Sore neck and shoulder keep Griffin on sideline

GREEN BAY, WIS. - Vikings rookie cornerback Cedric Griffin was inactive for Thursday night's game against Green Bay because of a neck/shoulder stinger that has bothered him since November.

Veteran Fred Smoot, who was demoted to the nickel package last month, reclaimed the starting job for at least one game at right corner. Ronyell Whitaker and rookie Charles Gordon both saw time as the extra defensive back in the nickel defense; Whitaker had opened the season in that role but was replaced by Griffin and then Smoot.

Smoot played a key role in the game, returning a third-quarter interception of a Brett Favre pass 47 yards for a touchdown to give the Vikings a 7-6 lead. It was Smoot's first pick since Dec. 11, 2005, when he intercepted a pass by St. Louis' Ryan Fitzpatrick. The touchdown was the first of Smoot's career.

Smoot tried to do the Lambeau Leap, jumping into the stands after the score, but fans threw him back and doused him with beer.

Griffin suffered the stinger in his left shoulder area Nov. 19 in the Vikings' loss to Miami. He was limited in that game but took over for Smoot the following week when the Vikings played host to Arizona. Griffin aggravated the injury in Sunday's loss to the Jets and saw a specialist on Monday. He missed both Vikings' practices in this week.

Griffin, the first of the Vikings' three second-round picks last April, had not missed a game before Thursday. He has started seven times and has two interceptions, 42 tackles and 10 passes broken up. Griffin was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week this month for his performance in a victory over Detroit. Griffin had an interception, two passes defensed, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Childress defends QB

While Vikings coach Brad Childress sometimes was willing to blame Brad Johnson, or bench him, when the offense faltered, he sounded protective of rookie quarterback Tarvaris Jackson on Thursday.

Childress supported his quarterback even though the Vikings managed three first downs and zero offensive points.

"You can't have nine of [12] series go three-and-out and expect to beat anybody," Childress said. "You've got to make plays when they come to you," he continued, in an apparent reference to dropped passes. "I thought [Jackson] did a good job of managing the football game."

Penalties continue

The Vikings committed 10 penalties for 68 yards. In 15 games they have committed 118 for 868 yards.

Last season they committed 128 for 1,013 yards.

Of course, last season the Vikings scored 405 points. With one game remaining, the Vikings have scored 261, and they've failed to score an offensive touchdown in six games.

Positive review

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he likes what Vikings coach Brad Childress has done in his first year on the job.

"I'm very impressed with Coach Childress. I think he's got a very clear vision of how to win and how he wants this team to represent the Vikings and the community," said Goodell, who attended Thursday's game as part of his tour of NFL cities. "I think he's absolutely going in the right direction."

Childress has mentioned on occasion that he has chatted with Goodell. The commissioner said he welcomes the opportunity to talk to coaches because "I like to get their perspective on things."

Goodell said his presence had nothing to do with Thursday possibly being the last home game for Packers quarterback Brett Favre. Favre has not announced whether he is coming back in 2007.

An 'upsetting' situation

Fans in the metro area were able to watch the NFL Network's production of Thursday's game on KSTP (Ch. 5). However, viewers who live outside of KSTP's reach and who don't have the NFL Network on their cable system could not get the game at home. This was the case in places such as Duluth.

The NFL Network has been unable to reach distribution deals with several cable operators, including Charter and Time Warner. Goodell said the key issue continues to be the fact several operators want to put the NFL Network on a digital sports tier; the league wants broader distribution for the channel.

"We're upset about it not being on a broader basis," Goodell said. "One of the things that the NFL is most proud of is the fact that we go to the broadest possible audience. What cable operators are asking us to do is put our games on a digital sports tier, which is a very small universe. And then what they would do is charge the consumers a significant amount of money to drive that digital sports tier.

"We don't want to do that. We want to be on the broadest possible tier. We want everyone to see our product. We are the only sports league to put all of our games on free television into the home markets and visiting markets. We're proud of that. I think it has been a great part of our success."

Robinson active

Receiver Marcus Robinson apparently recovered sufficiently enough from a mysterious hip injury that he was in uniform but did not start Thursday night. Early on, Robinson appeared to be serving the role of No. 5 receiver -- starters Troy Williamson and Travis Taylor, along with reserves Bethel Johnson and Billy McMullen, all played ahead of Robinson.

Robinson, who entered the game with a team-leading four touchdown receptions, was deactivated Sunday against the N.Y. Jets because of the injury -- which had not been previously announced and might have violated the NFL's rules regarding injury reports.

An NFL spokesman said last week that the main function of injury reports is to prevent teams from hiding injuries. Goodell said Thursday night at Lambeau Field that he wasn't aware of the specifics of Robinson's situation. But, Goodell said, "we want proper communication not only with the media but with our fans, and the accuracy, that's important to us."

Muckety-muck

Thursday night's game was the second in five days at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, where groundskeepers kept the playing surface covered until just after 5 p.m. Thursday, protecting it from a day of cold rain. The precipitation appeared to have stopped at that point, but some of the heaviest rain of the day came about an hour later as players were in the middle of pregame warmups.

At game time, the field was wet and the temperature was 36 degrees with winds of 10 miles per hour.

Future games at Lambeau Field probably won't have the same problem. Thursday night's affair was the last with the current all-grass field.

This offseason, Packers officials will install a mixed surface of natural grass reinforced with man-made fibers. A new drainage and heating system also will be installed.

The new surface, called GrassMaster, has been used on one of the Packers' practice fields since 2005. It uses sand-based soil, allowing for better drainage, and should not require midseason resodding because it is reinforced by the synthetic materials.

The surface also is used in Denver, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Etc.

• Special teams player Will Hunter was active for the first time in the past six games.

• Rookie Ryan Cook started at tackle for the second consecutive game.

• Packers President Bob Harlan, who will retire in May, was honored Thursday with a video tribute. Harlan has worked in the Packers' front office for 36 years; he became the team's president in 1989.

• Darren Sharper finally got his wish in the third quarter, intercepting a pass by Favre. Sharper easily got a deep pass that was badly overthrown. Sharper has talked about how often he picked off Favre when they were teammates, but he had not had a pick against Favre the first three times they faced each other.