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Vikings QB Cautions about 5-0 Starts

Posted on October 19, 2016October 19, 2016 by David Shama

The Vikings are 5-0 and ranked near the top of everybody’s NFL power rankings but the players insist they’re not high on themselves. They know how fast things can change in the NFL because of misfortune including injuries.

Shaun Hill is the No. 2 quarterback on the Vikings, and he was also a reserve in 2003 when Minnesota started the season 6-0. “I’ve been in this situation and I understand that there’s a lot of work yet to be done,” he told Sports Headliners.

The 2003 Vikings didn’t have a defense comparable to the 2016 version and the club lost four consecutive games after starting the season unbeaten. “I just know we led the division until the last play of the game that year, and didn’t do enough to make it to the postseason,” Hill recalled. “It doesn’t matter what your record is this week, it’s a…weekly (challenge), and really, you gotta go into every game as if both teams are 0-0.”

Wide receiver and kick returner Cordarralle Patterson said wherever he goes strangers and friends are hyped about the undefeated Vikings who play the 3-2 Eagles in Philadelphia Sunday afternoon. Patterson said he hears comments at gas stations, in taxis and on airplanes about how great the team is, but he knows fans are fickle.

Here’s what Patterson said fans tell him, and what his perspective is about the praise. “Oh, man, you all so good—5-0, man. We can’t believe it and all this. But two weeks from now (if the Vikings are losing), they be like, oh, man, ya all suck. I thought you all way better than you all was.

Cordarrelle Patterson (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

“I am like, duh. Just last week you said how good we is, and now you say we suck. So you can’t really pay attention to what people say. …”

Patterson is convinced teammates are focused and competitive, realizing there are 11 more games to be played before the playoffs. “There’s no selfish guys in this locker room. Everybody wants the next guy to be better than what they is. We like to compete. If you’re not competing, you’re not trying.”

Those comments will resonate with Hill. “I guarantee you this, they don’t hand out any trophies in October,” he said.

Worth Noting

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer talking about former North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz who as a rookie has started every game for the Eagles: “…It seems like he understands where the ball is going quickly. He has done a nice job of avoiding pressure in the pocket and using his athletic ability, and he has got a great arm. He looks very accurate to me. He has got a great deep ball. So, he has been impressive.”

Wisconsin lost in overtime Saturday night to Ohio State, 30-23, but Joel Stave told Sports Headliners he believes if the teams played 10 times in Madison, the Badgers would win half the games. Stave, the Badgers starting quarterback last season and now on the Vikings practice squad, attended Saturday night’s game in Madison and watched on the field.

Badgers coach Paul Chryst had the undefeated Buckeyes guessing as to what was going to happen next when Wisconsin had the ball. “I think he’s the best play caller in the country,” Stave said.

For the second consecutive week, players with state of Minnesota ties have been named Big Ten Players of the Week. Badgers junior linebacker Jack Cichy, a native of Somerset, Wisconsin who attended Hill-Murray School in Maplewood, was announced Monday as the Defensive Player of the Week for his career-high 15 tackles (11 solo) against Ohio State. Last week Purdue running back Brian Lankford-Johnson from St. Paul was Freshman of the Week after rushing for 127 yards against Illinois. Johnson signed with the Boilermakers after playing prep football in Palm Bay, Florida.

Former Gophers offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch, now an assistant at Michigan, might be among the candidates Purdue considers to fill its head coaching vacancy. A stronger possibility could be former Purdue assistant Brock Spack, now head coach at Illinois State where his wins this year include an upset of Northwestern.

It will be interesting to hear Saint John’s head football coach Gary Fasching speak to the C.O.R.E.S. lunch group Thursday, November 10. The Johnnies are not only nationally ranked and chasing the MIAC title, but Monday it was announced the St. Thomas-Saint John’s game next year will be played at Target Field. The lunch will be at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. More information is available by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. C.O.R.E.S. is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

Patrick Mahomes, the Texas Tech quarterback and son of former Twins pitcher Pat Mahomes, leads all FBS players in total offense at 455.2 yards per game.

