Archive for April, 2009

I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, but there is undoubtedly an anti-Tarvaris Jackson statement lurking in Sage Rosenfels‘ remarks to reporters about how he sees the Vikings‘ offense.  Here’s what Sage said: I think there is some untapped potential in this offense. I think the receivers do have a lot of talent and I think there’s a lot of tight ends that can do multiple things and everyone knows about the running game. This isn’t going to be an offense where we lead the NFL in most yards and I hope it’s not. Last year, the top three teams in the league [in offense] were [...]

All off-season we’ve been hearing how Adrian Peterson wants to gain weight and play at 230 pounds.  So far, however, we haven’t heard a satisfactory explanation as to why AD has come up with this plan, other than some vague stuff about being more durable.  And now it sounds like there may even be a tiny bit of controversy over the idea, at least going by some of Brad Childress‘s statements about the plan.  Chilly said: I’m thinking he’s probably not going to get to 230, nor does he want to be at 230. I would have no trouble telling [...]

Don’t know if any of you folks use Twitter…but, if you do, you can now follow me and other bloggers from the Fansided.com sports network.  My tweets are posted at twitter.com/acforever…”ac” standing for Anthony Carter, and not “air conditioning” or “alaskan carbuncle.”  The whole Fansided shebang is at twitter.com/fansided.  Add me to your follow list and I’ll add you back.  Then you may partake of more of my complaining, and I may partake of yours.  It’s fun until it’s not.

Marcus Johnson, the guy a lot of us thought would wind up being the Vikings‘ right tackle for years to come, has left Minnesota and signed with the Oakland Raiders.  Johnson, we recall, was drafted in 2005 out of Mississippi, and wound up in a starting right tackle rotation with Adam Goldberg.  The end of the Mike Tice era spelled the end of Johnson’s run, however:  Brad Childress spent a draft pick on Ryan Cook and began rotating him and Johnson, and finally ended up giving the starting job to his guy Cook at the expense of the incumbent.  Johnson [...]

If you were worried about Fred Evans leaving the Vikings…well, you can sleep now.  Fred has signed the $1.545 million tender the Vikings offered him.  It wasn’t like he was going to get a better offer somewhere else anyway.  Fred and Jimmy Kennedy are insurance in case Pat and Kevin Williams get chopped for four games by the NFL for not knowing how to read labels.  Fred appeared in all 16 games for the Vikes last year, starting in place of Fat Pat for the last two, when Fat Pat had a bum shoulder.  Evans amassed 16 tackles last year [...]

A little blip toward the end of Sid Hartman‘s latest column: [Brad] Childress…said linebacker E.J. Henderson, who missed most of last season after dislocating two toes on his left foot against Tennessee in Week 4, and defensive tackle Pat Williams, who had minor offseason surgery on his knee, are healthy and ready to play. Didn’t know big Pat had anything wrong with his knee.  Knew his shoulder was bad – but not bad enough to keep him out of the Pro Bowl.  Have been hearing all off-season that E.J. could’ve played at the end of last year had he not [...]

Jeff Garcia, a man coveted by many a Vikings fan as a more dynamic alternative to the Tarvaris Jackson/Sage Rosenfels QB duo, appears close to signing a contract to become the back-up quarterback for the Oakland Raiders.  “They’ve got their quarterback [in JaMarcus Russell], but [Garcia will] bring something to that team in terms of attitude, working, being on top of things,” an insider raved to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.  He’ll also bring a 39-year-old body, an arm that most believe is edging into noodle territory and a tendency to wear out his welcome. I personally was never hugely [...]

Spring has finally come around again, and you know what that means – garage sales.  “Wow, a whole box of water-warped Tom Clancy hard covers for 35 cents?  This is the most awesome thing that ever happened to my off-kilter furniture!  And I definitely have to get in on that rusty old rototiller.  Yeah, I don’t have a garden or even a yard right now, but you never know what squatting opportunities may present themselves in the future.  And when they do, I want to be ready!” Oh, and of course, spring also means baseball, aka that other sport that [...]

Ever since Cedric Griffin signed that five-year extension, fans have been wondering when or if his defensive backfield mate Antoine Winfield is going to receive a similar deal.  Most of the talk coming out of the Vikings and Winfield has pointed toward that deal definitely getting done – and, indeed, Winfield’s agent Ashanti Webb says he is currently engaged in “intense” negotiations with the team in hopes of making it happen.  “We have talked very frequently and are both working very hard at it,” Webb told Judd Zulgad. “Usually with this much talking and negotiations it’s a good sign in [...]

Brad Childress has confirmed what most of us already knew anyway:  that the Vikings made no effort whatsoever to get in on Jay Cutler after Pat Bowlen‘s announcement last week that the Broncos intended to trade him.  That door got slammed much earlier when the organization made up its mind that, given Cutler’s apparent character issues, a trade would not be in their best interests.  Clearly, if the Vikes were not willing to give up the relatively small package it would’ve taken to get Cutler in a three-way deal sending Matt Cassel to Denver, why would they even consider a [...]