Archive for October, 2011

For those keeping score at home Donovan McNabb has almost as many absurd statements to the media this season as touchdown passes. First it was in response to questions about his work ethic, then it was saying he “absolutely” should still be the starter and then yesterday it was a bizarre interview with NFL Network’s Andrea Kramer on his treatment when with the Washington Redskins. Here is how the conversation went with Kramer… Kramer: But even your longtime agent said the way that Shanahan handled you was “disrespectful and disgraceful.” McNabb: Well, I mean, it speaks for itself. Kramer: What [...]

As most everyone knows by now, cornerback Chris Cook was arrested for strangling his girlfriend nine days ago and has now been charged with felony assault. On October 25th the Vikings announced they were suspending Cook without pay. They now face the challenging decision of what to do with the plagued cornerback. During today’s press conference head coach Leslie Frazier said the team “Has a lot to talk about” regarding Cook’s future with the team without saying whether or not he’d be cut. This is a very delicate situation for the Vikings. Per league rules he is only allowed to [...]

Christian Ponder, Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin were the big stories for the Vikings on Sunday – if you just want to focus on the players who gave the most outstanding and inspiring on-field performances. The real story of the game, if you want to look beyond the feel-good aspects, was how the Vikings were able to overcome a multitude of miscues to keep the score close going into the fourth quarter, then took advantage of some major lucky breaks to eke out the three point win. Ponder again showed great poise in crunch time, throwing big-time third down passes [...]

Monday RE: Action Where’ve you been all my life Christian Ponder? I have maintained that some of the goal of playing Ponder was to see what we had in the young man. I liked the decision on many fronts. First, pitiful teams don’t put the booty in the beautiful blue seats. Backup QBs with promise, taken in the first round of the NFL draft, put Purple Nurples in the chairs. So from a business perspective…a win. Second, you had to see what you had. If Ponder looked like a deer in the headlights when the cameras were rolling and said [...]

The Vikings did their best to choke this one away late, but Carolina ultimately choked bigger, giving the Vikings a hard-fought 24-21 victory. Christian Ponder matched fellow rookie sensation Cam Newton blow-for-blow, and once again showed poise especially on third down. Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin, Visanthe Shiancoe and Devin Aromashodu all chipped in with big plays late in the game to help the Vikings score 10 unanswered points and grab a three point lead with time running down. Carolina seemed poised to snatch the victory away at the end of the fourth after yet another Vikings secondary breakdown allowed a [...]

Percy Harvin is having an interesting game. He ran for a touchdown in the first quarter, then in the second quarter fumbled the ball away to Carolina deep in Panthers territory. In between he got into a scrape with Captain Munnerlyn that resulted in a 15-yard penalty and could easily have gotten Percy ejected. Like The Viking Age on Facebook. Follow Dan Zinski on Twitter.

Welcome to Week 2 of Pondermonium. Today’s game with Carolina is being hyped as a showdown of rookie quarterbacks, but the real match-ups to watch are Adrian Peterson vs. the Panthers’ run D and Steve Smith vs. the Vikings’ secondary. Adrian tweaked his ankle late in the Packer game but he is good to go this week. So is Percy Harvin who is toughing it out despite his lingering rib injury. Anthony Herrera is out after hurting his knee last week and will be replaced by Joe Berger. John Sullivan is back after missing a game with a concussion. Defensively, [...]

Awaiting our showdown versus the Carolina Panthers I had a nice conversation with Taylor Barbour of the Panthers blog Cat Crave (www.catcrave.com) discussing some key points. You can catch my answers on their site as well. Without further delay here were the questions asked… 1) First things first… Quarterbacks. How excited is Carolina over Cam Newton and what already makes him an elite QB? The Panthers are ecstatic over what Newton has already done so early in his NFL career; he has really been unbelievable up to this point, especially with so little NFL experience. But I believe what makes [...]

Here’s how we see it goin’ down in Charlotte town tomorrow:   Judson: 27-24 Vikings? Trying to be optimistic, but the Panthers seem to be the Vikings’ kryptonite. Brad: Vikings 27 Panthers 20. Peterson goes over 100 and Ponder is solid again. Panthers rack up huge yards but turn the ball over 4 times.

Donovan McNabb is no longer a relevant force on the field for the Vikings, having been relegated to clipboard duty by Leslie Frazier, but the former starter seems bound and determined to remain relevant in the media even if it means creating the perception that he is not a team player. Maybe this is all part of Donovan’s larger plan to land a post-football job as a talking head…or maybe the guy just doesn’t know how to shut up. Either way, Donovan keeps talking, and people keep ripping him for what he says. Donovan’s latest excursion down Controversial Statement Lane is set to [...]