Vikings – Page 120 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Extending Plays a Cousins Question Mark

Posted on September 5, 2018September 6, 2018 by David Shama

Kirk Cousins isn’t known as a scrambling quarterback but he did impact some plays with his running when he was with the Redskins. This Sunday he makes his regular season debut with the Vikings and the blockers in front of him will be a reorganized offensive line that at times will be unreliable.

That line is the biggest concern about the team’s chances of making a Super Bowl run. Leaky play by that unit will shorten opportunities for Cousins to find open receivers and score points.

The Vikings rewarded Cousins in the offseason with a three-year, $84 million free agent contract. Ironically, he replaces a quarterback whose strength often is using his legs to make plays. Case Keenum, the journeyman who became a star last season and helped the team to a surprising 13-3 record, certainly doesn’t have a golden arm but he can escape the pocket and throw passes and make runs when all hell is breaking loose.

In today’s NFL of imaginative defensive schemes and athletic pass rushers, quarterbacks are often under duress. If defenders aren’t throwing quarterbacks to the ground, they are at least hurrying their throws. Keenum often avoided problems last season but the Vikings decided to move on apparently because his arm isn’t the strongest, and perhaps concern that he was a one-year wonder.

The Broncos organization, led by Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway, thought Keenum was worthy of a big free agent contract and the No. 1 assignment in Denver. The Vikings believe differently even if NFL sources might rate the collective skills and value of the two quarterbacks similarly.

Keenum is reportedly being paid $18 million this year by the Broncos. At $28 million per year Cousins will reportedly earn only about $5 million less than the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers, who most everyone ranks as the first or second best QB in the world.

The Packers are the Vikings’ biggest rival in winning the NFC North Division and Rodgers is sort of a Cousins-Keenum combo. Rodgers has a marvelous arm but also the ability to buy time in the pocket with his feet and legs. He sometimes takes off toward the boundary ready to make a last second throw or run.

Cousins is experienced and smart, and can zip the ball long and short. He can find second and third options to throw to if given the time. There will be times—maybe too many if the reshuffled line is inadequate—that he will need to escape the pocket. That’s when the comparisons to Keenum will come, fair or not.

At the end of the season, though, the most meaningful comparison will be whether the Vikings match or exceed last season’s success that included one win away from earning their way to the Super Bowl. Different styles can spell success in the high pressure world of the NFL.

Starting on Sunday, Vikings fans will see whether Cousins can “scramble” away from the shadow of Keenum.

Worth Noting

The Vikings announced today that cornerback Jaylen Myrick, the former Gopher, has been signed to the practice squad. He was a seventh round draft choice of the Jaguars in 2017 and played five games with them last season before being released a few days ago.

Ticket King emailed customer contacts yesterday about tickets being available for Sunday’s game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

Warning to the defending NFC North Division champion Vikings: In 14 of the last 15 NFL seasons at least one team that finished last or tied for last in its division emerged the next season as division champions.

In the NFC North the potential team in 2018 is the Bears, who finished last in 2017 but have added star edge rusher Khalil Mack to join promising quarterback Mitch Trubisky.

It was a winning college football weekend several days ago for former Gophers assistant football coaches who worked under head coach Jerry Kill. Tracy Claeys, the new defensive coordinator at Washington State, helped the Cougars to an opening win over Wyoming, while Dan O’Brien, in his first game as head coach at St. Thomas Academy, directed a 50-7 victory over North St. Paul. Defensive coordinator Jay Sawvell is in his second season at Wake Forest and the Demon Deacons had a season opening win over Tulane. Matt Limegrover, an offensive assistant at Penn State, watched the nationally ranked Nittany Lions escape an upset against Appalachian State.

The Fresno State team that plays the Gophers at TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday night is coming off a 10 win season in 2017 and an opening 79-13 victory over Idaho last Saturday. The Bulldogs are one of the favorites to win the Mountain West Conference championship, and possibly be invited to a New Year’s Day bowl game.

Many Gophers football players sent individual notes of encouragement this summer to WCCO TV sportscaster Mark Rosen and his wife Denise who has been dealing with cancer.

After 15 seasons—separate stints of 11 and 4 years—Star Tribune Timberwolves beat writer Jerry Zgoda has decided not to continue with the assignment, opting instead for general assignments within the sports department.

