Vikings notes: DT Floyd has knee injury

Defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd might have a sore knee, but he still has a healthy sense of humor.

Appearing in the open Vikings locker room Friday for the first time since banging knees with a teammate during Wednesday's practice, Floyd was asked about the crutches leaning on his locker stall.

Floyd glanced back at them and said, unconvincingly, "No, they're not my crutches."

"Yeah, right," replied a couple of reporters while the rest of the group chuckled.

"Somebody must have left them there," Floyd said with a grin before laughing, too.

Floyd was officially listed on the injury report as questionable for Sunday's game against the Green Bay Packers after missing two practices. But an MRI earlier in the week showed no major damage, and Floyd said Friday that his injured knee felt good.

"It's all in [coach Mike Zimmer's] hands," Floyd said. "I go as he go."

With running back Matt Asiata officially out because of a concussion and Jerick McKinnon probable but bothered by a lower back injury, the Vikings might need Ben Tate, who joined the team on Thursday, to take on a bigger role than they would like.

Tate was still getting settled in the area and meeting teammates on Friday.

"I've got to all focus on football and let everything else happen," Tate said. "Whatever I got to do outside of that is secondary. The first thing is making sure I understand my plays and just coming out here ready to go, full speed, and being ready to help in any aspect needed."

With Asiata out and Tate new to the system, Joe Banyard could also have a role on offense.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will not hear suspended running back Adrian Peterson's appeal on Dec. 2. Instead, he has appointed Harold Henderson to hear the appeal.

Henderson, who served as NFL executive vice president for labor relations and chairman of the NFL Management Council executive committee, upheld Goodell's 10-game ban of Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon after Gordon's latest violation of the league's substance abuse policy earlier this year.

In last Sunday's 21-13 loss to the Chicago Bears, the Vikings ran their first fake punt in nearly a decade. It paid off with backup safety Andrew Sendejo getting the first down as he ran for 48 yards.

"I think we've probably worked on it the past month," special teams coordinator Mike Priefer said. "Wanted to run it earlier. It was just a great opportunity to run it, good time and area of the field."

Priefer said Zimmer approached him this spring and told him to get some fakes ready.

"He's been aggressive since he got here," Priefer said. "He asked me back in the offseason about running fakes — field goal fakes, punt fakes, surprise onsides — and it has forced me to be more creative. … It's a good opportunity for me to get our guys excited about a big play like that."

Wide receivers Greg Jennings (rib) and Jarius Wright (hamstring) are both questionable for Sunday.