LAS VEGAS — Kellen Mond took the fourth-down shotgun snap and stood calmly in the pocket as the Raiders sent a three-man rush after him. He saw Dan Chisena — one of his secondary options in the game — break free from cornerback Chris Jones on a deep route, and Mond flicked the ball to receiver for a 22-yard gain.
“That was the bottom line: His first progression was taken away, calm in the pocket, just progressing on the rhythm and throwing an absolutely beautiful ball to Dan,” said coach Kevin O’Connell. “And then you saw him coming late to his third and fourth progressions [in the game] there to Jalen Nailor [for 16 yards] or Myron [Mitchell for 16 yards] on the back side [of the play]. If you see him coming back to that, that’s growth.”
Contrast that to Mond’s last first-half throw in the Vikings’ 26-20 loss to the Raiders in the preseason opener: He scrambled left, then right and dodged a three-pointer while his teammates, first Bisi Johnson and Trishton Jackson, then Ihmir Smith-Marsette and Zach Davidson raised their hands to call for the ball. Mond shot from behind Jackson and out of the back endzone when Smith-Marsette put his hands on his helmet, and O’Connell called for his second short field goal from Greg Joseph after a game he thought Mond had a chance at one touchdown .
O’Connell approached his first preseason game, his first rite of passage as the 10th coach in Vikings history, with two goals: to keep the core starters healthy and to learn as much as possible about the young players who are making the field in the Allegiant Stadium would take over Sunday.
The first goal was easy, with all of the Vikings’ Pro Bowl players and five defensive starters not playing. If O’Connell could claim that he was successful in the second success, it could be due to experiences like Mond’s.
“I wanted to come out and win this game,” O’Connell said, “but we’re going to make sure we don’t miss an opportunity to have some really educational moments.”
The Vikings lost to an inability to finish drives in the first half and some defensive errors throughout the game; They gave up two long hits in the second half, allowing the Raiders to hold onto the ball for the final 3 minutes and 44 seconds. But in some dynamic moments from young running backs Ty Chandler and Kene Nwangwu, blitzes from defenders like Brian Asamoah and Patrick Jones, and most notably in Mond’s second half, the Vikings could be on the mend.
Moon tossed two TD passes to Albert Wilson in the second half to finish the game 9-for-14 for 119 yards. Sean Mannion, who played the first three series and returned for another in the fourth quarter, went 8 of 12 for 79 yards.
The Vikings beat the Raiders 172-94 in the first half but suffered 66 penalties. They went 0-4 on third downs and took just six points from their two red zone trips.
Mannion shot past Ihmir Smith-Marsette on the Vikings’ third drive in the back corner of the end zone, and O’Connell chose to send Joseph out for a 20-yard attempt.
“My thought was, ‘I can get the ball up and safe and we’ve got points in hand with a great kicker,'” Mannion said. “I’ve gotten a little too cautious; we have other people in the game if I can just keep going there. Maybe there’s something and maybe there’s not, but every time you’re in the red zone you want to come away with a seven.”
In Mond’s first series, the Vikings rushed for 54 yards five times, with Chandler showing the inscrutability he showed at camp to extend runs that started with big holes down the middle. Nwangwu rebounded 12 yards outside before Mond missed Johnson on a fade, and after a two-yard run from Nwangwu, the Vikings had to call Joseph again after Mond’s third TD missed.
“I saw Kene on the right,” Moon said. “It’s one of those where I probably gave the corner a little too much credit; his hips were a little further down the field and I figured he could still take a break on the ball. If you look back at it, obviously it’s easy to coach yourself when you get back to the sidelines and watch it on video. Those are some of the things where you keep training your eyes and have a little bit more confidence to rip those things.
Las Vegas, leading 10-6 at halftime, extended the lead to 10 points when Nick Mullens hit DJ Turner for a 34-yard touchdown on a drive that saw the Vikings’ illegal substitution penalty on a punt penalize the Raiders First down brought.
Mullens fitted his third down TD pass over a flat drop from linebacker Blake Lynch as Turner Parry Nickerson smacked across the field. Nickerson tried unsuccessfully to strip the ball and Turner eluded rookie Akayleb Evans while safety Josh Metellus was blocked.
“Can we get better at the end of the day?” said O’Connell. “Third Down and Red Zone just weren’t good enough for us to win.”
They headed home after their first-ever game in Nevada State hoping they would make some progress.
“It just keeps stacking and getting better,” Moon said. “I felt a lot more comfortable as I continued.”