Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Anthony Herrera Practices for First Time Tuesday


Anthony Herrera practiced with the Minnesota Vikings for the first time since he injured his knee in November against the Green Bay Packers. The Vikings took him off the physically unable to perform list on Tuesday and he began taking part in a 11-11 installation. New Vikings offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave said he hasn't decided whether he will play on Saturday against the Seattle Seahawks.

Herrera is way ahead of schedule with his recovery and should be more than ready for the Vikings season opener against the San Diego Chargers.

Percy Harvin Leaves Practice Tuesday With Injury


Percy Harvin left practice on Tuesday with an undisclosed injury. He got injured on August 8th with a rib injury, so his ribs could be bothering him again. Before leaving the field after practice, Harvin told reporters he'd be okay repeatedly and gave a thumbs up as he walked off the field.

Harvin's first two seasons have been plagued by migraines that he has always been getting.

Visanthe Shiancoe continues to not practice with an irritated hamstring.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Vikings Look Rusty in Preseason Opener


The Vikings didn't look very good in their preseason opener Saturday night against the Tennessee Titans. The Vikings lost 14-3 in Nashville, but a lot of that can be attributed to the lack of stars who saw significant playing time for the Vikes.

Players who were out or saw very limited action because there is no reason to play them in the preseason were Kevin Williams, Donovan McNabb, Adrian Peterson, Visanthe Shiancoe, and Percy Harvin.

Rookie quarterback Christian Ponder looked pretty good. He completed 8 of 13 passes for 84 yards. Kyle Rudolph caught a pass for 10 yards as well.

The Vikings next preseason game is this Saturday night against the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Visanthe Shiancoe Out for Preseason Opener


Visanthe Shiancoe will not play in Saturday night's preseason game against the Tennessee Titans. Shiancoe has been nursing an injured hamstring and Leslie Frazier sounds like he doesn't think Shiancoe doesn't need to play.

"I don't see any reason with the window that we have to put him out there," Frazier said. "We've got plenty of time to see Visanthe. We want to see some of those other guys that we want to evaluate."

Jeff Dugan and Jim Kleinsasser will start as tight ends Saturday night and Kyle Rudolph will see extended playing time as a result of Shiancoe's absence.

Kyle Rudolph at Viking's Training Camp


Kyle Rudolph missed most of his senior season at Notre Dame because of an injured hamstring that had him out as early as October. With Visanthe Shiancoe out with an injured hamstring, it's been Rudolph getting all the snaps with the first team during training camp. Kyle Rudolph loves the practice he's getting.

"These are great reps for me because, personally, I'm a little rusty," Rudolph said. "It's been since October."

Rudolph is the only Viking who is playing with the first team in practice thus far. 1st round draft pick Christian Ponder has been working with the 2nd and 3rd teams because he has been told he is not competing for the starting job, he's only competing to be a back up.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Vikings Coaches Want Joe Webb to Quarterback


Joe Webb lined up at wide receiver for one play on Monday at the Minnesota Viking's traning camp. There were a lot of cheers in the crowd when they saw Webb line up at wide receiver. The Vikings are insisting that he won't be doing that much more and that they are focused on developing him into a NFL quarterback.

"No, we really want to see Joe as a quarterback," Frazier said. "He's a tremendous athlete, and he can do some other things, but to be fair to Joe and our team, we need to let him concentrate on quarterback, not having it in the back of his mind, 'Am I going to be moved to receiver?'

I really love the way Frazier is handling this situation. To side track a little bit, I just want to say I love the way Leslie Frazier is handling this team and I think I'll write a piece about it later. Secondly, he couldn't be more right about this. Here's a guy who was drafted in the 6th round of the draft who played at a small school. He is just trying to grasp the knowledge of one position, why confuse him with two? Let him try to develop into a quarterback and he might turn out to be good. If we try to teach him receiver and quarterback at the same time he will likely be below average at both. Good job Leslie, keep up the good work.

Remember Vikings fans, Webb showed a ton of potential as a QUARTERBACK against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night. Let's give him some time to see if he can figure it out.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Donovan McNabb, No. 5 Vikings

Donovan McNabb VikingsChris Kluwe, the punter for the Minnesota Vikings, has until this point sported the No. 5 jersey in purple and gold. Newcomer Donovan McNabb has traditionally also worn the 5 spot.

In a good faith effort, Kluwe is willing to hand McNabb the shirt off his back on three conditions:
1) McNabb must mention Tripping Icarus (Kluwe's rock band of which he plays the bass),
2) donate $5,000 to a charity and
3) give Kluwe an ice cream cone (I hope he chose Izzy's Ice Cream on Marshall - it is always nice to support the local businesses)

Now that Donovan is officially a Viking, McNabb signed a contract to promote the band, has agreed to donate the money and, I assume, will be buying Kluwe a double-dipped cone here any minute. Keep your eyes peeled Mankato.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Randy Moss Retires

Randy Moss, former Minnesota Vikings wide receiver and future Hall of Famer, has decided to retire after 13 NFL seasons.

Moss, 34, caught 954 passes for 14,858 yards with 153 touchdowns.

Moss finished his 2010 season with 28 receptions along with 393 receiving yards and five touchdowns in a season that was mediocre by Moss-standards.

There has been widespread speculation that Moss will sit out this year and return from his retirement hiatus in due time. There has been no confirmation of this from Moss or Moss' agent.