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Childs vows he will be back next season

Rookie receiver confident he'll return from surgery on both knees

By Kent Youngblood

October 9, 2012 at 1:31PM

Childs confident in his return

Monday afternoon Greg Childs strode through a mostly-empty Vikings locker room.

This in itself, is relatively newsy, considering not much has been either seen or heard from Childs since the rookie receiver tore the patellar tendon in both knees during an intra-squad scrimmage early in training camp.

Childs – who came back from a similar injury to his right knee in 2010 while in college – has vowed to beat the odds and return to football. It appears nothing has changed in the weeks since his surgery.

"Next season," he said, when asked about his long-term prognosis after surgery to repair both knees. "I'll be back on the field next season. I'll be out there running around, doing my thing, making plays."

It would be an unprecedented recovery.

Childs said he's been walking for a while without the help of a brace, and has been working daily on rehab. But he did admit the injuries took an emotional blow.

"It hurt," he said. "It kind of hurt my feelings a little bit. But you've just got to push through it. You've got to understand football is a game you're going to get hurt. But it's how you come back and how you respond when you do get hurt, when things go bad for you."

Childs wouldn't say how far along he is in his rehab or what he's able to do at this point. But he did say having gone through this before is helping this time. Still, it will be remarkable if he's able to return.

"I like to do things that people think other people can't do," he said. "I've got a strong head. You can ask any of the players in here, I come in here, attitude good, every day. … I'm going to do everything I can to step back on the field for next season."

Blanton impressed Sanford

When rookie Robert Blanton had to enter Sunday's game to replace the ejected Harrison Smith, fellow safety Jamarca Sanford had to calm him down.

"He's a guy who gets real (hyper)," Sanford said. "So you have to make sure he knows his assignment, and calm him down a little."

The result, according to Sanford, was impressive. "Everybody been waiting on it to see Blanch get in," Sanford said of Blanton. "He plays with energy, enthusiasm. He's an exciting guy. It was good to see a young guy step in and play like he played yesterday."

Finally, a sack

Sacks might not be the ultimate measure of how well a defensive end is playing. That said, Brian Robison was extremely happy to finally get his first sack of the season Sunday. It came on the first offensive series of the game. The Titans had moved from their 20 to a third-and-three at the Vikings' 39 when Robison sacked Matt Hasselbeck for an 8-yard loss, prompting a punt.

"It took five games," Robison said. "They say sacks come in bunches, so I am hoping that is the beginning of a bunch. I've been working hard to get there, rushing my butt off, doing all the things the defense is calling. For it finally to have happened feels good."

It almost wasn't a sack, as Hasselbeck tried to get rid of the ball before being taken down.

"I only got one arm (on him) and I was like, 'I got to just hold on for dear life.' '' Robison said. "So I went down and I saw he still had the ball … I just started gator-rolling on him. I was just trying to get him down and I saw the ball come out right as he hit. Of course I jumped up and said, 'He's down, he's down!' I was helping [the officials] make a call. It might have been a close, bang-bang call, so I just thought I would help them out a little bit. It really feels good to get that one."