The guess late this week is Tarvaris Jackson will not play Sunday when the Vikings meet the Chiefs in Kansas City. Earlier this week Jackson told a media gathering his groin injury is bothering him. Neither he nor coach Brad Childress was saying whether the second year quarterback would make the fifth start of his NFL career on Sunday but groin injuries often result in slow recoveries.
Jackson said he wants to be “100 percent” when he plays. As an inexperienced quarterback he has enough challenge without playing hurt and even making the injury worse.
Jackson said his teammates were supportive after last Sunday’s four interception game in Detroit. He regrets some of his game decisions and said “punting” can be a better alternative to forcing plays.
Jackson injured the groin in the fourth quarter but didn’t leave the game until overtime when Brooks Bollinger had to replace him. Bollinger fumbled a snap, stopping a drive and the Vikings couldn’t score in overtime, losing 20-17.
It might be that Bollinger will start the game in Kansas City instead of Kelly Holcomb. Bollinger has been with the Vikings for about a year, while Holcomb was acquired from Philadelphia late last month. If either is ineffective after starting, the other may have an opportunity.
The Vikings may have been headed toward uncertainty about who their starting quarterback is even if Jackson were healthy. In two regular season games the offense has produced only two touchdowns. In two regular season and four pre-season games, the defense and offense have each scored six touchdowns. Jackson believes the coaches have confidence in him. “I don’t feel like I am on a short leash,” he said.
Childress gave this evaluation about Jackson to the media earlier in the week: “I have to point back to things like the two-minute drill before the half (in Detroit) that he moves us up the field and does some good things, getting up and (downing) the football when we had a questionable play. Those are the type of things that the quarterback has to orchestrate, and has to have a feel for getting people up and getting them set, knowing how many timeouts you have, and can I take a sack here and those kinds of things. I see a lot of the facets of his game that are fine. Administering the run game, we ask him to do a lot in terms of getting us in the right run look. The thing that I don’t like to see is I don’t like to put the ball up for grabs. …”