vikings/nfl
Dan Wiederer began covering the Vikings in 2011, enthusiastically delivering insight on the team across the Star Tribune's print and digital products. Prior to joining the Access Vikings team, he spent seven seasons covering ACC basketball at The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer. He also covered the Chicago Bears in 2003 and 2004. Follow him on Twitter @StribDW.
Mark Craig has covered football and the NFL the past 20 years, including the Browns from 1991-95 and the Vikings and the NFL since 2003. Since 2008, Craig has served as one of the 44 Pro Football Hall of Fame selectors. He can be followed on Twitter at @markcraignfl.
Priefer had plan in place in case Walsh had been too sick to kick
Posted by: Mark Craig under NFC, Chris Kluwe Updated: October 18, 2012 - 2:48 PM
Special teams coach Mike Priefer had a plan in place just in case rookie kicker Blair Walsh, who came down with food poisoning on Saturday night, wouldn't have been healthy enough to kick on Sunday.
Punter Chris Kluwe, the holder on place-kicks, would have handled all the kicking duties. And quarterback Christian Ponder would have been the holder.
"Kluwe has kicked field goals before," Priefer said. "And Christian has held before for us in practice. It wouldn't have been pretty, or as pretty as you would like. But it's been done before."
Priefer was confident that wasn't going to be the case last weekend.
"I knew he would be OK," Priefer said. "I talked to [head athletic trainer] Eric Sugarman. And he texted me early Sunday morning. And I went and checked on [Walsh]. I was down watching tape but I went and checked on him. They have a little sick room, I guess.
"He didn't look very good, but I knew that he's a pretty tough kid. Mentally and physically, he's a tough kid. Once I saw his pre-game, I knew he would be fine because he had a great pre-game."
He also had a great game, going 4-for-4 on field goal attempts and 7-for-7 on kickoff touchbacks. The seven touchbacks set a team record. Walsh had tied the previous record of five twice in his first five NFL games.
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