FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011
Vikings Head Coach Leslie Frazier
We had a good spirited Friday practice, our guys are looking forward to playing at home in front of our fans at Mall of America Field against the defending World Champions, and we are excited about this opportunity. Should be a good football game between two NFC North rivals; the ‘border war’, so it should be a lot of fun.
Q: How did Antoine look today?
A: We will list him as doubtful, he moved around a little bit, but I would say he is doubtful for tomorrow at this point. He was still limited in practice today.
Q: Are John Sullivan
and Jamarca Sanford going to be doubtful?
A: Those guys have made progress, but not to the point where we can say that they will be ready to play yet. We are going to do some things with them tomorrow. There is a possibility they play, so we are going to list the as ‘doubtful’, but it’s just a possibility that they will play.
Q: Have any of them passed the concussion tests?
A: Not completely.
Q: With Antoine, is it something where you may have to shut him down for a significant amount of time, or is it going to be week to week?
A: I think it’s week to week. A lot of progress; to the point where it is very close to getting him on the field, so I think it’s still kind of day to day.
Q: With how the Packers like to spread things out, that’s a pretty big challenge for the secondary.
A: It is you are exactly right, they do a lot of four and five wide out sets; more so than most teams that you play. You would like to have all hands on deck, but the guys that are going to play are going to be ready to go and we are going to need them to step up and play big for us.
Q: What is your assessment of where Joe Berger is at?
A: If it turns out that he is going to have to start he is going to have to play well for us. We talked about it this morning in our team meeting; as long as he doesn’t feel like the pressure of the world is on his shoulders, and that he has to do anything but his job, he is going to be fine. He has prepared well this week in practice, he has prepared well all along, and he is a smart and tough guy. He knows our offense and he is excited about this opportunity and I think he will play well.
Q: When you brought in Berger and let Jon Cooper go, were you looking for a bigger body, more experience?
A: A little bit of both, along with the factor of the number of starts he had at center, along with playing at guard, but the bigger body definitely made a difference. He is a bright guy who has had some success and it looks like he will get an opportunity this Sunday.
Q: At safety, if Jamarca doesn’t go, do you roll with three safeties, do you plug in Mistral Raymond?
A: We probably will dress Mistral and have him ready to go. That is the way we practiced this week. Husain Abdullah and Tyrell Johnson will end up being the starters.
Q: As you evaluated EJ in this past game, it seemed like when he was trying to cover the deep middle he had some trouble.
A: He doesn’t quite have that explosion back that you need for some of the things you have to do in coverage. It’s something we have to look at; he is working towards getting that back and hopefully it will continue to come, he has made some progress, but is still not where he would want to be.
Q: With how productive Erin Henderson has been is it safe to say you will get him back in nickel packages?
A: It’s a strong possibility; we have to definitely get more production from that position.
Q: Do you feel the offensive line is under more pressure this week in trying to protect Christian?
A: This is a defense that gives you a lot of looks and they do a good job of attacking the line of scrimmage. It’s a challenge for any offensive line when you go against some of the looks that you get and some of the pressures that they bring and it won’t be any different for us. Our guys have worked really hard this week, they really have to be on their P’s and Q’s and be ready for a tremendous challenge but I think they all want to come back and play well this weekend. This is the time to do it.
Q: What did you see this week from Christian in transitioning to that leadership role?
A: His demeanor hasn’t changed a whole lot. He’s a guy who doesn’t let the moment overwhelm him and he’s prepared extremely well. He’s one of those guys who is the first in and the last out. He works hard in practice. He’ll be prepared. I’m sure there’ll be some jitters the night before the game like you would expect from any rookie but he has a way about him where you know he’ll fight through any adversity he may face.
Q: Donovan referenced Doug Pederson earlier in the week. What has he relayed to you about what he’s going to bring to this situation?
A: He just pointed out what Doug meant to him and how Doug took it when they informed Doug that Donovan was going to be the starter and he knew that Doug wasn’t quite pleased with it but it never changed the way he helped Donovan prepare and he mentioned to me, ‘I want to be able to do the same thing for Christian that Doug did for me, I want to help him prepare and help him to continue to grow and develop and I want to do the right things,’ and that really encouraged me to hear that because I was with Donovan and Doug when that transpired so it was encouraging.
Q: What is the status of Phil Loadholt?
A: He practiced well yesterday and today as well so he’s good to go.
Q: Mike Priefer talked about the rule for punt returners where the toes should be on the eight yard line and anything past should be let go. Is that standard in the NFL?
A: Some teams use the ten, some teams use the eight, some teams, depending on who the guy is, they’ll let him return it on a liner. You see the same thing on kickoffs; you see some returners almost on the end line now and bring the ball out. Same thing on punts, but it varies. Our rule is at the eight and if the ball is over your head don’t drift, don’t back up, let it go.
Q: How does this week feel compared to last season heading into the Green Bay game?
A: I haven’t thought a whole lot about how we approached it a year ago, I just know where we are and what we have to get done and how important this game is for a lot of reasons for our football team. There are a lot of things that need to go right for us on Sunday to be successful and that’s kind of what I’ve been thinking about throughout the week.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: A ‘Malign Intellectual Subculture’ – George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.
Minnesota Vikings : News
