There was a point in time when Kevin Love was not satisfied with the amount of playing time given to him by former HC Rambis. In stark contrast this season, he has received his wish of increased playing time. In fact Love has played more mpg than any other NBA player, at 39.8 (as of 3/26). It was clear ever since the first game of the season, one in which Love played 41 minutes, that he would need to be on the court for the Timberwolves to have success. However does it hurt the Wolves to have Love play too many minutes? I have compiled some stats I found on Love's player profile @ NBA.com

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The Vikings have many concerns this off-season. From the secondary to the offensive line. You name it, we need it. One of our problems is that we have a lot of aging players. To make matters worse most are locked up in higher priced contracts. However there are a small few who I think deserve to be back, on reduced pay anyways. Yet there are still more who should probably just be cut.

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"We’ve received word that Adrian underwent successful knee surgery with Dr. James Andrews and is now resting comfortably. Adrian is in our thoughts, we wish him a speedy recovery and we look forward to seeing him when he returns to Minnesota."

-Leslie Frazier

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It appears that Joe Webb will not see the field again this season (barring another injury to Ponder) This comes as a surprise to me, as I'm sure it does to many of you. However Frazier has come out to say that Ponder is still the first string QB and will start when he has cleared the NFL mandated tests for the concussion he suffered (which is his second so far)

"I think you always want to do whatever is best for your team and whatever gives your team the best chance to win,” Frazier said. “Right now, Christian being our starting quarterback, that’s our belief."

Frazier is set, for now at least, with having Ponder as our starting QB. However Ponder is not so quick to that assertion. He has complimented Webb on some fine play, and he knows that his job is on the line if he can't turn things around. This is what he had to say about it:

“There’s always pressure to perform. This is the NFL and you always have to perform otherwise your job is going to be taken away,” he said. “But I think it’s a positive thing. Whenever there’s competition I think you’re always going to get better. Obviously Joe is a heck of a player and has done a great job. That’s going to motivate me more to make my job secure and try to play better.”

There was no story with Webb's perspective in it that I could find, but I would say he is probably at least a little bit disappointed especially with the way he has played in relief duty. Personally I would have liked to see Webb start, however maybe Ponder would be served well with one last game to "redeem" himself. Either way I would expect there to be some major decisions this off-season and starting QB will be one of them...Thankfully it is between two guys with a lot of potential instead of two guys that are either career back-ups or hopelessly lost (T-jack, Rosenfels, pretty much all of our past QB's since Culpepper)

On a more humorous note, Ponder actually did better on his test after the concussion than he did before...seemingly getting some sense knocked into him

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I don't know how many of you watch sports center but after the thrashing of the cowboys I have had that or NFL Network on practically 24/7. Anyways SC has a section where the have Kevin Mayne go out and try to have a little fun with sports stars (fake interviews and what not)

Today he discovered the Minnesota Vikings secret weapon.....Wrangler Jeans.

Bryant McKinney, Percy Harvin, Brad Childress and of course Jared Allen all show how the jeans have helped the vikings reach this level.

Thanks to ESPN I can't put the video right on here so you will have to go watch it....

Here is the link.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4833852

Coming into the bye week we are looking really good. After eight games I think it would be safe to start the discussion for team mvp.

Adrian Peterson, Brett Favre, Percy Harvin, Jared Allen and Antoine Winfield.

All legit candidates, however....I also nominate Ted Thomson for your Minnesota Vikings MVP. 

Peterson - has been his usual self although a few sluggish games have slowed him down

Favre - has blown all the critics out of the water

Harvin - Steal of the Draft, there is no doubt about that one

Allen - Sack/FF/Deflection master

Winfield - sets the tone for our defense, dont believe me? see the second half defense for the last two games

The NFC North could easily be the most contested division in the league this year. After watching the Vikings I'm close to giving them the nod to win it but not quite yet.

I will start with the Vikings

Two things stood out to me on Sunday. First was just a cause of how late Brett Favre came into town, he just wasn't on the same page with the receivers. There were a couple of times when as Brian Billick put it the receiver zigged and Favre zagged. Luckily we have some time before we face a better than average secondary. My biggest concern with the men in purple was the number of sacks (4) by the Browns of all teams. This cannot continue if the vikes wish to head to the post-season. I am optomistic that things will be smoothed over during practice (It was John Sullivan and Phil Loadholt's first game after all)

Packers

After watching the game with the Bears I severly underestimated the defence that they have this year. Don't be fooled by what you hear on the TV it was the defence - not Aaron Rodgers or anyone else - that led them to the win. That being said we now have film on their new schemes and I feel safe in saying that we have more weapons then the bears but like any divison game we can't over look this team.

Bears

...Wow probably one of the biggest let downs for a season opener (sure glad I don't count myself a fan HA!) The savior Jay Cutler was very generous to the Packers secondary. It makes me get that warm fuzzy feeling when I can observe true sportsmenship like that ha ha. But in all seriousness this team must come back big and I mean big in week two if they hope to win this division.

Lions

Yeah they got stomped but...I really don't want a repeat of last years preformance against them.

