Vikings injury updates on Rondale Moore, Zeke Correll, Justin Jefferson

Moore appeared to suffer a major leg injury when he was tackled on a punt return in the second quarter and had to be carted off the field. After the game, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell all but confirmed the news.

"It looks like Rondale Moore does have a pretty significant left knee (injury)," O'Connell said. "Won't know until we MRI that tomorrow."

It's especially brutal news considering that Moore missed all of last season with a knee injury and has struggled to stay healthy going back to his college career at Purdue. For this to happen on his first time touching the ball in a Vikings uniform, almost exactly a year after his previous injury, is just extremely unfortunate.

"Heartbreaking," O'Connell said. "Anybody at the ballpark today could feel the emotion. It's one of the most painful things for me as a head coach when I feel the emotion. I make a life out of trying to leave others better than I found them, and in that situation there's really nothing I can do, which is the worst feeling as a head coach. So you just console him and make sure he knows he's not gonna be alone. And then you saw all of his teammates come out. He's tremendously loved and supported by those guys and all of us. It's hard to even put into words."

Moore, who signed a one-year deal with the Vikings in March, was in the mix to make the team as a depth wide receiver and punt returner. The play where he got hurt involved a Texans tackler leaving their feet to bring him down, and O'Connell was asked if he thought the play involved an illegal "hip drop" tackle.

"If you saw me having some dialogue out there, that's what I was asking about," he said. "I have to watch the play back before I truly can give an opinion on it, but it was very unfortunate. Seemed like it had a lot of the characteristics of that, but I know it is a three-part process to actually call that on the field. We'll see when we watch the tape."

C Zeke Correll

Correll, an undrafted rookie center out of North Carolina State, also left the field with a major injury on Saturday. O'Connell said X-rays have already confirmed that he has a right ankle fracture. That's a tough blow that will presumably lead to the Vikings signing a center for some additional depth at that position. Correll was the third-string C behind Ryan Kelly and Michael Jurgens.

WR Justin Jefferson

Jefferson didn't play in Saturday's game, but he did join Paul Allen and the rest of the Vikings' broadcast for almost the entire third quarter (the start of his appearance was delayed because he was spending time with Moore in the training room). During that segment, Jefferson provided an update on the hamstring injury that has kept him out of training camp practices for the past couple weeks.

"It's coming along," Jefferson said. "Just every single day, just working on it. Working on the strength. Working on the mobility. ... I'm feeling pretty good right now. Just inching my way every single day."

Jefferson isn't expected to participate in this week's joint practices with the Patriots, but the Vikings have been adamant that they don't have any concern about their best player's availability for the regular season opener in Chicago on September 8.

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