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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2019 LOCAL NEWS: Sunday, February 3, 2019

Star Tribune

Steve Hutchinson falls one step short of Hall of Fame By Mark Craig http://www.startribune.com/steve-hutchinson-falls-one-step-short-of-hall-of-fame/505254542/

Bud Grant's coaching career was part Sean McVay, part By Sid Hartman http://www.startribune.com/bud-grant-s-coaching-career-was-part-sean-mcvay-part-bill-belichick/505254142/

SKOR North

Building of Patriots’ offense should be blueprint for Vikings offseason By Matthew Coller https://www.skornorth.com/vikings-2/2019/02/building-of-patriots-offense-should-be-blueprint-for-vikings-offseason/

MULTIMEDIA LINKS: Sunday, February 3, 2019

Adam Thielen cooks chili with Chef Kenneth USA Today https://www.usatoday.com/videos/sports/nfl/super-bowl/2019/02/03/adam-thielen-cooks-super-bowl-chili-chef- kenneth/2758364002/

Kirk Cousins Joins SportsCenter ESPN 2 http://mms.tveyes.com/PlaybackPortal.aspx?SavedEditID=53f49f61-653c-4d4a-b72b-de4d1b254dd8

Kirk Cousins Joins Good Morning Football NFL Network http://mms.tveyes.com/PlaybackPortal.aspx?SavedEditID=31f79c0f-0af2-46dd-9767-9615b8e5c844

PUBLICATION: Star Tribune DATE: 2/3/19

Steve Hutchinson falls one step short of Hall of Fame

By Mark Craig

Former Vikings guard Steve Hutchinson will have to wait at least another year on the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But there is some good news for Hutch and his fans.

Unlike last year, the 48-member selection committee did chip away at the four-person logjam at offensive line by choosing former Seahawks, Jets and Titans center as one of the eight members of the Class of 2019. Hutchinson and fellow guard made the modern-era cut from 15 to 10 while left did not.

Other modern-era players joining Mawae in the Class of 2019 are and , safety and . Bailey, Reed and Gonzalez were selected in their first year of eligibility. Law was in his fifth year of eligibility and is the first member of the Patriots dynasty to be selected. He won three Super Bowls with .

Former Chiefs safety , who had an in Kansas City’s Super Bowl IV win over the Vikings, made it as the senior finalist. Former Cowoboys executive and Broncos owner made it as finalists in the contributors category.

The entire 48-member committee, including yours truly, voted yes or no on those eight candidates. Thirty-nine yes votes were needed to make it in.

Eliminated in the cut from 15 to 10 modern-era finalists were Boselli, Raiders coach , Rams receiver , Patriots defensive lineman and Bucs and Broncos safety John Lynch.

Eliminated in the cut from 10 to five were Hutchinson, Faneca, Broncos safety , Colts and Cardinals and Cardinals and Chargers coach Don Coryell.

The committee spent 10 minutes, 42 seconds on Robinson, 19:29 on Bowlen and a meeting-high 34:05 on Brandt.

The offensive linemen were discussed next in alphabetical order. A total of 74 minutes, 10 seconds were spent trying to say something that would break up the field in a year when two finalists — Gonzalez and Reed — were considered locks with Bailey not far behind.

The committee spent 26:11 on Boselli, 24:24 on Mawae, 13:03 on Hutchinson and 10:32 on Faneca.

The extra long discussion on Boselli couldn’t sway enough selectors who acknowledge Boselli’s greatness but still believe a 91-game career falls short of Canton at this point.

The sense is Faneca, a 6-time All-Pro, and Hutchinson, a 5-time All-Pro, split the votes at guard, opening the door for the somewhat surprising pick of Mawae as only the fourth center selected in the past 50 years. He had fewer All-Pro honors (three), but played in more games, 241, while blocking for as many 100-yard rushers (91) as Boselli had games played.

In his second-year of eligibility, Hutchinson was praised for his toughness and intelligence but ultimately fell victim to the committee’s decision to unclog the five-member defensive back field by taking both Bailey and Law when it appeared it might be either or.

Reed, the final player discussed, required the least amount of discussion at 2:28. Gonzalez was next at 6:28 followed by Bruce at 8:16.

Hutchinson and Faneca will no doubt reach the final 15 again next year. Boselli could be back as well.

