Archive for January, 2009

The word just came across that Randall McDaniel has been elected to the Hall-of-Fame.  And all I can say is…about effing time.  It was always absurd that McDaniel, the best left guard of his era, had to wait as long as he did to gain election…but all that can be forgotten now; McDaniel will be donning the blazer and getting his bust in Canton.  He will be joined by the late Bob Hayes, Bruce Smith, the late Derrick Thomas, Ralph Wilson and Rod Woodson.  No Cris Carter.  No John Randle either (but I think he will get in one day).  [...]

In case you hadn’t heard, there’s a fairly big game in the NFL this weekend between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pretty much everyone on earth will be watching, except maybe Dennis Green who will be too busy pulling weeds along the high-road (he likes to keep it nice and neat-looking).  I normally steer away from predictions, given my less-than-stellar success ratio, but today I’m going to make an exception: I predict that there will be a pre-game interview segment with Larry Fitzgerald and his sportswriter father Larry, Sr. in which it is mentioned that Larry, Jr. used [...]

The Vikings will do just about anything to make Tarvaris Jackson into a legitimate NFL quarterback, including enroll him in mixed martial arts courses intended to improve his hip movement.  Apparently, Tarvaris has really tight hips and needs to loosen them.  I personally haven’t spent much time looking at or thinking about T-Jack’s hips, so I’ll have to take people’s word for it.  It does seem to me that Chubby Checker would be the man to bring in on this one but, like I said, I don’t know. This Tarvaris Jackson MMA story is interesting for a couple of reasons:  [...]

The Patriots have a big decision to make on Matt Cassel, who had a bust out season in 2008 filling in for Tom Brady, and is set to become a free agent.  Should they let their newly-minted star quarterback hit the open market, where he would undoubtedly be snapped up, or should they slap the franchise tag on him and perhaps try to trade him?  Complicating said decision is the fact that, according to the Boston Globe, using the franchise tag on Cassel could mean committing $14.65 million to him capwise for 2009: The NFL Players Association released the franchise [...]

The St. Louis Rams are treating the Vikings‘ coaching staff like a buffet.  Today they hired away assistant defensive line coach Brendan Daly, who will serve as defensive line coach under new head man Steve Spagnuolo, who just a week ago snatched up former Vikings special teams coach Paul Ferraro as well.  Clearly, Spagnuolo has a lot of respect for Brad Childress‘s assistants…maybe because the Vikings have beaten his former team the Giants three straight times?

Adrian Peterson has been named the FedEx Ground Player of the Year after leading the NFL with 1760 yards.  FedEx will make a donation of $25,000 to the Minneapolis chapter of Safe Kids USA in honor of AD’s accomplishment.  Drew Brees of the Saints was named Air Player of the Year after nearly breaking Dan Marino‘s single-season passing yardage record.  And we could’ve freaking had him!

I suppose it was inevitable that the media would start cranking up the speculation about Brett Favre wanting to leave the Jets and join his buddies Brad Childress and Darrell Bevell on the Vikings, but I was hoping it would at least take until April or May, mid-March at the earliest.  Unfortunately, that fat tub of lard Peter King decided to jump the gun by bringing up Minnesota as a potential landing spot for Favre during an interview on PTI, and then of course Mike Florio picked it up and ran with it, so now it’s on.  Thankfully, I don’t [...]

The NFL has come to an agreement with the widow of Korey Stringer, who sued both the NFL and equipment-maker Riddell after her husband, a Pro-Bowl tackle for the Vikings, died of heatstroke during training camp in July 2001.  Financial terms have not been disclosed, but as part of the agreement, the NFL has agreed to support widow Kelci Stringer‘s efforts to start a heat safety awareness program to help both professional and amateur athletes.  Viking fans will of course never forget the shock of Stringer’s death, which sent the team into a malaise for that entire 2001 season – [...]

Former Viking great Carl Eller was found guilty on two misdemeanor counts at Hennepin County District Court this morning, one count of fourth-degree assault on a police officer and one of refusing a field sobriety test.  The charges stemmed from an incident last April in which Eller, in an apparent advanced state of inebriation, fought a pair of police officers who’d pulled him over.  The cops claimed Eller kept attacking them even after they’d tazed him, throwing one of them against the hood of his Mercedes and sending both of them to the hospital.  Eller originally faced four charges, but [...]

The firing of Herm Edwards as coach of the Kansas City Chiefs has touched off yet another round of speculation as to the future of Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, who has already been seriously considered for, and missed out on, no fewer than two head coaching positions this offseason.  A couple of our sister sites on the FSB network have already weighed in on the prospect of Frazier succeeding the much-maligned Edwards.  Arrowhead Addict seems to favor Cardinals offensive coordinator Todd Haley, but they didn’t dismiss the idea of Frazier coming aboard instead: I also like Leslie Frazier of [...]