The 1997 Season

Note: 1997 was the first season that I wrote down thoughts the entire year. Therefore, the 1997 season summary will come in multiple additions to my blog. Today's 1997 entry will be Kick-Off Luncheon thoughts.

1997 Kick-Off Luncheon

In August of 1997 it was my pleasure once again to attend the annual Viking Kick-Off Luncheon held at the Minneapolis Hilton on Monday. All the players and coaches were in attendance with a good time had by fan and Viking alike. In years past I had the good fortune to sit with Vencie Glenn, Scottie Graham and Jack Del Rio.

This year I was able to reserve a table for the fellow Viking fans in my company, and we were honored to have the pleasure of dining with none other than Chris Walsh. Chris, like all the previous players, was a great conversationalist and gentleman letting everyone get in questions and comments, answering each and every one with the same seriousness as the question before. Here were some comments from Chris:

On the cuts: Everyone gets cut eventually. My advice is to try and prolong it as long as possible.

On being compared to Fred Biletnikoff: (laughs) I hear that and I hear Steve Largent a lot. Steve Tasker too.

On what he says to the defensive backs he scores touchdowns on: I say, “Don’t feel bad. I do it to all you guys.”

On playing special teams this year: I think they’re [the coaches] going to put me into the ground this year, playing special teams and third receiver (laughs). We were just talking about that. It’s a lot of plays to be involved with doing both.

On the 3-4 defense: Yeah, we’ve been having some difficulties because they’ve been going with the quicker linebackers out there. We end up having Todd Steussie who is like 330 pounds on a linebacker who is 200 to 250 pounds. We can get around that with a good run game but with the passing game, it makes it harder for a guy like Korey Stringer or Todd to keep up quickness-wise with those speedy linebackers. Kind of give-and-take a little bit.

On the game plan: We always try to take advantage of the other teams’ weaknesses. Every week we have between 80 and 100 plays that go into a game plan. We probably have 200 to 300 total offensive plays. We just vary depending on what the opposing defense does. The game has become so specialized it’s become a game of mismatches. Who can you get the best advantage on a mismatch? Like David Palmer. There’s no linebacker in the league who can cover him. If they bring in a defensive back to cover Palmer, which means a linebacker will be on Cris Carter. That’s a mismatch. If they bring in six or seven defensive backs, we’re going to run the ball on them. It’s like a chess game, they make a move and we make a move and they make another move to counter it and we make another move to go against what they do.

Cris Carter also got up to speak mid-way through the luncheon. Here’s the best part of what he had to say:

“Good afternoon. How’s everyone doing? (smattering of applause) Come on, let’s get more excited! (louder applause) As Denny [Green] said earlier, it’s nice to be associated with the Vikings. It’s nice that we do have a very wide variety of young gentlemen on the football team who not only play well on the field but who are involved in the community. We love the community.

And we do realize, being Minnesota Vikings, that we are role models. We don’t have the Charles Barkley philosophy that ‘he’s not a role model’. I’m glad he said that because I don’t want him to be a role model for our kids. But I think as Vikings we understand that, yes, we are in the community; yes, we are a big part of the community; and yes, we do have a lot of young people who are looking up to us.

But that’s only a part of it. The other part of it is when we go onto the field, we have to be able to throw on those helmets, throw on those uniforms and let people know that, yes, we are proud to be part of Minnesota and the Vikings.

We have a very exciting team this year. The good thing about this year’s team is that the core of our team is effectively our draft picks of the past four or five years. We don’t have that many veterans. We don’t have that many younger players but the core of our team comes from Todd Steussie, Korey Stringer, Orlando Thomas, Corey Fuller, Dewayne Washington and those people who as younger players had to play key roles probably before they were ready to play key roles. Because the system now in the NFL is as soon as you draft a player he has to be ready to play.

And now those players, Derrick Alexander and Fernando Smith and those players, are the core group of our team. They’re going to lead our team to the successes that we expect from one another. And even the expectations that the community has for us are nothing compared to the expectations the 53 players on the final roster have for one another.

When we take the field this weekend, we’re taking names and we’re kicking butt (loud applause and whistles). Even the people in Minnesota aren’t convinced that we can win a championship. But don’t be concerned because the people that we do have on the team, the coaching staff, and the organization realize that this is the most exciting team that we’ve had in the six years since Denny’s been here. We’re going to take the field and do the best we can.

And just because you lose games don’t mean you lose the battle. We know that there will be potholes along the way. We know it’s going to be a long, hard journey, but we’re willing to sacrifice and do what ever it takes so that we might be able to win a championship. And trust me, we don’t look at the Packers and look at them as the champs. Because they are going to have to come here and win, and we’re going to Lambeau and win this year.

Get excited about the Vikings this year and we’ll bring a championship to you (loud applause and whistles).”

We also heard from Dennis Green throughout the luncheon. The following is what Denny had to say about Buffalo, which was the opener in 1997:

“For us it starts this Sunday at Buffalo, a team that we’ve played before in the regular season and a team that we’ve played before in the pre-season. The pre-season and regular season are as different as night and day. We have determined in our minds that when we go on the road for three of the first four games, we have to have the kind of mental toughness that will enable us to really deal with it.

There’s going to be 80,000 fans at Rich Stadium in Buffalo. Those 80,000 fans really support their team. Their team has been to the playoffs seven of the past eight years. They’re going to come out onto the football field ready to play.
We’re going to go on a business trip. We’re going to get on an airplane and fly out there with one thing on our mind. We’re not going to be worrying about if the steak’s cooked right or the airplane ride. We know from the time we leave Minneapolis what we’re going there for. We’re not going to Buffalo for a trip. We’re going for a business trip to win a football game and it’s going to be a great football game.

Get your favorite chair or spot and sit down and watch this football game.”

Needless to say, everybody left this pep rally anxious for the season to begin.

Posted by maasx003 at October 16, 2004 08:33 AM