Brought to you by Mr. Cheer or Die and the Vikes Geek, welcome to the
Views and Personal Photos on the Vikes from the Inaugural Hall of Fame fan.
Brought to you by Mr. Cheer or Die and the Vikes Geek, welcome to theNote: be sure and click on the links provided within the story for photos! And check out the VU Podcast page and VU Videocast page for other mini-camp material. And as stated on the VU Moblog page, the media was limited to using cameras (video or still) to just the first 30-minutes of practice. Still, there are over seventy photos below for you to look at. Feel free to share them or use them anyway you want. Just be sure to credit the Viking Underground and please be aware the VU has a Creative Common Copyright licenses listed for this blog. Thanks!
It was cold and very gusty outside but very quiet inside as I watched Team Purple go through stretching drills during the first practice of the veteran mini-camp which started Friday and ends Sunday. As new head coach Brad Childress took his pulse, literally, he also took a pulse on his team for the very first time.
There was disgraced OT Mike Rosenthal relegated to second string work. But then my eye quickly saw offensive-center Matt Birk chatting with new offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. Birk worked out the entire practice and showed no ill effects from the multiple hernia surgeries from the last year.
My ear was quickly drawn to the loudest voice on the field. No, not Fred Smoot but defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin. Tomlin strode up and down the field as the players stretched prior to the start of practice. Childress stood quietly by reviewing his schedule and plays.
In previous years, during warm-ups I would be able to hear the players joking and laughing it up. Even last year under former head coach Mike Tice I would have heard Pat "The Planet" Williams having a side conversation with Kevin Williams while P-Will barely moved a muscle. Not to mention this joker:
But, even the loquacious, smiling Fred Smoot was all work and made not one peep during stretching.
After stretching the various positions broke down across the field. Much to my delight, the linebackers ended up right in front of me. Yes, there was Ben Leber the former Charger.
Napoleon Harris, relegated to second string of the depth chart last year, still ran with the second team this year. Newly acquired Ben Leber was dressed and ready to play and was running with the first string, however. Leber was focused and running well during drills.
The man that everyone had guessed to be the starting MLB this season was if fact on the first string but not at the MLB spot. That belonged to Mr. Dontarrious Thomas (and that is a MLB stare!) while E. J. Henderson was playing outside with Leber.
Also working out nearby were the running backs. First jersey that I spied was that of FB Tony Richardson. And as all of you who read the Moblog already know, this guy was the first string RB during drills on Friday. Ciatrick Fason was running second string behind Chester Taylor as Mewelde Moore sat out of passing drills. Running back coach Eric Bieniemy had the lads running pretty hard but no one seemed out of shape. No Robert Smith nausea attacks of any kind. Just some hands-on-hips.
Richardson, who was brought in to knock people on their asses, was in the backfield on 2-WR sets playing in front of Taylor and often the recipient of short passes.
Way across the field were the red-jersey's of the quarterbacks. The QB position is my second worry spot, ranked only behind the linebacker corp. And seeing the names of J.T. Sullivan and Mike McMahon made me feel a bit more queasy than assured. McMahon, show here being watched by QB coach Kevin Rogers, seemed especially tentative. I felt that McMahon should have not been so, having been under Childress at Philadelphia. But again, this was the first practice. And his throws were more crisp than those of Big Bad Brad Johnson.
Across from the linebackers were the wide-receivers.
And all eyes (and hands!) were on Mr. Motivation, Koren Robinson. K-Rob was in continual motion on the line and in drills. He looks ready to take-up where he left off last season. Also back with the first string was Travis Taylor who seems to be the third receiver in 3-WR sets. This is because Troy Williamson was playing first string in 2-WRs set so it seems that the new coaching regime is ready to fly. Personal favorite Chris Jones was also back and looking very good in passing drills once again. But it was K-Rob making the circus catches again. And again.
I interrupt this summary to make a plea: I want one of these purple balls!!!! They should play purple balls at the Dome for all home games. These look way cool. OK, sorry about that. I now return you to the summary
Also excited about all aspects of the practice today was Vikings owner Zygi Wilf. Wilf continues to run with a nearly 90% approval rating here on the Viking Underground (poll to the left). Wilf was all over the field observing the team today while also speaking with the local media.
Wilf had to be as pleased with me to the play of the defense. The defense, in my thoughts, outplayed the offense during scrimmages. Smoot was the day's MVP with a beautifully defended pass against Jermaine Wiggins, knocking the ball out just as it hit Wiggins' hands. And Smoot had an INT of a BBB thrown ball which had the defense hootin' and hollerin' all the way into the end-zone. And Dovonte Edwards was without a doubt the fastest DB on the field. Let's just call Dovonte the Road Runner. Beep-beep!
Pro Bowler Darren Sharper, shown here with Dustin Fox, also looked to be in great form. A sight surprise was seeing Tank Williams run with the first team. But then Willie Offord was out so I'm not sure who will get the nod here.
The D-Line was ready for some head bangin' as well. The first string were ends Erasmus James & Kenechi Udeze with the Williams Bros. Wrecking Crew clogging the middle. Coach Childress seemed to spend a fair deal of time observing them.
At the end, Coach Childress met with the media. He was a little tight-lipped as you can hear on the VU Podcast page. But you know what? I like it when the local media gets pissed off at our coach because he isn't giving them the easy story. Boo-friggin'-hoo. But I'm sure at some point in the near future you are going to be hearing some whining from the media babies.
Owner Zygi Wilf also addressed the media and took some questions about the stadium. Wilf again pressed that all three stadium issues...the Gophers, Twins, and Vikings.....need to be addressed.
I hope you enjoyed this little personal summary. See you all next week! I leave you now with the strangest sight of the day.
Other Photos
RB Adimchinobe Echemandu
FB Joey Goodspeed
RB Tony Richardson
RB Ciatrick Fason
LB Heath Farwell
WR Kelvin Kight
WR Marcus Robinson
WR Ryan Hoag
LB Napoleon Harris
LB Ben Leber
WR Jimmy Redmond
DB Darren Sharper
DL Pat Williams
DL Kevin Williams
K Ryan Longwell
You are simply one of the most dedicated fans I have ever witnessed. Keep up the good work!
Posted by: Brian at April 8, 2006 12:53 AMIs anybody else really excited to hear K. Robinson and T. Williams are 1 and 2.
Posted by: B. Stoll at April 8, 2006 01:15 AMAwesome. Great work.
Posted by: J. Ryan at April 8, 2006 01:17 PMI'm excited to hear that Williams is #2. (I assumed K-Rob would be #1) I would have thought they'd put Taylor at 2, but I'm pleased that it's Williams. It will be a speedy, short gains, move-the-chains kind of offense this year.
Posted by: Peter at April 10, 2006 09:19 AMRaiders fan here, give Napo some reps! ith the Williams bulk up front a MLB doesn't have to worry on A or B gaps, can key things like an OLB most of the time in recognition and get involved in coverage.
Childress also liked to unleashe Trotter on teams and let him blitz with abandon, those tactics should fit Napoleon's attributes to a tea.
Recognition, aggression.
Posted by: Mr.Murder at April 10, 2006 10:58 PM