Minnesota Vikings Starters Stil Uncertain But SuperBowl Chances Solid

John Sullivan

The Vikings haven’t made a final decision on whether or not to play their starters in Thursday’s preseason finale, but John Sullivan won’t be among them. Plus, Sidney Rice is officially out for at least six weeks, the first roster cuts are in and traffic could be snarled Thursday. Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said Tuesday that a final decision on the starters for Thursday’s preseason finale hasn’t been made yet. Most likely, the star players won’t be making an appearance, but a decision to sit the entire starting cast or a portion of it hasn’t been made yet. “Originally I think coach said that he wasn’t going to (play the starters) and then in the team meeting right before the game he said he reserved the right to put them in if he needed to, so I’m not sure he’s made a decision on that,” Bevell said. “He hasn’t told us yet. But the guys did perform pretty decent early in that game and he’ll end up making that decision, probably pretty quick.” Injuries have forced the Vikings make a number of adjustments to their starting lineup, most notably and consistently at center. John Sullivan hasn’t played yet this preseason and Bevell said he wouldn’t be playing again in the preseason finale Thursday night against the Denver Broncos. “I don’t think it’s at that point yet. We’ve got to get him back out here after this preseason game,” Bevell said. “We knew that we weren’t going to have him through this game. Pretty much just being able to see if it can handle pushing off, the physical strain. He’ll be fine conditioning-wise because they’re still working with that.” The Vikings have started 2009 rookie free agent Jon Cooper as well as Anthony Herrera, normally the starting right guard, at center in their first three preseason games. As for the regular-season opener, all three – Sullivan, Herrera and Cooper – are possibilities, Bevell said. Bevell said the team expected to have their five starting offensive linemen from last year all healthy when they started training camp, but “at some point we’ll get Sully back.” RICE MOVED TO RESERVE/PUP The Vikings placed wide receiver Sidney Rice on the reserve/physically unable to perform list, meaning he will officially be out for at least the first six games of the season. Rice had surgery on his hip last week and Vikings coach Brad Childress said it would be “at least” eight weeks before he could return. The Vikings can have him return to practice after the first six games of the season and make a determination about his future after that. Rice tweeted on Tuesday that he was working out in a pool with Timberwolves guard Jonny Flynn. CUTS COME HOME The Vikings got down to the NFL-mandated 75-player roster limit on Tuesday by making the move on Rice and releasing WR Marko Mitchell and OL Bill Noethlich. The team put LB J Leman on the injured-reserve list after he cleared the waived-injured process. He joins WR Jaymar Johnson on that season-ending designation. The Vikings will have to make a decision on CB Cedric Griffin, who is on the active physically-unable-to-perform list by Saturday. Griffin, who hasn’t practiced with the team since tearing his ACL in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 24, could also be headed for the PUP list if trainers and doctors aren’t convinced he’s ready for action in the coming weeks. The Vikings will have to be down to the NFL-mandated roster limit of 53 players by 5 p.m. Central Saturday, meaning at least 22 players will be waived, along with a decision being made on Griffin. VIKINGS-TWINS SHOWDOWN The city of Minneapolis is warning Vikings and Twins fans of the potential for congested traffic on Thursday night. With the Twins now playing in the new Target Field, Thursday night will mark the first concurrent Twins and Vikings games and the city is projecting that as many as 100,000 people will attend the two games. The Vikings play the Denver Broncos at 7 p.m., with doors opening at 5 p.m., and the Twins host the Detroit Tigers at 7:10 p.m., with gates opening at 5:30 p.m. Additionally, the Orpheum Theatre is presenting the production “Wicked,” with doors opening there at 6:30 p.m. The City of Minneapolis is encouraging those who drive to the games to park as close as they can to that stadium and encouraging other forms of transportation. The Hiawatha Light Rail is expected to be full, but bus service will supplement that before and after the game, picking up passengers at the 28th Ave. Station and Fort Snelling Station and going to both the Metrodome and Target Field. The Northstar commuter rail is sending an eight-car train from the Big Lake Station with stops in Elk River, Anoka, Coon Rapids and Fridley, with arrival at Target Field Station at about 6:10 p.m. Fans headed to the Vikings game will make a free transfer to the Hiawatha light-rail line for the short trip to the Metrodome. After the games, separate sets of buses will depart both venues and deliver passengers back to their starting points. NOTES In addition to the roster moves, Sullivan, TE Garrett Mills, DT Jimmy Kennedy and S Jamarca Sanford weren’t at practice on Tuesday. CB Marcus Sherels and WR Logan Payne were at practice but not participating because of injuries. RB Toby Gerhart returned to practice after missing Monday. Pat Williams
