I have a twitter account and follow some of the Minnesota athletes in different sports. It was on Thursday night when I got home from Mankato I saw a tweet from Vikings starting outside linebacker, Erin Henderson, who tweeted as follows “To the fans that come to sit in this heat to watch us grind…. Thank you. We appreciate it.” I thought I would respond and I send a tweet out saying “worth every minute I have only missed 4 days in 16 years.” I just put it out there and the next thing I see on twitter as Erin retweeted it. This made my night. The story does not end as Friday I went to practice and caught up with Erin to talk to him about it. He said you have only missed 4 days are you serious. I said yes I am, and he smiled saying that was cool.
The morning practice was the usual walk through and again today it was held in Blakeslee Field. The crowd was large. Today the autograph zone had the defensive ends in it. The desire to meet the ends including Jared Allen was amazing. The lines of people were seemingly never ending as I was trying to see the end when I came in. I went through all the people as I made my way to watch practice. I like to ask around and see if I can find out what time the first person in line got there. I found out and was shocked. The answer was 7pm Thursday night. They waited 16.5 hours to meet Jared. These people are incredibly dedicated. It seems as each year I hear different things like this that make you scratch my head.
The afternoon practice I seemed to see more incompletions than normal and some dropped interceptions balls. This is why there is practice so the mistakes that are made can be reviewed in the film room and readjust for Saturday. I seemed passes were short, or high.
It was not all bad as Jerome Simpson, Percy Harvin showed me their usual catches with consistency. I did see to me a scary moment as Simpson went up for a ball while the defender got under him at the same time causing Simpson to come down hard. Jerome did get up and all as well. He showed me some toughness in hanging onto the ball while taking the accidental hit. It was just the timing of the ball and the defender not being able to hold up.
Joe Webb connected on a bomb with Stephen Burton, 2nd year with the team. It was another beautiful throw allowing the receiver run under it in stride on the way for a TD. Ponder and Webb have shown this week they can throw the deep ball fairly accurate.
Burton seemed to be the star of the day as he is trying to make a case for him to crack the 53 man roster.
The other player not only today but all week that has surprised me is the rookie kicker, Blair Walsh. He is not a very big guy but he has a big leg. In the hurray up offense, the team set up for a field goal. It was a 42 yard effort. It was not only good but it had 15-20 yards to spare. I am looking forward to see how he does on kickoffs. The accuracy so far in camp is pleasing. The first game next Friday in San Francisco I look forward to see him in game action and can he kick like he is currently doing.
The offensive line was discouraging last season and now this year I really am excited with the addition of Matt Kalil along with the fight at right guard. Today we were missing 2 due to injuries to Geoff Schwartz and Pat Brown. I know the team is looking into bring some guys to camp to get a look. I wish speedy recovery to both of these players. Schwartz came as a free agent, so he has experience. Pat Brown is in his 3rd season with the Vikes so he has the familiarity with the coaching staff.
Every day I see encouraging signs that this team will be better. Practice has been fun to watch but I have to remind myself not to get too excited because I know it is just practice. The team is on the right track I believe.
Saturday is family day with practice from 10:30-11:30, a football clinic and cheerleading clinic held at different parts of the afternoon. The night practice starts at 7 followed by team introduction and then fireworks. The weather is supposed to be beautiful. I have talked to people over there and they are expecting big crowds so if you come get there early to see the scrimmage in Blakeslee field. The admission to the scrimmage is free. There is a charge for parking.
Thanks for reading
Purplestick
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