Among next year’s first-year eligible players are Steelers safety Troy Palomalu, Colts receiver Reggie Wayne and 49ers Patrick Willis. PUBLICATION: Star Tribune DATE: 2/3/19

Bud Grant's coaching career was part Sean McVay, part Bill Belichick

By Sid Hartman

One of the biggest story lines for this Super Bowl is the difference between the Patriots’ long-running dynasty under Bill Belichick vs. the young startup squad in the Rams with Sean McVay, who was the youngest head coach in NFL history when he was hired by the Rams at 30 and is now the youngest head coach in Super Bowl history at 33.

Former Vikings coach Bud Grant knows how it feels to be in both positions.

When Grant was hired by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1957, he became the youngest head coach in history at 29. His team would reach the Grey Cup, the CFL championship game, in his first season, and after that it would win the title in four of the next five seasons.

Young blood coaches of the NFL Here's a look at the 10 youngest head coaches in NFL history. “You do not win with good coaches, you win with good players,” Grant said when asked about being a winning coach at a young age. “[The Rams] had a nucleus of good players, they have drafted good players, and they have stayed healthy and done a good job.

“You get continuity, and that helps. Certainly there are young coaches coming in all the time, and a lot of them aspire to be head coaches, but it is not the X’s and O’s that you do as a coach. It is the recognition of positioning players on the team, keeping them healthy, your scouting is good — those are the things that are as important as the coach or a particular player.”

Grant was a more seasoned coach during his time with the Vikings. From 1968 to 1980, they reached the playoffs 11 times in 13 seasons, including four Super Bowls in that stretch.

The Patriots have now reached the playoffs in 16 of 18 seasons and made nine Super Bowls in that time.

“Somebody is doing a good job,” Grant said of the Patriots. “They have also had good fortune. But you have good coaches, good players and good fortune, and that is what you need to have a winning season and go to the Super Bowl.

“I keep referring to luck — there is so many things you can control and there are things out of your control, like officiating can rob you.”

When Grant was asked about the four Super Bowl losses the Vikings had against the Chiefs, Dolphins, Steelers and Raiders, he said those were four of the best teams in league history.

“We played very good teams — Miami at their peak, Pittsburgh at their peak, Oakland, that was their run when we lost to Oakland,” Grant said. “But I think it is harder today.”

Can’t compare NFL eras

When asked how Grant would compare the Patriots dynasty to the Steelers dynasty in the 1970s — Pittsburgh won four Super Bowls in six seasons — he said the league is always improving.

“Well, it’s hard. The thing you don’t want to do nowadays is compare eras,” the 91-year-old Hall of Famer said. “I mean, football going forward has gotten better every year. There are more players that aspire to be professional football players, that train at getting better, evaluations are getting better, the coaching is getting better, the pool of players is getting better. You cannot compare a player from that era and this era.”

Still, Grant is very impressed by what the Patriots have done.

“It is hard to repeat nowadays with the movement of players and the draft and it kind of equals out so that every team — well, not every team, but half of the teams that start the season have a chance to get to the Super Bowl because the talent has leveled out and they are all pretty well equal now,” he said.

Did Grant want to predict a winner for the big game?

“Sid, that’s your job,” he said. “I can’t pick the winners. I never do. I never look at it that way. But the experts, you sportswriters, you pick the winners.”

Purdue has Gophers; number

The Gophers men’s basketball team always seems to have a hard time with Purdue. The Boilermakers, who play host to Minnesota on Sunday, lead the all-time series 94-78, and while the Gophers won in overtime at Purdue in 2017, that broke a streak of eight consecutive losses in West Lafayette, Ind., dating to 2005.

Ranked 17th, Purdue might be the hottest team in the country. After a stretch of four losses in five games that put the Boilermakers at 6-5 overall, they are 9-1 in their past 10 games, including a convincing 73-63 home victory over No. 6 Michigan State a week ago.

There’s no doubt the Gophers (16-5, 6-4 Big Ten) have played better of late, and they continue to be viewed as an NCAA tournament team.

Coach Richard Pitino said after their 86-75 home victory over Illinois on Wednesday night that the team is coming together at the right time.

“We gritted it out against Penn State, almost had Michigan, played well vs. Iowa and played well [Wednesday],” Pitino said. “We talked a lot about responding, and I thought we responded well.”

