Quote:Wide Retriever!

How high is J.J. McCarthy’s confidence? ‘The highest it’s ever been,’ says the Vikings QB.


The following three receivers were running with quarterback J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings’ first-team offense by the end of a two-hour scrimmage that closed training camp on Wednesday and sent the Vikings into their preseason finale at Tennessee on Friday:

Jeshaun Jones, Lucky Jackson and Thayer Thomas.

Combined NFL games: Three, all belonging to Jackson.

Combined NFL regular-season or postseason catches: Zero, zilch, nada.

All-world receiver Justin Jefferson was held out of the scrimmage as another precaution and all indications are he is healthy and ready to go for the Sept. 8 season opener at Chicago.

Rondale Moore is on injured reserve. Jalen Nailor has a hand injury and wasn’t at practice. And then …

Rookie third-round pick Tai Felton went down with a hand or arm injury during the scrimmage and didn’t return. And then …

Jordan Addison, who has had an excellent training camp but is suspended by the NFL for the first three games, went down with a left hand or arm injury and didn’t return.

The injuries to Felton and Addison did not immediately appear to be serious, but still, it continues to not be a good or healthy summer for Vikings receivers.

So, Mr. McCarthy, are you as concerned about your receiver depth as the rest of Vikings Nation?

“I have no concern at all,” the second-year QB said. “I absolutely love our room. At the end of the day, I trust [coach Kevin O’Connell] and [General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah] to make the right decision and do whatever is best for this football team.”

The scrimmage featured several different situations, from red-zone work to second-and-longs to third downs to the offense backed up at its own 1-yard line. McCarthy completed 27 of 35 passes (77.1%), but don’t get too excited since most of the throws were dinks and dunks, a few of which might have been sacks had it been a fully live competition.

McCarthy completed 17 of 24 passes against the first-team defense and 10 of 11 against the second-team defense. The highlight was going 4 of 6 with two touchdowns against the No. 1 defense in the red zone. The touchdowns went to Jackson and Addison, who made an excellent contested grab over cornerback Isaiah Rodgers.

As for the deep ball, well … what deep ball? There were some mid-range completions over the middle but the only deep-ball completion — to running back Aaron Jones — was negated by penalty.

Offensive coordinator Wes Phillips spoke before the scrimmage and was asked if anything about McCarthy’s first full training camp had surprised him.

“Well,” he said, “we drafted him. We thought he was good. So that has not been a surprise.

“All of the intangible stuff outside of playing the position on the field is part of what attracted us to J.J. in the first place. He’s been phenomenal in that aspect. He’s going to learn and make some mistakes throughout just experience in our system. But he doesn’t make the same mistake twice.”

McCarthy finished training camp with a high level of confidence despite having never taken a snap in an NFL regular-season game.

How high?

“Extremely high; the highest it’s ever been,” he said. “I feel like just looking at the guys around me and the coaching staff, that gives me all the confidence in the world.

“Knowing I have God at my back, at all of our backs, I just feel like I get goose bumps right now thinking about it. Extremely confident in the way we attack every day, put in the work. The rest is going to take care of itself. Having that confidence level as a precursor of the work that we put in, it really makes me excited.”

Startribune

A bullet broke through the glass of an office at the Chiefs’ practice facility last summer, multiple sources told The Star.

Inside the office at the time: Andy Reid.

Reid, the 67-year-old head coach of three Super Bowl-winning teams in Kansas City, was not struck or injured by the gunshot, and neither was anyone else, according to a spokesperson for the Kansas City Police Department.

But the most prominent active head coach in the NFL now works protected by bulletproof glass, sources said, a safety measure installed soon after.

Several sources have confirmed the May 2024 event to The Star. It had previously not been widely known in the 15 months after its occurrence — even among those in the building. For many Chiefs players and staff, The Star’s report will be the first they have learned of the gunfire that hit the facility.

Reid was working alone in his practice facility office in early May 2024 when a bullet fired from outside the building penetrated the glass and shot a hole through the window and blinds. The bullet lodged in a wall between his bathroom and the entry door to his office.

That’s roughly 15 feet from Reid’s desk — the approximate distance between a 15-month well-kept secret and a stunning tragedy.

No arrests or charges have been made in the case. The investigation is ongoing, including the location from where the shots originated, according to Kansas City Police Department spokesperson Capt. Jacob Becchina, who said “there is no indication this was a targeted incident at any person or organization.”

