Archive for August, 2010

Chris Cook made a big impression in his first start as an NFL corner Saturday night vs. the Seahawks.  Unfortunately, Cook had to leave the game prematurely after suffering a knee injury. Afterward, the rookie tried to downplay the severity of the injury.  Now we all know the truth:  Cook has a torn meniscus which will keep him out of next Thursday’s season opener against the Saints. Veteran Lito Sheppard is expected to start in Cook’s place.  The Vikings are now thin at corner with this injury and last week’s trade of Benny Sapp, so look for them to possibly [...]

The words “ankle” and “lubricant” are never ones you want to see together in the same sentence.  Especially when said ankle belongs to the man you’re counting on to lead your football team to the championship that has eluded it for all 50 years of its existence. But, this is the reality Brett Favre – and we – will have to face from here on out.  A reality full of reports like Peter King’s about the injection of lube Favre got in his bad ankle after the Seahawks game – a game in which Favre threw 2 interceptions, and also [...]

After three preseason games, my eyes tell me that Sage Rosenfels is ahead of Tarvaris Jackson in the competition to be the #2 quarterback behind Brett Favre. Forget about stats.  I’m just talking about the way the offense functions when Tarvaris is in the game vs. when Sage is in.  To put it bluntly:  When T-Jack is behind center, the offense resembles a sputtery, leaking, shuddering clunker that’s ready for the junkyard.  When Sage is in, it looks dinged up and not very pretty but functional enough to get you from A to B. It seems to me that this [...]

It’s a good thing Brett Favre decided not to skip the preseason, because judging by last night’s performance, the guy needs all the work he can get. Over the half + one series he was in, Favre showed good zip on his throws, but also demonstrated some poor decision-making and was inaccurate on some throws where guys were open.  And you can’t blame most of it on the offensive line, because outside of a couple early hiccups, the pass protection was actually pretty solid. Of course it didn’t help Favre that his favorite receiver, Sidney Rice, was not on the [...]

It’s always a good idea for the new guys on a team to make a quick positive impression on the home fans. Several of the newest Vikings took this idea to heart, using Saturday night’s preseason tilt with the Seahawks to get a head start on winning over Purple Nation. Greg Camarillo, acquired just this week in a trade with the Dolphins, got off to the fastest start, catching two passes for first downs in the same first quarter series.  Camarillo kept it going early in the second half, catching two more balls from Brett Favre before Brett got too [...]

Ideally, a team would like to use the third preseason game as a nice relaxing tune-up, and not as a platform for answering a bucketload of nagging questions.  Unfortunately, just two weeks before the start of the regular season, the Vikings find themselves still plagued by a swarm of unresolved issues. Hopefully, tonight’s match-up with the Seahawks will clear up a few of these situations, and not create any more. The big one, I think everyone agrees, is the wide receiver question.  Sadly, the only thing we know for sure here is that Sidney Rice will not be on the [...]

The Vikings held practice in the Metrodome Thursday (they can use it anytime they want now that the Twins are no longer there), and unlike Wednesday, Percy Harvin was not on the field with his teammates. Harvin was, however, seen wandering around near the Metrodome loading dock.  I don’t care to speculate on what he was doing out there, but I’m sure that it was entirely non-cannabis-related. Despite Harvin’s absence from Thursday practice, Brad Childress remains hopeful that the receiver can play Saturday against the Seahawks. In other receiver-related news, newly-acquired Greg Camarillo arrived Thursday for his first practice with [...]

News that Sidney Rice had undergone surgery on his injured hip and would miss the first half of the season was met in a variety of ways by Viking fans. Many felt anxiety at the team’s prospects for winning a Super Bowl, now that their #1 receiver was on the shelf.  Some expressed concern at what the loss of Rice would mean to the mental well-being of Brett Favre, who returned to the team assuming he would have his favorite weapon from last year. More than a few just plain got angry at Sidney, questioning his decision to not have [...]

Amid Camarillo-mania, another piece of awesome news has come across the Twitter ticker:  A week after being hospitalized with a severe migraine possibly brought on by a bad reaction to medication, Percy Harvin is back on the practice field with the Vikings. So far, Percy has not vomited, passed out or begun hallucinating giant pink rabbits. Between this and the Greg Camarillo trade, it looks like the Vikings receiver corps is finally coming together.  Brett Favre must be pleased. Sign up now and get 50% off CBSSports.com’s award-winning Fantasy Football Commissioner Sign up for CBSSports.com’s College Fantasy Football. It’s free. [...]

Clearly, the Vikings don’t believe Javon Walker is the answer to their wide receiver problem.  Which is why the team just made a trade with the Dolphins to acquire wide-out Greg Camarillo (this from Jeff Darlington of the Miami Herald). Camarillo looks, on the surface, like a nice pick-up for the Vikes.  Last year, his fourth in the pros, he caught 50 balls for 550 yards.  In 2008, he caught 55 for 613 yards and 2 TDs in only 11 games (before an ACL injury did him in). Now we just need to see how he fits into the offense.  [...]