Favre Makes An Announcement

Now there is a deadline for Brett Favre potentially to join the Vikes. The Vikes did not set it either, Brett Favre set it himself. He knows that is running low on time. Favre told the Vikes that he will have a decision for them on July 30th, whether he will be bearing the Beloved Purple. Favre wants to be effective for the Vikes the entire season.
It seems that all this madness will be finally over maybe...but one way or another he will make a decision.

Get Way Back

With the Vikings having such an exceptional running defense being the NFl leading rush D for the past couple of seasons now. This is a reason why the Vikes usually do not have the best past defense number in the league. The Vikings as a group in the secondary did improve from 2007 to 2008. They were the last in the league in 2007 giving up 241 yards a game to giving up 215 yards per game for an 18^th rank in the NFL.

It looks like that there will be battles in the secondary this year in training camp. With the departure of Darren Sharper, the Strong Safety position will be open. Here is a list of players that are on the team for now. I believe only 9 will remain at the end.

20 Madieu Williams S 6-1 203 Maryland

21 Marcus McCauley CB 6-1 203 Fresno State

22 Benny Sapp CB 5-9 190 Northern Iowa

23 Cedric Griffin CB 6-0 203 Texas

24 Marcus Walker CB 5-11 191 Oklahoma

25 Tyrell Johnson SS 6-0 207 Arkansas State

26 Antoine Winfield CB 5-9 180 Ohio State

27 Derrick Roberson CB 5-10 182 Rutgers

30 Asher Allen CB 5-9 194 Georgia

31 Karl Paymah CB 6-0 195 Washington State

33 Jamarca Sanford S 5-10 200 Mississippi

37 Eric Frampton S 5-11 205 Washington State

39 Husain Abdullah FS 6-0 204 Washington State

41 Charles Gordon CB 5-11 180 Kansas*

Bold were starters last season

*-denotes finished the season on Injured Reserved

Out the players that I see have their positions locked down are Antonio Winfield and Madieu Williams. Antonio Winfield has been a dominant force since he has become a Viking. He is a reliable cornerback. He is able to shutdown route for some of the premier receivers in the game. Winfield also is not afraid on putting a good lick on running backs coming around the corner either. He is one of the most underrated corners in the game.

Madieu Williams came to the Vikings as a free agent signing last season. He had a neck injury in the 1^st quarter of the season. He is a decent safety, but now he will have to tutor an inexperienced player on the other side of him. He rarely gets burnt for a touchdown. He is dependable tackler deep in the secondary as a free safety.

With the Strong Safety position open. There are four players trying to win this spot: Tyrell Johnson, Jamarca Sanford, Eric Frampton and Husain Abdullah. After all is said and done it seems that Johnson will be starting on the other side of Williams come Week 1. Johnson was a rookie last year and was starting as a Free Safety when Williams was out with his neck injury. He was learning last season, he was having a rough time. The Vikings are hoping that after what he has learned will help him this season. It is going to be a battle for this position.

As long as Cedric Griffin plays the way that he did last season, it seems that Griffin will be the other starting cornerback for the Vikes this season. He did a decent job considering that he had more passes coming his way due the fact that Winfield had a Pro Bowl year last season. This means that more passes came his way.

The battle for pass backs (nickel and dime) for the Vikes will tough this season. The Viking will have many difficult decisions in this department. It looks like there will be 10 players competing for five positions. Right now I see these players making the final ax:

§ Charles Gordon (excels at punt returns and nickel coverage)

§ Karl Paymah

§ Asher Allen

§ Jamarca Sanford

§ Benny Sapp

§ Eric Frampton or Marcus McCauley

Williams Wall Update

Judge Gary Larson said today that the Williams Wall will be able to play during the appeals process of the Williams' testing positive of a diuretic. The NFL also cannot step up testing of them during that time. The linemen want a speedy trial so their will be a hearing on July 22nd. The NFL's request to put the state court matter on hold pending the league's appeal of federal claims -- a process that could take months.

Time to Knock Some Heads

What is a linebacker many would ask? It is second line of defense on the defensive unit. They are overseers of the field. The unit can see easily if it going to be a run or a pass and where the offense is going with the ball.

The Viking had their up and down with the linebacking corps last season. They had two key injuries last season. The first one was to Heath Farwell in the first preseason game and the other to EJ Henderson early in the season. Both were lost for the season.

50 Erin Henderson LB 6-3 244 Maryland

51 Ben Leber LB 6-3 244 Kansas State

52 Chad Greenway LB 6-2 242 Iowa

54 Jasper Brinkley LB 6-1 252 South Carolina

55 Kenny Onatolu LB 6-2 225 Nebraska-Omaha

*56 E.J. Henderson LB 6-1 245 Maryland

58 David Herron LB 6-1 239 Michigan State

*59 Heath Farwell LB 6-0 235 San Diego St.

BOLD is starter last season

Denotes finished season on injured reserve

Why were these two players so important to Viking at the linebacker position? Heath Farwell was the captain of the special teams unit and the Vikes did not have a identity all year. The unit looked like a bunch of chicken with their head chopped off running around back there at times last season.

During EJ Henderson absence the Viking struggled to find a replacement for middle linebacker. Chilly and company tried a variety of players and even brought in two former Vikes. The unit was stretched thin last season.

EJ Henderson was lost early in the season last year as well. He has been coming into his own as the Viking starting middle linebacker. He has great intuition for sniffing out the play and of course punishing the ball carrier when he runs in his zone.He is an exciting to watch as the general on the defense.He will knock some heads and hit the running back so hard that he make him see double. I already have EJ as the starting Middle Linebacker for Week 1.

