Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
All Kinds of Random Things
Donovan McNabb rumors: I don't think it happens. He's a better fit with the Eagles and I don't think that franchise really wants to start over with a very unexperienced QB in Kevin Kolb. McNabb still gives them their best chance to win and unless Minnesota throws a Jared Allen type offer in for him, which they won't, I can't see it happening. I still hope Favre returns for one more year, but I'm not counting on it. T-Jack still scares the hell out of me, although part of me wants to see what he can do with a full year behind number 4.
I've seen some tidbits about Chester Taylor not returning next season due to the "uncapped year" BS. There isn't an anyone on this roster that can fill Chester's shoes. Albert Young and/or Ian Johnson are not the answer. We need to find a way to bring CT back.
The loss of Cedric Griffin is huge. The timetable for his return is 6-9 months. I've said it before and I'll say it again, he is the most underrated and under-appreciated Vikings. Probably one of the most, if not the most consistent player in our secondary. That is going to hurt us next year and even when he does come back, no player ever regains the same speed when they come off a knee injury. He's going to have to adapt his game. CB is now a top priorty in the draft. I believe Benny Sapp and Karl Paymah only signed one year deals last off-season so I'm unsure of their status as for next year, but I would definitely bring back Sapp. He was much improved this season and filled in admirably for Winfield the second half of the year. I also really like Asher Allen, and I'll get to the rest of the rookies in a second, but he seems to have a knack for jarring the ball out. I think he is a darkhorse to start next season depending on what happens and Griffin's status.
Speaking of rookies, this was one of the most solid draft classes we've had and actually every draft class under Childress has been superb. All 5 rookies this season were able to contribute in some capacity. Obviously ROY Harvin was huge. I'd like to see him get more carries next season. He gets consistent yardage when it appears there is no room for him to go anywhere. I liked how the coaching staff gave him more carries against the Saints. Phil Loadholt. Can't say enough about the job he did starting at RT all season long. You barely heard his name called and that's a good thing. I don't remember him being called for any holds or false starts and if he was, there were very few instances. If he can stay healthy, we should be set at RT for years to come. As I mentioned, Asher Allen had a solid season. He was inactive every week until Antoine Winfield went down with injury, but gave the defense some fresh legs and even picked off a pass and forced a fumble. Big time potential, probably as a nickel back for Allen. Jasper Brinkley was solid in replacing EJ Henderson at MLB. He clearly was an upgrade from Napoleon Harris last year, in my eyes anyways. He got off to a slow start, but eventually you noticed him making fewer and fewer mistakes and we were essentially back to the pre-EJ-injury defense. Lastly, Jamarca Sanford. He was a stand out on special teams and earned his way into playing time on the defense, where he split snaps with Tyrell Johnson. Sanford showed he can lay the wood ala Antoine Winfield, and the knack on him coming out was his range on defense, but that didn't seem to be much of a problem for him. He shows more decisiveness than TJ. The only bad thing he did all season was knock EJ's femur into next year. Early grade on our rookies has to be an A- or B+. All 5 draft picks were able to contribute.
Do I really have to talk about the game? Ugh. First things first Adrian Peterson, who refused to focus on his fumbling last off-season, needs to focus on his damn fumbling this off-season. Bring in whoever helped Tiki Barber, bring in Tiki Barber himself or something. At the very least he can give PJ some tips on life after football. On a side note, I can't stand Tiki Barber, or Ronder Barber, or Shaun Alexander. I think they're triplets and I'd like to see PJ strangle all three of them. Anyways, back to the game. You can't turn the ball over 5 times on the road, especially against the number 1 seed in their house and expect to win. We hadn't turned the ball over more than twice a game all season. That's what hurts the most. We fumbled the damn game away and they could barely beat us. That should have been a 2-3 score game in our favor. I'm not going to put that loss on the refs, but there were some very questionable calls (Ben Leber PI, no-call on 93 going low on Favre's first INT and knocking him out of the game temporarily, the Pierre Thomas TD (which we should have challenged), the PT overtime first down, which he clearly lost control of the ball and was not across the line when he regained posession, etc). Enough of that. A lot of people want to blame Childress for losing this game, and while I have never been the most supportive guy of Childress, I can't put that loss on him. We came to play and dominated every aspect of the game except for turnovers. He has preached ball control from the day he was brought in here. The fumbles are not on him, nor are they on RB coach Eric Bienemy. I think Bienemy is a great RB coach and if you've ever been down to Mankato to watch training camp, I think you'd agree. They do strip drills and place purple ball sleeves over the football to simulate a wet/slippery football.
12 men in the huddle? Another reason to hate Naufahu Tahi. And to think I was so close to embracing him as one of us after he recovered one of Adrian's fumbles. Apparently the same play was called before and after the timeout. Completely inexcusable for him to not know what was going on.
