Brooks Bollinger May Get First-Team Work

Brad Childress says the plan Friday night against the Jets is to use the starters for the whole first half. However, in his Access Vikings blog today, Judd Zulgad says it “sounds like” Brooks Bollinger will get some snaps with the first team in place of Tarvaris Jackson in said pre-season game. So what gives? Does Chilly just want to take a longer look at Brooks, who frankly did not impress in the pre-season opener against the Rams? Or maybe Chilly thinks Tarvaris is getting a little complacent and wants to nudge him.

The third-string QB spot is also becoming a bit of a story. Drew Henson is still on the squad, though you wouldn’t know it by the amount of action he got in the Rams game (that would be zilch). There’s a piece by Gannett writer Shawn Windsor about Henson, which paints a rather melancholy picture of where the QB is at this point in his career. A telling excerpt:

"The first spiral wobbled through the hot, thick air, slightly off its axis. The second ball wasn’t even a spiral. It hurtled on a wayward arc like a sack of potatoes, or a tossed goat, spinning end over end, before it bounced awkwardly on the grass beyond the sidelines, at least 15 yards from the closest receiver.It was the kind of pass a boy throws when the football is as long as his torso. It was a heave, really, and Drew Henson knew it the moment it slipped from his palm.In another scenario — say, a tailgate toss between buddies on a Saturday in the fall — it would’ve been funny. But on an NFL practice field in August, with dozens of coaches watching, it wasn’t.It was painful.It was painful because Henson — once the can’t-miss prospect from the University of Michigan with the rifle arm — was competing at Minnesota Vikings training camp with Tyler Thigpen, a rookie from Coastal Carolina, just to make the team. Thigpen played in Friday’s exhibition opener; Henson didn’t."

So now we know why Henson didn’t play against the Rams – he can’t even throw a spiral in practice.  Scratch him as a viable option for this team should Tarvaris need replacing – and reinforce my position that we need to sign a veteran back-up.  Sorry, but Bollinger’s performance Friday night only confirmed that he’s not the answer.  And Tyler Thigpen?  He looks like he has a nice arm, and he showed some athleticism with one of his scrambles against the Rams – but he’s even greener than T-Jack.  Somebody get Kelly Holcomb on the phone, stat.