Former Vikings Pro Bowl quarterback Tommy Kramer told Sports Headliners he believes his former team can beat any club in the NFL and Minnesota could end up in the 2017 Super Bowl.
“Oh, hell, yeah,” Kramer said. “I think they could beat anybody, any time they want, if they’re playing up to their speed (abilities).”
Kramer made that statement in an interview last week before yesterday’s Vikings-Texans game. It’s not likely Kramer has changed his admiration of the 2016 team after its 31-13 win.
The Vikings, 5-0, are the NFL’s only undefeated club. They dominated the Texans in the first half, jumping out to a 24-0 second quarter lead. The Texans didn’t get a first down until about four minutes into the second quarter—and then only by penalty. The defense was at its usual NFC-best, allowing one touchdown and two field goals in the game at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Kramer isn’t ready to rate the unit the equal of the famed “Purple People Eaters” of the 1970s but he is impressed with a defense that hard-nosed and creative head coach Mike Zimmer has shaped in his image. “Zim is a hell of a coach, trust me,” Kramer said.
Kramer appreciates how that defense helps quarterback Sam Bradford who threw two touchdown passes yesterday and has yet to be intercepted in four starts with the Vikings after joining the team just several days before the regular season started.
“He’s got talent and now he’s got a good defense to play with,” Kramer said about Bradford. “It makes a big damn difference to you (as quarterback). You don’t have to take so many chances. You don’t have to try to score every possession because you know your defense is going to score for you too.”
The last time the Vikings got off to a 5-0 start the Bart Favre led 2009 club went all the way to the NFC title and almost advanced to the Super Bowl. That Vikings went 12-4 in the regular season and that group rates with the franchise’s best teams. Ranking with the best, too, is the 1998 team that was 15-1.
No Vikings team has been to the Super Bowl, though, since the group led by the “Purple People Eaters” defensive line of the 1970s. Could the Vikings make it all the way to Houston for the February 5, 2017 Super Bowl? “If all of them (the players) stay healthy, their chances are good,” said Kramer who played 14 seasons in the NFL from 1977-1990 but never quarterbacked a Super Bowl team.
Bradford’s health will be one of the team’s big concerns. Yesterday, the Texans landed some hard hits on Bradford including when Vikings second-year offensive left tackle T.J. Clemmings couldn’t stop Texans pass rusher Whitney Mercilus. The offense, of course, is already without major contributors Teddy Bridgewater, Matt Kalil and Adrian Peterson.
Too many injuries could turn the direction of this season to horns down. “You never know,” Kramer said. “Each injury could be each player’s career. He might not ever come back.”
But for now the Vikings are on an exceptional run, partly because of their attitude in every game. Through about the first one-third of the schedule the Vikings have played with exceptional focus and intensity.
“If you have ever been around coach Zimmer you don’t have any other choice,” said Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph. “That’s what he expects from us, whether it’s on Sundays, Mondays, or out on the practice field. If we don’t give that intensity and effort, and put that work in each day, then he points it out. He makes us aware that’s not good enough. So that’s the standard that he has set around here, and we just try to live up to that.”
Worth Noting
The Vikings were a seven point favorite to defeat the Texans. Bruce Marshall, writing online for the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Saturday, said Zimmer’s teams were 18-2 covering the spread going into yesterday’s game.
Kramer’s sixth annual charity golf tournament to raise funds for cancer research will be on Friday, August 11 at Mississippi Dunes Golf Links in Cottage Grove. Recognizable names who have played in the tournament include many ex-Vikings. “We’re never short on celebrities playing in it,” Kramer said. More at tk9charitygolf.com.
A franchise source said about 25 percent of Vikings fans are using light rail to attend games at U.S. Bank Stadium. Rail platforms have been cleared in less than an hour after games, while last year at TCF Bank Stadium waits were over 60 minutes.
The stadium will be open two and one-half hours before all home games this year to accommodate fans as they become more familiar with gameday travel and the new facility.
Last Friday a CNN crew was in town to produce a report likely to air around Super Bowl time next year. The segment is expected to talk about the 2018 game being at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Prescott Line, the younger brother of Vikings fullback Zach Line, is a graduate transfer at Michigan State from SMU and has been the starting fullback for the Spartans.
It’s not certain but it appears that J.D. Spielman, son of Vikings general manager Rick Spielman, will be redshirted this fall at Nebraska. The 2015 Minnesota Mr. Football and former Eden Prairie High School player is a freshman receiver for the Cornhuskers and hasn’t seen game action.
The Hawkeyes team that defeated the Gophers 14-7 on Saturday has 51 players on the roster that are Iowa natives. Among players not from the state is true freshman Amani Hooker of Minneapolis and Park Center High School. He is a reserve safety who has been playing on special teams for Iowa.
The Gophers roster has 33 Minnesotans.
The remaining opponents on the Gophers’ schedule are 21-11 in all games, but only 6-9 in the Big Ten. Minnesota, 3-2 overall and 0-2 in conference games, is at Maryland on Saturday. The Terps have 4-1 and 1-1 records.
Concordia alum and Spicer, Minnesota native Brandon Zylstra is a rookie wide receiver with Edmonton of the Canadian Football League. His position coach is Carson Walch, a former St. Thomas assistant. Walch was part of Montreal’s Grey Cup winning team in 2010 as an assistant coach on the staff of Marc Trestman, the ex-Vikings assistant and former Gophers quarterback. Carson’s brother Travis is a nine-year St. Thomas assistant.
Gophers head basketball coach Richard Pitino will bring junior guard Nate Mason and sophomore forward Jordan Murphy to Thursday’s Big Ten Basketball Media Day in Washington, D.C. The Gophers open with an exhibition game against Bemidji State on Thursday, November 3 at Williams Arena.
The Timberwolves basketball staff is giving more fans the opportunity to attend the WNBA Finals tomorrow night at Target Center. The Wolves coaching staff purchased 500 upper level tickets and this morning fans could visit Lynxbasketball.com to obtain seats (two per customer). The Sparks lead the finals series 1-0 after winning yesterday afternoon.
Condolences to the family and friends of former Gophers assistant football coach Bruce Vandersall who died last week. Son Mark is married to NBC TV’s Michelle Tafoya.