Ex-Gophers quarterback Phil Nelson, now at East Carolina, ranks 19th in the country with 311.8 yards per game. Nelson first left the Gophers for Rutgers and later transferred to East Carolina where he is in his first and last season of eligibility. Former Minnesota coach Jerry Kill helped Nelson transition to East Carolina because of Jeff Compher, the Pirates’ athletics director. When Kill coached at Northern Illinois, Compher was the Huskies’ athletics director and the two built a friendship and mutual admiration.

“At the end of the day that’s how he (Nelson) got there, and that’s how it all worked out,” Kill told Sports Headliners. “Jeff was good enough to believe what I said and took the chance on Philip. He talked a lot about it. The reason Philip is at East Carolina is because of Jeff Compher and what kind of person Jeff Compher is.”

Wide receiver True Thompson, formerly of Armstrong High School, suffered a concussion in August while with the Iowa Western Community College football team, but he has resumed practicing with the team. Thompson, the son of ex-Gophers running back Darrell Thompson, is redshirting this year.

Home court might be the difference tomorrow night when the WNBA Finals are decided at Target Center. The Lynx and Sparks are tied at two wins in the best of five series but Target Center has been a favored place for the Minnesota team. The Lynx is 16-3 this year in its home arena, including playoff games. With a victory the Lynx can win its second consecutive WNBA title and fourth in franchise history.

Owner Glen Taylor told Sports Headliners last month the franchise will have its most profitable year ever, coming in between $1 million and $2 million. Now with the club hosting three games in the WNBA Finals the bottom line should look even better.

Former Gophers All-American Leonard “Buddy” Edelen, who became the first man to run a marathon faster than two hours and 15 minutes in 1963, is among those selected for the 2016 USATF National Track & Field Hall of Fame Class. Edelen, who passed away in 1997, will be posthumously inducted during the second annual Black Tie & Sneakers Gala in New York on November 3.

A native of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, Edelen was a two-time All-American and a two-time Big Ten champion for the Gophers competing for the cross country and track teams in the late 1950s. In 1963 he ran 2:14.28 to win Britain’s Polytechnic Marathon. He finished sixth in the marathon at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

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Look for U to Upset Terps Saturday

Posted on October 14, 2016October 14, 2016 by David Shama

It hasn’t been a great beginning to Tracy Claeys’ first full season as Gophers football coach. His team has been unimpressive in every game.

The Gophers scored wins over three ho-hum nonconference teams, showing an improved offense but sometimes leaky defense. In the last two weeks Minnesota has flopped, losing Big Ten Conference games to Penn State and Iowa.

In those two league games the Gophers couldn’t hold second half leads. They played inconsistently on offense, defense and special teams. They self-imploded making costly and sometimes foolish penalties.

This week came news redshirt senior quarterback Mitch Leidner has been diagnosed with a concussion and likely won’t play tomorrow at Maryland against the 4-1 Terps (1-1 in the Big Ten). When Claeys showed up at his Tuesday news conference to answer questions about Leidner and other players, he looked like a concerned coach.

Who could blame him? The pressure is on Claeys to shift the Gophers in gear. This is a team he pronounced during the offseason as potentially the best at Minnesota in years, a group that could contend for the Gophers’ first ever Big Ten West Division championship. A team playing a 2016 schedule that avoided games against Big Ten East Division powers Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State.

Now a schedule that looked relatively easy seems formidable given Minnesota’s slow start to the season. There are seven teams remaining to be played and right now the Gophers are likely to be favored in only two—October 22 and November 5 home games against Rutgers (2-4, 0-3) and Purdue (3-2, 1-1).

Presuming Minnesota can earn victories against Rutgers and Purdue, the Gophers need to find one or two additional wins to become bowl eligible. Tomorrow’s game at Maryland, the October 29 game at Illinois and November 19 home game against Northwestern look like other opportunities to build on the Gophers’ three wins total and earn a bowl invitation with the usually required six victories.

