DAILY CLIPS
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2018 LOCAL NEWS: Sunday, December 2, 2018
Pioneer Press
Alan Page hits North St. Paul ice-cream shop for book signing, hobnobbing By Deanna Weniger https://www.twincities.com/2018/12/01/alan-page-hits-north-st-paul-ice-cream-shop-for-book-signing- hobnobbing/
Charley Walters: Adam Thielen shares bond with Cordarrelle ‘Flash’ Patterson By Charley Walters https://www.twincities.com/2018/12/01/charley-walters-adam-thielen-shares-bond-with-cordarrelle-flash- patterson/
Craig James transferred from Minnesota, but now he’s back in town with Vikings By Chris Tomasson https://www.twincities.com/2018/12/01/craig-james-transferred-from-minnesota-but-now-hes-back-in-town- with-vikings/
Star Tribune
Vikings' Sheldon Richardson becomes a better version of himself By Mark Craig http://www.startribune.com/vikings-sheldon-richardson-becomes-a-better-version-of-himself/501716861/
Tom Brady began his NFL career when many current Vikings were little boys By Mark Craig http://www.startribune.com/tom-brady-began-his-nfl-career-when-many-current-vikings-were-little- boys/501712491/
In glow of nostalgia, last antics of Randy Moss forgiven, forgotten By Jim Souhan http://www.startribune.com/in-glow-of-nostalgia-last-antics-of-randy-moss-forgiven-forgotten/501714491/
Vikings receiver Adam Thielen ranks with state's best prep stars despite late notice By Sid Hartman http://www.startribune.com/vikings-receiver-adam-thielen-ranks-with-state-s-best-prep-stars-despite-late- notice/501714871/
The Call: Of all the places to begin December, Vikings head to Foxborough By Ben Goessling http://www.startribune.com/the-call-of-all-the-places-to-begin-december-vikings-head-to- foxborough/501714172/
Vikings.com
Final Thoughts: Return of the backs could be theme for Vikings-Patriots winner By Mike Wobschall https://www.vikings.com/news/final-thoughts-return-of-the-backs-could-be-theme-for-vikings-patriots- winner
How to Watch & Listen to Vikings at Patriots in Week 13 By Craig Peters https://www.vikings.com/news/how-to-watch-listen-to-vikings-at-patriots-in-week-13
VIKING Update
Key matchup: Vikings pass defense vs. Rob Gronkowski By John Holler https://247sports.com/nfl/minnesota-vikings/Article/Vikings-pass-defense-vs-Rob-Gronkowski-is-Sundays- key-matchup-125641240/
Vikings expecting unscouted looks will be plentiful By John Holler https://247sports.com/nfl/minnesota-vikings/Article/Minnesota-Vikings-expecting-unscouted-looks-will-be- plentiful-125629269/
1500 ESPN
Report: Diggs expected to play, Rhodes a gametime decision vs.Pats By Matthew Coller http://www.1500espn.com/vikings-2/2018/12/report-diggs-expected-play-rhodes-gametime-decision-vs- pats/
The unstoppable play: How the Vikings and Patriots win with the QB sneak By Matthew Coller http://www.1500espn.com/vikings-2/2018/12/unstoppable-play-vikings-patriots-win-qb-sneak/
The Athletic
Vikings Week 13 preview: Can Minnesota keep it rolling against Tom Brady and the Patriots? By The Athletic Staff https://theathletic.com/664170/2018/12/01/vikings-week-13-preview-new-england-patriots-tom-brady/
NATIONAL NEWS: Sunday, December 2, 2018
ESPN
Head games: How Kirk Cousins uses brain training to get an edge By Courtney Cronin http://www.espn.com/blog/minnesota-vikings/post/_/id/27798/head-games-how-kirk-cousins-uses-brain- training-to-get-an-edge
PUBLICATION: Pioneer Press DATE: 12/2/18
Alan Page hits North St. Paul ice-cream shop for book signing, hobnobbing
By Deanna Weniger
Alan Page, retired state Supreme Court justice and Minnesota Vikings Hall of Famer, visited Luv ice cream shop in North St. Paul with his daughter Kamie Page for a book signing on Saturday.
Sales from the signing go to the Page Education Foundation, said Luv owner Susanna Gorodisher.
Page and his daughter were promoting the latest children’s book “Alan and His Perfectly Pointy Impossibly Perpendicular Pinky.” PUBLICATION: Pioneer Press DATE: 12/2/18
Charley Walters: Adam Thielen shares bond with Cordarrelle ‘Flash’ Patterson
By Charley Walters
At the Vikings’ Eagan facility, Kirk Cousins has his locker next to Adam Thielen, who broke into the NFL with the Vikings six years ago with fellow wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson.
“I heard they were inseparable their rookie year,” Cousins, the Vikings’ QB, said overhearing a conversation about Thielen and Patterson last week.
The topic was Patterson’s notable resurgence with the New England Patriots, who host the Vikings on Sunday afternoon.
Thielen, likely headed to another Pro Bowl, roomed with Patterson with the Vikings. He said he’s not at all surprised that Patterson has played a significant role in the Patriots’ 8-3 record.
“He’s my guy,” Thielen said. “He was that type of player when he was (in Minnesota).”
In 11 games with the Patriots this season, Patterson, 27, has 13 receptions for 120 yards (9.2 average) and two touchdowns. He also has rushed for 156 yards on 37 carries (3.4 average) and one TD. And he has returned 17 kicks for 525 yards (30.9 average) and a TD.
“If you go back and look at his rookie tape, (the Vikings) used him in a lot of different ways, put him in the backfield, put him at receiver, just gave him the ball to use his talents.
“You see it again this year, when people put him in the right spots and give him opportunities, he can be a really special player.”
Although there were special moments, Patterson was erratic in Minnesota. The Vikings traded him to Oakland, which traded him to New England, where now he living up to his self-appointed “Flash” nickname.
“I’m not at all surprised when a guy has that much talent,” Thielen said. “And I think a big part of it is that he’s grown so much as a person the last few years, just the maturing process and understanding that in this league, you have to bring it every day to get an opportunity. That’s what he’s done.”
In Minnesota, Patterson drove around in a red Camaro with a large “FLASH” emblazoned across the back window.
“I remember that,” Thielen said with a laugh. “I rode in that car plenty of times. He was an awesome roommate. We still talk — we’ll probably get together quickly when we’re out there to catch up because we obviously have a good relationship.”
Vikings wideout Stefon Diggs, who has 79 receptions, hasn’t dropped a pass all season, profootballfocus.com points out.
The Vikings’ 24-17 victory over the Packers last Sunday evening on NBC-TV attracted 20.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings, up 8 percent from last year’s Game 12 night telecast on the network.
Troy Aikman, Joe Buck and Erin Andrews call Sunday’s Vikings-Patriots afternoon game from Foxborough for Fox.
Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau says guard Derrick Rose is shooting better now than when he was the NBA’s MVP in 2011 with the Chicago Bulls.
“No question about that,” Thobodeau said.
Rose, 30, was shooting 49.8 percent from the field entering Saturday’s game against Boston, 48.6 percent from 3-point range, while averaging 19 points.
“This summer was his first summer in five years of being healthy, not having to do rehab, and he spent a lot of time working on his shooting,” Thibodeau said.
Said Rose, “They’re giving me shots, so why not shoot them?”
St. Cloud State has the No. 1-ranked men’s hockey team in the nation. Bob Motzko and his staff recruited most of the Huskies’ roster before Motzko took the Gophers job last summer. The Gophers are unranked.
“I was there (St. Cloud) for 13 great years, and I’m very proud and very happy for that special group right now,” Motzko said last week.
Minnesota?
“We’ve got work to do,” he said.
Jordan Roberts, the ex-University of St. Thomas running back star, is doing an internship with the Seattle Seahawks.
Western Michigan, which P.J. Fleck coached to a 13-1 record two years ago before he became Gophers football coach, finished this season 7-5.