“Because the building was occupied at the time of the bullet coming through the window, the case is being investigated as an aggravated assault,” Becchina said.

Two other bullets struck the facility during the gunfire — one hitting the third floor, one floor above Reid’s office, and another an outdoor air conditioning unit, sources said.

The Chiefs declined comment for this story.

The gunfire occurred shortly after midnight on the morning of May 4, 2024, according to a sparse incident report provided by the Kansas City Police Department and obtained by The Star through the Missouri Sunshine Law. The officers who arrived at the scene in the early morning hours of May 4 spoke with overnight security, who informed them someone “heard a noise and observed what appeared to be a bullet hole in a window,” Becchina said.

The department refused to provide further investigative or supplemental reports, citing the ongoing investigation.

The episode comes at a time in which the Chiefs have established a world-wide profile, with their games and star players increasing their international footprint. They are the subjects of a new ESPN documentary and have recently begun to refer to themselves as “the world’s team.”

Reid is at the epicenter of that, a franchise turnaround coinciding with his arrival from Philadelphia in 2013.

His office sits on the second floor of the three-story practice facility, overlooking the team’s three practice fields to the north side. The facility resides inside the Truman Sports Complex, a stone’s throw from GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

The facility, which includes the team’s front office and corporate offices, has a security guard on site 24 hours per day, according to the organization. The Chiefs have said in the past that the safety and security of their employees remains a top priority.

Within the last couple of months, the team has increased the amount of perimeter fencing surrounding the three practice fields. The facility is monitored by several cameras.

As the team analyzes its stadium future, weighing options in Missouri and Kansas with a lease set to expire in 2031, it also is mulling the future of its practice facility — including whether to remain at its current address east of downtown or move across the state line, or to a different location in Missouri.

It is not unusual for Reid to work deep into the night inside his office there, even into the early morning hours. It has become a habit that he considers part of the job — a job in which he has enjoyed immense success, particularly recently.

Just three months before gunfire pierced his office window, Reid led the Chiefs to their third Super Bowl in a five-year span and first NFL championship repeat in two decades. And nine months after the shooting incident, he led the Chiefs back to the NFL’s championship game.

He is the fourth-winningest coach in league history. His 301 total victories are 100 more than anyone else currently leading an NFL franchise.

This story was originally published August 20, 2025 at 5:43 PM.

source: Kansas City Star

Who approved this kind of change? Talk about abandoning key brand assets....

Sheesh.

On Tuesday, the Southern-inspired casual dining chain unveiled a new logo “rooted even more closely to the iconic barrel shape,” but without the barrel itself — a central part of the brand’s identity since 1977. (As for the the barrel itself, it was “essentially the water coolers of the day,” Cracker Barrel explained in a blog post.)

Shares of Cracker Barrel (CBRL) nosedived more than 12% in trading Thursday.

The identity refresh also includes new TV commercials, a redesigned menu and several new fall-themed foods, part of a larger $700 million transformation plan to shake off its stodgy image and lure in new diners.

“The way we communicate, the things on the menu, the way the stores look and feel … all of these things came up time and time again in our research as opportunities for us to really regain relevancy,” said CEO Julie Felss Masino in 2024.
CNN


OLD COUNTRY STORE LOGO:

WTF? 

All assisted off the practice field today with various injuries. Felton could miss some time. Ugh

Panthers hold ideal trade chip to solve Vikings’ WR need in the form of a familiar face, creating a rare win-win scenario for both sides
The Vikings are reportedly looking for a wide receiver on the trade market and the Panthers just so happen to have the perfect fit.

The Minnesota Vikings are reportedly in the market for a veteran wide receiver. The team’s running mate for Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, will miss the start of the season due to a suspension. The Carolina Panthers may have just the thing to help in the form of a familiar face.

Carolina’s wide receiver room has undergone a transformation in recent years and now boasts a number of talented youngsters who should be given the bulk of the work at wide receiver. This would allow third-year quarterback Bryce Young to establish valuable rapport with possible long-term solutions at the position.

And that means that former Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen could be the perfect trade candidate for Carolina to offer up.

