Three observations …
• Updating Jared Allen's stat sheet vs. Steelers left tackle Mike Adams: 2½ sacks, one holding call, one key hurry and one Steelers trade for Cardinals left tackle Levi Brown.
• A confident Panthers QB Cam Newton travels this week to Arizona, where he threw for 422 yards and two TDs in his NFL debut in 2011. Next up: A Winfield-free (maybe) Metrodome next Sunday.
• Percy Harvin is a great player, but teams that have employed him but were unable to play him because of injuries are 8-0 in their past eight regular-season games.
Two predictions …
• The Lions' streak of losses in Wisconsin will reach 23 on Sunday.
• The Bears' 29th-ranked pass rush won't enjoy facing Drew Brees.
More from Star Tribune
More from Star Tribune
More from Star Tribune
More from Star Tribune
More from Star Tribune
More from Star Tribune
More from Star Tribune
More From Star Tribune
More From Mark Craig
Vikings
Mark Craig's mock draft: QBs, trades and the Vikings take . . .
This mock draft has offensive players taken with the top seven picks. So if you like defense, you really don't need to show up for the start.
Vikings
Another big Vikings need might not be addressed early in draft
The Vikings haven't had a dominant interior defense lineman in two decades, and they might not get one in the draft this year either because of the team's even bigger needs.
Sports
Former Totino-Grace star set to follow father as first-round pick
Joe Alt, an offensive tackle out of Totino-Grace and Notre Dame, is expected to be a top-10 NFL draft pick. His father was a first-round selection 40 years ago.
Vikings
How interest in the mock drafts we love so much went from zero to infinity
The mock drafts of today are 50-plus years in the making, paved by draftniks such as Joel Buchsbaum and Mel Kiper Jr.
Vikings
Flores channels 'inner Zimmer,' makes pitch for another cornerback
Not everybody is fixated on which quarterback the Vikings should take in the draft.
Brian Flores, the team's defensive coordinator, thinks "you can never have enough" cornerbacks.