New hall of famer Jack Morris from St. Paul rode four miles in the cold as a celebrity guest in Detroit’s Thanksgiving Day parade. “But it was all good,” said Morris, the Twins broadcast analyst who heads to Las Vegas next week covering baseball’s winter meetings for MLB.com.
Wally “the Beerman” McNeil is on the injured reserve list.
The iconic vendor, 84, who for nearly 50 years toted 40-pound cases of beer up and down stairs at assorted Twin Cities sports venues, last month had a hip replacement. Last spring, he underwent a second knee replacement surgery. The first knee replacement was nine months ago.
“It’s been a tough grind,” said Wally, who lives in Plymouth. “The orthopedic guys told me both knees had bone on bone. And the left hip began to disintegrate on me. You just wear out. The right hip’s good.”
Wally, who is a beloved vendor at Sneaky Pete’s in downtown Minneapolis, is using a walker and undergoing pool therapy twice a week.
“I’m hoping to get back to Sneaky Pete’s at the start of next baseball season,” Wally said. “I miss the people, the action.”
So now he’s watching games on TV.
“Got a few Grain Belts I’ve got to kill,” he said.
The last Gophers women’s basketball player who was able to throw a giveaway promotion T-shirt into the upper deck of Williams Arena was Janel McCarville, the team’s Fast Break Club reports. Current Gopher Annalese Lamke’s T-shirt toss at the game against Arkansas Pine Bluff the other day almost made it into the upper deck.
Woodbury’s Jason Nickleby, who is coordinator of officials for the Minnesota State High School League, was to be center official for the Ohio State-Northwestern Big Ten championship football game on Saturday.
Deephaven’s Tim Herron, a four-time winner on the PGA Tour, and ex-Gophers golfer Phil Ebner with former Hazeltine National professional Mike Schultz have initiated the Tim Herron Prep College Tour. A dozen Upper Midwest high school golfers from among 56 who competed on assorted courses through last fall were to be in San Antonio this week for special instruction, some from top touring pros.
“I want to see more kids getting golf scholarships or having a chance to play,” Herron said. “An issue is that some parents don’t want their kids playing football, so they end up playing golf. But the parents have never played golf, so they don’t really know how to go about it. We’re trying to get them educated about how to find a scholarship or maybe a school where they can play with their ability.
“A lot of Southern schools don’t look at Northern kids because their stroke averages aren’t quite as low because they’re starting off right out of the winter.”
Herron is raising money for an indoor-outdoor driving range for prep golfers in the Twin Cities. He also is hoping to get Vikings wideout Adam Thielen, a low handicapper, to be part of his group. Thielen would welcome the opportunity.
Andrew Aurich, the former all-state offensive lineman at Concordia Academy, is assistant head coach at alma mater Princeton University, which finished 10-0 this year, the Tigers’ first perfect season since 1964. Interestingly, the Ivy League doesn’t allow football teams to go to national playoffs.
Meanwhile, Princeton senior Jesper Horsted, the Roseville grad who was a St. Paul Downtown Lion’s Club amateur athlete of the year, this year set a school record for career receptions and TDs. Horsted is also an All-Ivy League outfielder in baseball.
Former Como Park High guard Andrayah Adams, who was the St. Paul City Conference girls basketball player of the year, has transferred from the St. John’s (N.Y.) women’s team to play for ex-Gophers coach Marlene Stollings at Texas Tech.
The Timberwolves have climbed out of last place in NBA attendance, averaging 14,328 per game at Target Center, ahead of Brooklyn (14,124).
Shelley Hamlin, who won the 1978 Patty Berg Classic at Keller Golf Club in St. Paul, died the other day at age 69 in Arizona from breast cancer.
Rosemount mega-sports collector Greg Mazakian holds his annual holiday memorabilia sale, which includes authenticated signed items by Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady and Adam Thielen, as well as the 1980 U.S. Olympic gold medal men’s hockey team, next Saturday.
DON’T PRINT THAT
The biggest game on the Vikings’ schedule isn’t Sunday in New England but next Monday night in Seattle. If they beat the Seahawks, who are among teams chasing Minnesota for the playoffs, they could get into the postseason via a wild card. If not, it’s a long winter.
Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph, excluding himself, asked which teammates should be voted into the Pro Bowl for the Jan. 27 game in Orlando, Fla.: “Kirk (Cousins), Adam (Thielen), Stefon (Diggs), Danielle (Hunter), Harrison (Smith), Sheldon Richardson and Eric Kendricks.
“I think our defense goes because of Eric Kendricks,” Rudolph said. “He’s flying around, making a ton of plays, tackles, covering guys. At the linebacker position, if you’re not a guy that’s not rushing the quarterback, you kind of get lost in the mix. I think Eric’s playing at a Pro Bowl level.”
Count Sean Elliott among fans of Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau, who was a San Antonio Spurs assistant (1992-94) when Elliott was a star shooter for the Spurs.
“I love Thibs,” said Elliott, in Minneapolis as TV analyst for the Spurs-Wolves game last week. “A lot of credit for my first all-star year (1993) was because of Thibs, getting me out early to work on shooting. He held me accountable — there’s no short-cutting with him. I’m old school, he’s old school, and that helps.”
Robb Smith, the Gophers’ defensive coordinator coach P.J. Fleck fired this season, was under contract for $710,000 this year, $720,000 next year.
If the Gophers end up playing in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit, the school will receive just $750,000 for expenses. The Music City Bowl payout is $5.65 million per school, the Pinstripe $4.3 million, the Redbox $3.6 million.
Court configuration for the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium in April will be the opposite of what it was for this weekend’s rehearsal setup for the Gophers-Oklahoma State game that Minnesota won. The Final Four court will run the direction of the Vikings football field.
Best feature of the arena remains its massive high-definition video boards.
One secondary market on Saturday had NCAA Final Four tickets for sale ranging from $235 to $676. Another had front-row seats available for $2,292.
Eric Musselman, son of late former Gophers-Timberwolves coach Bill Musselman, has his Nevada-Reno basketball team (7-0) leading the nation in offense, ahead of Duke, Gonzaga, North Carolina and Kansas — schools that could be in Minneapolis in April for the NCAA Final Four, according to a sophisticated Pomeroy data analysis.
At this juncture of the season, South St. Paul’s Phil Housley of the divison-contending Buffalo Sabres has to be the NHL’s coach of the year. A year ago, the Sabres, in Housley’s first season, were the league’s worst team.
Rumors persist that ex-Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher could be headed to the Philadelphia Flyers, who last week fired GM Ron Hextall. Fletcher has been consulting for the New Jersey Devils.
The Gophers men’s basketball team, lethargic in its first loss of the season, 68-56 at Boston College last week, had a 5½-hour delay trying to leave for Boston because of a charter flight mixup.
With running backs Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks returning to the Gophers next season, alternating with sophomore Mohamed Ibrahim, it wouldn’t be surprising if Owatonna star Jason Williamson redshirts if Minnesota keeps him as a running back. Otherwise, he is expected to switch positions to safety.
Mary Hardin-Baylor, the Texas team that hosted St. John’s in a battle of unbeatens Saturday in the NCAA Division III football quarterfinals, had self-reported and suspended coach Pete Fredenburg for the first three games of this season for extra benefits provided to two players.
Look for the official announcement on Tuesday that St. John’s will play MIAC rival St. Thomas in football next Oct. 19 at new 19,400-seat Allianz Field in St. Paul.
The Vikings’ privately owned, 320-room four-star hotel at the team’s Eagan site will be coming out of the ground soon. It looks like the team will hire a local partner to operate it rather than collaborate with a national chain, at least at the start.
On the 2019 Twins Hall of Fame ballot and considered among favorites for election: Dan Gladden, Joe Nathan and Corey Koskie.
