9 Training Camp Questions

By Ted Glover

VikingsValhalla.com

The Minnesota Vikings open training camp tomorrow, and it can’t come soon enough.  Brad Childress is well on his way to molding this team into his image, and although there have been some growing pains and a disappointing first season, you can see where he is trying to take the team.  But does he have enough to get to the playoffs this year?  Let’s look at some burning questions surrounding the Vikings as they head to their familiar environment in Mankato.  Why nine?  Well, everyone either does 5 or ten question stories, and I wanted to be different.  All right, I confess. I couldn’t think of 10. Truth be told, I had a helluva time coming up with 9.

1.  Is Tarvaris Jackson a legitimate NFL quarterback?  He better be, or the Brad Childress era will be sandwiched between Norm Van Brocklin and Les Steckel as the most unsuccessful tenures in team history.  At times last year, Jackson looked good (against the Jets), so-so (against the Rams), and downright terrible (against the Packers).  He has all the physical tools, is praised by his coaches as a hard worker and at being mentally adept at picking up the offense, but he needs experience.  I think his first full season as starter will be an inconsistent one, but there will be progress as the season goes along.  I would not be surprised to see him benched for a game or two, but he will be better for it, and in the end, will be a good quarterback, but I don’t think it will be this year.

2.  Can the entire offensive line produce?  How the billionaire boys club performs will directly impact the development of Jackson.  If the running game can get going early, it will take pressure off of the passing game, and if Jackson can feel comfortable in the pocket, it will greatly improve his ability to read and dissect a defense.  Artis Hicks has to have a better year, and if he doesn’t, Childress must be willing to make a move to replace him faster than he did last year.  Line instability hurts the whole offense, but so does a young quarterback with no confidence.  The pick of right tackle Ryan Cook was panned by just about everybody last year (especially yours truly), but when Cook was inserted as the starting right tackle towards the end of last season, his play was downright respectable.  If he continues to improve at the rate he did last year, he will be a fixture on the line for years to come, and Childress, who already looks pretty smart for trading away Culpepper when he did, will look like an absolute genius for using the second rounder they got for Culpepper on Cook.

3.  Is Childress still going to call the plays?  It’s probably just me, but I think the run left, run left, screen pass, punt strategy was too easy to figure out last year.  Maybe Childress was limited in what he could do by the level of talent, maybe he felt he needed to establish himself as a coach that was a believer in the run the ball first philosophy; I don’t know.  I do know that what they did last year is going to go over like Michael Vick at a PETA rally if there is no improvement this year.  If Childress does call the plays, fine.  Just do something more than run left, throw a screen pass, and then kick the ball.

4.  What will be the impact of Adrian Peterson?  It should be immediate, and it should be very positive.  Chester Taylor was used as a battering ram at times last year, and it seemed that he really wore down as the season drew to a close, rushing for only a combined 118 yards the last three games of the year.  He never complained, never tapped out, and always went head first into the line, and had a great year.  But it’s now vogue to have a running back by committee in the NFL, and a combination of Taylor and Peterson could give opposing teams fits.  Peterson also gives the team a level of excitement that had been missing through much of the off-season, and is seen by some as a game changing, explosive playmaker—one that the Vikings have not had since Randy Moss or Robert Smith.

5.  Who’s going to catch the ball?  I think this is the most pivotal question the Vikings need to answer while they’re at Mankato.  The two most productive receivers over the last two seasons, Travis Taylor and Jermaine Wiggins, are gone.  The only veteran receiver with any experience is Bobby Wade, and his career year of 2006 was 33 catches.  The Vikings drafted a promising young wide receiver in Sidney Rice, and if he can develop, it will be nice to watch him and Tarvaris Jackson grow up together.  Visanthe Shiancoe was brought in (and given huge money) to replace Wiggins, and he’s been a career backup to this point.  But this will definitely be a make or break year for Troy Williamson.  He has the speed to be a deep threat, but his drops landed him in the doghouse last year.  He’s worked hard to improve his vision and to catch a ball—two important traits if you’re a receiver in the NFL—and has been lauded by Childress and the coaching staff on his dedication to getting better this past off season.  Clearly, Childress is banking on Williamson improving and Rice developing.  If that happens, watch out, NFL.  If it doesn’t, watch out, Tarvaris, as you’ll be running for your life.

