The Vikings soon will anoint a center for the future.
When the team moved 35-year-old Joe Berger, the primary center the past two seasons, to right guard, it signified a commitment to a young player taking over the position for perhaps years to come. But will that player be third-year player Nick Easton or rookie Pat Elflein?
Easton got the start in last week’s preseason opener at Buffalo. Perhaps Elflein will get start Friday’s game at Seattle.
“It’s a battle,” Easton said. “We’re splitting reps. We’re both playing as hard as we can, and may the best man win.”
http://www.twincities.com/2017/08/14/vik...at-center/

Blair Walsh on playoff miss with Vikings: ‘That kick’s not going to define me’
http://www.twincities.com/2017/08/14/ex-...of-career/

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/201...-thursday/

Here in Kauai, will check in periodically.......

V83

In just about 3 weeks, we will hit the regular season, but the Viking fan base does not seem all that excited, or maybe they are afraid to be let down again.

I think this team is better on offense, and top 10 defense (but not top 5).  If Schumer can be creative and we can get some line protection and blocking, we easily could be a 10-6 team.  Then again, that is probably the case for every other team in the league.  

Anthony Barr mentioned this offseason that it’s going to take a committee to replace one of the locker room’s most consistent voices over the last decade. He’s right. No one can replace Greenway’s voice, not this early. But his snaps don’t evaporate and while it’s risky to read too much into anything that happens in the preseason, if Thursday night gave us any indication of anything it’s that Edmond Robinson is going to get some run for this football team.
No one mistook Robinson for Lawrence Taylor in Thursday night’s preseason opener. The Newberry College product finished tied for third on the team with four tackles. But he was running with the “1s” in the first quarter. He was playing with the late-round picks and undrafted free agents in the fourth quarter. The Vikings coaches were taking a good long look at him and that bodes well for his chances to come away with the starting WLB position...
http://vikingswire.usatoday.com/2017/08/...-greenway/

Haven’t we seen this movie before? A long and athletic defensive end from LSU who had a hard time getting on the field in Baton Rouge, but is a beast for the Vikings. This sounds like the Danielle Hunter story, but so far in the 2017 NFL preseason the former Tiger who can’t stop making plays is undrafted free agent Tashawn Bower.
Experts weren’t surprised when Bower didn’t hear his name called in the 2017 NFL Draft. He made only seven starts in four college seasons, registering 5.5 career sacks. His athleticism was undeniable, but he was still seen as a development project, unlikely to produce results in the short term.
It’s going to be tough for Bower to crack the lineup on this defensive line, but his play in training camp and in the Vikings’ preseason opener has made one thing clear: this is no ordinary undrafted free agent.
Bower was a pain in the butt for Bills’ offensive linemen, including Minnesota native Seantrel Henderson, all night. Bower tallied five quarterback pressures, a sack and a tackle for loss in the 17-10 win. His efforts earned him a game grade of 90.7 from Pro Football Focus.

We all know that preseason results mean nothing. We all know that most of the things that happen with the first-team offense and first-team defense mean nothing. But every year, we make all sorts of judgements about the upcoming year based on a handful of snaps with starters going half speed.
There is no better example of how meaningless the preseason is to starters than Sam Bradford’s first four games. He played zero snaps in preseason with the Vikings, but beat the Green Bay Packers on national TV in his debut.

So why would we make judgements about the Vikings’ offensive line based on a few series’ against the Buffalo Bills?
Sure, the trauma of watching Bradford get slammed to the ground over and over last season is still lingering. And if one of the starting O-linemen cuts himself shaving, it acts as a reminder that the Vikings lost every starter at one point or another in 2016 – including both tackles going down for the year by Week 3.
But Mike Remmers’ whiff against the Bills shouldn’t be seen as a red flashing sign that the Vikings’ season will be undone by poor blocking.
When we pull back to the 20,000-foot view, it’s easy to see how much the offensive line has been improved – even from the non-injured 2016 version.
Riley Reiff hasn’t practiced much yet as a Viking and didn’t play on Thursday night, but the former Detroit Lion has 27 days to get healthy. When he does, Reiff will look like Orlando Pace compared to what the Vikings ran out last season. He isn’t a dominant pass protector, but he also won’t be giving away free shots to every edge rusher. Powerful defensive ends can drive Reiff back into the quarterback, but they won’t fly around him without being touched.
In the run game, Reiff will be a massive upgrade. While it was obvious that TJ Clemmings couldn’t protect against the pass, the part about his struggles was that went less noticed was ranking among the worst run blockers in the NFL, too. Reiff, on the other hand, has rated above average in run blocking by Pro Football Focus standards.
If the Vikings had only added Reiff, they’d be substantially better...
http://www.1500espn.com/vikings-2/2017/0...ason-game/

Ex-Vikings kicker Blair Walsh: Last season 'wasn't fun'Now he's getting a shot at redemption with Seattle.Walsh missed a 27-yard field goal with less than 30 seconds remaining against Seattle in a frigid wild-card playoff game against the Vikings two seasons ago. Walsh yanked the kick wide left, allowing the Seahawks to survive for a 10-9 victory. After Walsh’s struggles continued into last season, the Vikings cut him loose after nine games. He’ll kick against the Vikings instead of for them when the teams play a preseason game Friday in Seattle.
“It just wasn’t fun,” Walsh said of his last year in Minnesota. “It wasn’t fun trying to work through it and get better. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to finish out the year. I thought I would be able to correct it, and I didn’t get that chance. But it’s all right. I’m happy with the place I’m in, and I wouldn’t change anything.”
Walsh had missed four of his 16 field goal attempts with the Vikings last season and four of 19 extra point tries before being let go.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks were looking to make their own change at kicker after Steven Hauschka missed 10 total kicks, with six kicks blocked, last season for Seattle.
“We are getting him at a time when he really has something to prove,” coach Pete Carroll said of Walsh. “He has been a tremendous worker for us, really diligent worker. He is a very good athlete, too. You can see he has soccer background in him and all that. He has a big leg though, too. We haven’t seen a ball pop up in the air like this in years. We are really excited about what he’s bringing in, and now it’s just about consistency.”
Walsh was named a first-team All-Pro and made the Pro Bowl in his rookie season with the Vikings in 2012. He converted 92 percent of his field goal tries and was perfect on extra points. He believes he can recapture that form with the Seahawks...
http://www.startribune.com/ex-vikings-ki...440216613/

HOF defensive tackle John Randle will be the latest former Vikings player profiled on the NFL Network’s “A Football Life,’’ airing Dec. 15. Others featured in recent years were Randall Cunningham and Cris Carter in 2013, Warren Moon in 2014, Alan Page in 2015 and Brett Favre in 2016.