Cole & Bynum Reflect on Roles that Helped Vikings…

Knowing he’d be starting against the Chargers, as well, Bynum reached out to Smith early last week.

“Just asked him what his film preparation looks like and he gave me a real brief – because he didn’t want me to go out of my routine, I’m sure – but he just gave me really good advice like, ‘Be careful watching too much before you get the game plan. Get the game plan, then watch the tape off that and see how that offense is obviously going to attack you,’ ” Bynum recounted.

“But even more so, just the weeks before seeing how he prepared, seeing how [Xavier Woods] prepares and [Head Coach Mike Zimmer], how he prepares us so well, I was able to kind of be prepared to start this week anyway,” Bynum added. “So I’m glad they’ve been able to help me along this whole process.”

Bynum has made an impact in each of his two starts. He recorded his first career sack Sunday, taking down Chargers QB Justin Herbert,

“I was blitzing, [but it] probably looked like to [Herbert] that I was just coming down, being the flat defender. And I came down pretty late to show the blitz, and as soon as he snapped the ball, I was supposed to go B gap but saw the A gap open, so I was able to go right in the middle, which kind of worked out perfectly,” Bynum explained. “So it was something that we’ve been trying to set up all game, showing that Cover 3 look and me blitzing and that made it perfect, and I was able to make my first sack.”