6.  Can someone on the defensive line generate a pass rush?  Most Viking fans were ecstatic with the drafting of Kenechi Udeze, the heralded pass rusher from USC, in 2004.  He had a respectable rookie season, getting 5 sacks, was injured in 2005, and amassed a staggering 19 tackles in 16 games last season, with no sacks.  Most Viking fans were also ecstatic with the drafting of Erasmus James, the heralded pass rusher from Wisconsin, in 2005.  After a hold out he developed slowly, and as his playing time picked up towards the end of the year so did his production, getting three sacks.  But then he was hurt almost all of last year and only played in two games.  So, in three seasons, two first round bookend defensive linemen, who were drafted for the specific purpose of rushing the quarterback, have a combined eight sacks and two season ending injuries.  Darrion Scott, drafted the same year as Udeze, has 10 and zero.  Udeze and James absolutely must be able to put perimeter pressure on the quarterback, or the Vikings defensive backs will eventually get run down and run out of the stadium, as they did late last season.  Once the Patriots exposed the inability of the Vikings to generate a pass rush, teams seemed to move the ball almost at will at times, completely abandoning the running game, because they didn’t respect the Vikings ability to rush the quarterback.  That must change this season, or the Vikings need to look at replacing Udeze.  James is coming off of an injury, so he should be given a little more leeway, but not much.

7.  Is Leslie Frazier as good as Mike Tomlin?  Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier has some big shoes to fill.  For all the problems with the pass rush, Mike Tomlin did everything else right for the Vikings defense last season, making them the best rush defense in the NFL, and forcing opponents to once again respect what had become an embarrassment under Denny Green and Mike Tice.  Tomlin established a solid rapport with the defense, and was given almost complete autonomy by Childress to run the defense as he saw fit.  Frazier will be given that same courtesy, and he will need to step in and not skip a beat on the good things (run defense, linebackers) and fix what needs fixing (pass defense, defensive ends).  He has a great nucleus of talent to build around.  DT Kevin Williams returned to hi All Pro form last year, DT Pat Williams teams up with Kevin Williams to form probably the best interior line in the NFL, and cornerbacks Antoine Winfield and Cedric Griffin form one of the better tandems in the league.  There is an embarrassment of talent at safety, with Dwight Smith, Mike Doss, Darren Sharper, and Tank Williams all vying for a starting spot, and depth at most positions is good.  Tomlin left the defense in much better shape than he inherited it, and it will be up to Frazier to continue that improvement.

8.  Who is this Chad Greenway that you speak of?  With Napoleon Harris leaving via free agency and EJ Henderson moving to the middle, the Vikings will have a new look linebacking corps this season.  Ben Leber returns as the only starter in the same spot, and Henderson, while a borderline All Pro on the outside last year, struggled mightily in the middle when put there two seasons ago.  Granted, that was the Ted Cottrell “confuse our guys so much the offense won’t know what the hell we’re doing either” system, and the scheme that Tomlin installed (and Frazier will run) is much simpler, he still needs to get used to being the quarterback on defense again.  Greenway simply needs to get used to the NFL again.  His season ended 3 plays into the first pre-season game, so he’s still in many ways a rookie.  I think Henderson will play as well as Harris did last year, and I hope the transition on the outside from Henderson to Greenway will be seamless.  It will be exciting to see him finally out there hitting people.

9.  Can Wilf get a new stadium?  While it doesn’t affect the play of the team on the field, it does affect the viability of the Vikings to remain in Minnesota.  Wilf is going about it the right way; buying land, solid public relations campaign, cleaning up the team’s image, but he really screwed up by flirting with Minneapolis after he had a deal in Anoka County.  He now faces an uphill battle to get a funding plan approved by the fickle Minnesota Legislature, and what was a $650 million price tag two years ago has now ballooned to a staggering $954 million.  Heck, throw in some more fireworks, a few more cheerleaders, and extra hot dog stand, and let’s call it an even billion.  When push came to absolute shove for the Twins, the Legislature approved a stadium plan for the Twins, but the big difference between that deal and the Vikings is that the Twins weren’t asking for state money, and the Vikings will.  A lot of state money.  I would like to believe that when push comes to absolute shove for the Vikings, the Legislature will pull their collective heads out of their collective asses and get something done, but they let the North Stars walk, so until I’m watching the season opener in Valhalla Stadium, I’m not going to hold my breath.