Frazier won't name Vikings starting QB yet

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier declined to name a starting quarterback for Sunday's game at Dallas today. He said he had "an idea" about who was starting, and that the players know, but he probably won't announce the choice until Friday.

Master Tesfatsion reporting here from Winter Park for the rest of the Star Tribune crew.

"I got some things I want to go through, but I have an idea of what direction we're going to go and how we're going to practice," Frazier said. "But not in the frame of mind where I want to acknowledge that at this point. Our team knows, and I'm sure it'll get out there at some point. I don't want to publicly talk about who is going to be our starter."

Josh Freeman missed the Green Bay loss because of concussion symptoms, was eventually cleared to play, but was inactive for the game. Christian Ponder played in the 44-31 loss, backed up by Matt Cassel. From the looks of practice on Wednesday, it wouldn't be surprising to see Ponder start.

As Freeman went through the NFL protocol for concussion symptoms, he wasn't allowed to participate in meetings last week. It limited his ability to study the playbook, which he's only seen for a few weeks since he signed with the Vikings on Oct. 6.

"When you come in as late as he did and then have to miss the amount of time he had to miss last week as you're trying to develop him and help him learn our offense, it definitely sets him back," Frazier said. "There's nothing we can do about that but work as hard as we can this week to get him back to speed and see where he is from a physical and mental standpoint."

Injury report

Injured defensive backs Chris Cook (hip) and Jamarca Sanford (groin) won't practice today, and neither will tight end Rhett Ellison (ankle).

Patterson honored

Vikings rookie Cordarrelle Patterson, who set an NFL record for longest kickoff return in league history (109 yards) on Sunday night against Green Bay, has been named NFC special teams player of the week.

Patterson had 228 kick return yards in the game.

"When you watch some of his runs, he's a big receiver but he's more of a slight guy when you look at him frame-wise," Frazier said. "He breaks tackles. He's a physical runner, and his vision is unparalleled. He does a great job of being able to see things that are not visible to most."