Vikings – Page 84 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Looks Like 8-8 Record for Vikings

Posted on September 8, 2020September 8, 2020 by David Shama

Bob Lurstema’s insights about the Minnesota Vikings have proven accurate through the years, and perhaps never more impressive than in 2019 when he predicted a 10-win season for his former team. The Vikings went 10-6 last season, made the playoffs as a wild card entry and won a dramatic overtime game against the New Orleans Saints before being eliminated by the San Francisco 49ers in the postseason.

What say Lurtsema for 2020? “I go .500. I don’t expect them to rock and roll,” the former defensive lineman told Sports Headliners today.

The Vikings, who have finalized their roster to the NFL mandatory 53 players and open the season at noon Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium against the Green Bay Packers, are among the youngest teams in the NFL. Minnesota, with an average age of 25.5 is tied for the fifth youngest spot with the Packers, per Phillyvoice.com (Sept. 5).

Youth and inexperience is more of a potential liability this year because COVID-19 eliminated preseason games and NFL teams have limited physical contact during practices. “Until you have live contact, you don’t know squat about your players,” Lurtsema said.

Tackling could be sloppy in early NFL games including by an inexperienced group of Viking cornerbacks. The CB roster features rookies Cameron Dantzler and Jeff Gladney. Even a respectable start to the season doesn’t mean consistency, as other teams review tapes and see tendencies/weaknesses.

It’s a given that Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers will test Minnesota’s cornerbacks—likely early and often. A must-do for the defense is to respond all game with a strong pass rush likely led by sack specialists Danielle Hunter and newcomer Yannick Ngakoue.

Lurtsema is predicting the Packers will win the NFC North, with part of his assertion based on Rodgers—the future hall of fame quarterback. “I get a kick out of watching him,” Lurtsema said.

Another “green spot” for the Vikings is wide receiver, where the list of youthful players includes 21-year-old Justin Jefferson, the first player Minnesota chose in the 2020 draft. Lurtsema has long emphasized it takes a year or so for a quarterback and receiver to know each other’s tendencies. “He (Jefferson) has to be on the same page with (quarterback Kirk) Cousins. That does not come overnight,” Lurtsema said.

The absence of preseason games has Lurtsema concerned, too, about the number of injuries for NFL players, and how that develops could factor in the final results for the Vikings—good or bad. “It’s going to be way above normal (the incidence of injuries),” Lurtsema predicted.

Worth Noting

Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr, predicting online the 2020 records for every NFL team, wrote that the 8-8 Vikings will finish second in the NFC North to the 10-6 Packers. The Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions, the division’s other two teams will have records of 6-10 and 4-12 respectively, according to Orr’s September 2 story.

This afternoon the Vikings brought their practice squad roster to the maximum 16 total by adding defensive tackle Albert Huggins, kicker Chase McLaughlin and linebacker Hardy Nickerson.

It might be that next year the Thursday night NFL national kickoff game for the 2021 season is held in Minneapolis to recognize George Floyd and the league’s social justice effort. This Thursday evening the spotlight game is in Kansas City where the Super Bowl champion Chiefs host the Houston Texans with NBC televising.

It is 50 years ago this month that immortal Packers coach Vince Lombardi died. A Sports Headliners reader sent this email quip: “…I know there have been reported ‘sightings’ of him near Lambeau Field since then, so I can’t confirm that he’s actually departed this world.”

Dan Chisena, the free agent wide receiver from Penn State who surprisingly made the Vikings’ 53-man roster, doesn’t even have his own Wikipedia page. A college sprinter before turning to football for two seasons in 2018 and 2019, he played in 14 career games with two starts.

Ex-Gopher quarterback Chris Streveler, who excelled in Canada as a pro, made the Arizona Cardinals’ 53-man roster.

Former Gopher Carter Coughlin, a seventh round draft choice earlier this year by the New York Giants, made the team’s final roster as a linebacker and pass rushing specialist. Also with the Giants is ex-Gopher kicker and punter Ryan Santoso.

Coughlin’s former Eden Prairie High School teammate Ryan Connelly was cut by the Giants and signed with the Vikings. As a linebacker, the ex-Wisconsin player is part of the Viking practice squad.

Connelly’s cousin, Anders Lee, is captain of the NHL’s New York Islanders and the former Edina athlete can be a key contributor in the Stanley Cup playoffs from his forward position.

Twins slugger Josh Donaldson is selling his 5,539 square foot mansion in South Tampa, Florida, with an asking price of $3,499,000, per website Cltampa.com on September 4.

Former Hopkins girls basketball coach Brian Cosgriff talking in the September Sports Illustrated about phenom Paige Bueckers who is on the magazine’s cover: “The best thing I ever did was stay the hell out of the way.”

Comments Welcome

Would Holmgren Mean U NCAA Title?