The Vikings have had the best rush defense over the past three years, finishing second last year and first the previous two years. Avoiding four-game suspensions to Pat and Kevin Williams would help keep that important element intact. The recent court decision to delay the suspensions of Pat Williams and Kevin Williams may have a big influence in Brett Favre’s still-pending decision as to whether to come back for another year or to spend an autumn on the farm in Mississippi for the first time in his adult life. The conventional wisdom is that if Favre comes back, the Vikings will make a Super Bowl run. But, without the Williams Wall, those odds would take a hit. The Williamses have both been Pro Bowlers for a reason. With all the complicated offensive schemes designed to open up and exploit defenses, the basic premise of the game remains the same – run the ball effectively on offense and stop the run on defense. If you do that consistently, you stand a better chance to win consistently. With the Williams Wall in place, over the last three years, nobody has done it like the Vikings. In 2007, the Vikings finished 8-8, missing the playoffs thanks to a collapse at home against Washington that would have clinched a wild card berth. Their mediocrity wasn’t due to the run defense. It was rated No. 1 in yards allowed and No. 2 in average per rushing attempt. The problem was that the Vikings couldn’t consistently generate a pass rush and quarterbacks with any acumen (and even some without a lot of street cred) were able to pick them apart – the Vikings had the 32nd-rated pass defense in ’07, which was saying something considering there were six teams that lost 12 or more games and one (Miami) that lost 15 times. In 2008, Jared Allen came to the team and Ray Edwards was given the other full-time starting job and they helped vastly improve the pass rush and the overall defense. The Vikings went from 32nd in the league in pass defense to 18th. It wasn’t a meteoric jump, but it was good enough to help the team improve from 8-8 to 10-6. The run defense was still dominant. They again finished first in rush yards allowed and second in average per rush, leading the Vikings to a division title for the first time in eight years and giving hope that bigger things could be on the horizon. The arrival of Favre kicked expectations up a notch – make that 20 notches. The offense improved exponentially upon his arrival. In the two years previously referenced, the Vikings had started Tarvaris Jackson, Gus Frerotte, Brooks Bollinger and Kelly Holcomb. Favre brought immediate excitement – and more scoring – to the Vikings offense. It put pressure on the defense to keep up and the that side of the ball responded. The numbers slipped slightly – second in the league in rush yards allowed and sixth in average per carry – but the formula remained the same. If you stop them, the wins will come. Had the NFL been able to impose its four-game suspension on the Williamses – the odds of them getting it reduced by a game or two given the rancor of the court cases is unlikely – it might have been enough to keep Favre on the farm side of the fence. But with them back in the fold for the foreseeable future, things again look bright heading into the season, which could be a contributing factor in Favre making the decision so many fans, coaches and teammates are keeping their fingers crossed that he will make. MONDAY NOTES Pro Football Weekly said in its “NFC Whispers” column that Visanthe Shiancoe’s agent Drew Rosenhaus has been talking with the Vikings about a contract extension. Shank is under contract for two more years and, according to PFW, “we hear” Shiancoe would like to be paid among the top five tight ends in the league – a pretty exclusive neighborhood in the range of $5-7 million a year. Shiancoe switched agents a few months ago to hire Rosenhaus, who has several Vikings clients in his management stable. The NFL’s official website has weighed in on the NFC North race and columnist Vic Carucci is predicting hard times for the Vikings and the Saints. He picks both of them (along with Arizona) not to repeat as division champs. He has the Packers beating out the Vikings and Atlanta topping the Saints, leaving the teams from January’s NFC Championship Game battling for the two wild card positions. Adrian Peterson hosted a two-day youth football camp in Norman, Okla. that had more than 450 kids taking part in the camp. NFL rookies are spending the next three days at the NFL’s annual rookie symposium at the La Costa resort in Carslbad, Calif. The symposium got underway Sunday night with a one-hour speech from Commissioner Roger Goodell. The commissioner told the players that there is responsibility with being an NFL player and personal conduct is important to them – now and throughout their careers. Goodell also addressed the increased measures to address injuries. He tied the two issues together, saying his job was “to protect the integrity of the NFL and to make sure the game is as safe as possible.” Only three drafted rookies aren’t at the symposium, but one of them (New York Giants safety Chad Jones), couldn’t attend after suffering what may be a career-ending injury in a car accident in New Orleans. Goodell spoke with Jones Sunday at the hospital where he is beginning the recovery process. NFL Network will unveil its countdown of the 10 best regular-season games of 2009. They are letting fans pick the order of the top five, two of which are Vikings games. Two of the five nominees fans can vote for are the 27-24 Vikings win over San Francisco and their 36-30 overtime loss at Chicago in Week 16. The other nominees are the Colts 35-34 win over New England in Week 10, the “Game Nobody Ever Saw” – a 38-37 win by Detroit over Cleveland in Week 11 – and the Steelers 37-36 win over Green Bay in Week 15. Considering that four of the top five games all involved the NFC North and all four teams are involved in the voting, perhaps the division will get a little more credit than it has the last couple of years for having some quality teams in it. Former Cowboys chant-icon Darryl “Moose” Johnston did a radio interview in Dallas in which he was asked, “It’s late June and assuming Favre is coming back, because he will come back, the two best teams in the NFC right now?” Johnston was short and sweet, saying just “Dallas and Minnesota.” When asked why New Orleans wasn’t in the mix, Johnston said, “Minnesota is you don’t turn the ball over six times, you win that game.”