Overall this is how I would rank the division

Tied 1. Vikings/Packers (just too hard to pick a clear favorite right now)

2. Bears

3. Lions

What now? Tarvaris Jackson has been very good guy on the whole Brett Favre thing and now that he is on the team what will become of Jackson? Will we keep four QBs, will we trade one or will one be released? Earlier on in the off season there was talk about Jackson requesting/ forcing a trade, he has come out and said none of that was true and it was all made up. However Sage Rosenfels does not seem as dedicated stating that he is worrying about his ankle before thinking of anything like that. I don't know who will get the pink slip but what do you guys think?

here is the article where I found Jackson and Sage's statements: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AveTVhVSEqD4yTa58sh9gHodsLYF?slug=ap-vikings-acceptingfavre&prov=ap&type=lgns

The Minnesota Vikings have a pretty good group battling for this spot. Technically there are four players involved but I think it is safe to say that only two have a legitimate shot. The four competing are:

Albert Young: second year player out of Iowa has an advantage in experience

Ian Johnson: undrafted rookie FA out of Boise State has a very good skill set surprised he wasn't drafted by anyone

Antone Smith: released by the Lions...bad player or yet another stupid move by Detroit

Kahlil Bell: undrafted rookie FA I will be honest; I know little to nothing about Bell

Now Here are the stats for Friday's game:

Albert Young: 14 carries for 58 yards with a 4.1 average plus 3 receptions for 13 yards with a 4.3 average

Ian Johnson: 9 carries for 50 yards with a 5.6 average plus 1 reception for 9 yards

Antone Smith: 3 carries for 20 yards with a 6.7 average and no receptions

Kahlil Bell: 3 carries for 14 yards with a 4.7 average and no recpetions

Now here is my break-down:

Watching the game against the Colts it was obvious that coach Childress gave Young the advantage, Young played longer than any other back for the vikings. To his credit Albert played very well especially since he was bailing out Tarvaris Jackson so the defence knew he would be coming. He also contributed in the passing game so that is always a plus. I was impressed with his quick footwork and patientce. He does not seem to have break away speed but can shove a few defenders a long the way. Reminds me of a Chester Taylor type back.

I thought that Johnson was the more explosive of the two. He is a little bit more like Peterson where he will have a few short runs and then get a bigger one. We didn't get to see much of Ian while Jackson was running the show but they put him in when John David Booty took over. Hopefully we will get to see more of him next week to make a better comparison with equal playing time.

Antone Smith was cut by the Lions and we picked him up, at the time I was wondering why they would do that but he did do a pretty good job for how limited he was. If I remember right he almost broke a TD run but got tripped up by the last guy. He is very quick but also smaller than the other backs. He has a good shot at making the practice squad just because whoever loses the number three spot between Johnson and Young will most likley be claimed by another team.

Kahlil Bell also saw limited action and was less impressive than Smith. Out of all four this is the one that will probablly be elsewhere for the 2009 season.

This battle might not seem important but we are a run first team here in Minnesota and running backs can take a lot of hits and I want the best possible guy for the third spot because you never know. Plus he will probablly take over the number two spot if Taylor is given an oppourtunity elsewhere (I don't want him to go but there are many teams who would take him in an instant)

Who do you think came out on top?

He was a member of the Vikings defense from 1977 to 1990. He made the pro bowl as the middle linebacker for the vikings twice during his 14 year career (all of it spent with the vikings). He also hold the team records for most career tackles with 1,981 most season tackles with 230 and most tackles in a game with 24. After retireing he joined the college scouting team and is now the vikings director for that area. He has been working for the vikings as a player and employee for 18 years. Yesterday he was called in for a meeting with Zygi Wilf where he was told he was going to become the 18th member of the vikings ring of honor. It makes me proud to be a vikings fan when a guy like this who has put his whole life into the vikings gets such an awesome reward like this. Great job Scott and good luck!

here is the story if you would like to read: http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_13030983?source=rss

The Captain is back. That would be E.J. Henderson of course captain of the Minnesota Vikings D. After missing 12 games last season he is reportedly 100% healthy and ready to make up for lost time! He brings some leadership and playmaking ability to the defence. I am excited to see what he will do next season since he was going crazy at the begining of last season. The Associated Press has a story on it if you want to read.

                                                                                                    Story

You probably already know him. Yes the Boise State back is hoping to make the Minnesota Vikings roster as an undrafted rookie. Many including himself believe that he was draft material, which makes me a little concerned but he is using his undrafted status to motivate him. Making the roster as a running back will be tough with second year man Albert Young already having a year in the system and this is a team that boasts two of the leauges best running backs in Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor. I found a video interview on nfl network with him in it and he seems like a good guy with a hard work ethic, hopefuly we will find some space for him because he would be a good character to have on the team.

Here is the video: http://www.nfl.com/trainingcamp/story?id=09000d5d811707b1&template=without-video-with-comments&confirm=true

An article on the Bleacher Report claims that the running back that is our offense is actually hurting our team!?!? Their proof: we were only 8-8 the year he was drafted and failed to miss the playoffs after losing to the Washington Redskins. Obviously the media is trying to come up with some more ridiculous news about the Minnesota Vikings. I'm just angry that they choose our best offensive player, Adrian Peterson, and drag him into the media mess.

My source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/220435-has-adrian-peterson-actually-hurt-the-minnesota-vikings

According to the pioneer press the Minnesota Vikings have planed the shortest training camp since the 2000 season. I will be the first to say this is a little concerning that we will not have as much time to get used to the new formations with Percy Harvin. I also think that it could possibly affect John Sullivan's transition into starting center. I don't know maybe I'm over-reacting but you never know a few extra days to get more familliar could go a long way during the season...what do you guys think?

Here is my source: http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_12765442