One of the things many of us are curious to see this season is how center John Sullivan does against some of the NFL's bigger nose tackles. No one has questioned Sullivan's smarts and ability to make the line calls, but the loss of veteran Matt Birk means Sullivan is going to have his hands full at times when it comes to the physical aspect.
Sullivan is listed at 6-foot-4,301 pounds -- Birk was 6-4, 309 pounds, according to last year's media guide -- but just looking at the two it's pretty clear Sullivan is not the same size as Birk. Sullivan's first big test figures to come Sunday in the Vikings' regular-season opener at Cleveland when he could go against Pro Bowl nose tackle Shaun Rogers.
We say could because Rogers did not play in the preseason because of an unspecified injury. The Associated Press reported today, however, that after three weeks of riding a stationary bike while his teammates practiced, Rogers, who is 6-4, 350 pounds, was back on the field and might be able to play Sunday.
Browns coach Eric Mangini would not speculate on if Rogers would play, according to the AP. "With any guys that are on the injury report, we're always hoping they're going to play," Mangini said. "To say one guy is definitely going to be there or not be there, it changes during the course of the week and that's the reality of it."
Injury reports will begin being issued on Wednesday, but don't expect that to clear up the situation. Vikings coach Brad Childress doesn't like to talk about injuries but compared to Mangini, Childress is an open book when it comes to matters of his football team.
