammates ought to give rookie Dwight McGlothern a pass for running out of gas.
McGlothern corralled his first career interception – albeit unofficial because it's the preseason – on a second down at Minnesota's 11-yard line early in the third quarter of Saturday's 27-12 win at Cleveland.
The undrafted rookie, who affectionately is called "Nudie" by the people in his life (here’s a longer story on the origins of McGlothern's nickname and path to the NFL that's worth reading), went to the turf to retrieve an overthrown pass by Browns quarterback Tyler Huntley. McGlothern rolled to his feet and took off, juking once before bee-lining down the Cleveland sideline.
Huntley caught McGlothern, forcing him out of bounds at the Browns 8-yard line. McGlothern was table-topped by the Cleveland quarterback and fell to his back. He laid on the turf like a starfish.
"I should've out-ran him," McGlothern said. "I was just thinking too much."
It was a carryover from the pair of joint practices in Northeast Ohio this week where McGlothern got his first taste of picking off the Browns. An interception during Thursday's session beautifully set the stage.
"I've been doing this my whole life," explained McGlothern, emphasizing that as an undrafted player he must make the most of his scarce opportunities. "When I got the pick in joint practices, I knew I was going to get a pick this weekend – I had it on my mind the whole time to make a play for the defense.
"Luckily, we came out with a touchdown on that drive, too," McGlothern added.
In Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell's post-game remarks, he initially didn't include praising McGlothern as one of the team's standout contributors – until a inquiry by the media.
"I would have absolutely mentioned him if he didn't get hawked down there on the return," O'Connell laughed in admiration. "That's no surprise to any of us. You saw the reaction from his teammates. Dwight's been basically, every other day or so, you feel like he's making a play, a significant play like that."
In its totality, it counted as a 91-yard catch-and-sprint for McGlothern that acted as a knockout punch.
Not to the defensive back, who was sticky in coverage throughout his second NFL action, but to the Browns. Two plays later, the Vikings converted a fade route for a score from Jaren Hall to Malik Knowles.
That made the score 20-7 – and seemed to completely suck the spirit out of Cleveland.
McGlothern tends to be on the brink of a big play. His hope is that it leads to a big break.
"[I'm] trying to find a new version of myself – [to] make the team and help the team," McGlothern said.
So although McGlothern was chased down – by a quarterback of all players – his interception flipped the field and positioned the Vikings to capitalize. It accomplished his goal of improving by 1% each day.
Afterwards, O'Connell shouted out that group of defensive players and their clutch execution.
In a neat twist Saturday, Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores relieved his play-calling responsibilities to Defensive Backs Coach Daronte Jones and Inside Linebackers Coach Mike Siravo. They traded halves, and styles – and they were effective. Cleveland totaled only 288 yards, rushing for 56.
"It's always interesting when you're going to have two separate guys call plays, with what their one style is going to be versus the other, but I thought they played off of each other well," said O'Connell, encouraged by the depth of the Vikings defense, which sat most of its starters. "[I challenged] the defense at halftime to not give up another point and they didn't – the offense ended up giving up two there at the end."
The Vikings wound up nabbing three picks – two in the red zone, the other belonging to Lewis Cine. It happened with 31 ticks left in the first half, stopping the Browns from possibly going ahead 14-13.
Cine was everywhere at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Everywhere.
Cine, the 32nd overall draft pick in 2022, led all players in the exhibition game with 10 tackles (five solo). Also, he had a takedown of Huntley, dropping him for a loss of 9, and two quarterback hits overall.
"I think I played a good game," the soft-spoken Cine said in the visiting locker room.
On one play, Cine closed the gap on Huntley in a blink and squashed a scramble at the line to gain – the quarterback's helmet came off, somersaulting 2 yards as the Vikings safety pressed his hit-stick button.
The production by Cine – notably, his involvement near the line of scrimmage and willingness to show up in run support – is a positive for him after playing minimally on defense the past two seasons and missing a portion of training camp with a leg injury. He said he's been hampered by a hurt hamstring.
"I don't think camp [has gone] the way that I wanted it to go," admitted Cine. "I wanted to come out and really let it loose. It's hard to show what you've got when you keep [getting injured]."
He proved Saturday what he's capable of when he's healthy.
Flores' scheme allows its deep room of rangy, versatile safeties to make an impact from alignments at all three levels.
"It was just football in my eyes," said Cine, noting that a full offseason to get his legs under him was instrumental to his busy game. "I was just playing fast, not thinking. I think that's probably the big difference between now and a couple years back. … I'm just happy that I was able to show up today."