JOTTINGS

• The Twins have put great players and personnel into their Hall of Fame, but none more deserving than Jerry Bell, who will go in this year. Bell not only played a big part in getting Target Field built but was owner Carl Pohlad’s right-hand man and was president during the team’s two championship seasons.

• Pro Football Focus listed its top 50 free agents. At No. 19 was Vikings defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson, and No. 33 was linebacker Anthony Barr. Also on the list was former Vikings Teddy Bridgewater at No. 31.

• Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins teamed with the USAA and the Wounded Warrior project to give Super Bowl tickets to Staff Sgt. Anthony Craidon.

• Minneapolis native Fred Bryan will be on the field as the umpire for the Super Bowl.

• Many thought Jerryd Bayless was just a throw-in player in the Jimmy Butler trade, but he has filled in nicely with so many other Timberwolves guards hurt. Entering Saturday, he had averaged 15.8 points, 7.6 assists and 4.8 rebounds in his previous five games.

• Former Apple Valley standout Gary Trent Jr. was called up on Saturday by the Portland Trail Blazers. He excelled for Texas of the G League and scored 39 points Friday, including the winning three-pointer in the final second of a 136-133 win over Sioux Falls.

• The Gophers football team and P.J. Fleck are hosting a big event for junior recruits this weekend. Some juniors, such as Minnehaha Academy standout Jalen Suggs, won’t be there because they are playing basketball.

• Speaking of recruits, Matthew Hurt was at Kansas for the Jayhawks’ game with Texas Tech on Saturday. That is Hurt’s fourth official visit. Last weekend, of North Carolina visited him at home. Hurt is averaging 35.7 points per game for Rochester John Marshall. PUBLICATION: SKOR North DATE: 2/3/19

Building of Patriots’ offense should be blueprint for Vikings offseason

By Matthew Coller

The moment streamers come down from the rafters at the Super Bowl, the offseason officially kicks off and every team in the NFL begins plotting their route to the world’s biggest sporting event.

If the are going to make it deep into the playoffs next season, they will have to perform vastly better on offense. The teams representing the NFC and AFC this year ranked No. 2 and No.4, respectively, in scoring this season. Last year, the final two were No. 2 and 3 in the NFL and in 2016 the top scoring offense in each conference ended up in the title game.

In the last 10 Super Bowls, only three of the 20 participating teams ranked outside of the top 10 in scoring. Pittsburgh was 12th in 2010, San Francisco 11th in 2012 and 19th in 2015. Put another way: there have been more No. 1 overall scoring teams than clubs in the Super Bowl over the last decade outside of the top 10 in offensive output.

The Vikings ranked 19th in 2018.

In order to make it into the top 10, the Vikings would have needed to score 54 more points. The top five required 73 points. Minnesota’s offenses would have needed 205 extra points to tie for the No. 1 spot.

The Vikings took the first step toward offensive improvement already by adding as an offensive advisor. In 22 years as a head coach or offensive coordinator, Kubiak has seen his teams finish in the top 10 in points 15 times.

But schematic improvement won’t solve all the Vikings’ issues on offense. They will need help from the front office to bolster the supporting cast around quarterback Kirk Cousins despite having limited cap space in which to do so.

That’s where the enter the equation.

The Vikings can’t emulate the Rams simply because the Rams were able to spend like lottery winners in free agency to sign the likes of Robert Woods and Andrew Whitworth and they gave Todd Gurley and Brandin Cooks big contract extensions. Those things are possible because of a rookie QB contract. While ’s cap hit is lower than Cousins’ price, it still is big enough to force the Patriots to be savvy on the free agency and trade markets in order to build up the supporting cast to help Brady.

Let’s start with the weapons.

New England uses a rotation of receivers, running backs and tight ends to become unpredictable on offense. The snap counts from the AFC Championship game (below) reveal that 10 different “skill position” players were used for at least 15 snaps.

The impressive thing about New England’s weapon building is: Of those 10 players, six of them were picked up by the Pats since 2016 and only tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Dwayne Allen have cap hits of more than $5 million this season.

