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.
Posts about Vikings special teams
Peterson won't be the only top back on Sunday
Posted by: Kent Youngblood Updated: December 19, 2012 - 5:30 PM
Adrian Peterson’s quest for the NFL rushing record has taken center stage. But there is another pretty good running back to watch in this weekend’s Vikings game: Arian Foster.
Entering this week’s games Peterson has a league-best 1,812 rushing yards, and is within Eric Dickerson’s NFL-record 2,105. But Foster, who first came to the Texans as an undrafted free agent, has put up some strong numbers, too.
Foster is fourth in the league with 1,313 yards. Now, to show just how much Peterson has lapped the field this season, those 1,313 are precisely the same number Peterson has had since Week 7.
Still, Foster’s numbers are impressive. His 1,493 yards from scrimmage is fifth in the league – Peterson’s 2,023 is No. 1 – and if Foster scores a TD this week he will become the sixth player in NFL history to score 50 TDs in his first 50 NFL games.
“The scheme they run really fits what he does well,” Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway said of Foster. "He’s really patient, good at finding cut-back lanes. They throw the ball well out of the play-action game and bootleg game, and that serves Foster well in the run game as well.”
The Vikings have seen their share of good running backs this season, going up against five of the top 10 NFL rushers this season in Seattle’s Marshawn Lynch (second), Washington’s Alfred Morris (third), Tampa Bay’s Doug Martin (fifth), Tennessee’s Chris Johnson (seventh) and Frank Gore of San Francisco (ninth). Lynch ran for 124 yards, Morris had 57, Martin 135, Johnson 24 and Gore 63.
And now they get Foster.
Houston coach Gary Kubiak said he saw some similarities between Foster and Peterson.
“The thing about Adrian is that he has the home run speed,” Kubiak said. “Arian is one of those guys where it seems, the more he carries it, the stronger he gets. These are two guys who, the more they touch it, the more difficult it is to tackle them. Just two great players.”
(Almost) no comment
Christian Ponder’s marriage was not something many Vikings players wanted to discuss in the locker room.
Some, like center John Sullivan and guard Brandon Fusco, simply changed the subject.
“My focus right now is just going and grabbing some lunch and relaxing before practice,” safety Mistral Raymond said. “That should be dealt with somewhere else.”
Fullback Raymond Felton said he heard about it in the media like everybody else. Reaction? “I congratulated him,” Felton said. “Several people have congratulated him. So, obviously, whatever makes him happy we want that for him. It was a big day for him, and we’re happy for him.”
Of course, if anyone was going to have a little fun about the situation, it was punter Chris Kluwe, who wondered openly where he might find a gift registry. As for the present he planned on buying?
“Maybe a tea cozy,” he said.
Wins, not records
After winning NFC special teams player of the week honors for the second time this season, Vikings kicker Blair Walsh talked about winning, not records.
Specifically when he was asked whether he thought about making the Pro Bowl in this, his rookie season. “Yeah, it would be awesome, but that’s not my main goal right now.”
Walsh hit all five of his field goals last week, three in the 50-yards-plus range. He is now 8-for-8 from that distance, which ties him with Morten Andersen and Jason Hanson for most field goals of 50 or more yards in a season. He is one away from holding that record alone.
“I’m just wishing we win,” Walsh said. “I don’t’ care about the records. My whole deal with the records is that they’re meant to be broken. It would be nice to have, but I’d rather win.”
Walsh is 29-for-32 on field goals this season and is fourth in the NFC in scoring among kickers. He said the snap and hold has been perfect for every attempt this season, and that his three misses were entirely his fault.
So the question is, in a dome, in ideal circumstances, what does he think his limit is? “I think 65 (yards) and in I can at least give it a realistic shot,” he said.
Doing his part
Felton said he, along with the linemen and the rest of the team, are pulling for Peterson to break Dickerson’s record. But will he feel he earned a part of that record should it happen?
“A little bit,” he said. “I’ll be able to tell my grandkids about it. So, obviously, I think it’s important for our whole team. And the most important thing is getting wins. But when Adrian is successful that helps our team. That’s what we’re focused on.”
Meanwhile, it appears the work Felton has done has probably put to rest the question of whether Peterson prefers a fullback or running out of one-back sets. Felton said he’d seen a stat that indicated the Vikings gain better than 7 yards per rush with a fullback and 3-plus yards out of one-back sets.
