Rogers, McNabb have long history

Vikings quarterbacks coach Kevin Rogers held the same position at Syracuse when Donovan McNabb began attending the school.

Rogers, who eventually became Syracuse's offensive coordinator during McNabb's days there, helped groom the quarterback into a first-round draft pick of the Eagles. They will meet again on Sunday when Philadelphia visits the Metrodome to face the Vikings in the NFC playoffs.

McNabb has had his way as a professional against the Vikings, going 4-0 against them, including a 27-14 victory in the playoffs in January 2005 as well as a 23-16 victory at the Metrodome last year. That game was McNabb's second visit to the Dome since he lost there as a sophomore in college, with No. 24 Syracuse getting upset by coach Jim Wacker's Gophers by a score of 35-33.

"They couldn't stop us but I remember that we fumbled on two consecutive plays and Minnesota picked them up, returned both fumbles for touchdowns, and we ended up losing the football game," said Rogers, who was with Syracuse from 1991 to '98. He then spent three years at Notre Dame and four at Virginia Tech before joining the Vikings and coach Brad Childress in 2006.

Gophers safety Tyrone Carter had two fumble returns for scores that day in 1996. McNabb and the Orangemen rallied from a 29-12 deficit to take a 33-29 lead, but the Gophers came back to win on two field goals from Adam Bailey, the second coming from 26 yards out with 42 seconds to play.

McNabb was drafted No. 2 overall by the Eagles in 1999, and he and Rogers remain close to this day. After the Orange fired coach Greg Robinson this season, McNabb told the Sporting News that Rogers should get the job, saying, "He could be a guy that could come in and do the right things with the offense and the defense." Syracuse wound up going with New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Doug Marrone, a Syracuse offensive lineman in the 1980s.

Asked to compare Tarvaris Jackson and McNabb at the same stage, Rogers said it was very difficult to do.

Rogers, who has coached some 35 years, said that McNabb in college had unbelievable talent.

"He made plays. He reacted. He had tremendous sense in the pocket. He just was a great player, in my mind," Rogers said. "I'm probably a little bit biased, but as a college player, he's one of the great college quarterbacks of all time, a great player that could do it all. Had we won a couple of more games and gotten a team in an elite class, he probably would be recognized as one of those quarterbacks."

Asked to recall McNabb's greatest college performance, he said it was in 1998 at Michigan, when Syracuse beat the defending national champions 38-28 before more than 111,000 fans at Michigan Stadium. McNabb had the Orangemen out in front 38-6 in the third quarter.

Since McNabb played under both Rogers in college and Childress in the NFL, it will be interesting to see if they can find some weaknesses of the great quarterback that they can take advantage Sunday.

Jackson improving As for Jackson and his improvement, Rogers said he is excited about him.

"I thought it was really encouraging last week. After the turnover we had down there in the red zone, he ended up playing his best football in the fourth quarter when we were down 19-10 to bring us back and win the game."

McKinnie gets better Vikings left tackle Bryant McKinnie, who served a four-game NFL suspension at the start of the season, said there are things he still has to work on even after playing 12 games.

"I try to strive to have a perfect game," he said. "So, there's some things that I still want to work on that I feel like I'm getting better at this year."

He added, "I think I did a good job for somebody who was out four weeks and came back and jumped right into a starting position."

Jottings Michigan State men's basketball coach Tom Izzo said that Gophers counterpart Tubby Smith is still looking for his top players in his rotation; Smith has been playing 12 or 13 players in recent games. "I thought they came out so aggressive in the Louisville game and yet it's hard to do what Tubby was doing," Izzo said after the Spartans beat the Gophers on Wednesday. "I've been going through that a little bit myself, you're playing 12 guys early and now you've got to try and find your rotation and kind of grow, and I don't think I've found my rotation. I think the [Paul] Carter kid is going to be part of theirs eventually, and so they're still a work in progress, too. When you go from playing a lot guys and you start shrinking it down, it makes a difference in conference play. But the way they played against Louisville, they could have beaten anybody that day -- their defense, their toughness was a lot more 'team' than us, to be honest with you." ... Former Gophers coach Dan Monson had his biggest victory in two years at Long Beach State, with the 49ers defeating Temple 76-71 on Dec. 22. Monson is close to surpassing his win total from all of last season. The 49ers are 5-7; last year, they were 6-24.

Nathan Swift, the former Hutchinson High School wide receiver, capped his Nebraska career 4 receiving yards short of setting the school record. Swift, already the school's career leader in receptions with 166, had three catches for 32 yards in the Gator Bowl on Thursday, giving him 2,476 career yards. Johnny Rodgers' career mark at Nebraska was 2,479. Swift had a dropped pass Thursday that might have cost him the record.