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  Charley Walters: Bradford is key to more than his own future with Vikings
Posted by: purplefaithful - 07-23-2017, 05:17 PM - Forum: The Longship - Replies (5)

The biggest question surrounding the Minnesota Vikings franchise as it opens training camp this week is who their quarterback will be going forward.
This season it’s Sam Bradford, 29, signed for $18 million, but settled for only this season. Ideally, the Vikings hope for a nice season, perhaps 10 victories, with Bradford playing well and remaining healthy. 
That scenario presumably would allow the Vikings enough confidence to extend Bradford’s contract. It also would mean general manager Rick Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer could feel confident in their positions.
But if Bradford doesn’t play well, or gets hurt, and the Vikings don’t make the playoffs for a second straight season, Minnesota likely would have to deal with finding a new QB.
Regardless of the polite rhetoric coming from the Vikings about QB Teddy Bridgewater’srehabilitation, it remains uncertain that Bridgewater, although just 24, can come back from his horrific knee injury nearly a year ago.
There is also the uncertainty about whether Bridgewater could survive another debilitating knee injury even if he’s eventually deemed healthy enough to play.
If Bradford and Bridgewater prove to be ineffective, who then would become the Vikings QB of the future?
Faced with that issue, Vikings ownership would have to decide whether to entrust Spielman and Zimmer with making the quarterback choice going forward. It’s clear that Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf like Spielman and Zimmer. It’s also virtually certain the reason Zimmer is coach of the Vikings is Bill Parcells, whom the Wilfs have loved since he coached the New York Giants to two Super Bowl titles.
It’s also evident that it initially was Parcells whom the Wilfs wanted to coach the Vikings. But Parcells, 76, had made enough money and didn’t want to coach again.

People might think it was Spielman, as GM, who picked Zimmer. But it’s a good bet that it was Zygi Wilf, based on Parcells’ recommendation.
A microcosm of the Vikings’ immediate future will be how Bradford plays this season, which could determine who ends up running the football operation.
Zimmer and Spielman have to hope that not only do the Vikings have a playoff season, but that Bradford establishes himself as the team’s quarterback going forward.
It could be a very interesting year for Spielman and Zimmer.
By the way, if Bradford does prove worthy of a contract extension but can’t come to terms on a long-term deal, the Vikings still could put a NFL franchise tag on him in March. That would give the team control of Bradford for another year.
As for Bridgewater, if he beats the odds and comes back from his injury and is under contract for 2018, the Vikings still could trade him for a draft pick.
If the Vikings end up without a franchise QB after the season, they probably would have to draft one or trade for one.
After this season, it’s believed that Zimmer will have two years remaining on his contract worth between a total $8 million to $10 million. So even if he’s fired, he’ll have that to bank. But if at age 61, if it doesn’t work out with the Vikings, it would seem unlikely that Zimmer would get another shot at being a head coach in the NFL.
http://www.twincities.com/2017/07/22/cha...h-vikings/

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  Latavius Murray enters Vikings' season pushing the pile in honor of late friend
Posted by: purplefaithful - 07-23-2017, 04:59 PM - Forum: The Longship - No Replies

As the sun singed exposed skin and the aroma of the annual Vikings alumni cookout wafted over the practice fields, Latavius Murray watched his new team wrap up its final spring practice.
Standing there on the sideline at Winter Park, in his No. 25 jersey, his mind drifted elsewhere.
Back in upstate New York, where Murray spent the majority of his childhood, a tense murder trial was in its early stages in a powder keg of a courtroom. The victim of the November shooting in Syracuse was his best friend, Jonathan Diaz.
The trial brought painful memories rushing back. Murray was still trying to come to terms with his friend’s death seven months later. But he mustered a happy face at Winter Park while chatting with teammates. A couple hours later, when he sat down with a reporter at Bonfire in Eden Prairie, the mention of Diaz turned him somber.
http://www.startribune.com/latavius-murray-enters-vikings-season-pushing-the-pile-in-honor-of-late-friend/436072153/

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  Hartman: Bradford feels better prepared than last year
Posted by: purplefaithful - 07-23-2017, 04:57 PM - Forum: The Longship - No Replies

The past 10 seasons the Vikings ran their offense through Adrian Peterson, a once-in-a-generation talent at running back. But this season will be different, and it looks more and more likely that the offense will be built around the talents of quarterback Sam Bradford, who had an effective first season with the Vikings in 2016 despite not arriving until just before the regular season began.
Bradford was able to post career highs in passer rating (99.3), yards passing (3,877), and completion percentage (71.6), which is also the highest mark in NFL history.
But for the Vikings and Bradford there still is some uncertainty, with him in the last year of a two-year contract, and injured former starter Teddy Bridgewater seeming to make strides every day. Bradford was asked how important it is to get an entire offseason with the club to improve the offense.
“Obviously last year was pretty unique, I have never been in that situation, and I don’t think many people have been in that situation,” Bradford said. “But just to be here this offseason, to be able to go through the program, go through the meetings, the installs, really sit down and learn this offense and what we’re trying to do, it’s a much better situation than showing up here however many days, eight or nine, before the first game last year and trying to learn everything on the fly.”
Bradford admitted that even though he put together good numbers, he didn’t have full command of the offense for some time.
“I think the later we got in the year the better I felt with it,” he said. “Obviously going through the change that we did kind of halfway through the season [the resignation of Norv Turner as offensive coordinator], having worked with [new offensive coordinator] Pat [Shurmur], I think that really helped me just because we have a really good relationship and I felt like we were able to communicate. Towards the end of the year I felt like I had a pretty good grasp on things.”


