We had a chance Saturday to chat briefly with Vikings right tackle Phil Loadholt at the team's annual Arctic Blast event in the Lake Mille Lacs area. Loadholt had a promising rookie season in 2009 but he struggled at times this past season. He was called for 14 penalties, including seven false starts. That was tied for the fourth-most in the league, according to ESPN research. Three players were tied for first with eight false starts. Loadholt didn't make excuses, but he did acknowledge that he didn't feel 100 percent until about halfway through the season after having surgery last February to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder."I really couldn't do too much going into the offseason," he said. "I did a little bit [of weight training] during the summer but my strength wasn't where it needed to be at the beginning of the year."

Loadholt suffered the injury against the Arizona Cardinals on Dec. 6 of his rookie season but finished the rest of the season before having surgery. He said his lack of strength in his right arm affected him the first part of this past season.

"Probably about midseason I felt it was getting more stable and things like that," he said. "It was hard to keep my hands up. A guy could just barely make contact with my hands and knock them down early in the year. You just have to get it done with your feet or whatever."

Loadholt said his focus this offseason continues to be on improving his pass protection.

"My main goal is to work on hand placement and different things in pass protection," he said. "Definitely leverage. Being 6-8, I can get better leverage every year. I'm working on that."Loadholt met briefly with new offensive line coach Jeff Davidson at Winter Park last week but he said they didn't talk in detail about schemes and techniques.

"We really didn't talk too much football, just kind of got to know each other a little better," Loadholt said. "Everybody I talk to speaks very highly of him and enjoyed playing for him. I'm excited about it."