The Minnesota Vikings defense will be working a bit of overtime Sunday night. At least, in preseason standards.
Defensive coordinator Alan Williams says he expects his starters to play into the third quarter against San Francisco.
The idea is to give first-teamers more snaps and see how players react to halftime adjustments.
“You want the guys to be able to play and get lathered up and see if the game plan is working,” Williams said, via Vikings.com. “But you also want them to get the experience of going into the locker room, making adjustments, coming out and being able to handle those adjustments (in the second half).”
For Williams, it’s all about making sure the Vikings excel at “good on good” matchups. In other words, Minnesota’s best versus San Francisco’s best for as long as possible.
“The 49ers have enough depth on their roster where we’re going to get good-on-good with our first two groups,” Williams said.
One player to hopefully benefit from “good on good” reps is linebacker Desmond Bishop, who saw his first action in more than a year Friday.
Williams said Bishop played OK against the Bills, but also said “there were some plays he left out there on the field.”
What we’re looking for is to see if (Bishop) can improve … and get better,” Williams said.
