The first weekend of training camp is in the books for the Minnesota Vikings. Lots of little bits of information came out of only a few different practices, but THIS IS IMPORTANT, OK, THIS IS FOOTBALL, FINALLY. Football that will likely force me into a blind rage every Sunday (I think one Monday and a Thursday even this season?) in which I may never return. But that’s for later. For now, what ridiculous conclusions can we draw from a handful of practices where players didn’t even wear pads? PLENTY.
First, it sounds like one of our rookies has become a full blown Vikings, and all it took was a morning at church. New cornerback Josh Robinson from Central Florida tweeted the picture you see above after he left church on Sunday. It’s a thing of beauty, as it both shows the intelligence, class, and PASSION that this fine franchise is known for, even when dealing with turd nuggets like Packer fans. Last year, I would say Christian Ponder probably adapted to being a Minnesotan quicker than any other rookie (what with his Twins baseball caps, shirtless lake appearances on Lake Minnetonka, etc.), but this year it looks like Robinson is the first to really dive into his new surroundings and represent to the fullest. TAKE THAT, SHITTY PACKER FAN!
More notes after the jump:
While I’m trying not to get TOO excited about our own cuddly Care Blair, new kicker Blair Walsh (who also is the only kicker and competition at kicker on the team during mini camp this year …) reportedly made 6 consecutive 46 yard field goals, as well as going 2 of 3 from 55 yards. OUTSIDE. While I’m trying to not lay out the “Jump to Conclusions Mat,” I’m also imagining what kind of damage he could potentially do in a dome for half the season. It would be wildly different than what we’d seen the last handful of years with Ryan Longwell, whose only hope of getting a ball down field 55 yards was if he shot it from a t-shirt cannon. The knocks on Walsh have never been about his leg, however, it’s always been about his ability to make those same kicks under pressure. Obviously, this was just practice and he didn’t have the likes of Julius Peppers “bearing” down on him like a freight train. So we’ll see what happens when things go live.
The other big item that jumped out to me from this weekend was how accurate Shirtless Ponder was. In team drills he had two nice days where he only missed one or two of his passes. That’s awesome, right? We have a quarterback who is accurate, completing passes, and lightyears ahead of where he was last year. Except … The old axiom with training camps is that the defense is always supposed to be ahead of the offense, and the fact that a second year QB playing with a bunch of new teammates was out there like Peyton Manning against a bunch of United Way kids isn’t really a good sign. I’ve been cautiously optimistic that the offense would at least not embarrass us this season, but didn’t have the same confidence about the defense. News like this, so early in camp, certainly isn’t helping.
Regardless, this group of white flag wavers is going to get back out there on Monday, this time in pads, and do it all over again! More updates about our inevitable chance at a first round pick as they come.
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