Priefer: Kluwe's distractions 'getting old'
Posted by: Mark Craig Updated: December 13, 2012 - 1:17 PMVikings special teams coordinator Mike Priefer is a big fan of Ray Guy, but he's not a big fan of Vikings punter Chris Kluwe's ongoing campaign to get Guy voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a sign of respect for punters.
Asked jokingly if he was going to hide the tape so Kluwe couldn't write any more pro-Ray Guy messages on his uniform this Sunday, Priefer turned serious.
"I don't even want to talk about it," he said. "Those distractions are getting old for me, to be honest with you. Does Ray Guy deserve to be in the Hall of Fame? Absolutely. But there are other ways to go about doing it, in my opinion."
Asked if he's talked to Kluwe about it, Priefer said, "No. He won't listen."
Kluwe was an outspoken proponent of gay marriage rights in the fall. After Minnesota voters weighed in and agreed with Kluwe, the punter turned his attention and his Twitter account to pushing Guy for the Hall of Fame while lambasting the Hall's selectors for not selecting a punter for enshrinement.
Kluwe went a step further last Sunday when players' uniforms contained a patch celebrating the Hall's 50th anniversary. Kluwe covered the patch with a piece of tape that had the words "Vote Ray Guy" on it. He was fined $5,250, which is the standard amount for a uniform violation. Wednesday, he said the fine was worth it and continued his crusade in front of a group of reporters.
"To me, it's getting old," Priefer said. "He's got to focus on punting and holding."
Rudolph's big `catch'
When offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave was asked why tight end Kyle Rudolph didn't have a catch in Sunday's game, he smiled and said, "He had the onside kick. That was his first touch of the game. I congratulated him for that."
Musgrave went on to say the team needs to get Rudolph more involved in the offense on a consistent basis.
Priefer also talked about Rudolph's contribution to the hands-team on kickoff returns.
"He's the perfect guy for that," Priefer said. "He's big and strong and can jump and has great hands. He's the ideal hands-team player, in my opinion."
Jefferson won't return kicks this week
Cornerback A.J. Jefferson has been cleared to return to practice following Sunday's concussion, defensive coordinator Alan Williams said today.
Priefer said Jefferson won't return kickoffs. He returned his first and only kickoff as a Viking last week. He fumbled it, but that's not why he won't be returning kicks this week.
"It's more for the concussion," he said. "He's had some really good returns in Arizona. He was very successful. No touchdowns, but he had some big plays for them last year. I was excited for that role when we got him. Because of the concussion, you have to be smart."
Punt returner Marcus Sherels "more than likely" will return kickoffs as well, Priefer said.
Kluwe: It was worth it
Posted by: Kent Youngblood Updated: December 12, 2012 - 1:44 PMKluwe: It was worth it
The final price tag for Vikings punter Chris Kluwe having voiced his opinion: $5,250.
And it was worth every penny.
Last Sunday NFL uniforms sported a patch celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Kluwe taped to cover the patch, then wrote, “Vote Ray Guy” on it. His point was that no punters were in the Hall of Fame, and that Guy certainly deserves to be the first.
Kluwe, who became a rather famous advocate for same sex marriage this fall, has now gone from Gay rights to Guy rights. And it cost him an NFL fine, standard issue for first-time uniform infractions.
Kluwe knew the fine would be coming, and it was worth it, he said, though he did have to get his wife to sign off on the protest beforehand. “It got people talking about it,” Kluwe said. “I heard the broadcast team talked about it for a bit. And hopefully people will realize, ‘Hey, punters aren’t in the Hall of Fame, maybe we should do something about that.’ ‘’
As usual, Kluwe took to Twitter to announce his fine, tweeting, “The good news is all the money goes to support former players through the NFL charity programs. Maybe they’ll vote for Ray Guy.”
So has Kluwe talked with Guy, whose cause he has taken up? “I haven’t talked with him,” Kluwe said. “Hopefully I’ll get to talk to him when he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame.”
Enough talking
It’s not that there has been a shift in emphasis in the locker room. The goals the Vikings defense enter each game with haven’t changed. But, with a playoff push in progress, defensive end Brian Robison said there were some discussions last week on what the defense needed to do down the stretch.