The prevailing prediction is Minnesota will lose tomorrow. The Gophers weren’t favored even before the Leidner news. Without their most important offensive player, the odds-makers like the Terps by about a touchdown.

The Gophers are replacing Leidner with former walk-on Conor Rhoda who has played briefly in one game this season and has six yards passing. Rhoda didn’t play in any games last season and in 2014 made two brief appearances, attempting one unsuccessful pass. The redshirt junior, now on scholarship, is an unknown to media and fans but he just might get the job done tomorrow managing an offense that needs to rely on running the football better than it has all season.

Minnesota’s offensive line will have to get off the line of scrimmage and hold blocks longer than last Saturday in a disappointing 14-7 loss against Iowa. But that line is capable of playing better under the direction of motivating assistant coach Bart Miller, and if there are holes to run through the Gophers have the rushers to pile up a lot of yardage.

The Terps gave up 372 rushing yards last week in a 38-14 loss at Penn State. Minnesota gained over 200 yards the week before against the Nittany Lions in their 29-26 overtime loss. Those numbers should provide Minnesota some confidence.

Rhoda needs to complete some low-risk passes and provide balance to Minnesota’s run game. The passing potential will take a step forward if potential All-Big Ten tight end Brandon Lingen, who has been sidelined with a broken clavicle, is able to play. Wide receiver Drew Wolitarsky, a senior leader and Leidner’s favorite receiver, needs to help Rhoda out with timely catches like on third downs.

While Leidner’s absence seems like a problem for the Gophers, it might elevate performances by his teammates. Darrell Thompson, the ex-Gopher and the school’s all-time leading rusher, believes Minnesota players may gain a psychological edge. “I think they rally around him (Rhoda),” Thompson told Sports Headliners.

If Rhoda minimizes mistakes, completes key passes, makes a few runs off the read-option, mixes in successful scrambles out of the pocket and mostly hands off to his running backs that have holes to run through, the Gophers will have a formula for success.

“That would be ideal,” said Thompson. “I hope there is a quarterback controversy by the end of the game. That means we’re doing something right.”

The Minnesota offense can inspire the defense after only scoring seven points last week. That defense could have one of its better days against the Terps who were held to two first half touchdowns last Saturday. Maryland scored 173 points in its first four games but played a cushy schedule facing Howard, Florida International, UCF and Purdue.

Gophers’ fans might be planning a pity party tomorrow without Leidner and after five substandard performances to start the season. But sometimes when “the sky is falling” the expected script doesn’t become reality.

Claeys is at the “keyboard” and it’s time for him, the staff and the players to write a better storyline. The Gophers are due to have their best game and quiet critics who already are speculating about the new coach’s future at Minnesota.

The Terps do have the advantage of playing at home and they could be motivated after the beatdown by Penn State. But they have quarterback issues too with senior starter Perry Hills possibly not available because of a shoulder injury, or not playing a complete game if there is a re-injury. Then the Terps would use true freshman Tyrrell Pigrome.

The outcome tomorrow could be decided by two mystery quarterbacks and by the team most determined to win coming off of disappointing early season Big Ten losses. Pigrome has yet to start a game but has played in all five games for the Terps and already shown playmaking skills. Rhoda is a lunch-bucket sub from Eagan who finally gets his big chance tomorrow.

Rhoda and the Gophers are the better script. I am going with Minnesota over the Terps, 27-24.

Worth Noting

Darrell Thompson eats bacon—lots of it—during the week leading up to the Gophers-Iowa game. The Maryland Terrapins take their nickname from turtles that live in fresh or brackish waters. Turtle soup this week for the Gophers’ radio analyst?

“I only do bacon,” Thompson said. “I love bacon. No turtle soup.”

There will be a news conference Monday at Target Field announcing a football game to be played in the Twins stadium next year. Best guess is North Dakota State will be the host team. The Bison have a home game on their 2017 schedule October 28 against Northern Iowa. Could the game be played at Target Field? The Gophers are at Iowa that Saturday.