That was ex-Vikings coach Brad Childress, coach of the upstart Atlanta Legends of the eight-team Alliance of American Football League that begins in February, in Minneapolis last weekend visiting friends.
OVERHEARD
From an anonymous AFC executive who has studied the New England Patriots, host of the Vikings on Sunday, on the Patriots in this week’s Sports Illustrated: “Gronk (Rob Gronkowski) looks old, banged up and slow. (Julian) Edelman’s not the same, getting older and doesn’t have the same explosive quickness right now. The defense is very average. Really don’t have an identity — lack pass rushers, LBs can’t run, and the secondary is average.” PUBLICATION: Pioneer Press DATE: 12/2/18
Craig James transferred from Minnesota, but now he’s back in town with Vikings
By Craig James
When Craig James walked into his first Vikings defensive backs meeting as a member of the 53-man roster, Marcus Sherels said, “Look, there goes another Gopher.’’
James, a cornerback, finished his college career at Southern Illinois, but he played for the University of Minnesota from 2014-15. That was long enough to be singled out by Sherels, a former Gophers star who has been a Vikings cornerback since 2010.
James was called up from the practice squad Tuesday after starting cornerback Xavier Rhodes suffered a right hamstring injury in last Sunday’s 24-17 win over Green Bay. Rhodes is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game at New England, as is cornerback Mackensie Alexander (knee), who apparently was injured Thursday in practice.
If Rhodes and Alexander are both active, James could be inactive. But the undrafted rookie will be ready if needed.
“It’s obviously just a blessing,’’ James said of his promotion. “It wasn’t a moment I was really pressing for, but apparently the coaches saw enough of me to bring me up after (Rhodes) got hurt.’’
The 5-foot-10, 195-pound James signed with Vikings after impressing them in a rookie minicamp in May. He was waived Sept. 1, the week before the start of the regular season, before being signed Oct. 18 to the practice squad.
James, who is from Edwardsville, Ill., said he enjoyed playing for the Gophers as a reserve corner and punt returner. He broke his leg against Northwestern in the fifth game in 2015, ending his season, and then transferred.
“We had some family problems and I wanted to be closer to home,’’ said James, declining to give details. “A lot of stuff was happening. I didn’t want to leave the Gophers really, but it was just a situation that I kind of had to do. I’ve always loved Minneapolis.’’
With that in mind, James was thrilled at the opportunity to join the Vikings after a strong two seasons at Southern Illinois.
“I just got out there every day in practice and gave it my all,’’ James said. “You can’t slack off. That’s my mind-set every day.’’
Being with the Vikings has enabled James to be reunited with cornerback Jalen Myrick, a former Gophers teammate. Myrick, a rookie last season with Jacksonville, has had three stints this season on Minnesota’s practice squad. When James was called up Tuesday, Myrick was signed to take his place on the squad.
“I’m just so proud of him,’’ Myrick said of James making the 53-man roster. ‘Craig has always been a savvy, real strong type of corner. He’s gotten way better. I like how he’s developed. Even though he left Minnesota, he did what he had to do to make himself better and get in the position he is now.’’
PUBLICATION: Star Tribune DATE: 12/2/18
Vikings' Sheldon Richardson becomes a better version of himself
By Mark Craig
To grasp how high Sheldon Richardson’s stock is rising as a Viking in December 2018 one must understand how low it fell as a Jet on July 31, 2015.
The headline in the New York Daily News that day screamed, “Big Apple Idiots.” The first sentence asked, “Who’s New York’s dumbest athlete?”
“Me and Jason Pierre-Paul were on there,” said Richardson, referring to the then-Giants defensive end who mangled his right hand with a firecracker. “I got ranked ahead of JPP. Said I was dumber than him blowing his fingers off. Harsh. But, hey, what’s New York without drama?”
Richardson turned 28 Thursday. He’s in a good spot as the happy, focused father of 2-year-old Riley Rose Richardson. He’s also one of coach Mike Zimmer’s most coveted type of player — rarely found three-technique D-tackles with quick-twitch, high motor and 300-pound frame. And he’s also the guy who sacked Aaron Rodgers twice in last week’s win over the Packers and heads to New England on Sunday with 2 ½ career sacks of Tom Brady.
But the first part of 2015 was a darker time for Richardson. The murder of childhood friend Dorance Harvey had him in a bad spot mentally. To the point where “I just kind of fell off the wagon a little bit.”
A positive test for marijuana earned him a four-game suspension. Then, within hours of Richardson reporting to training camp, apologizing to teammates and telling reporters the Jets wouldn’t have to worry about his name being in the news again, a Missouri prosecutor announced details and charges in an incident earlier that month that started as a 143-mph road race with another car and ended with Richardson being arrested at gunpoint.
So, what would 28-year-old Sheldon say to 24-year-old Sheldon if he could?
“I’d punch him in the back of the head,” Richardson said. “For real. Just wake up, kid. Life is bigger than you and your feelings. Honestly, I brought all of this on myself.”
Richardson has been paying down a debt for those two incidents ever since.
He was suspended without pay for five games over two years and “then they took about half of my $5 million signing bonus,” he said. Then he got traded to Seattle before last season and got lowballed by the Seahawks after last season because, he believes, they knew he’d have a harder time getting a lucrative multiyear deal from a team unfamiliar with him.
They were right. He had baggage but only 1 ½ sacks in two years after posting 16 in his first three years as the 13th overall pick in 2013, the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and a 2014 Pro Bowler.
The Vikings offered $8 million with $3 million more in incentives for one “prove-it” year. Defensive line coach Andre Patterson laid down the ground rules ahead of time and told him “not to come here if he couldn’t abide by them.”
“I guess my concerns were he’s been with three teams in three years,” Zimmer said. “That’s always kind of a concern. I think he had some things with the Jets that weren’t real positive. But since he’s been here, he’s been real good as far as studying in the meetings, paying attention and trying to do everything exactly how we’ve asked.”
Can he be trusted with a long-term deal?
“From what I’ve seen, yeah,” Zimmer said. “But you never know when guys get big contracts or whatever.”
‘It was a party’
Born and raised in St. Louis, Richardson left the University of Missouri after his junior year. He was 22 heading to the Big Apple.
“Me being a Midwest kid going to the East Coast, that was a party,” Richardson said. “And I abused it a little bit. But I also gave those people 120 percent of all my efforts.”
Former Jets coach Rex Ryan, who coached Richardson in his first two seasons, agrees with that last part.
“He’s a heck of a young man, and, outside of Aaron Donald, he’s right up there with the rest of the best at that position,” Ryan said. “I never had a single issue with him. It makes perfect sense for him to be in Minnesota long-term.
“Guys make mistakes. That’s just the way it is. We’ve all made them. The guy who’s squeaky clean and never had an issue in his life is few and far between. Sheldon wasn’t perfect, but he’s grown from his experiences.”
Asked what triggered his problems in early 2015, Richardson cut loose, calling himself “an open book.”
“With the marijuana thing, I already had a diluted test result before, so I was put in the program,” he said. “Dorance’s death hit me hard. It’s still tough.”
Harvey, 23 at the time, was killed inside his car in St. Louis in a yet-unsolved shooting. Richardson had just dropped him off at his car 30 minutes before getting the call that he had been shot.
“When that happened, I just fell off the wagon a little bit,” he said. “I didn’t care. I didn’t see myself as a public figure. Back then, I didn’t really know my responsibility to my platform. I disrespected my platform and learned a lesson the hard way.”
Richardson says he didn’t leave his house for months. When he did, he hopped in his $200,000 Bentley Flying Spur four-door sport edition with two other men and a 12-year-old. They went racing.
“I thought everybody drove fast,” Richardson said of his 143-mph clocking on Interstate 64 around midnight.
He had a loaded handgun in the front seat.
“It was registered,” he said. “It’s protection. I live in St. Louis.”
Richardson initially refused to pull over. He turned off his lights, went through a red light and pulled into a driveway.