“To us, it doesn’t matter what the offense does,” he said. “In our minds, we have to out-play the other team’s defense. That’s what it comes down to, the team that makes the most stops wins the games. .. We’ve always depended on ourselves to do that, to be the best defense on the field that day. But we haven’t always played like that. We came out last week and we said, ‘You know what? Enough talking about it, we gotta be about it.’ That’s what we did last week, we out-played them on defense, we scored on defense, we created turnovers, and we want to do the things that put our offense in the best position to be successful. Now we have to do that again.”
One area in which the defense has definitely improved is against the run. After a stretch in which the Vikings were gashed on the ground, the run defense has been good in three of the last four games.
During that four-game stretch Minnesota has allowed 133.3 yards per game, but just 2.6 yards per rush. This week the Vikings will see Steven Jackson, the Rams running back who is 71 yards from reaching 10,000 for his career.
“He looks awesome on film,” safety Harrison Smith said. “He’s a beast – tough to tackle, big, good runner. He’s patient. He gets his blocks and runs off them.”
Vikings stinging from Percy Harvin's recent near-misses on kickoff returns
Posted by: Dan Wiederer Updated: November 1, 2012 - 2:01 PMAs a kick returner, Percy Harvin has had a frustrating couple weeks with two near home-runs that seemed to be the equivalent of a fly out to the warning track and a 450-foot bomb that sailed just outside the foul pole.
Last Thursday against Tampa Bay, Harvin didn’t see many pitches he could hit. He was back for eight kickoffs but only had a chance to return one as Bucs kicker Michael Koenen blasted the other seven through the end zone.
“Frustrating for all of us,” Vikings special teams coach Mike Priefer said. “We kept preaching though in the huddle, he’s going to give us one.”
Harvin finally got that opportunity midway through the third quarter when he caught Koenen’s kick 7 yards deep and came out flying. He picked up a few solid blocks on the left side from Jerome Felton, Tyrone McKenzie and Rhett Ellison and almost broke free.
“I don’t know if you guys felt it but you can see it on tape,” Priefer said. “The crowd, as soon as the ball’s in the air, they know he’s going to bring it out. They all start standing up. My hair’s up on the back of my neck because I know we’ve got a chance. And he darn near broke it. He got up to the kicker.:
Koenen made a touchdown-saving tackle after a 43-yard return.
A week earlier against the Cardinals, Harvin’s 103-yard return for a touchdown was called back due to an illegal block in the back penalty on Marvin Mitchell, who was penalized for pushing Arizona’s Alfonso Smith.
Priefer acknowledged Thursday that was a legitimate flag.
“You have to call it because of where our guy was,” he said. “His hands were [extended]. I don’t even know if [Mitchell] hit him. But because the guy dove for Percy – and Percy was going to make him miss anyway, so I don’t even think we needed to – but because of the relationship of where he was, the official who called it was in the back and it looked like a block in the back.”
Neon Leon
Here’s Priefer’s praise for Seattle return specialist Leon Washington: “He’s a really tough guy to bring down. He’s got great vision. I call it running back vision, because that’s what he is. He runs hard. And once he finds a seam, which a lot of guys can’t see, he can see it and he hits it downhill so fast that he’s extremely hard to tackle. Great quickness, great toughness. He’s a formidable threat. … His best trait is kickoff returns because he’s downhill faster. He’s already got the ball and he’s running downhill 15 or 20 yards before anyone even gets near him. And that’s where he’s a big-time threat. Because, again, he can see that seam and hit it full speed. We’ve got to do a great job of keeping leverage, a great job tackling him, a great job of wrapping him up and getting him down.”
Vikings see similarities in Seahawks offense
Posted by: Kent Youngblood Updated: October 31, 2012 - 2:07 PMWhen Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway puts on tape of the Seattle Seahawks offense, he sees a whole lot of what he sees on the Vikings’ practice field every day.
He sees an offense that mirrors what the Vikings do. He sees a scheme that is not overly complex from a formation standpoint. He sees a team determined to start by establishing the run, then working off of that with a play-action passing game. Familiar? Yes. Even more so because many of the Vikings’ vets were here when Darrell Bevell – the Seahawks offensive coordinator – was doing the same job here through the 2010 season.