Jeff Sorenson told Sports Headliners a hot putter and positive approach helped him earn the Minnesota Section’s PGA Player of the Year Award this week. The Minikahda Club pro, who won the award for a fifth time, said he’s “been putting really well” the last two-plus months after changing his set up and grip.

Sorenson isn’t so hard on himself mentally as in the past. He is better at maintaining a positive attitude and not letting poor shots bother him. “You get down, you’re done,” he said.

Two years ago Sorenson, 38, had major back surgery, so earning the most points to win the Player of the Year Award is rewarding. “I am just appreciative of being able to play,” he said.

Edinburgh pro Don Berry finished second to Sorenson in 2016 and was Player of the Year the two previous years. Sorenson, whose last Player of the Year Award was in 2012, worked for Berry in multiple roles from ages 13 to 25. The two remain friends. “He’s a grinder. He doesn’t make too many bogeys,” Sorenson said.

Sorenson said he earned about $22,000 in section events this year, plus earnings in other golf tournaments. He has played in two PGA championships during his career and among his goals are to play in more.

When Lou Holtz coached the Gophers in the mid-1980s he proposed playing the annual Minnesota High School All-Star Football Game in the fall after the prep season ended. That becomes a reality with the first Minnesota Football Showcase scheduled at U.S. Bank Stadium Sunday, December 3, 2016. Past games have been played in June but the intent remains the same—to feature outstanding senior football players from around the state.

The Vikings and the Minnesota Football Coaches Association are partnering to present the 55th annual game matching the North All-Stars against the South All-Stars. Totino-Grace’s Jeff Ferguson will coach the North and Eden Prairie’s Mike Grant the South. KMSP Fox 9 will televise the game in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market.

The All-Star Game has been played since 1945 (annually since 1974) with over 4,200 players and 475 coaches participating. Past sponsors include The Shriners who sent game tickets to their large membership, resulting in crowds of over 30,000 at Memorial Stadium on the University of Minnesota campus.

The 2016 event is billed as a football celebration with attractions to include youth football clinics, marching band performances and autograph sessions with Vikings alumni. Tickets are available now, with proceeds going to the MFCA and Tackle Cancer Campaign. More at vikings.com/showcase.

First place St. Thomas has a bye Saturday but two of the three teams tied for second in the MIAC football standings play each other. Hamline, 4-1 overall and 2-1 in league games, is the surprise group in the MIAC. The Pipers will be in Moorhead Saturday to face Concordia (2-2, 2-1).

The other one-loss team is Saint John’s (5-1, 3-1). The Johnnies are at home to play Carleton (1-5, 1-3 MIAC).

The Minnesota Wild might be a more relaxed and focused team for three periods Saturday than shown last evening in a 3-2 opening regular season loss to the Blues in St. Louis. The Wild started slow even though the Blues had played the night before and could have been the more sluggish group. The Wild is at home Saturday night against the Jets who won four of five games against Minnesota last season.

New coach Bruce Boudreau is expected to help the Wild improve its scoring and the team is considered by some hockey authorities a “sleeper pick” to have a big season.

From a Minnesota basketball historical perspective, it will be interesting to see if the Lynx can win its fourth WNBA championship in franchise history next week. The Minneapolis Lakers won world championships in 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953 and 1954.

The Lynx, tied 1-1 with the Sparks in the WNBA Finals, play tonight in Los Angeles in the best of five series.

Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino’s second annual Coaches vs. Cancer Minnesota Tip-off Reception will be from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday, November 6 at the Minikahda Club. Activities include a cocktail reception and live auction. More at coachesvscancerminnesota.org.

Condolences to the family and friends of former Gophers basketball player and coach George Hanson who died recently. Hanson played for Minnesota in the 1950s, was an assistant coach in the 1960s and was head coach for one season in 1970-71. As nice a man as ever coached the Gophers, Hanson was let go after compiling an 11-13 overall record, 5-9 in the Big Ten.

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Tommy Kramer All in on 2016 Vikings

Posted on October 10, 2016October 10, 2016 by David Shama

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.

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