Hey boys and girls, I'm sorry I've been quiet recently but I'm moving on Sunday so I'm very busy and haven't been keeping as on top of the Vikings as usual. I'm hoping that by next Monday I'll be 100% back on my game and ready to talk about the team in-depth again. So for now, just a couple of notes:
The Vikes play tomorrow night at 7 pm ET at Buffalo, and I'm interested to see how that goes. EJ Manuel is supposed to get the start, and I'm interested to see how his former teammate Xavier Rhodes matches up against him.
We lost Jerome Felton for at least this week and probably the rest of the preseason to an emergency appendectomy. What is it with appendixes? First the Gators' Jeff Driskel, and now Felton! Who is next? I just hope Ponder, Muschamp, Frazier, and the other more integral cogs of my teams have already had theirs out!!
Despite us having one game in the books, I'm still completely at sea about how our secondary will look this season. I'm furious about losing Winny, and I don't know that even an improved Cook and Robinson will really do what we need out there. I'm hoping Rhodes really lights up at some point in the season (preferably early on) because we don't have a huge superstar there other than him. Are we keeping Sherels if Patterson is so good at KR and PR? Is Sendejo going to show up well in regular season or is he just a flash in this preseason's pan? Is Mistral Raymond, with his injury history, going to make the final 53? The secondary is what I'm most concerned about. No way we make my desired 10-6 and the playoffs if we don't have a solid secondary that can at least present a half-dozen pass breakups per game, not even counting interceptions.
Mankato camp is over, and the gear is returning to Winter Park while our players are settling in their hotel rooms in Buffalo for the weekend. I think we've had quite a successful camp, although my suspicions are roused by the extreme praise of the offense and a rather lukewarm commentary on our defense. We're the Minnesota Vikings. Defense is our thing. Don't get me wrong, no one will dance for joy more than I if Ponder really does click with the o-line and our receiver corps, but we canNOT ignore defense. Not when we play in the NFC North! I'm watching the Bears - Chargers game right now, and the Bears are having a ball out there. No way we go 2-0 against them with minimum effort. I'd have an easier time getting enough $$ to buy myself a Maserati!! (N.B. Most grad students earn $19,000 a year. IF we're lucky.)
The news about the Wilf audit is worrying, but worrying won't do anyone any good. I just hope it's all a load of crap and blows over quickly. GAH!
Saw an article about Kenechi Udeze and how happy he was to be an intern coach for the Vikings. I'm glad he got to come back as a coach, and that he had a good experience. He was one of my favorite players and I was devastated when he got cancer. So relieved he managed to recover! I really hope the cancer doesn't come back. He's doing so much for other cancer patients and survivors and he really is the kind of class act and inspiration every team needs. I was also amazed (and psyched) to find out that his favorite restaurant is Yang Chow in LA. Holy moly, I love that place, and clearly should've gone more if the likes of Kenechi Udeze and Matt Cassel hang out there!! Anyway, I hope he still has a job at Seattle or gets picked up somewhere soon. Guy's a champ and deserves his chance.
That's all for now. SKOL!
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