“One thing just led to another,” he said. “It was fun until it ended at gunpoint.”
According to the police report, the car smelled of marijuana. But no drug or gun charges were filed. Richardson was found guilty of reckless driving and resisting arrest.
Motivating factors
So if indeed Richardson has turned his life around, what was the turning point?
He cites two of them.
He showed off the first one when Riley Rose sang happy birthday to him via FaceTime from Los Angeles in the TCO Performance Center locker room on Thursday.
“I’m trying to make as much money as possible so she can be comfortable,” Richardson said. “And I don’t want her making the same mistakes Daddy did.”
The other turning point?
“I still wanted to be great,” he said. “This is who I am. I abused the NFL shield a little bit, and I’ll never do it again. It’s just as simple as that. I love football.”
Besides doing everything he’s asked to do, Richardson has been, according to Patterson, exactly what the Vikings needed in a three-technique tackle. Not only is he tied for second on the team in sacks with 3 ½, but he’s also played a “major role” in end Danielle Hunter’s 11 ½-sack season, as well as the team ranking second in sacks per pass attempt (10.1).
“Last year, we started off hot in sacks, but then the production kind of went down toward the end,” Patterson said. “I saw where people wrote that it was because we ran out of steam. That had nothing to do with it. Teams changed the way they were blocking us, and the quarterback sat shallower in the pocket.
“We needed an inside push. We needed somebody to make the quarterback stay high in the pocket and give the ends a chance to turn the corner. Sheldon has been that guy.”
Richardson said he wants to finish his career as a Viking. He enjoys his teammates, respects his coaches and appreciates that, “Nobody is babying nobody around here because of their paycheck. You’re held accountable like you’re a practice squad guy.”
So what kind of contract will it take to re-sign with the Vikings?
“One that’s respected,” Richardson said. “I feel like offenses are blocking me as if I’m one of the top-paid guys in the league. So I feel like I need to prove that first. I know I’m not proving it. The team says I’m doing great, but I feel I need to be more productive.”
But more sacks wouldn’t necessarily mean Richardson would be doing his job better. It’s a team game requiring gap responsibilities and respect for the running game.
“I could easily sell out my teammates and go chase more sacks,” Richardson said. “I choose not to. I got a chance to make $11 million with incentives, but I’m playing the run and making sure I do everything right to win ballgames and make a playoff run before we start talking contracts.
“I’ll cross that bridge when it comes. I haven’t talked to [General Manager] Rick [Spielman]. So I don’t know what the future holds. They say they’re happy with me. When we talk about dollars, we’ll see.”
Ryan, for one, is pulling for someone he calls a fellow “Big Apple Idiot.”
“Believe me, whatever they called Sheldon in New York, they called me a billion times worse,” Ryan said. “Sometimes, you take that with a grain of salt, move on and try to become the better person. The great thing is that’s what Sheldon has done.” PUBLICATION: Star Tribune DATE: 12/2/18
Tom Brady began his NFL career when many current Vikings were little boys
By Mark Craig
The 9/11 attacks were 19 days old, the NFL had 31 teams, George W. Bush was president and, yes, Donald J. Trump was a registered Democrat.
Sept. 30, 2001.
“I was 12 years old, in seventh grade,” said Vikings safety Harrison Smith, proud of how young he was.
“I was in second grade,” defensive end Stephen Weatherly trumped. “Living down in Georgia.”
That puts Stephen at 7 years old on that date. Can anyone on the Vikings’ active roster see his 7 and lower it to 6?
“I was 5,” rookie defensive end Jalyn Holmes said.
Sorry, Jalyn.
Cornerbacks Mike Hughes and Holton Hill were 4 years old when Patriots quarterback Tom Brady registered his first career start and, naturally, his first career win — over Peyton Manning, of course — on Sept. 30, 2001.
“I was playing football, too,” Weatherly barked. “Little League.”
“Wow,” said Holmes, “I never actually thought of how old I would have been. Crazy.”
The story of the sixth-round draft pick from 2000 relieving the injured Drew Bledsoe in Week 2 of the 2001 season and taking over as starter the next week is, of course, legend and will live forever in the Pro Football Hall of Fame five years after Brady retires. But first the 41-year-old has to stop adding chapters to this five-time Super Bowl-championship saga.
“He’s an ageless wonder,” Smith said.
Last year, Brady became the first 40-year-old to win league MVP. He also threw for a Super Bowl-record 505 yards and three touchdowns at U.S. Bank Stadium playing in his eighth Super Bowl.
This year, he’s 8-3 with a three-game lead in the AFC East heading into Sunday’s game against the Vikings at Gillette Stadium, where he’s 32-4 in December. He and coach Bill Belichick are going for their 10th straight division title and their eighth straight appearance in the AFC title game.
“It’s insane that he’s still playing at that level, but he’s got a knack for taking care of his body,” rookie receiver Chad Beebe said. “He spends a lot of money on his body. My dad [Don] retired from the NFL in 1998. Tom Brady came in two years later. And he’s still playing.”
Beebe was 7 on Sept. 30, 2001.
Then-Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri was a 28-year-old with 583 points in his career. Now the current Colts kicker, he’s scored 1,987 more points for an NFL-record 2,570.
And Brady is still throwing the ball like he’s in his 20s. He’s won 203 regular-season games and 27 postseason games since Sept. 30, 2001. He’s 204-58 in the regular season, 27-10 in the postseason and 231-68 overall.
Vikings coach Mike Zimmer first encountered Brady on Nov. 16, 2003. Zimmer was the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator. Brady had already won his first Super Bowl and would win his second one that season.
Dallas went to New England to face a 7-2 Patriots team riding a five-game win streak. Zimmer dialed up a good game plan. Brady completed 15 of 34 passes (44.1 percent) for 212 yards, no touchdowns and a 64.8 passer rating.
But the best winner of all time still won 12-0.
“We played really good on defense that day,” Zimmer said this week. “I remember a couple blitzes that I called, but I don’t remember much else honestly.
“We also played him once to start the season when I was in Cincinnati, and he killed us. Played him another time in Cincinnati and we beat him. I think the score was like 14-7 or something like that. He had the ball in the two-minute drill and it just started pouring down rain, and I was like, ‘Yes!’ I was actually saying a few more things, but I was happy that it rained.”
The oldest player on the Vikings’ active roster is 34-year-old Tom Johnson. Tom was a senior in high school on Sept. 30, 2001.
Quarterback Kirk Cousins, 30, is one of only seven 30-year-olds on the roster. And …
“[Brady] won his first Super Bowl when I was in seventh grade.”
And old Tom might win his last one with Cousins in his early (to mid?) (to late?) 30s. PUBLICATION: Star Tribune DATE: 12/2/18
In glow of nostalgia, last antics of Randy Moss forgiven, forgotten
By Jim Souhan
The knives have been sheathed and the prodigal son has been feted. Randy Moss is in the Hall of Fame and the Vikings’ Ring of Honor, and last Sunday was honored at U.S. Bank Stadium, thoroughly and redundantly.
Moss has become a popular television analyst while rightly being credited for helping transform the Vikings franchise from a cute mom-and-pop operation into the financial and cultural octopus it has become.
If anyone cares to ponder the once-difficult relationship between Moss and the Vikings, today would be the right day to do so.
Sunday, the Vikings will play at Foxborough, Mass., for the first time since 2010. That Halloween afternoon, Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, Brett Favre, Brad Childress and Moss convened at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots won 28- 18, and then Moss called his own news conference, pledged his allegiance to the Patriots at a Vikings podium and instigated a series of dramatic moves.
Two days later, Childress would release Moss. Three weeks later, the Vikings would fire Childress. Two months later, Favre would play in his last NFL game, his dream of combining with Moss to salvage the 2010 season at that point laughable.
The Vikings went into Foxborough hoping they could improve to 3-4 one season after losing, improbably, in the NFC Championship Game.