Posted on September 2, 2020September 2, 2020 by David Shama

Chet Holmgren, a popular choice by prep basketball gurus as the nation’s No. 1 player in the class of 2021, enters his senior year at Minnehaha Academy this week being a long way from choosing a college destination.

Whoever wins out will have an extraordinary player in the 7-foot multi-positional, multi-dimensional Minneapolis superstar. Holmgren is choosing from seven college possibilities: Georgetown, Gonzaga, Memphis, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina and Ohio State. He has visited most of the schools but the pandemic has prevented him from seeing the Memphis and Michigan campuses, and he hasn’t been to North Carolina since eighth grade.

Do one or two schools lead the list right now? “No, everybody is kind of equal platform right now,” Chet’s father David Holmgren told Sports Headliners Monday. “Still just kind of feeling everything out, watching (developments). Things are changing daily at these schools. The closer we get to actually graduating from high school is going to be a closer time to make that decision, I think.”

Will a program having NCAA championship potential in place prior to Chet’s arrival be a factor in his college choice? “We haven’t really discussed that,” David said. “I think anywhere he goes that (winning the national championship) could be viable. I am not trying to brag but he brings that kind of quality to a team.”

David said Chet’s college destination will be impacted by at least one factor involving complementary players. “They gotta have some bigs so that Chet doesn’t get thrown into the middle. The middle is not his game. I don’t want him anywhere where one guy gets hurt, now he’s gotta be the big. It won’t make sense.”

Chet is several pounds under 200 even after a summer of strengthening his body. Dad wants his son to play with big, physical teammates who can absorb much of the pounding near the basket. David, a thin 7-footer himself when he played for the Gophers in the 1980s, predicted it could be four years before Chet weighs about 220 pounds.

Chet long ago became a YouTube favorite after video showed him dribbling past and dunking over Steph Curry at the NBA superstar’s 2019 summer camp. Despite Holmgren’s height, he has extraordinary versatility including ball handling. Both his shooting efficiency and range, along with his shot blocking, contribute to speculation he will play just one season of college basketball.

Cretin-Derham Hall coach Jerry Kline referred to him as unique. “He’s just a phenomenal player and he’s only going to get better,” Kline told Sports Headliners earlier this summer.

Minnehaha will be among the elite teams nationally. David said the school is finalizing a schedule to bring great teams from out of state to Minneapolis. Opponents will likely include California power Sierra Canyon, a team Minnehaha upset last January. “I think they want revenge,” David said. “At least an attempt at it.”

Worth Noting

The Vikings will open their season September 13 against the Packers without fans in attendance at U.S. Bank Stadium. State of Minnesota COVID-19 policy allows up to 250 guests at an event like a Vikings game. “The Vikings (though) 100 percent want fans,” a sports industry source told Sports Headliners.

He believes there is pressure from Vikings sponsors, including the most prominent supporters, to attend games. State policy will allow 250 guests, plus players, coaches and workers, or a total of perhaps 500 people in the stadium.

The same source said it’s likely former Vikings chief operating officer Kevin Warren, now commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, has talked to club ownership or management about using U.S. Bank Stadium for a potential late fall and winter Big Ten football schedule. U.S. Bank stadium is one of three regional domed sites (also Detroit’s Ford Field and Indy’s Lucas Oil Stadium) that could be indoor hubs for Big Ten games during the pandemic.

There is speculation about starting Big Ten football near Thanksgiving, November 26. That time frame could cause a pushback from the Vikings regarding stadium use including necessitated changes to the playing field while accommodating a schedule of Big Ten games. Complicating things is the Vikings having a busy close to the season in Minneapolis with home games scheduled November 22, 29, December 6 and 20, plus potential playoff dates.

Ties between the Big Ten and U.S. Bank Stadium are already happening with the facility management preparing a bid to host a future league championship game(s). Lucas Oil Stadium has been the game’s exclusive home since 2011 and will host the championship through next year, but Warren is interested in other sites.

While other cities and playing sites have also expressed interest, including Green Bay’s Lambeau Field, Minneapolis and U.S. Bank Stadium could be viewed most favorably. The facility is a consensus choice as being among the best football stadiums in the country and the city has a track record of success in hosting major events like the Super Bowl and NCAA Final Four.

Bengals running back Joe Mixon—comparable to RB Dalvin Cook who is in a contract squabble with the Vikings—reportedly received a new four-year $48 million deal yesterday. Cook’s present contract is believed to be worth about $40 million less.

Minneapolis businessman and New York Times best selling author Harvey Mackay devotes his nationally syndicated newspaper column this week to women in sports while quoting leaders such as former Gophers basketball coach Pam Borton and Twins executive Laura Day. Headlined “Sports Prepare Women for Life, Business,” Mackay was inspired to write the column after viewing a Twin Cities Dunkers meeting this summer.

Longtime amateur baseball player Dan Hennen has a podcast preview of the Sweet 16 teams in this week’s Class C State Amateur Baseball Tournament. https://youtu.be/dYFKolCs1MY

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