The Panthers should offer Adam Thielen to Minnesota in a trade package

Thielen agreed to a restructured contract with Carolina earlier this offseason, paying him a $1.5 million roster bonus in March and leaving $6.25 million in base salary left to be paid throughout the rest of the season. It makes him a fairly digestible contract to onboard for a team looking to acquire his services. Minnesota is currently listed at OverTheCap as having in excess of $26 million in cap space for the 2025 season.

A reunion between the two sides would take Thielen back to the place in which he got his footing as an NFL receiver. He played the first nine seasons of his NFL career with the Vikings and posted over 500 receptions and nearly 6,700 receiving yards over that stretch before leaving to play in Carolina via free agency in 2023.

A receiver like Thielen, in the later stages of his career, would make some sense for the Vikings given that they’re looking for a bridge to survive until Addison is able to return from his three-game suspension — acquiring him would presumably come at a modest trade value cost. For Carolina, his departure would further open the door for names such as Tetairoa McMillan, Xavier Legette, Jalen Coker, and others to all see incrementally more targets from Young. Given the Panthers are trying to fortify their future outlook on offense, sharing as much time on task with the young nucleus should be the priority anyway.

So, Minnesota, give the Panthers a call. And if the phone does indeed ring, the Panthers should be ready to pick up the phone and play ball on a trade.

Hollywood filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has revealed which of his movies he thinks is the best – and it’s probably not the one you’d expect.

The American director has two Academy Awards to his name: one for the screenplay of “Pulp Fiction” in 1994 and another for the screenplay of “Django Unchained” 18 years later.

But neither is what he considers to be his best – or even his favorite – movie.

Rather, he says 2009’s “Inglourious Basterds” is his best piece of work, while his favorite is his most recent feature film “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.”

He made the comments during an interview with “The Church of Tarantino” podcast in an episode released on Friday.

Asked to reveal which of his movies he loves the most, the 62-year-old said: “‘Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood’ is my favorite, ‘Inglourious Basterds’ is my best, but I think ‘Kill Bill’ is the ultimate Quentin movie, like nobody else could have made it.”

Set in Nazi-occupied France and starring Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds” follows the exploits of a group of American Jewish soldiers who plan to assassinate Nazi leaders.

Tarantino went on to say that “every aspect” of his two-volume “Kill Bill” story, which sees Uma Thurman star as a former assassin hellbent on vengeance after waking from a coma, was taken from his imagination, loves and passions.

“So I think ‘Kill Bill’ is the movie I was born to make. I think ‘Inglourious Basterds’ is my masterpiece but ‘Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood’ is my favorite,” he said.

Some of his output also came in for criticism.

When asked if there was anything he would change, Tarantino said he “miscalculated a couple of things along the way.”

“The only thing that bites my a** is just a few little shots in both ‘Reservoir Dogs’ and ‘Pulp Fiction’,” he said, adding that both featured some “amateur sh*t.”

While he “loves” both movies, he said they were made early in his career when “I didn’t know what I didn’t know.” He said he didn’t want to point out his mistakes, but mentioned equipment in a shot, the shadow of a boom and the mark of an X where the actors should have been standing. “It takes you at least two movies to figure out how to do it,” he joked.

During the interview, Tarantino said his latest project, “The Adventures of Cliff Booth,” a follow up to “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” has just started filming.

“One Upon a Time… in Hollywood” starred Leonardo DiCaprio as fading TV actor Rick Dalton, while his stunt double Cliff Booth was portrayed by Pitt. Together, they try to recapture their success and fame.

Tarantino previously told CNN that the next movie he directs would be his last. It had been rumored that this would be a script called “The Movie Critic” but he scrapped the idea last year.

Explaining why, he said he lost interest in bringing the story to the big screen. “I pulled the plug on it,” he said.

“I was so excited about the writing but I wasn’t really that excited about dramatizing what I wrote once we were in pre-production, partly because I’m using the skill set that I learned from ‘Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,’” he said, adding that “The Movie Critic” would have been set in a similar place and time.

CNN

Or Harry....

The Vikings were once again without outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel and safety Harrison Smith at practice.

Van Ginkel has been present at practices but in street clothes since Aug. 7; his injury is unknown. Smith has been absent from practices since Aug. 11 with what O’Connell said Aug. 13 is an illness.

The Vikings also missed defensive lineman Levi Drake Rodriguez (ankle) and Tyler Batty (wrist) on Monday. Both were present but did not participate. Batty did do pre-practice walk-throughs.

Strib