Instead, the day became one of the most embarrassing in Vikings history, while adding unnecessary luster to Belichick’s glued-on crown.
The Vikings would take leads of 7-0 and 10-7. With the Vikings trailing 21-10 midway through the fourth quarter, Favre threw a pass at the goal line that Moss touched but didn’t catch, perhaps pulling his arms in because of an impending hit.
After he released the ball, Favre took a helmet to the chin, opening a large cut. He was helped from the field and left the sideline laying sideways on a cart, a towel pressed to his chin.
On another long pass, earlier in the game, Moss appeared to give up on a Favre throw that landed surprisingly close to him. Moss finished the game with one catch for 8 yards.
Three weeks earlier, the Vikings had traded a third-round draft pick to the Patriots for Moss and a seventh-round pick in a desperate move to salvage the season. Moss entertained during his first news conference, later saying that he would do interviews only with himself.
Two days before the Patriots game, Moss berated a local restaurateur in the Vikings locker room, yelling that he wouldn’t feed that food to his dogs.
The next time Moss was heard in public, he ended his second stint with the Vikings, at that modest podium deep inside Gillette Stadium. He would catch six passes in eight games for Tennessee, retire for a season, then catch 28 passes for the 49ers in his final season in uniform.
On Oct. 31, 2010, Moss sought out Patriots owner Robert Kraft before the game, and hugged Belichick and Brady after the game. In a somber locker room, a reporter asked Moss if he would speak, and he announced that he was going to the postgame podium, which is usually reserved for the head coach and quarterback.
Members of the Vikings media relation staff turned pale. Reporters rushed to the interview area.
What ensued may have been the strangest news conference in NFL history — a player using his current team’s podium to praise his former team, which had just beaten his current team.
Moss did not take questions, instead offering a five-minute soliloquy.
“I miss them guys, man,” Moss said. “I miss the team … every last helmet in that locker room, man. Coach Belichick gave me a chance to be a part of something special, and I take that to heart. ... I’m gonna leave the New England Patriots, Coach Belichick with a salute, man. I love you guys. I miss you. I’m out.”
Yes, he was, and soon so were Childress and Favre.
In the eight years since, the Patriots have won two more Super Bowls, and lost two more, allowing Belichick and Brady to be considered among the best ever at their positions.
Moss may have given them their unique compliment on Halloween of 2010.
PUBLICATION: Star Tribune DATE: 12/2/18
Vikings receiver Adam Thielen ranks with state's best prep stars despite late notice
By Sid Hartman
You have to wonder if Vikings receiver Adam Thielen would rank with the best prep athletes in the history of the state, including such people as Joe Mauer, Dave Winfield and others, because he won letters in four sports rather than three — football, baseball, basketball and golf — while at Detroit Lakes High School.
Some people thought he could be a pro golfer or an NBA basketball player given the time to develop at the college level.
This summer Thielen took part in the American Century Championships, a golf tournament featuring pro athletes across all sports. Thielen finished tied for 18th, alongside Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Yes, this season Thielen has already set an NFL record by recording over 100 receiving yards in his first eight games of the season.
With five games to play, he already ranks seventh for receptions in team history, with 93, and he is on pace to shatter the Vikings’ single-season record of 122 receptions by Cris Carter. If Thielen keeps up this pace he’ll record 135 catches.
He is on pace for 1,655 receiving yards, which is just ahead of the Vikings record of 1,632 receiving yards by Randy Moss in 2003. If Thielen can keep up the production like he did in a win over the Packers last weekend, when he grabbed eight receptions for 125 yards, he’ll break the record easily.
Basketball his best sport?
Thielen told me recently that he thought his best sport in high school was basketball, where he graduated as the all-time leading scorer in Detroit Lakes.
“I thought I was better at basketball, but obviously people didn’t think so,” said. “But I loved them equally, whether it be baseball season, basketball, football, golf, I liked them equally. It didn’t really matter to me what I did at the next level.”
Thielen was on the state championship-winning Detroit Lakes golf team in 2008, and he said that overall he had good team success in high school.
“We were always decent at basketball, we were good at golf as a team, good at baseball as a team,” he said. “In basketball, we didn’t have any big guys, so we were OK.”
What made him decide on going to Minnesota State Mankato to play football?
“Honestly for me, there was four sports I played throughout my career and I would have played any one of them at the next level,” he said. “Whatever I had the best opportunity at the next level and the highest opportunity, whether that be Division I or Division II or wherever somebody wanted me.”
Thielen said that he didn’t care what sport he played at the next level.
“In high school I just loved to compete and play sports,” he said. “I didn’t have a sport that I was going to say, ‘Hey, I’m going to play this at the next level.’ Whatever my best opportunity was was what I was going to do.”
An unwanted prep star
The amazing thing about Thielen compared to the state’s other prep standouts is that nobody recruited him.
Unlike a player like Mauer, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 MLB draft and had a scholarship to Florida State in football, Thielen was given only a $500 scholarship at Division II Mankato.
Still, when asked what had the biggest impact on his playing career, Thielen pointed back to playing all those different sports at Detroit Lakes.
“Not just football coaches, basketball coaches, baseball, golf coaches, teachers, parents obviously, friends,” Thielen said. “It would be hard to say one person helped get me here, but my high school football coaches were unbelievable, my head coach was an unbelievable guy and held me accountable, which all the coaches did. I think that really gave me the ability to play at the next level.”
Bringing in 2019 competition
While the Gophers await word on what bowl game they will be awarded for their 6-6 season, the coaching staff is on the road recruiting this week.
Head coach P.J. Fleck said that the only way the Gophers can sustain momentum from this season is to increase competition at every level.
That starts with the Class of 2019, some of whom will enroll this month.
“We have to continue to stockpile recruits,” Fleck said. “We have to continue to stockpile depth. This ’18 and ’19 class, as I said from Day 1, is so important for us to continue to be able to evolve and bring this program where it needs to be. To uplift the competition inside the program. People say, ‘OK, I have my job and I’ll keep my job and keep playing the same.’ Nope.
“This is going to be a huge competition every year of being able to elevate our program’s talent, and our players know that. For you to play you have to get better, you have to continue to do the right things, you have to continue to row the boat, you have to continue to do well in the classroom, you have to continue to do better every day.”
The 2019 class currently ranks 38th in the country and ninth in the Big Ten. But Fleck’s 22 commitments are the third most in the Big Ten.
JOTTINGS
• Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who will coach his 300th NFL game Sunday, said there is “just not a lot of margin for error with the way the Vikings play defense.”
• Belichick and Vikings coach Mike Zimmer share a partial coaching tree with Bill Parcells. Belichick was with him for 12 seasons while Zimmer was with him for four.
• “He’s very comfortable in the pocket,” Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins said about his QB opponent, Tom Brady of the Patriots. “He does a great job of feeling the rush and not seeing the rush. In that way he’s very mobile, and he has always been great in crunch time.”
• Pro Football Focus writes that since Dalvin Cook returned to action in Week 9 he has forced seven missed tackles as a receiver. That is the most for running backs since Week 9.
• It’s hard to believe PFF also has the Vikings offensive line ranked No. 30 in the league even though it has improved a great deal lately.
• After facing the Patriots and the Seahawks, the Vikings’ remaining opponents have a combined record of 17-16.
• Former Vikings quarterback Case Keenum has been on a tear for the Broncos after a rough start. Denver has won two in a row vs. playoff teams in the Chargers and Steelers.
• CBS predicts the Gophers will play in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium vs. Virginia on Dec. 27.
• An MLB.com headline this week read, “Say hello to your 2019 AL Central champs, the Minnesota Twins.”
• Former DeLaSalle and Stanford standout Reid Travis is averaging 13.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game for Kentucky.
• Shakopee grad Steffon Mitchell had eight points, 13 rebounds and two blocks for Boston College in its win over the Gophers.
