Courtney Cronin, ESPN Staff Writer 6y

Vikings' banged-up offensive line was too much to overcome vs. Carolina

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- For a moment, it felt like 2016 all over again.

Instead of losing their offensive linemen one by one like last season, everything seemed to come to a head all at once for the Minnesota Vikings in a 31-24 loss at Carolina.

Ahead of Sunday, the Vikings knew they would be without right tackle Mike Remmers for a fifth straight game. Remmers hasn’t played since late October when he sustained a concussion against the Cleveland Browns and then injured his lower back in practice two weeks ago, forcing him to miss games against the Falcons and Panthers.

Rookie center Pat Elflein, who started the first 12 games of the season, was a late scratch before kickoff with a shoulder injury. Last year’s game of musical chairs on the O-line picked back up before the game even started.

Left guard Nick Easton, who competed for the center job during the preseason, filled in for the injured rookie. Reserve lineman Jeremiah Sirles took Easton’s spot at guard while Rashod Hill started at right tackle for a fourth straight game.

By the second half, musical chairs crescendoed to an all-out waltz.

Past the midway point in the third quarter, left tackle Riley Reiff went down with an injury to his left ankle. The Vikings were forced to finish the game with four of their five O-linemen playing out of position.

When Reiff left the game, Hill moved over to left tackle while Sirles took his place at right tackle. The Vikings called Danny Isidora off the bench to take over at left guard while Easton remained at center. Right guard Joe Berger was the only player to start and finish the game at the position he has held down since Week 1.

The hardest thing Hill said in making that switch was flipping the plays in his head and adjusting his hand placement from the right to left side. With the shift in personnel, Hill relied on Isidora, who played in his first game since starting in Week 8, to help with pre-snap communication.

“He did a terrific job, too, by helping me out by relaying what Nick said,” Hill said. “We took this loss. We felt like we could’ve gave a little bit more time to Case [Keenum] today. Case got hit too many times.”

In Weeks 2-13, Keenum was pressured on 38.2 percent of his dropbacks, which was tied for fifth in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus. In his first 11 games, Keenum notched a league-high 94.0 total QBR versus the blitz. When pressured in those games, Keenum completed 53 percent of his passes with an average attempt of 7.2 yards, threw four touchdowns to two interceptions and was sacked a total of nine times, per ESPN Stats & Information.

In Week 14, the Panthers registered seven QB hits and sacked Keenum a total of six times.

Keenum characteristically shouldered the blame for some of the sacks he took and said he would evaluate his movement in the pocket when he sits down with the game film.

The Vikings anticipated seeing a heavy dose of blitz packages on Sunday, and the Panthers' defense lived up to that expectation. Three of Keenum’s sacks came against the blitz while his completion percentage dropped to 42 percent (5-of-12) when under pressure.

Keenum was able to escape some of that pressure with his scrambling ability, picking up 40 yards on the ground, including two first downs.

“I have to give our offensive line credit; that’s them trying to run those guys outside the pocket,” Keenum said. “I try to step up and if there is some space, guys covering down the field, just try to make plays.”

He finished the afternoon 27-of-44 for 280 yards, two touchdowns and three turnovers (two interceptions, one fumble).

The Vikings surpassed 300 total yards for a ninth straight game but haven’t been able to continue their trend of scoring multiple touchdowns in the first half on the road like they did at Detroit and Washington. Minnesota’s success on third-down conversions slowed (7-of-15), as did their efficiency in the red zone, scoring one time on four trips.

After totaling 85 yards rushing in the first half, the Vikings opted to run the ball less in the final two quarters, especially after Reiff went down. That made their game plan easier for Carolina’s defense to manipulate.

“When you have to pass it, the defense knows and they are teeing off,” Adam Thielen said. “We have to put those guys [the offensive line] in a better position by scoring fast and early, then the defense will not know if we are running or passing the ball.”

The sting of this loss could last a while depending on the severity of Reiff’s injury and how much longer Elflein and Remmers will be out. When asked about his level of concern regarding the left tackle’s ankle, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer shook his head and said, “I don’t know.”

The Vikings' top priority last offseason was spending money in free agency and looking to the draft to revamp the offensive line. Without the three players Minnesota landed to do just that, the unit caught a hitch on Sunday and had relive the nightmare it went through a year ago.

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