Former Viking Mike Morris, now a KFAN talk show host, thinks the Brett Favre-fueled Vikings can go 12-4 this season. He told Sports Headliners if Favre is able to play at the level he did before injuring his arm last season with the Jets, the Vikings have a quarterback who will perform with the best in the NFC. He ranks Favre No. 1 among quarterbacks in the NFC North.
Morris said it’s important that the Vikings limit Favre’s throws in practice and that is going to happen. Coach Brad Childress said this week he isn’t going to put a number on the throws but “it seems prudent.”
Childress also expects Favre to start and play the first half of Monday night’s preseason game in Houston against the Texans.
Chicago linebacker Brian Urlacher was asked in the August 17 issue of Sports Illustrated if there’s anyone in the NFL like Vikings’ running back Adrian Peterson who led the league in rushing last year. “No, there’s no one as explosive as him,” Urlacher told S.I. “He does some things I haven’t seen before. He’s definitely the best offensive player in the game.”
Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier talking about rookie defensive back Asher Allen, a third round draft choice, and what he likes about him: “His quickness and the way he studies. He really does a great job of preparing. For a rookie to take the kind of notes that he does and ask the kind of questions that he does ask really lets you know that he is really into it and doing everything he can to mentally be engaged in what we are trying to get done. You don’t normally see that in rookies. They are usually more focused in trying to get through a practice physically. …”
Through two games the Vikings are the only NFL team that hasn’t given up a sack or turned the ball over.
St. Thomas is ranked in three preseason top-25 polls for Division III — the first national ranking in football since 1997. The Tommies were 7-3 last season under first-year head coach Glenn Caruso. Their plus-five turnaround from a 2-8 finish in 2007 was the third best out of 241 D-III programs. (Caruso’s first seven MIAC games were decided by eight or fewer points).
New Tommie assistant coach Eric Pulley worked at three different prep football coaching jobs in the same season during 2005. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in late August of that year, he moved to Mississippi to coach, and storm damage there forced him to relocate to Burnsville where he finished the season.
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