As the Weakside Linebacker the Vikes have Chad Greenway out of the University of Iowa. He is entering his 3 year as a Pro. He missed all of his rookie season with a torn ACL. He led the Vikings last season with 150 tackles and 3^rd on the team with 5.5 sacks. Greenway has the speed and ability to chase down a running back in the flats or drop back into coverage with a wide receiver. Greenway has been progressing each of the last 2 seasons with the Vikings. It easy to say the he will have his starting role on the weakside at the beginning of this season.

On the strongside linebacker is Ben Leber. He does not make the bone crushing hits that many fans like to see from a linebacker from the NFC North. Leber is a smart player, he is a decent coverage backerHe is a reliable linebacker and can sniff out the play is tough to keep out of the pocket on a blitz. I just cannot see him losing his starting job. The other players that I see making the season are:

Erin Henderson

Jasper Brinkley(Rookie)

Heath Farwell

For the Vikings they have a quite the unit in the middle they will punish the ball carrier if they get past the 1^st line of defense.

McNair Found Dead

Former NFL QB Steve McNair was found dead yesterday in a condo in downtown Nashville Tennessee alongside a 20 year old woman. Police are still investigated the two death, but it looks like a double homicide. There are other reports saying that it it is a homicide-suicide. There are many question about McNair and the young woman.

McNair was a QB was respected on and off the field. He was better know as a passer than a runner. He broke the stereotype that a black QB is not a pocket passer. He passed for over 3100 yards in is NFL career 1995-2007.
McNair will be sadly missed by all fans of the game.

Line of Destruction

With Training camp coming up in less than a month, I figured that I would do an analysis of each unit on Offense, Defense and Special Teams. I figured that I would start with the Defensive Line. As of right now here are the members of the Vikings in the DL unit:

Num Player Ht Wgt College

61 Martail Burnett DE 6-3 262 Utah

69 Jared Allen DE 6-6 270 Idaho State

73 Jimmy Kennedy DT 6-4 320 Penn State

90 Fred Evans DT 6-4 305 TX State - San Marcos

91 Ray Edwards DE 6-5 268 Purdue

92 Jayme Mitchell DE 6-6 285 Mississippi

93 Kevin Williams DT 6-5 311 Oklahoma State

94 Pat Williams DT 6-3 317 Texas A&M

95 Kenechi Udeze DE 6-3 281 USC

98 Letroy Guion DT 6-4 303 Florida State

99 Otis Grigsby DE 6-3 260 Kentucky

96 Brian Robison DE 6-3 267 Texas

Players in BOLD were last years’ starters

With the danger of losing the Williams Wall for the first four games this season hoving over the Viking s heads since last season. It will be only a matter of time until all Viking fans and the NFL finds out the outcome of Williams Wall. Pat and Kevin Williams have been in the force in the middle since the Vikes acquitted Pat to pair up with Kevin. These two guys are the force in the middle to breaks down the opposing teams’ line to kill the play. Teams think that they have enough to content with in the middle with the monstrous Williams Wall every down for the Viking defense.

The Vikings also have Jared Allen that they acquired from the Chiefs last season. He showed the league that he was not a one year wonder last year. He was breaking up plays left and right especially in the second half in the season, when the Vikes needed it most. Allen ranked 5^th in the league with 14.5 QB sacks. I figure that these 3 have locked their starting spot already for the season opener.

The other side of the line from Jared Allen, at the other Defensive End position is somewhat in the air right now. The two front runners for the job would be either Ray Edwards or Kenechi Udeze. With all that Kenechi Udeze has been through the past year with his battle with leukemia and trying to win his job back as the Viking DE. Edwards has been pretty steady in his career with the Vikes. The past two seasons he has had 5 sacks each year and over 40 takedowns per season as well.

With Udeze, he has been sporadic with his play over his career, His first 3 full season (he injured his 2^nd season), he had 2 seasons with 5 sacks and a season with NO SACKS at all. He needs to show that he has more of a nose for the job to win it over Edwards. I feel that Kenechi Udeze will be the backup to start the season.

With these front four, the Vikes will be hard teams to run on all season as well as teams dealing with the pass rush. So not much has change from last season to this season. If the Williams Wall is gone for the first four game, it is going to be interesting on who the Vikes use to plug in those huge holes if needed.

It looks that their will be 4 backup that will be making the squad, the players right now I will be a Viking next are as follows:

98 Letroy Guion DT 6-4 303 Florida State

96 Brian Robison DE 6-3 267 Texas

90 Fred Evans DT 6-4 305 TX State - San Marcos

95 Kenechi Udeze DE 6-3 281 USC

Sage Is Going To Lose It

With football being in a down period it seems that reporters are just trying to stir up some sort of controversy. It seems like at least once a week somebody is asking Sage or TJ about Favre. More often it is Sage that gets the mic in the face. I think they are just see if they can get Sage tell the media what they want to hear. For instance, something like I think that Coach Chilly is just wasting his time trying to get a over the hill now sub par QB.
Sage plays is Joe Cool style. Time and time again he tells the media that Favre is not a part of the Vikes at this moment.Right at this moment, he and TJ are competing for the starting QB job. He is lives in the now and not what might be happening in Brad Test Labs.
I believe most people would go on a tirade with the over and over questions of Favre and what do you think. Sage will be Sage, as in what happens happens.