But that doesn’t mean Seattle will be easy to stop.
“I don’t know if it gives us an advantage,” Greenway said. “You still have to go out and play and react. But we do have a better sense of what (Bevell) is trying to accomplish, having been around him so much – the type of scheme, the type of passing game he’s going to utilize off what he’s doing in the running game. And that play-action stuff. They’re going to throw some (bootleg plays) at you, try to suck the linebackers up and throw over the top of you. All these things we know. But we have to go out and play the game.”
Fellow linebacker Erin Henderson agreed. “You have a good idea of how they want to do things, what they want to get done,” Henderson said. “But you won’t know for sure until you go out and see their first 15 plays.”
Despite the good numbers Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch has put up, the Seahawks have struggled to move the ball consistently and to score points; the team ranks 30th in the NFL in yards gained and 27th in scoring.
For the Vikings to make sure that continues they have to stop the Seahawks running game first. That’s a goal that, considering the problems Minnesota has had stopping the run of late, won’t be easy to reach.
But familiarity might breed defensive consistency.
“They are built very similarly to us,” Greenway said. “I mean, the biggest thing for us is going out and playing in a very tough environment. We’ll see if we can handle it or not. This will be a huge game for us.”
Thinking of home
Henderson is from Aberdeen, Maryland, which is about 45 minutes north of Baltimore. He has a lot of family there, as well as some family that lives in the New York area. So he has spent a lot of time the past few days keeping in contact with people back home to see how they’re dealing with Hurricane Sandy.
“They didn’t get hit to bad in Maryland,” Henderson said. “Just some high winds and a bit of rain, stuff like that. But I had some family in New York that got affected a little bit more. It was kind of devastating to see some of the pictures they sent us. Everybody made out OK, though.”
Still, Henderson said it hasn’t been easy to be in Minnesota while family out east dealt with the storm.
“You want to be there with them, and be there to support them as best as possible,” he said. “But you have a job to do. You have responsibilities you have to tend to here. It’s just a matter of trying to communicate as much as possible on the phone, make sure everything is OK.”
A game of inches
It’s not just last Thursday’s game that is bothering Vikings punter Chris Kluwe. Halfway through the season Kluwe ranks 11th in the NFC with a 43.5-yard punting average and eighth with a 39.9 net average. Both are down from his career averages.
“I’d say mediocre,” Kluwe said when asked to assess his season so far. “I'd like to, obviously, be leading the league in both gross and net. Unfortunately sometimes you don’t punt well.”
The difference between a good punt and a bad one? Less than you might think. Kluwe said he was rushing himself a little bit, trying to go a little too fast. “And my drop hasn’t been super consistent,” he said. “That’s something to hopefully hone in on and try to get corrected.”
Kluwe said a drop that is even an inch off can change a kick. "Or maybe the ball is tilted three or four degrees forward or three or four degrees back," he said. "That can change the entire outcome of the kick. It's a very small window that you have to hit in order to kick the ball well."
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recent posts
- Update: Winfield and Ponder on Vikings' injury report
- Behind Enemy Lines: After slow start, Aaron Rodgers carved Vikings up last week
- New cast may be key to keeping Winfield on the field Saturday
- Peterson, Walsh named NFC players of the month
- Michael Jenkins justifying his title as "The Professor"
- Sanford's investment, rapid growth typifies Vikings' resurgence
- Frazier on Harvin not being around team: 'It's purely up to him'
- Vikings experimenting with slot options in case Antoine Winfield can't play
- Ponder limited with bruised right elbow
- The words in Christian Ponder's pre-game speeches don't matter
- Ex-Viking Larry Bowie dies
- Walsh wins his third NFC special teams Player of the Week award
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Post By Category
- Update: Winfield and Ponder on Vikings' injury report
- Behind Enemy Lines: After slow start, Aaron Rodgers carved Vikings up last week
- New cast may be key to keeping Winfield on the field Saturday
- Michael Jenkins justifying his title as "The Professor"
- Sanford's investment, rapid growth typifies Vikings' resurgence
- Frazier on Harvin not being around team: 'It's purely up to him'
- Peterson, Walsh named NFC players of the month
- Ponder limited with bruised right elbow
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