Irritated Mike Zimmer ends final Mankato practice early

MANKATO – Vikings coach Mike Zimmer had seen enough.

Only 25 minutes into Thursday morning's practice, Zimmer abruptly halted a drill and ordered his players, who lacked focus and energy during the last full team practice of training camp, to run a quick lap around the far field-goal post and back.

When the mental mistakes and physical miscues continued and the tempo never reached a satisfactory level, Zimmer called the players over to form a huddle, chewed them all out then cut the morning session short 15 minutes early.

If Zimmer somehow didn't get his point across to his Vikings players, he made sure to hammer it home during a tense and terse Q & A session on the podium.

"That was a terrible practice," he said. "Not up to my standards. And they've better get better quickly or there is going to be a lot of heck doing on."

What didn't Zimmer like?

"Everything."

"I probably can't repeat it."

Does he often ask players to run like that?

"When I need to."

Veteran outside linebacker Chad Greenway said that he hasn't seen a coach demand his players to run a lap since he was in high school, but he certainly understood.

"I think camp has been great. We've done a good job of coming out and competing every day and I think he's been happy with that. But today, you just can't end like that," Greenway said, later adding, "It stinks to end on this note."

The Vikings left Mankato with a victory in their preseason opener, no major injuries and loads of optimism. But Zimmer was too fired up about how Thursday's wasted practice went to point out any positives.

"That's not what good teams do," Zimmer said. "Good teams focus on the task at hand. They don't focus on what's happened the last 13 days. They worry about today and worry about getting better."

Second-year offensive lineman David Yankey returned to practice Thursday after sitting out the past week and the Hall of Fame Game with a leg injury. He wouldn't say, though, if he was expected to play Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"It was good just to be out there doing drills and feeling like I'm part of football again," Yankey said. "Sitting on the sideline isn't a whole lot of fun."

As soon as Yankey got back into the mix Thursday, he was asked to man a different position — right tackle. The only position Yankey didn't play in camp was center.

Cornerback Josh Robinson (partly torn pectoral muscle) remains on the physically-unable-to-perform (PUP) list. Robinson said that he is "slowly getting better," but a return to the practice field does not appear imminent.

"They really just want to take it slow," Robinson said. "We've talked and there have been times where I've told them, 'I'm good.' And they're like, 'You're not.' They don't want to reinjure it or tear it more or anything like that."

Robinson said the Vikings haven't discussed in detail with him the possibility of keeping him on the PUP list once the season starts. If the team went that route, which seems to be the likeliest outcome, the earliest he would be eligible to play is Week 7.

Veteran cornerback Terence Newman picked off quarterback Teddy Bridgewater two times Wednesday — once in individual drills and another in team drills on a pass that deflected off wide receiver Jarius Wright to Newman.

A day later, Bridgewater talked about how Newman's experience has made him a challenging corner to attack.