• There are no former Gophers basketball players in the NBA. PUBLICATION: Star Tribune DATE: 12/2/18
The Call: Of all the places to begin December, Vikings head to Foxborough
By Ben Goessling
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is 124-20 at Gillette Stadium in his career, having already beaten the Texans and Chiefs this season, and 32-4 at home in December. The Vikings will give Brady and company a tough test in New England, but the Patriots will ultimately prevail.
THREE BIG STORY LINES
Tough test in Foxborough
The Vikings will begin their second two-game road swing of the season in which they play games on opposite coasts. They’ll begin the stretch by trying to win in a place where the Patriots haven’t lost since Oct. 1, 2017.
Cousins vs. Brady
In his only game at Gillette Stadium, Kirk Cousins threw for just 217 yards in a 27-10 loss with the Redskins in 2015 — which turned out to be the only year Cousins went to the playoffs in Washington. Brady has thrown seven interceptions this season and ranks 21st in the league with a 65.2 completion percentage.
Patterson as dangerous as ever
Cordarrelle Patterson — the player the Vikings drafted 29th overall after sending four picks to New England in 2013 — landed with the Patriots this season, and is excelling in some ways that should seem familiar to Vikings fans. He’s averaging 30.9 yards per kick return, and has 276 yards from scrimmage, as the Patriots have expanded his role at running back.
TWO KEY MATCHUPS
Vikings WR Stefon Diggs vs. Patriots CB Stephon Gilmore
New England has used Gilmore to shadow receivers eight times this season, and with Diggs expected to play with a left knee injury, he could see plenty of Gilmore on Sunday. The 2016 Pro Bowler has two interceptions this season, and leads the NFL with 15 pass breakups.
Vikings LBs vs. Patriots RB James White
White, the former Wisconsin RB who had his breakout game as a receiver in Super Bowl LI, has become a multifaceted weapon, already catching a career-high 67 passes while running for 303 yards. Given the Vikings’ struggles at times this season with pass-catching backs, the Patriots figure to try White on angle routes and wheel routes to test the linebackers.
ONE STAT THAT MATTERS
2-8 The Vikings’ road record against playoff teams under coach Mike Zimmer. Minnesota also lost road games earlier this year to the Los Angeles Rams and Chicago Bears, who currently lead their respective divisions.
THE VIKINGS WILL WIN IF…
They can establish a running game that helps them hold the ball for roughly 35 minutes (like they did last week), play a turnover-free game and pressure Brady without having to blitz him, especially if cornerback Xavier Rhodes is unable to play or is limited in coverage after a hamstring injury last week.
THE PATRIOTS WILL WIN IF…
They can extend enough drives against the Vikings to force Cousins into a bad decision or two, creating the turnovers that tend to kill opponents against the Patriots at Gillette Stadium, and keep Brady out of trouble by mixing their running game with quick passes to White and Rob Gronkowski.
Prediction: Patriots win, 27-23
Win Probability: 40 percent PUBLICATION: Vikings.com DATE: 12/2/18
Final Thoughts: Return of the backs could be theme for Vikings- Patriots winner
By Mike Wobschall
Can Kirk Cousins outduel Tom Brady? How will Bill Belichick defend Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen? Can the Vikings defense matchup with Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon and Rob Gronkowski? So many intriguing storylines and so many key questions underscore this weekend’s Vikings-Patriots battle at Gillette Stadium.
In true NFL fashion, though, don’t be surprised if another storyline entirely is the one that emerges to define this contest. Here’s one to consider: Whichever team is able to generate production from their running backs will win this game.
Yes, the NFL is a passing league. Yes, all eyes will be on Brady and Cousins. And yes this game features dynamite pass-catching weapons on both sides. But this game is being played outside. In December. And in the elements. This game will have a playoff feel to it. This game very well could be one of those “run the ball and play defense” kind of games.
In that event, both teams will feel well equipped to win that kind of physical, postseason-type of game. The Patriots boast sensational rookie Sony Michele and the versatile and clutch James White in their backfield. The Vikings can rely on the steady hand of Latavius Murray and also turn to the suddenly heating up Dalvin Cook. With their stable of running backs, both the Vikings and Patriots have dynamic one-two punches featuring versatile players who can block, catch and run.
Ultimately, this game may require outstanding play and production from the running back position. Both teams have the personnel to pull off this task.
Bet you haven’t heard this about Tom Brady
If you watch and listen to press conferences and interviews enough, you start to hear a lot of the same language and answers from coaches each week. But this week, Vikings Offensive Coordinator John DeFilippo offered something fresh about Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. DeFilippo, said Brady is “probably the best who’ve ever played” and that praise is credible given DeFilippo’s extensive background coaching quarterbacks at the NFL level. In his praise of Brady this week, DeFilippo got in the weeds about with quarterback mechanics.
“Depending on who the quarterback is,” DeFilippo explained, “if you’re a wide base, short strike guy, that’s what you want to watch – you want to watch Tom Brady because he’s so good at it. Just staying back in the pocket, moving his feet, keeping a wide base, great upper body torque when he throws the football; he’s so fundamentally sound it’s really a thing of beauty to watch.”
Matchup of the Game: Harrison Smith vs. Tom Brady (pre-snap)
It’s hard to slow down Brady and the Patriots offense. If a team is going to have any chance of doing so, the ability to disguise intentions and the discipline to vary tactics is crucial. While linebacker Anthony Barr is the one who wears the green dot and relays the plays on the Vikings defense, it may be Harrison Smith who bears as much, if not more, of the responsibility for disguise. Smith will be a pre-snap key for Brady as the Patriots offense attempts to diagnose the coverage the Vikings are using each play. While all eyes will be on what happens after the snap, it’s the chess game before the snap between Smith and Brady that sets the table for everything else.
Mailbag
How do you think Zim will scheme to limit Gronk?
-- Jeff Kilty
Sacramento, CA
I don’t know the Xs and Os answer nor would it be wise to disclose it in this space even if I did. But my guess is physicality and leverage are two important factors. It would make sense for any rushing defender – a lineman or linebacker – to give Gronkowski a nudge on their way past him to disrupt his release and timing from the line of scrimmage. Also, it’s important to play with the right leverage (shading to the inside or outside in coverage based on where the help is) because Brady will take advantage of a defender in an instant if he’s playing with the wrong leverage.
Mailbag II
If there is a silver lining to the Vikings tough schedule, don’t you agree it is getting us ready for the playoffs? We already had a taste of the Saints, Rams and Bears in the NFC (with Seattle around the corner). And now the Patriots?
-- Terrel
Honolulu, Hawaii
Yes, a 1st-place schedule will do that to a team. I agree the silver lining in a tough schedule is it helps the team become battle tested, which is beneficial in the playoffs. If you make the playoffs. So first things first…the Vikings have to qualify for the playoffs or that whole battle tested theory goes out the window.
Quotable
“They’re doing really good with him. Everybody knew Cordarrelle was an outstanding athlete, strong runner, great when he had the ball in his hands. We probably could have done a better job when we had him, after watching them.” – Head Coach Mike Zimmer on the Patriots usage of Cordarrelle Patterson
The good news here is the understanding Zimmer has of how effective Patterson has been for the Patriots and the fact that Zimmer is willing to acknowledge it to himself and publicly. This is good news because it shows that, in the future, Zimmer will make sure his coaches consider as many options as possible when it comes to finding ways to utilize talented players.
Stat of the Week
Adam Thielen needs seven receptions to reach 100 for the season and become the first Viking since Randy Moss in 2003 to reach that threshold
First of all – bravo to Thielen for approaching and, presumably, reaching this milestone. But that’s not the notable part of Stat of the Week. The notable part of Stat of the Week is that it’s been 14 seasons since the Vikings have had a receiver with 100 receptions. Hard to believe it’s been that long, but it’s also hard to believe such a streak will start again with Kirk Cousins, Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen wearing purple.