Chris Hine will be the new Timberwolves beat writer.

The Minnesota United has a waiting list for season tickets as the club prepares to move into its new Allianz Field facility in 2019 after playing two MLS seasons at TCF Bank Stadium on the University of Minnesota campus. Allianz capacity will be 20,000 including standing room for 600 fans.

The United’s last regular season game at the Gophers’ football stadium will be October 22. TCF Bank Stadium has a capacity of over 50,000 and the United is promoting setting a new single match attendance record for Minnesota pro soccer. The record was established over 40 years ago at Met Stadium for a Kicks game with an announced attendance of 49,572. See the promotion #50KToMidway.

Gophers volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon on what it’s like to have his undefeated team ranked No. 1 in the country this week: “It’s very similar to being No. 3. …”

McCutcheon remains hopeful boys’ volleyball in the state will eventually evolve from a club sport to being sanctioned by the Minnesota State High School League. Over 40 high school teams with about 400 players played against one another last spring.

Comments Welcome

Vikings to ‘Cakewalk’ to 11-5 Record

Posted on September 3, 2018September 3, 2018 by David Shama

Bob Lurtsema is known for his accurate predictions about how many games the Vikings will win and lose each season. And despite what you might think, the enthusiastic ex-Viking has at least once not been optimistic enough about his annual projections.

Lurtsema forecast a 10-6 record last season but the Vikings did even better, going 13-3 and almost earning their way to the Super Bowl. With most of their players returning, it’s no surprise the high-spirited former defensive lineman is “excited for this year.”

The Vikings face a difficult schedule that includes early road games against the Eagles, Packers and Rams—all NFL powers. Still, Lurtsema is optimistic about the club that he remains close to and knowledgeable about. “I think they’ll have a cakewalk at 11-5,” he said.

That’s a forecast Sports Illlustrated likes, too, with the publication’s NFL preview issue predicting Minnesota will share the NFC North Division title with the Packers and then advance to the conference championship game before losing to the Falcons.

Concerns about the 2018 team? S.I., Lurtsema and just about everybody else is on the same page in asking how effective new quarterback Kirk Cousins and the evolving offensive line will be. Lurtsema also wonders about rookie placekicker Daniel Carlson who performed to mixed reviews in the preseason.

There’s no speculating about the defense, though. “Defense wins championships, you know that. Our defense is awful, awful, awful good,” Lurtsema said.

The 2017 Vikings had the NFL’s No. 1 ranked defense in both yards and points allowed. That contrasted with one of the league’s worst defenses in 2014 when Mike Zimmer became head coach. Zimmer’s impact on the defense and the entire team has earned the highest respect from Lurtsema who played for Bud Grant, the legendary four-time Vikings Super Bowl coach.

Lurtsema refers to Zimmer as “Bud Grant the second.” Then he added, “Zimmer is a no nonsense guy like Bud and he will not tolerate mental mistakes or less than 100 percent effort on each and every play.”

Worth Noting

The 49ers, the team the Vikings open the regular season schedule against next Sunday, will be much improved, according to Sports Illustrated, with the magazine forecasting a 9-7 record after last season’s 6-10.

Former Vikings running back Jerick McKinnon, now with the 49ers, has a torn ACL and is out for the season.

Patrick Klinger & Company from St. Paul is bringing 49ers legend Joe Montana to the Morrie Miller Athletic Foundation Banquet in Winona next Saturday. The event raises money for Winona area youth athletics. Previous speakers include Mike Ditka, Rod Carew, Bud Grant, Tom Lehman, Paul Molitor, Lou Nanne and Bart Starr.

The Gophers’ Antoine Winfield Jr., who broke several tackles returning a punt 76 yards for a touchdown last Thursday night against New Mexico State, was named the Big Ten’s Co-Special Teams Player of the Week today. Michigan’s Ambry Thomas, who returned a kickoff 99 yards for a score against Notre Dame, was the co-winner with Winfield.

Big Ten football teams lost only one nonconference game on opening weekend but not all was glowing. The conference’s East Division is sometimes referred to as college football’s best division but Michigan lost to Notre Dame on the road, and Penn State and Michigan State struggled to win home games against opponents who were big underdogs.

