P.J. FLECK – Page 53 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Ben Leber Goes Off on Vikings

Posted on September 21, 2020September 21, 2020 by David Shama

The Minnesota Vikings have been dominated in their first two games, losing 43-34 to the Green Bay Packers and 28-11 to the Indianapolis Colts. Beyond the 0-2 start to the 2020 season, few numbers are more telling than the team’s time of possession average: Vikings 20 minutes: 10 seconds, opponents 39:51.

Since 1990 NFL teams that begin the season 0-2 have about a 12 percent chance of making the playoffs. With the league expanding the number of playoff teams from 12 to 14 in 2020, it might be premature to write the Vikings’ “obituary” before the first official day of fall, but this team has issues.

The front office willingly parted with personnel in the offseason, most specifically on the defensive line, cornerback and trading star wide receiver Stefon Diggs to the Buffalo Bills. Injuries to defensive end Danielle Hunter, linebacker Anthony Barr and guard Pat Elflein have compounded performance. Still, there are a couple of issues that have been troubling for years—inconsistency at quarterback and in the offensive line. Management has not put high caliber personnel in place to elevate these areas to rank among the best in the league.

Vikings fans are frustrated and so is ex-Viking linebacker Ben Leber. Since Leber’s career ended he has emerged as a candid and knowledgeable analyst on Vikings radio broadcasts and college football telecasts. Unlike many ex-players turned analysts, he is credible and serves his audience.

After yesterday’s game he went off on how the Vikings are playing. Speaking on the KFAN post-game show, Leber was rightfully critical of both the offense and defense.

Leber started with quarterback Kirk Cousins who had a miserable 15.9 passer rating yesterday. Cousins, who has a contract worth almost $100 million, completed 11 of 26 passes for 113 yards and threw three interceptions. But Leber thought Cousins was worse than his stats.

“To me Kirk Cousins has to be able to trust other people outside of (favorite wide receiver) Adam Thielen,” Leber said on KFAN. “He’s way too predictable on passes thrown to him. (In) critical situations everybody knows it’s going to go to Thielen. He (also) has to do a better job in the course of the first half of ball distribution, finding other guys. …”

The Vikings started yesterday’s game with Cousins throwing the ball in a series of plays featuring play-action passes. Leber didn’t like the scripted plays not utilizing Dalvin Cook who management just rewarded with a big contract that includes a $23 million guarantee. He regards Cooks as one of the NFL’s best running backs.

Leber understands offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak wants to have a balanced attack of running and throwing but Cook isn’t receiving enough opportunities (14 carries, two receptions yesterday). “He has this ability to make plays,” Leber said. “Let him be your playmaker. Let the offense run through him. Let the play action pass get developed and get down the field through the run game. We’re just not doing that.”

The Vikings’ woes with time of possession are caused by more than an ineffective offense that leaves the defense on the field for long stretches. “It’s extremely agonizing (to watch),” Leber said. “I love that word because it encapsulates how you feel watching the defense as well (as the offense).”

The defense isn’t playing like a typical Mike Zimmer defense. The line has been pushed around on running plays and unable to sack quarterbacks and create pressure. “The running backs are getting two, three, four yards down the field before there is any initial contact,” Leber said.

An inexperienced group of cornerbacks 24 years old and younger has struggled. Leber said they have played “dumb football.” He is also critical of linebacker Eric Wilson’s pass coverage. ”There are big time issues on this defense that cannot be ignored,” Leber said.

Worth Noting

Leber lives in Edina, a community of choice for players from the Minnesota Wild, Gophers coaches P.J. Fleck and Richard Pitino, Minnesota Twins third baseman Josh Donaldson, and Twins club executives Derek Falvey and Thad Levine.

The AL Central division leading Chicago White Sox rank No. 2 behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in SI.com’s MLB power rankings of last Friday. The New York Yankees, the team Twins fans fear meeting in the playoffs, rank No. 8 while Minnesota is No. 6.

In MLB.com’s power rankings out today the Yankees rank No. 4, White Sox No. 6 and Twins No. 7.

The Twins win over the Chicago Cubs last night was the club’s first appearance since 2010 on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.

Ron Gardenhire, who has had health issues for years, retired from the Detroit Tigers a couple of days ago but will best be remembered as the Twins manager. He was the first skipper in MLB history to have his team in the playoffs during the first six of his nine years.

Nice guy Gardy could get fired up on the field. He was ejected from games 84 times, the seventh highest in MLB history.

Former Gophers head coach Jerry Kill, now a special assistant at TCU, will see an interesting prospect coming to Fort Worth next year. Alexander Honig, who lives in Germany, has verbally committed to TCU and prompted an Associated Press story awhile ago that detailed his 6-6 height, skills and potential.

Murray’s, the longtime Sports Headliners advertiser, has an impressive new website telling visitors the success story of the iconic downtown restaurant that dates back to 1946. Open most days for lunch and dinner, Murray’s is also offering curbside pickup.