Broadcast Information
National TV: FOX
Play-by-Play: Joe Buck
Analyst: Troy Aikman
Sideline: Erin Andrews
Local Radio: KFAN-FM 100.3/KTLK-AM 1130
Play-by-Play: Paul Allen
Analyst: Pete Bercich
Sideline: Greg Coleman, Ben Leb PUBLICATION: Vikings.com DATE: 12/2/18
How to Watch & Listen to Vikings at Patriots in Week 13
By Craig Peters
EAGAN, Minn. — The Vikings will begin a five-game December slate by visiting the Patriots at 3:25 p.m. (CT) Sunday in just the 13th meeting between the franchises.
The game is scheduled to air on FOX for a wide swath of the country, from Southern California, eastern Nevada and Montana’s western border all the way to the Eastern Seaboard, except for the Nashville market where the Titans are hosting the Jets at 3:05 p.m. (CT).
The Vikings (6-4-1, 2-1-1 NFC North) defeated the Packers 24-17 on Sunday Night Football.
The Patriots (8-3) didn’t reach cruising altitude against the Jets until the second half but emerged with a 27-13 victory last week.
Minnesota would be the No. 5 seed and earn the first of two Wild Card berths in the NFC Playoffs if the postseason began this week.
The Vikings are 2-2-1 on the road in 2018, and the Patriots are 5-0 at home this season.
Here are the ways to watch and listen to this week’s game.
TV BROADCAST
Kickoff: 3:25 p.m. (CT)
FOX (KMSP in Minneapolis/St. Paul)
Play-by-Play: Joe Buck
Analyst: Troy Aikman
Sideline Reporter: Erin Andrews
LOCAL RADIO
KFAN 100.3-FM/KTLK-AM 1130
Play-by-play: Paul Allen
Analyst: Pete Bercich
Sideline Reporters: Greg Coleman and Ben Leber
Radio Pre-game Show: Mike Mussman | 1:30 p.m. (CT)
KFAN and KTLK serve as the flagship stations for the five-state Vikings Radio Network.
SATELLITE RADIO
Sirius: 134 or Streaming 819 (MIN); 83 or Streaming 820 (NE)
XM: Streaming 819 (MIN); 225 or Streaming 820 (NE)
NFL GAME PASS
NFL Game Pass provides access to replays of every game, the NFL Films Archive and more for fans in the United States. International fans who subscribe to NFL Game Pass can watch games live. Click here for a free trial.
DIRECTV NFL SUNDAY TICKET.TV
NFL SUNDAY TICKET.TV provides live streaming service for customers who cannot get DIRECTV where they live. Eligibility is based on location, residence type or enrollment in any university in the U.S.
The service allows fans to stream all live, out-of-market NFL regular-season games every Sunday (based on customer’s device location) that are broadcast on FOX and CBS. The service is available on computers, tablets, smartphones, gaming consoles or streaming devices.
Three different packages are available.
PUBLICATION: VIKING Update DATE: 12/2/18
Key matchup: Vikings pass defense vs. Rob Gronkowski
By John Holler
There are going to be a lot of critical matchups that will determine who wins and who loses in the battle between the Minnesota Vikings and New England Patriots, but one battle that may be the most telling will be the Vikings linebackers and defensive backs attempting to contain Patriots star tight end Rob Gronkowski.
Few players are as imposing as Gronkowski at 6-foot-6, 265 pounds and fewer huge tight ends are used as downfield threats as often as Gronk.
Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer knows the kind of damage Gronkowski can do to a defense and he is going to have a plan in place to try to limit what he does, which hasn’t proven easy for any opponent.
“I think the physicality,” Zimmer said of Gronkowski’s best trait. “He’s so big and physical and uses his body really well. He’s really good on the 50-50s. I think when he’s outside like a wide receiver he goes up and gets the ball. There are guys that are faster than him, but he does a great job of catching the ball and he’s a pretty good blocker too.”
He has been as prolific a receiver as any tight end in the game, dating back to past generations of playmaking tight ends. Since his rookie season, Gronkowski has played in 14 or more games four times. In those four seasons, he has caught 313 passes for 4,751 yards and 38 touchdowns – the kind of numbers typically reserved for go-to Pro Bowl wide receivers.
For his career, he has caught 78 touchdown passes in 110 games, because the Patriots find ways to put themselves in a position of advantage when he’s on the field.
“They try to find ways to get mismatches with him,” safety Harrison Smith said. “They will put him out wide and have a corner on him. They’ll send him downfield with a linebacker chasing him. They’ll work him over the middle in between the linebackers and safeties. They just know how to work him against the defense he’s up against.”
Perhaps the bigger issue for the Vikings defense is that they have only faced three elite tight ends that are a focal point of their team’s pass offense. All three of them posted big numbers against the Vikings – San Francisco’s George Kittle (five catches for 90 yards), Green Bay’s Jimmy Graham in the one game he was fully healthy (six catches for 95 yards) and Philadelphia’s Zach Ertz (10 receptions for 110 yards and a touchdown).
What Gronkowski has in common with those players is that they are all used like wide receivers in the passing offense and in the red zone, where their size can be used to their advantage.
Linebacker Anthony Barr, who will likely draw some coverage responsibility on Gronkowski said that the Patriots don’t disguise what their intentions are with Gronkowski and, if you don’t show the ability to stop him, Tom Brady will continue to throw pass after pass Gronk’s way. He demands as much defensive attention as any tight end in the league because of his ability to come down with contested passes.
“He [Brady] throws it up and he goes and gets it,” Barr said. “He gets those 50/50 balls. He’s big, especially in the red zone. They’re going to go give him a chance. It’s a focus of ours try to eliminate him as much as possible.”
What makes Gronkowski unique is how he is used in the Patriots offense. He can be a blocker in short-yardage and goal situations. He can be used as a pass blocker in max protect situations.
But the most troubling for defenses is how he is used in the passing offense. He can line up in a three-point stance as an in-line blocker who settles into a zone past the line of scrimmage. He can line up in the slot and demand attention from bigger defenders. He can line up outside the hash marks and create big size mismatches.
No matter how you look at it, a focus of the New England passing game, despite having numerous other weapons, is to get Gronkowski involved and create big plays with him. His skill set makes him a difficult matchup for any defensive player.
“It’s a combination of things,” linebacker Eric Wilson said. “He’s got a big body, so it isn’t easy to get him off his routes and Brady has a lot of confidence that if he lays a pass up there for him, he’s going to come down with it. They’re going to try to utilize that a lot. He’s not the fastest, but he’s a big target and that makes it easier for Tom Brady to just throw it up there and hope he goes he gets it. Because he’s so physical, a lot of times when he doesn’t get it, there is a foul called on the defender. It’s something that we have to make an effort to stop him, get good position on him and pay attention to the details we need to and don’t get pushed around by him.”
The Vikings will be trying to figure out what the Patriots will be using as a scheme on both sides of the ball, because it’s an ever-changing process that head coach Bill Belichick has perfected. But the one thing that remains a constant is that Gronkowski is going to get his share of downfield shots and how the Vikings defense handles him could determine the outcome of the game.
“Anyone who has watched football over the last few years knows how big of an impact [Gronkowski] can make on a game,” Smith said. “We’re going to have a plan for him and we’re going to have to execute it, because you know Brady is going to throw the ball his way – a lot if they’re having success with it.” PUBLICATION : VIKING Update 12/2/18
Vikings expecting unscouted looks will be plentiful
By John Holler
The NFL is a week-to-week business. One week a team can look like a world-beater and the next week look like they don’t belong in the league. Often times, the difference between winning and losing is being able to take away what teams like to do and, just as importantly, confusing them.
As the Minnesota Vikings are finalizing their preparations for the New England Patriots Sunday, they are doing so somewhat blind. Every team changes things up from one game to the next, but few if any teams will completely overhaul what they do offensively and defensively.