True freshman walk-on quarterback Zack Annexstad didn’t throw an interception in his first game starting for the Gophers last Thursday night. At IMG Academy in Florida last year he beat out Artur Sitkowski who started Saturday for Rutgers and threw three interceptions in the Scarlet Knights’ easy win over Texas State.

Dick Jonckowski will sign copies of his new book It’s All About Me when he emcees the CORES lunch program September 13 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. Gustavus Adolphus football coach Pete Haugen will be the guest speaker at the luncheon. For lunch reservations and other information, contact Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. Reservations must be made by September 10.

Dotseth noted that the University of Minnesota’s regular season opener and the Vikings’ last preseason game ended at the same time on Thursday night, even though the Viking game started an hour later. “When there was 2:04 left in the Viking game, there was 2:10 left in the Gopher game,” he wrote via email.

That was former Viking linebacker Ben Leber providing the TV color commentary on Fox Saturday for the California-North Carolina game .

David Gibbs, the former Gophers defensive coordinator, has the same title at Texas Tech. The Red Raiders lost their opener on Saturday to Ole Miss 47-27.

The Twins’ finished 14-14 in August, the third consecutive month the club was near .500. Minnesota’s record was 14-13 in July, 13-14 in June. The worst month so far was March-April when the Twins were 9-15.

The total handle for Canterbury Park’s popular Minnesota Festival of Champions yesterday was $1,005,728, the highest for the event since 1996 ($ 1,108,678). The Festival races are for Minnesota bred horses only.

A report from the National Sports Center in Blaine said sports events at the NSC generated more than $83 million in visitor economic impact. The report calculated spending from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018.

The report quantified economic benefits generated by visitors traveling more than 50 miles and staying overnight, and tracked spending in lodging, transportation, food and beverage, retail, recreation, business services, and venue rental.

Comments Welcome

Vikings Kicker Carlson on Spot Thursday

Posted on August 28, 2018August 28, 2018 by David Shama

Enjoy a Tuesday notes column on the Vikings, Gophers and Twins.

No Viking will probably be more closely watched in the team’s Thursday night final preseason game than placekicker Daniel Carlson. The rookie fifth round draft choice missed two field goal attempts in last week’s win against the Seahawks and he prompted the displeasure of coach Mike Zimmer.

Zimmer was upset enough to call for a two-point conversion attempt after a touchdown rather than have Carlson kick the extra point. Carlson’s rough evening against the Seahawks came days after the Vikings released veteran Kai Forbath.

While Zimmer apparently is playing head games with his promising 23-year-old kicker, this might be a moment for a slice (no pun intended) of levity. If the Vikings want to consider options other than Carlson before their September 9 regular season opener against the 49ers, they need look no further than a couple of Purple alums.

Last time we checked, Forbath—the man who struggled to make extra points with Minnesota—was available on the NFL labor market. Blair Walsh, who missed the infamous playoff field goal attempt against the Seahawks in January of 2016, was replaced by Forbath later that year and is also now a free agent.

Retired kicker Ryan Longwell, the third leading scorer in Vikings history, just turned 44 years old this month. The Seahawks employ 40-year-old Sebastian Janikowski, and 45-year-old Adam Vinatieri is still kicking for the Colts. Why not a Longwell comeback even if the Packers, another of his former NFL teams, just inducted him into their Hall of Fame?

Okay, back to reality. Zimmer, burned by kicking failures in past seasons, will turn up the “heat” again on Carlson to determine whether he has a specialist with a long future in Minnesota. Perhaps as soon as Thursday night in Nashville against the Titans.

Kirk Cousins posted on Twitter last Saturday that trying to find parking at the State Fair was such a challenge he had to take a “rain check.” The Vikings quarterback wrote he is still hoping to try a “fried Twinkie.”

The Vikings’ new headquarters and practice facility in Eagan has opened this year with raves from not only the organization and media but also fans of Minnesota’s NFL team who attended training camp. Since the franchise’s inception in 1961, the organization has done business, including its training camps, in various places in the Twin Cities and state.

Minneapolis attorney Marshall Tanick, writing an August 7 article on Hometownsource.com, recalled the Vikings once looked at a site in Golden Valley before choosing Eden Prairie and developing Winter Park where the team made its football headquarters for more than three decades before moving to Eagan.