Comments Welcome

Gophers May Still Open with Iowa

Posted on September 17, 2020September 17, 2020 by David Shama

The 2020 Big Ten football schedule targeted for a season launch October 23 and 24 is expected to be announced within 24 hours or less. When that schedule for the league’s 14 teams comes out, it certainly could have Minnesota playing Iowa in Minneapolis.

Why? Because conference planners in making up a revised composite schedule may decide the best procedure is to use the original schedule in place before COVID-19 turned the world upside down including college football. For a couple of years now, Minnesota’s 2020 schedule had the Gophers opening their Big Ten season against the Hawkeyes at TCF Bank Stadium.

The game was originally scheduled for Friday, September 18. A Minnesota-Iowa matchup for Floyd of Rosedale could land on Friday, October 23. Per Big Ten policy, no fans will be allowed in the stadium to watch, but the telecast would draw a large TV audience in Minnesota, Iowa and other parts of Big Ten territory. The TV ratings could be among the best in college football that weekend.

Both teams are contenders for the Big Ten’s West Division title, adding importance to the opening game. With the revised composite schedule, each league team will play all six of its division rivals and two cross-over teams from the other division (no nonconference games). Instead of nine conference games as originally scheduled, the Gophers and others will play eight league games (four home, four road).

That means Minnesota will lose a game on the schedule against an East Division team. On the original schedule the Gophers were to play Maryland, Michigan and Michigan State in cross-over games. Maryland played the Gophers last year and is on the 2021 schedule so the Terps could be dropped in 2020. The Gophers didn’t play Michigan and Michigan State in 2019, nor are they scheduled to see either program next year.

From a TV popularity perspective, the Big Ten can do itself a favor with a Minnesota-Michigan game this fall. That’s a potentially glitzy matchup involving two preseason top 25 teams playing for the famous Little Brown Jug.

There is another perk with dropping Maryland. The original nine-game schedule had Minnesota playing in College Park as part of a lineup with five road games and four at home. Reshaping the original schedule would have Minnesota at home for Iowa, Michigan, Purdue and Northwestern. On the road at Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan State and Nebraska.

Maybe the Big Ten schedule makers will go in a different direction than following the original model, but in a year of so much disruption and changed perspectives it seems like a schedule that most closely mirrors expectations prior to COVID makes a lot of sense.

Of course there’s no guarantee COVID will allow games to be played, but the league believes medical advances and protocols are better than when the Big Ten announced its schedule postponement in August. Gophers athletics director Mark Coyle told KFAN’s Dan Barreiro yesterday that compared with other conferences, what the Big Ten has in place is “much more demanding.”

The TV revenues from a Big Ten football startup will lessen the financial hit Minnesota and other conference athletic departments are trying to cope with. The Gophers (with no football season) have been looking at about $75 million less in revenue by year’s end. Now an estimate is $40 to $50 million.

Despite loud protests Coyle isn’t second-guessing the decision to reduce his total sports program from 25 teams to 21. Awaiting final Board of Regents approval in October is a cost cutting recommendation to discontinue the men’s programs of gymnastics, indoor and outdoor track and tennis following this school year. The Gophers currently have the fourth most sports in the conference, operating with the eighth largest budget, per Coyle.

The decision, in part, was dictated by Title IX, the federal law that dictates gender equality in college athletics. Complicating things for the University of Minnesota in recent years is student enrollment at the Twin Cities campus is increasingly more female than male. The latest figures are 54 percent female, 46 percent male.

Title IX can prompt roster rebalancing between men’s and women’s sports, with reality being the elimination of sports at Minnesota was coming even before COVID-19. It’s believed the athletic department, historically self-supporting, has been bolstered of late with about $7 million annually from the school’s general fund. The department operates on a budget of over $100 million thanks to the profit-making of football, men’s basketball and men’s hockey. No women’s sport at Minnesota turns a profit, as is true at most Power Five schools.

Coyle is asked to operate with a balanced budget but with recent developments the Gophers and other athletic departments will now be turning to the outside for loans. Or at least hoping to as such a historic move will require approval by the U Board of Regents.

Look for a more balanced gender population in the future at the Twin Cities campus. Gender percentages unexpectedly increased even more this year because of COVID, with fewer international and out of state students wanting to enroll at a school far from home.

As for Gopher football preparations in the coming weeks, it will be a challenge for coach P.J. Fleck and the other Big Ten coaches. Students are attending classes, meaning the time football players have available is not the same as during normal training camps that take place in August.

Then, too, coaches will need to adjust at a moment’s notice to roster changes. Under Big Ten policy, a player who tests positive for COVID will be out 21 days. Also, there could be players who decide not to play because of concerns regarding safety and health.

The Gophers, of course, have already lost a player to the NFL. Star wide receiver Rashod Bateman announced in August he won’t return for his junior season and that type of development remains possible with other Minnesota and Big Ten players. Bateman, by the way, can’t change his mind now that the season is starting up because he has an agent.

