Hah, yeah, I'm back too. According to my department, I'm officially finished with grad school, so I decided what better way to celebrate than to bring back my beloved Vikings' blog? I wonder if this year I'll have time to watch EVERY Vikings game as it airs?? Maybe that's a bridge too far for a Millennial working two jobs and writing a book, but we'll pray to the Football Gods and see what happens.
But on to the important stuff!
First, just wanted to post this because it still gives me the chills:
And then this, because ESPN finally got it right:
Can you DIGG it?
Yes, I'm still a bit sad that we've lost Keenum. I genuinely believe the dude has a good run left in him. I've always had a soft spot for the Broncos, and I'll be interested in what he does with them in the upcoming season.
Definitely have some hype for Kirk Cousins though. All those franchise records he set for the Redskins? I know they had some sweet players around him, but I'm hoping that he'll gel with Diggs, Treadwell, and Rudolph to an even higher degree. He had three consecutive seasons with 4,000 passing yards, so if we combine that kind of passing with a healthy, hungry Dalvin Cook we could have something extremely exciting here folks.
Speaking of Dalvin Cook, as a Gator alumna I watched that dude run all over us for three years. He broke Warrick Dunn's single season rushing record and his career rushing record at FSU (and Dunn spent four years at FSU!), and I'm the first to admit he's thrilling to watch when he has the ball. ACL injuries aren't a death sentence anymore, and I'm hoping hard Cook comes back ready to show the world what he's made of.
I also wanted to take a moment to shout out to Tony Sparano, the Vikings' O-line coach, who passed away last Sunday at age 56 from heart disease. 19 years in the NFL as a coach or assistant coach is one hell of a legacy, and we'll all miss him. Glad to hear the Vikings shifted their camp events around so everyone who knew Coach Sparano could attend his funeral services.
Camp Notes
According to my sources (aka Twitter) Marcus Sherels snagged the first INT of this year's camp, which is no less than I expected. Sherels is the guy nobody remembers until he has another punt return for a touchdown, but he's determinedly weaving himself into the team, and if he stays healthy I'm hoping he can come up big in the clutch when we need him. Sherels is going to share return duties with our rookie Mike Hughes, and I'm anticipating a lot of fun watching pick #30 acclimate himself to the NFL. We've got those new kickoff rules this season, and while they were proposed to keep kickers safer, the fact that they force everyone to start cold rather than running might make for some interesting results!
Xavier Rhodes is reportedly taking the rookies and newbies under his wing, and Harrison Smith is entering this year as the league's top safety. I get tingly thinking about our defensive back lineup, particularly, Rhodes, Smith, Sendejo and Kearse - and I love that they're taking on the young'uns, and can't wait to see how Mackensie Alexander shows up on Sundays.
My thought for the week is that "Don't stop playing til the clock hits zero" should be this year's team mantra. We've got everything we need - we just need to put the pieces together and leave everything we've got on the field.
SKOL!
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