“In the late 1970s, the Vikings were looking for a new consolidated business operations and practice site,” Tanick wrote. “By then, it had outgrown its meager corporate facility on France Avenue in Edina and sought to build its own indoor field in order to shed its nomadic ways of practicing at different venues around the Twin Cities with no dedicated practice facility.

“The campus of what was then Golden Valley High School, immediately east of Highway 100 to the north of Glenwood Avenue, became available. The school district had closed due to declining enrollment, merging in 1981 with the Hopkins District. The Vikings closely eyed the facility for its business offices, along with its already existing adjacent football field, which could be converted easily into a covered site.”

The Vikings, though, couldn’t close a deal with Golden Valley authorities. Instead, they moved on to Eden Prairie and left behind their practice facility at Midway Stadium in St. Paul. As for the Golden Valley site, it became and still remains the home of Breck High School.

The New Mexico State team the Gophers open against at TCF Bank Stadium on Thursday night looked awful offensively in its August 25 game with Wyoming. The Aggies had one first down in the first half on their way to a 29-7 loss to Wyoming, a team with an outstanding defense.

Although the Aggies were coming off their first bowl game last season since 1960, there were lots of empty seats for their home game in Las Cruces. Yet some tickets were priced as low as $3 each.

The Minnesota Athletic Department has been selling tickets starting at $1 for Lindsay Whalen’s first game as Gopher women’s basketball coach on November 9 against New Hampshire.

The Gophers have 113 players on their roster and 60 of them—or 53.1 percent—are true freshmen or redshirt freshmen. Those are the highest numbers in the country among major college football programs.

Minnesota’s roster of four quarterbacks consists of one true freshman and three redshirt freshmen. The Gophers are the least experienced team in the country at quarterback.

Zack Annexstad wil start Thursday night, the first time the Gophers have begun the season with a true freshman quarterback since Tim Salem in 1980. Salem completed 13 of 16 passes and threw one touchdown pass in Minnesota’s 38-14 over Ohio.

It looks like Gophers special team headliners will include kickoff returner Rodney Smith, punt returner Antoine Winfield Jr., placekicker Emmitt Carpenter and punter Jacob Herbers.

Punting could be a concern for Minnesota. The now departed Ryan Santoso punted 66 times last season, while Herbers punted once. Head coach P.J. Fleck said SMU transfer Alex Melvin will also have opportunities in games.

The Gophers were No. 1 nationally in both fewest total penalties and yards penalized last season. The year before Minnesota ranked 91st in fewest penalty yards and 86th in yards penalized.

Barry Mayer, who is a former running back for the Gophers and three-year letter winner from 1968-70, is a certified paid trainer with the Positive Coaching Alliance in Minnesota. The organization provides various resources, including workshops, to help youth and high school athletes enjoy positive experiences in athletics. PCA’s motto is “Making Better Athletes Better People.”

Mayer’s son Adam was a wide receiver for the Gophers in 2015 and 2016. After lettering in 2016, he gave up football because of chronic hamstring injuries but is still in school and plans to graduate from Minnesota next spring with a degree in business.

“…When Adam told me he was thinking about stepping away from football, he knew it was going to disappoint me,” Barry said in an email. “I told him that sports are a means to an end, never the end in itself. My goal for him participating was to gain and understand the many life lessons sports offers and carry those on into one’s adult life. I truly believed he had done that, and apparently it was time to move on to his life’s next chapter. I couldn’t be more proud of the young man he is becoming.”

The Twins were a Wild Card team last year and expectations this spring were they could qualify for the postseason in 2018. Instead, the Twins are a good bet to finish under .500 and not even come close to earning a Central Division title, or Wild Card entry.

Twins president Dave St. Peter, who often talks about playing “meaningful games” late in the season, was asked if expectations were too high for his club. “I think we had realistic expectations based on what took place last season. Second half of last season we were the best team offensively in the American League, one of the better teams offensively in baseball. Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn’t play out that way. We never really had our entire lineup on the field. …”

The suspension for about three months of shortstop Jorge Polanco and serious injuries to other frontline players impacted the club. Players have also underperformed. St. Peter, though, likes the “young core” of players on the roster and is optimistic about the talent in the club’s farm system.

The great Ted Williams, who played for the minor league Minneapolis Millers before his MLB career with the Red Sox, would be 100 years old tomorrow if still alive.

Comments Welcome