Comments Welcome

Gophers Need ‘Special’ Freshmen WRs

Posted on August 19, 2020August 19, 2020 by David Shama

One benefit of no season this fall for the Golden Gophers football team is coach P.J. Fleck and his staff will have extended time to address the departure of wide receivers Rashod Bateman and Tyler Johnson who accounted for 78 percent of the catches on last year’s 11-2 team ranked No. 10 in the nation in the Associated Press final poll.

The staff prides itself on developing players including wide receivers, an assignment that assistant Matt Simon excels at along with Fleck who played the position in college. Fleck wasn’t just talking about WR development, but it fit when he recently said: “More time we have to build our team, the better we’re going to be.”

Football authority Ryan Burns, publisher of GopherIllustrated, agrees. “This break or cancellation (of the fall season) isn’t the worst thing for this offense,” he told Sports Headliners.

It’s a given that in the team’s spread offense Chris Autman-Bell and Demetrius Douglas will hold down two spots, with the third spot up for grabs. The way Burns sees it Douglas Emilien and Daniel Jackson, true freshmen, are favorites. He said reports from summer workouts and practices are “those two are going to be special.”

Burns focuses much of his work on Minnesota recruiting and earlier this year Emilien told him he wants to win the Biletnikoff Award given annually to the nation’s top college receiver. Emilien is a high three-star recruit, while Jackson is a four-star. “Both of them have very high expectations for themselves coming in,” Burns said. “I think that certainly plays a part in them showing up every day and doing the work, because they want to be great.”

If the Gophers had a scrimmage today, who might join Autman-Bell and Douglas in the wide receivers lineup? “I think Emilien is a little bit ahead of Jackson from what I’ve heard,” Burns answered.

Among Emilien’s attributes is his ability to get open, while Burns described Jackson as “very quick and very fast.” Jackson isn’t as fast as Bateman yet but could get closer as he develops. “Rashod is going to be making a lot of money in the NFL in seven months because of his deep speed,” Burns said.

It will take a combo effort to replace Johnson and Bateman as receivers, and Burns anticipates a potential breakout year from redshirt sophomore tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford helping the cause. “I can’t express to you enough how high Minnesota is on his potential,” Burns said. “…He can make very acrobatic catches. He can jump out of the gym. He is a mismatch nightmare.”

At about 6-7 and 260-pounds, with athleticism and speed, Spann-Ford is projected as too quick for linebackers and too big for corners and safeties to effectively cover in pass routes. While Spann-Ford will often be next to a tackle while on the line of scrimmage, Burns predicts the former St. Cloud star will also be positioned out in space like a wide receiver.

Worth Noting

Fleck talking about the importance of honest communication with his players: “You can’t say something to a kid that is B.S. Not in 2020.”

Commissioner Kevin Warren, who helped shape the Big Ten’s decision to not have a football season, speaks to the Capital Club next Monday via zoom. University of Minnesota president Joan Gabel and athletic director Mark Coyle headline a Twin Cities Dunkers zoom meeting next Wednesday to talk about the future of Gopher athletics.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins is starting year three with the Vikings. Coach Mike Zimmer has seen development including Cousins’ willingness to express the way he sees things in meetings. “He just seems to be more communicative,” Zimmer said this morning.

Alexander Mattison had an impressive rookie season in 2019 while backing up Dalvin Cook. Zimmer said Mattison looks quicker to him now than last year. “I think he’s going to be a very good back,” Zimmer added.

Twins TV broadcaster Dick Bremer reacting last night to partner Bert Blyleven speculating Minnesota pitcher Kenta Maeda, throwing a no-hitter through eight innings, wouldn’t be allowed to pitch in the ninth: “Really.”

Blyleven likely figured manager Rocco Baldelli was going to take Maeda out of the game because his pitch count was over 100. Maeda started the ninth and lost his no-hitter when Milwaukee Brewer Eric Sogard hit a soft liner into the outfield to open the inning.

That was it for Maeda (115 pitches) who Baldelli pulled for closer Taylor Rogers who has been ineffective of late. Before the ninth was over Rogers had given up two runs and Maeda was charged with another as the Brewers tied the game 3-3. The Twins earned a walk-off win in the 12^th inning, 4-3. This was the fourth time in five days Minnesota won a game scoring four runs.

Limited-edition Twins Hall of Fame bobblehead sets are being sold by the club for $499 each. The set features bobbleheads of all 34 members of the Twins Hall of Fame. Net proceeds benefit the Twins Community Fund.

Condolences to family and friends of Jake Mauer following his death last week. He was a friend of this writer, and he loved to talk about his grandson Joe Mauer, and also horse racing at Canterbury Park. When Joe was young, Jake helped groom the baseball skills of the former Twin. For many years the St. Paul native sold his racing tip sheet at Canterbury Park.

Minnesota sports fans know Glen Taylor best for his ownership of the Timberwolves and Lynx but he has other companies, too, including the Star Tribune, and employs a total of about 12,000 people.

1 comment