During Monday's afternoon practice, the Minnesota Vikings' offense really struggled, getting stuffed on seven or eight goal-line plays and committing a couple of interceptions.
Though offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave said he was concerned, he wasn't panicked.
"(Monday,) we took a step backwards in a couple of periods," he said. "We're looking to make those corrections and get better the next time we're faced with those periods, for sure."
Defensive coordinator Alan Williams liked what he saw, but he added that it wasn't as good as it may have looked.
"You never want tht\e offense to get into the end zone, but we have a lot of things to sharpen up on, in terms of staying in gaps, creating a new line of scrimmage and picking up guys in coverage," Williams said. "We still have a ways to go. It may have looked like we had all phases going, but we still have to iron out some details in our short-yardage and goal-line defense."
During the Tuesday afternoon practice, the offense was much better. The highlight was Christian Ponder's 25-yard strike to a leaping Percy Harvin, who caught the ball just before getting hit by safety Harrison Smith and fell into the end zone.
"(Monday) was tough," Ponder said. "I thought we responded really well today. It was important to have a good practice.
Williams said he will be on the field during Friday's preseason opener at San Francisco, and if it goes well, that's where he'll stay in the regular season. He's coached from the booth and sidelines during his career.
Musgrave said that the offensive starters would probably play late in the first quarter before the reserves taking over.
Williams' comment on whether he would pay to watch a preseason game: "My family loves to go to the ballgames. They'd pay for sure, no question about it."
RB Adrian Peterson returned to Mankato after missing Monday's practice and Tuesday's walk-through as he attended a court hearing in Houston. He won't be activated off the physically-unable-to-perform list before Friday, meaning he will miss the preseason game at San Francisco.
RG Geoff Schwartz had hernia surgery and will be out 4 to 6 weeks. LB Everson Griffen injured his shoulder and missed half of Tuesday's afternoon practice. DL Christian Ballard and CB Josh Robinson both had hamstring issues and were held out of teams drills.
Safety Harrison Smith got reps with the No. 1 nickel defense again. CB Antoine Winfield made two nice pass breakups.
Blair Walsh ended the afternoon practice with a 57-yard field goal into a slight wind. He had plenty to spare on that one, but a kick from about the same place a few minutes earlier came up short.
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