Archive for February, 2009

It was a good day to be a Viking at the Pro Bowl yesterday, with several of the team’s stars putting in standout performances.  Top amongst the proud purplers was Antoine Winfield who made one of the game’s biggest plays, picking off Kerry Collins with the AFC driving to extend their 14-10 lead in the third.  Wait…did I just call a pick from the Pro Bowl a “big play.”  I apologize for that.  It was a nice pick though – I saw a replay of it.  No, I did not watch the game…I was busy sorting my underwear.  That’s a [...]

All the speculation about the Vikings trying to acquire Matt Cassel may be moot…cause the Patriots may not in fact be looking to deal the quarterback at all.  Per Adam Schefter: Now that QB Matt Cassel has signed his $14.65 million non-exclusive franchise tender — the largest guarantee on a one-year contract in the history of the NFL — some around the league believe it’s 95 percent that he remains in New England. 95%?  That’s pretty dang high.  Of course, the skeptics will argue that this is nothing but that genius Bill Belichick trying to manipulate the market by disseminating [...]

Brad Childress on the Vikings‘ participation in community outreach programs: Our players probably get way more out of it than the kids that they touch. Nothing’s more gratifying than touching a child.  Just ask Woody Allen.  Or Mark Chmura.

ESPN‘s NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert seems lukewarm on the prospect of Matt Cassel being acquired by the Vikings: The two variables — the Vikings’ indecision and the Patriots’ opaque plans — make it hard to suggest that Cassel is heading to the NFC North. Yes, it’s true that at this time last year no one thought Jared Allen — another player with a franchise tag — would find his way from Kansas City to Minnesota. But the ransom the Vikings gave up for Allen — a first-round pick, two third-rounders and an exchange of sixth-round picks — gutted their [...]

Adam Caplan is a pretty well-respected NFL insider who has broken plenty of stories (I believe he knew about Bernard Berrian coming to the Vikes before anyone), so when he starts talking rumors and speculation, there’s some real meat to it.  Thankfully, Caplan was willing and able to share some of what he’s been hearing on a chat at the subscription site Viking Update – and, again thankfully, someone was nice enough to take the text of said session (which I missed cause I ain’t paying for Viking Update) and post it on Rube Chat.  The full text is here [...]

Adrian Peterson told reporters in Hawaii that he wants to be a bigger player in 2009 – literally bigger, as in 7 to 12 pounds heavier.  “I don’t think too many guys would be excited to see me at 230 two times a year,” the always-humble AD proclaimed, going on to explain that with greater bulk would come more explosiveness.  Whatever he thinks will make him a better player is fine with me…though, were I him, I’d be less concerned about muscle-mass and more about grip – and I don’t mean handshake grip, kung-fu grip or the kind of grip [...]

It looks almost 100% certain that you can cross Kurt Warner off the list of potential future Vikings starting quarterbacks.  The Cardinals and Warner are rumored to be discussing a two-year contract worth between $18 and $20 million, and Warner has been adamant, in the hours since the team coughed up the Super Bowl to the Steelers, that he will play for Arizona in 2009 or he will go back to bagging groceries.  This does, of course, open up a second, possibly intriguing line of speculation:  What happens to Matt Leinart and would the Vikings make a run at him [...]

The early Vegas odds of the Vikings winning next year’s Super Bowl are 25/1 according to Bodog.  The favorites are the Patriots at 8/1, followed by the Cowboys at 9/1.  I can see the Pats being favored overall, but the Cowboys second?  Do the oddsmakers not pay any attention?  The Cowboys, unless something radical changes there, will be lucky to finish 8-8 next year.  They’re great on paper, but on the field?  The biggest longshots, much bigger than the Vikes, are the Chiefs and Lions, who are both at 100/1.  I won’t be putting down any money on either of [...]

Chris Mortensen has added his voice to the chorus of noted mainstream media figures who believe Brett Favre wants off the Jets so he can sign with the Vikings. The first ripple spread through the pond a week ago when Peter King said on the PTI program that he thinks Favre would only return next season to play with the Vikings, and since then, the pond has begun resembling a slowly-churning cauldron.  Of course, this could all be nothing but media outlets deliberately stirring up speculation for the sake of off-season ratings/web hits – but there’s nothing wrong with that [...]

Two years after being hired away from the Vikings, Mike Tomlin has led the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Super Bowl title.  And what an amazing game it was…this is the second year in a row we’ve been treated to a twisty, turny, unbelievably thrilling championship tilt.  For a second, it looked like another man with Vikings connections, Larry Fitzgerald (he used to be our ball-boy, as we were reminded about four thousand times in the last two weeks) was going to be the hero:  Kurt Warner hit him over the middle and in a flash he was behind the defense, [...]