Bernard Berrian. Huge game. We were all waiting for that to happen and it finally did in the biggest game of the year. He has historically been a clutch playoff WR. Should be enough to shut ignorant fans up for next season. PS he was wide open on Favre's last INT.
I'm out of breath. I'll have more ish next week.
I've seen some tidbits about Chester Taylor not returning next season due to the "uncapped year" BS. There isn't an anyone on this roster that can fill Chester's shoes. Albert Young and/or Ian Johnson are not the answer. We need to find a way to bring CT back.
The loss of Cedric Griffin is huge. The timetable for his return is 6-9 months. I've said it before and I'll say it again, he is the most underrated and under-appreciated Vikings. Probably one of the most, if not the most consistent player in our secondary. That is going to hurt us next year and even when he does come back, no player ever regains the same speed when they come off a knee injury. He's going to have to adapt his game. CB is now a top priorty in the draft. I believe Benny Sapp and Karl Paymah only signed one year deals last off-season so I'm unsure of their status as for next year, but I would definitely bring back Sapp. He was much improved this season and filled in admirably for Winfield the second half of the year. I also really like Asher Allen, and I'll get to the rest of the rookies in a second, but he seems to have a knack for jarring the ball out. I think he is a darkhorse to start next season depending on what happens and Griffin's status.
Speaking of rookies, this was one of the most solid draft classes we've had and actually every draft class under Childress has been superb. All 5 rookies this season were able to contribute in some capacity. Obviously ROY Harvin was huge. I'd like to see him get more carries next season. He gets consistent yardage when it appears there is no room for him to go anywhere. I liked how the coaching staff gave him more carries against the Saints. Phil Loadholt. Can't say enough about the job he did starting at RT all season long. You barely heard his name called and that's a good thing. I don't remember him being called for any holds or false starts and if he was, there were very few instances. If he can stay healthy, we should be set at RT for years to come. As I mentioned, Asher Allen had a solid season. He was inactive every week until Antoine Winfield went down with injury, but gave the defense some fresh legs and even picked off a pass and forced a fumble. Big time potential, probably as a nickel back for Allen. Jasper Brinkley was solid in replacing EJ Henderson at MLB. He clearly was an upgrade from Napoleon Harris last year, in my eyes anyways. He got off to a slow start, but eventually you noticed him making fewer and fewer mistakes and we were essentially back to the pre-EJ-injury defense. Lastly, Jamarca Sanford. He was a stand out on special teams and earned his way into playing time on the defense, where he split snaps with Tyrell Johnson. Sanford showed he can lay the wood ala Antoine Winfield, and the knack on him coming out was his range on defense, but that didn't seem to be much of a problem for him. He shows more decisiveness than TJ. The only bad thing he did all season was knock EJ's femur into next year. Early grade on our rookies has to be an A- or B+. All 5 draft picks were able to contribute.
Do I really have to talk about the game? Ugh. First things first Adrian Peterson, who refused to focus on his fumbling last off-season, needs to focus on his damn fumbling this off-season. Bring in whoever helped Tiki Barber, bring in Tiki Barber himself or something. At the very least he can give PJ some tips on life after football. On a side note, I can't stand Tiki Barber, or Ronder Barber, or Shaun Alexander. I think they're triplets and I'd like to see PJ strangle all three of them. Anyways, back to the game. You can't turn the ball over 5 times on the road, especially against the number 1 seed in their house and expect to win. We hadn't turned the ball over more than twice a game all season. That's what hurts the most. We fumbled the damn game away and they could barely beat us. That should have been a 2-3 score game in our favor. I'm not going to put that loss on the refs, but there were some very questionable calls (Ben Leber PI, no-call on 93 going low on Favre's first INT and knocking him out of the game temporarily, the Pierre Thomas TD (which we should have challenged), the PT overtime first down, which he clearly lost control of the ball and was not across the line when he regained posession, etc). Enough of that. A lot of people want to blame Childress for losing this game, and while I have never been the most supportive guy of Childress, I can't put that loss on him. We came to play and dominated every aspect of the game except for turnovers. He has preached ball control from the day he was brought in here. The fumbles are not on him, nor are they on RB coach Eric Bienemy. I think Bienemy is a great RB coach and if you've ever been down to Mankato to watch training camp, I think you'd agree. They do strip drills and place purple ball sleeves over the football to simulate a wet/slippery football.
12 men in the huddle? Another reason to hate Naufahu Tahi. And to think I was so close to embracing him as one of us after he recovered one of Adrian's fumbles. Apparently the same play was called before and after the timeout. Completely inexcusable for him to not know what was going on.
