Long-snapper Cullen Loeffler was the most seriously injured of the many Vikings who were beat up in Sunday's 24-14 loss in Atlanta, coach Leslie Frazier said today.
Loeffler suffered a fracture in his lower back and will be out a minimum of two weeks and up to six weeks, Frazier said. Considering the season has only five more weeks, he could be done for the year.
Although defensive end Jared Allen snapped on six punts and two PATs without incident on Sunday, the Vikings obviously won't start a game with Allen as their long-snapper. So Frazier said the team will look to sign a long-snapper, probably before Wednesday's practice.
Other injuries, according to Frazier:
- S Tyrell Johnson suffered a "significant" hamstring injury and is being evaluated. Frazier said he probably won't be able to play for "a while." The team will know more as the week progresses.
- WR Michael Jenkins had a knee injury that "could cause him to miss some time." The team will know more Wednesday.
- FS Husain Abdullah, who missed his second consecutive game because of a concussion, is being evaluated.
- RB Adrian Peterson, who missed the game because of a high left ankle sprain, is making progress, based on what the team trainers told Frazier today. "He's improving, so that's encouraging for us," Frazier said.
- CB Asher Allen suffered a sprain of the AC joint in his left shoulder. He'll be day-to-day and his status will be determined by how much pain he can tolerate, Frazier said.
As for the talker of the day -- the coaching staff's failure to challenge what appeared to be a touchdown by Percy Harvin on third-and-goal from the 2-yard line late in the game -- Frazier admitted there was a mistake in communication.
Asked who tells him whether or not to challenge a call, Frazier said:
"We have a couple of coaches who are reviewing replay upstairs. They'll point something out to me if they think it's something we need to challenge. We got to review out communication based on that play alone. We really got to review that going forward. Seeing the play and realizing that there was a chance to maybe get a challenge in there is something that we have to re-look at it how we're communicating between myself and the guys upstairs."
