Count seven-year receiver Mike Wallace among those who were impressed by the debut of rookie Stefon Diggs in Denver.
Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press writes that Wallace already sees **something special** in the future for the Minnesota rookie wide receiver.
"He could be better than me," Wallace told Tomasson. "He's young. When I came in (with Pittsburgh in 2009), I was playing well as a young guy, but I had one assignment: Beat them deep. Diggs is already running the full-route treatment from Day One."
*After being inactive for the Vikings' first three games, Diggs appeared in his first regular-season game in Sunday's 23-20 loss at Denver. With Charles Johnson out because of sore ribs and Jarius Wright relegated to just one play because a right hand injury, Diggs caught six passes for 87 yards. *
*The bad news was Diggs' two fumbles, both of which the Vikings recovered. Other than that, Wallace raved about Diggs' debut.
*
"He's a baller, man," said Wallace, who had eight catches against the Broncos for 83 yards and a touchdown. "I see it in him, man. He's a young player, but I'm excited for him. He just has that quick twitch muscle when he gets the ball. He can always do something with it. Great hands. Great route running. He's a gamer, man. I have complete confidence in him. He did a great job. He's just has got to protect the ball.
Another type of protection
In addition to keep the ball secure, offensive players, particularly running backs and tight ends are tasked with helping **protect the quarterback**. Mark Craig of the Star Tribune wrote:
*Pass protection remains Adrian Peterson's personal kryptonite, but Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said the old dog is eager enough to learn this new trick of keeping quarterback Teddy Bridgewater upright. *
"Honestly, Adrian only had one protection problem [Sunday]," said Zimmer, presumably referring to Peterson's missed block on safety T.J. Ward, whose strip-sack near midfield clinched Denver's 23-20 victory with 29 seconds left in the game.
"But other than that, he did a good job in all of his protections. He's working very hard at it. We kept him in there on some third downs this time, so we'll keep going with it."
*Unlike some star running backs, Peterson's effort level in the dirty work of pass protection is saluted by the coaches who are trying to make him better at it. And, remember, Peterson has played only five games for this current staff. *
"The thing about Adrian is that he doesn't just say, 'Hey, I'm a running back, I don't want to work on it,' " Zimmer said. "He wants to work on this. He wants to be out there as much as he possibly can, so he's committed to becoming a better pass protector, and I believe he is.
Film Review
Andrew Krammer of 1500ESPN.com with a film review of the Vikings **offense** and **defense**.