Bernard Berrian. Huge game. We were all waiting for that to happen and it finally did in the biggest game of the year. He has historically been a clutch playoff WR. Should be enough to shut ignorant fans up for next season. PS he was wide open on Favre's last INT.
I'm out of breath. I'll have more ish next week.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
I'm Back
Sorry for the long absence. I haven't had the motivation to write lately. Anyone that's on twitter basically gets all the news within 10 seconds of it coming out. Anyways, here is a joint story I did with my friend over at Purple Jesus Diaries. PJD is a hilarious Vikings blog with a bunch of made up and politically incorrect stuff, but it is very entertaining none the less, so check it out. Follow him on twitter at http://twitter.com/PJDiaries and don't forget to follow me at http://twitter.com/CapitalJsCorner. Even if I don't update the site regularly, I'm always over there posting random stuff.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Roster Shuffling
The Vikings tweaked their roster today as they officially placed LB E.J. Henderson on IR and promoted TE Garrett Mills to the active roster from the practice squad to take his roster spot. The team also re-signed OT Drew Radovich to the practice squad and released CB DeAndre Wright.
Both starting OT's left the game briefly for the Vikings against Arizona and remain limited in practice this week. Radovich has spent the past two training camps with the Vikings and was on IR last season with a shoulder injury. Wright was signed when Antoine Winfield went down, which could be a sign Winfield will finally make his return this week.
Both starting OT's left the game briefly for the Vikings against Arizona and remain limited in practice this week. Radovich has spent the past two training camps with the Vikings and was on IR last season with a shoulder injury. Wright was signed when Antoine Winfield went down, which could be a sign Winfield will finally make his return this week.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Sanford Could Start Sunday
Rookie safety Jamarca Sanford might be forever known now as the guy that broke EJ's Henderson's leg, but the Missippi product could get a chance to make a name for himself in another way this weekend. Starting safety Tyrell Johnson suffered a concussion in the 4th quarter against the Cardinals on Sunday and recently the NFL has encouraged teams to be extremely cautious with head injuries. Starting RG Anthony Herrera has already missed two games due to a concussion suffered against the Seahawks.
Sanford, chosen in the 7th round this year, played well in the absence of Johnson and proved he can actually wrap up. He has also shown more speed than expected and played effectively on special teams. He ran down Steve Breaston and tackled him at the three yard line last night. If he plays well enough, don't be surprised if the Vikings allow him to start once Johnson is medically cleared to play. The safety play has been atrocious this season for the purple and the coaches have threatened to make a change at least once if that didn't change.
Sanford, chosen in the 7th round this year, played well in the absence of Johnson and proved he can actually wrap up. He has also shown more speed than expected and played effectively on special teams. He ran down Steve Breaston and tackled him at the three yard line last night. If he plays well enough, don't be surprised if the Vikings allow him to start once Johnson is medically cleared to play. The safety play has been atrocious this season for the purple and the coaches have threatened to make a change at least once if that didn't change.
Vikings Lose More Than a Game
Just when you thought things couldn't get worse for the Vikings last night, they did. Trailing 30-10 late in the 4th quarter, MLB E.J. Henderson collided with rookie S Jamarca Sanford and suffered a fractured femur. Obviously Henderson's season is over.This is the 2nd straight year Henderson has suffered a season ending injury. The veteran linebacker, defensive captain, and mentor will likely be placed on IR today. He was just starting to return to his 2007 form and the announcers had been praising him all night. Leslie Frazier felt like he finally had his star MLB back.
It's not immediately clear where the Vikings will go from here, but rookie LB Jasper Brinkley filled in for Henderson last night. It has been rumored that either Chad Greenway or Ben Leber could shift to MLB and that would open up an OLB spot for Erin Henderson, who has been inactive all season, Heath Farwell, or Kenny Onatolu. The team could also look outside the organization for help if they're not comfortable with any of the aforementioned players starting. Derrick Brooks is still on the market and played essentially his whole career in this style of defense.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Herrera Unlikely to Play; Other Notes
Anthony Herrera listed as doubtful
- Vikings' starting RG Anthony Herrera likely will miss Sunday's showdown against the Chicago Bears. The veteran suffered a concussion against the Seahawks last week. The Vikings top back-up is Artis Hicks, who figures to start. Herrera had started every game the past 2 1/2 seasons for the Vikings.
Peterson questionable
- Adrian Peterson has been officially listed as questionable this week. He was ill yesterday and was limited in pracitce on Wednesday. I highly doubt he will miss the game.
Winfield Returns
- Antoine Winfield who has missed the past month plus for the Vikes is set to return to his starting left corner back position this week. Winfield said he has had no setbacks this week. It will be interesting to see who the Vikings choose to deactivate with Winfield healthy. Asher Allen has played well as a rookie and CB's Karl Paymah and Benny Sapp have each been active for every game this season.
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