Here’s how the Patriots added the skill players used in the AFC title game:

WR – Chris Hogan – Signed three-year, $12M deal as an RFA in 2016

WR – Cordarrelle Patterson – Signed a two-year, $8.5M contract in 2017 with the Raiders, acquired via trade for fifth-round pick

WR – Phillip Dorsett – Acquired via trade for , signed one-year deal for $1.4M in 2018

TE – Dwayne Allen – Signed a four-year, $29.4 million deal with the in 2016, acquired via trade for fourth-round pick

RB – Rex Burkhead – signed a three-year, $9.75 million contract in 2018.

RB – – Drafted 31st overall in 2018

What did this do for the Patriots’ ability to be “multiple?” In their opening drive against the Chiefs in the AFC title game, the Pats used 15 different formations on 15 plays and the following combinations of personnel:

2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE 2 RB, 1 WR, 2 TE 1 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE 2 RB, 0 WR, 2 TE, 1 extra OL In 2018, the Vikings used a mix of formations, but they predominately used only five players: Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, Kyle Rudolph, Dalvin Cook and Latavius Murray. Aside from that, their No. 3 was one of the least efficient players at his position in the NFL and No. 4 receiver Aldrick Robinson added 17 catches.

They attempted to find bargain deals with receivers and Tavarres King, but neither made the team out of camp. Undrafted backup running backs Mike Boone and Roc Thomas combined for 77 total yards rushing and four catches. For cap purposes, the Vikings released proven receiver Jarius Wright, who ended up grabbing 43 passes for the .

It’s clear Cousins could use more support to increase the versatility of the offense. How can they get there?

A few things stand out about the Patriots’ roster build:

– They were willing to use assets on running backs *if* those running backs served a specific purpose. Michael carried the ball 209 times at 4.5 yards per carry but only caught seven passes while Rex Burkhead caught 14 passes in just eight games.

– Cordarrelle Patterson was used in a dynamic role, catching 21 passes and rushing 42 times.

– The Pats take shots on busts or players that opposing teams undervalue. Dorsett was considered a first-round bust. Josh Gordon, who grabbed 40 passes before leaving the team indefinitely, wore out his welcome in Cleveland. The Bills chose not to match Chris Hogan’s RFA offer. Dwayne Allen underachieved after his rookie year in Indy. He is vastly overpaid for his production, but overall he has been a quality run blocker for the Pats

The Vikings can use the free agent/trade market and draft to support Cousins at a reasonable price. Some examples:

– Running backs like TJ Yeldon and Jacquizz Rodgers excel as receivers out of the backfield

– A restricted free agent receiver like Geronimo Allison or Tommylee Lewis might be worth sending an offer sheet their way

– Cordarrelle Patterson will be a free agent, so will Tavon Austin

In a bubble, none of these things would be exciting. But neither were trades for Patterson or Dorsett or the signing of Burkhead in New England.

The other part of improving the supporting cast for Cousins is finding more talent on the offensive line.

Here’s how the Patriots’ five starting linemen were acquired:

T – Trent Brown – Acquired via trade for a third-round pick. Originally seventh-round pick of SF in 2015

G – Joe Thuney – Third-round pick in 2016.

C – David Andrews – Undrafted. Signed with Pats in 2015.

G – Shaq Mason – Fourth-round pick, 2015

T – Marcus Cannon – Fifth-round pick, 2011

Three years ago the Patriots ranked 31st by Pro Football Focus in pass blocking. They have progressively improved as their players developed.

Minnesota is off to a decent start with Pat Elflein and Brian O’Neill, but a successful rebuild in the Pats’ could mean a few more years and a lot more picks in rounds 2-5 dedicated to linemen.

The Pats were also savvy in letting tackle walk in free agency only to be replaced by Brown. Unlike the Vikings’ deals for players like Alex Boone, Riley Reiff and Mike Remmers, New England seems to understand that teams shouldn’t overpay for middle-of-the-pack offensive linemen.

The unfortunate reality for the Vikings is that there is no quick fix on the offensive line without an elite player on the free agent market. Like any other position, it takes time to become great. However, the acquisition of Brown shows us that the Moneyball way to find a lineman might be with scheme fit. He didn’t sit well in Kyle Shanahan’s zone running offense, so the 49ers moved on. Could the Vikings find a player who doesn’t fit with their scheme but will fit with Kevin Stefanski and Gary Kubiak? That may be a wiser route than paying top dollar.