[Image: blank.gif]Long-term plans
Bradford has few concerns about playing on an expiring contract.
“It’s one of those things that I kind of went through the situation a little bit when I was in Philadelphia and honestly I try not to think about it too much, just because I don’t have a whole lot of control over it,” he said. “I come in here every day trying to get better, trying to be the best teammate, the best quarterback I can be.”
When asked if the team has had any discussions with his agent, Bradford said that he didn’t believe so.
So while he’ll be making $18 million this season, it remains a unique situation for the 29-year-old. But he said that the uncertainty of last season, and the way he and the team responded, should bode well for this year.
“I think I learned a lot about a lot of things last year going through that,” he said. “But you know I think it just makes me grateful to have the opportunity to be here this time of year and be able to go through the offseason program and hopefully prepare myself as you would in a normal year to go out there and play.”
Changes all around
Bradford said he likes the new look of the offensive line.
“Obviously excited about all of the moves that they’ve made,” he said. “I have great faith in Coach Zim [Mike Zimmer] and [General Manager] Rick[Spielman], obviously it’s still early but ... I think everyone is excited.”
And what did he think about Peterson signing with the Saints?
“I was only here a year with Adrian, but obviously he has been a fixture in this building and this community for a long time,’’ Bradford said. ‘‘I think any time someone like that says goodbye it’s tough.
“But I think for the people here who have enjoyed watching him play and have got to watch him do some of the special things he has done, I think it’s always going to be tough watching him play for another team. But with that being said we wish him well.”
Lastly, Bradford said that while it may be a competition between him and Bridgewater, he is more concerned with his teammate’s recovery from a serious injury, something Bradford knows a lot about.
“It has been good to see him with the team, with the offense out here working,” Bradford said. “Obviously I’m familiar with what he’s going through right now, and I know how tough it can be both physically and mentally when you’re going through the rehab process.
“I just try to encourage him, and if he ever needs anything obviously I’m there for him to just kind of give him advice of things I learned going through that twice.”

http://www.startribune.com/vikings-sam-b...436060673/

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  Souhan: No Reason to doubt Vikings can get to playoffs...
Posted by: purplefaithful - 07-23-2017, 04:53 PM - Forum: The Longship - Replies (1)

When they aren’t spinning stories, what the veterans of the Twins’ 1987 and ’91 championship teams will tell you is that they had luck on their side.
They stayed healthy. They caught breaks. They were good enough and smart enough to take advantage of opponents’ mistakes.
The 2016 Minnesota Vikings experienced almost no luck.
Remember, on the morning of Oct. 23, they had forgotten what it was like to lose an NFL game. They were 5-0. They had won eight straight regular-season games. They were coming off a bye week in which Mike Zimmer earned comparisons to Bill Belichick and the Vikings defense to the ’85 Bears.
As the Vikings drive carefully through St. Peter’s speed traps for their final training camp in Mankato, the most pertinent question facing them is whether what they had accomplished to that point was fluke or template.
As of Oct. 23, they had beaten three teams that would make the NFL playoffs, and another that had won the conference championship the year before. They had won twice on the road and had opened U.S. Bank Stadium with a thrilling victory over They Who Shall Not Be Named.
Only a missed 23-yard field goal had kept them from advancing in the playoffs the previous season. They had the look of a budding power.
Then they collapsed, losing eight of their last 11 games, playing like invertebrates in a home loss to the Colts in December and eliciting predictable responses from fans who believe that early-season success is more tease than prelude.
So are the 2017 Vikings charged with banishing all memories of 2016, or with reviving the feeling the team had in mid-October? Was 5-0 a mirage?
http://www.startribune.com/souhan-no-rea...436062253/


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  All 22 Press Box Film from 2016 Camp Scrimmage
Posted by: Tom Moore - 07-22-2017, 08:28 PM - Forum: The Longship - Replies (1)

This shows a lot, including how little time Teddy had from his already sub-par line, how he did show touch on some deep balls, and also how the Viking coaches were encouraging him to take more chances and throw balls up for his receivers to make plays.

We will do more film like this at camp this year.  With the All-22, you see the position of every player on the field at all times during a play.


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  Single Game Tix; On Sale 7/24
Posted by: purplefaithful - 07-22-2017, 07:44 PM - Forum: The Longship - Replies (14)

Someone was asking about these earlier...


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  Jabari Price
Posted by: StickyBun - 07-22-2017, 10:56 AM - Forum: The Longship - Replies (7)

Interesting kid. The Vikings like him, but he's had injuries and been inconsistent. One thing that never gets mentioned is he's only 24 years old heading into this 4th year. He was EXTREMELY young when he was drafted. Zimmer mentioned that he loved his mentality and he's a bigger corner at almost 6' and 201 lbs. I think he can be very good depth at CB this year and probably make a step forward if he remains healthy. 

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  New VikeFans Feature- Turning Points
Posted by: Tom Moore - 07-22-2017, 09:46 AM - Forum: The Longship - Replies (5)

One famous play from a Viking game, that turned the tide in the Vikings favor.
This edition is a 1999 game with Dallas visiting the Metronome.

Just 50 seconds


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  Make a law
Posted by: MaroonBells - 07-22-2017, 02:46 AM - Forum: Sensitive Topics - Replies (12)

Teens watch a man drown and die. They laugh and video tape his death. There is no law on the books they violated. 

MAKE ONE. 

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  OT: Dunkirk, The Movie
Posted by: purplefaithful - 07-22-2017, 12:41 AM - Forum: The Longship - Replies (16)

I guess I will be going into a movie theatre this summer after all!

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dunkirk_2017

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