One week, the Patriots offense will come out throwing 14 of the first 15 plays regardless of down and distance. The next week, they may run 40 times and throw 25 times. You rarely see the same formations on either side of the ball that you’ve seen on film the last month and Bill Belichick is a master of acquiring players who can digest a completely different scheme from one game to the next and not miss a beat.
“They have a lot of different personnel groups and they use them in a lot of different ways,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. “Each week seems to be a different type of game plan based on who they’re going against. They’re always going to try to make you beat them left-handed if they can, you know what I mean? If you’re right-handed, they want you to win left-handed.”
For some of the key Vikings defensive players, Sunday will be the first time they’ve ever seen the Patriots in game action. Trae Waynes, Eric Kendricks and Danielle Hunter are all established starters, but Sunday will be the first time they have ever gone up against the Patriots’ multi-faceted offense.
As such, they have no firsthand experience against Tom Brady and the Patriots offense and will be relying on film study and past tendencies to try to pick up on what New England’s offense has planned for them Sunday.
“I’ve never played them, so everything I’ve seen on them will be on film,” Hunter said. “They do a lot of different things with formations, so my focus is spending extra time on studying how that formation and who is in front of me is going to impact what I do. It takes a lot more studying because you don’t have that familiarity, but it makes you focus on your technique and what your eyes tell you. They switch things up a lot from one game to the next.” The radical changing of schemes, formations and designs are intended to confuse opponents, but the Patriots have done it so often, the preparation for a game against them requires more time trying to outmaneuver what Belichick and his staff may have planned.
Veteran guard Mike Remmers has seen what New England is capable of and said the players will be communicating a lot during the game, but the preparation end of things will be much more involving the coaching staff to act and react on the fly when the game begins.
“Games like this have a lot more to do with the coaches game planning and scheming,” Remmers said. “They’ve played a lot of games this year, so we have a lot of film we can look at. Every team you play has different looks, but [New England] will come out with a completely different game plan from one game to the next. You come into a game expecting you’re going to see this sort of scheme against you and you get the complete opposite. It happens all the time, but it seems to happen more with New England than most other teams. Games like this require a lot of communication on the sidelines and making adjustments on the move once we see what they’re doing.”
Kendricks will be facing the Patriots for the first time Sunday and he’s preparing as if he hasn’t watched much film on them, despite being immersed in it. There are little things that can be picked up from past performances, but, when the Patriots play an elite team, they often shuffle the deck completely and run formations on both sides of the ball that teams haven’t seen all year.
“We’ve been told to expect a lot of unscouted looks,” Kendricks said. “That’s what they do. You have to do a lot of studying because you haven’t played them and they have a lot of different personnel groups and plays you have seen run against you. You have to be disciplined so you don’t put yourself out of position. It’s about playing your keys, holding on tight, not making mistakes and communicating. It’s a giant chess game.”
The Patriots will be as stiff a test as the Vikings have had all season because no team in the league is more dominant on its home turf than the Patriots. Few teams head into Foxborough and come away with a win, so the Vikings know that if they’re going to buck the trend it’s going to require all the players and coaches being on the same page, executing at a high level and eliminating mistakes as much as possible.
“It’s going to going to be a group effort,” linebacker Anthony Barr said. “It’s going to take all 11 of us, all 22 of us, all 53 of us and all 100 of us to go in there and come out with a victory.” PUBLICATION : 1500 ESPN DATE: 12/2/18
Report: Diggs expected to play, Rhodes a gametime decision vs.Pats
By Matthew Coller
ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs is expected to play against the New England Patriots despite missing two days of practice this week with a knee injury.
Diggs sat out Wednesday and Thursday’s practice and was limited on Friday. He is officially listed as questionable.
Cornerback Xavier Rhodes is a gametime decision, according to Schefter. A decision will be made after he takes part in warm-ups on Sunday afternoon before the Vikings play the Pats.
Rhodes left late in the Vikings’ win over the Packers with a hamstring injury. He missed one game earlier this year against the Saints with an ankle issue.
Nickel corner Mackensie Alexander is also questionable. If Rhodes can’t play, rookie Holton Hill will take his place against the Patriots’ Tom Brady-led defense. PUBLICATION : 1500 ESPN DATE: 12/2/18
The unstoppable play: How the Vikings and Patriots win with the QB sneak
By Matthew Coller
EAGAN, Minn. — With 5:16 remaining in the first quarter of last Sunday night’s matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers, Kirk Cousins ran for three yards.
That’s how it reads in the box score.
No big deal, right?
The Vikings were trailing by seven and their first two drives had looked as ugly as all of their first half drives the previous week against the Chicago Bears. To open the game, fullback CJ Ham was stuffed on third-and-short and then on drive No. 2, Cousins took a sack and the Vikings were forced to punt.
After a 9-yard run by Dalvin Cook to open the third drive, Cousins and the offense were looking for anything to get them rolling. The Vikings quarterback sprinted with his team to the line of scrimmage, took the snap immediately. If you were watching on TV, you saw him sneak across the superimposed yellow line for the Vikings’ first first down of the game. Three plays later, the Vikings were holding up receiver Adam Thielen and doing the limbo underneath him to celebrate their game-tying touchdown.
Cousins’ sneak didn’t momentum-ize his team into a quick score, it simply set them up with first-and-10 at their 37-yard line.
At the time it might not have seemed like a dire situation, but according to Pro-Football Reference’s Win Probability Calculator, stumbling on that drive would have dropped the Vikings’ chances to win down to 21.8 percent had they failed to convert and been forced to give the ball back to the Packers. When it comes to chances to win, it gets late early, you might say.
Also when it comes to win probability, there are generally a handful of plays in each game that swing the contest one way or the other. The Vikings’ odds were 11 percent better after the first down sneak than they would have been had they gone three-and-out again. Cook’s touchdown brought the game back to a 50-50 proposition.
QB sneaks are often involved in such game-changing plays, though they are never the feature of post- game analysis, broadcast breakdowns or debate shows. That’s because it appears to be the simplest play in sports and what TV producer in his/her right mind would tell its analysts to focus on the importance of a quarterback falling forward for one yard?
But it isn’t quite as simple as it looks. And no better team is better at the QB sneak than the Vikings’ opponent on Sunday afternoon, the New England Patriots.
Classic Belichick Since 2010, Tom Brady has run the ball up the middle 55 times on third or fourth down with two or fewer yards to go and picked up a first down 48 times. In other words, his QB sneaks have worked 87 percent of the time, according to Pro-Football Reference. Of the 55 rushes, Brady has lost yardage just once and three of the seven misses came in the fourth quarter of games the Patriots were ahead by significant margins.
Brady just so happens to be facing the NFL’s best team on third and fourth-and-short situations since 2015 in the Vikings. Mike Zimmer’s defense allows just a 56.7 percent first-down rate on such plays.
The league average first-down rate in short yardage situations on third or fourth down is 64.6 percent.
On a conference call prior to Vikings-Patriots, head coach Bill Belichick was asked why his club has been so successful running its not-so-speedy quarterback up the middle in short yardage situations.
His answer was classic.
“Execution,” Belichick said and then paused for six seconds (an eternity on a conference call) before mentioning the importance of leverage.
Clearly NFL history’s third-winningest coach was not interested in sharing the secret sauce behind Brady’s incredible QB sneak success.
The Vikings are aware of Brady’s penchant to sneak. Defensive coordinator George Edwards said that quick sneaks are a part of the team’s preparation this week. They will have to be aware that Brady may scoot up to the line and slam the ball for a first down before the beasts in the middle Linval Joseph and Sheldon Richardson can get set.
“One thing for them is that you’ll see a lot of times hurry up to the ball, snap the ball, and it’s catching people off guard or they out-leverage you in the run game,” Edwards said. “I think it’s an awareness thing for us. I think our guys have done a good job throughout the course of last year to this year of realizing the situation and playing the situation.”
“Brady has the option a lot of times of sneaking it if the A-gaps are open, so that’s part of it,” Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said. “But he’s a big guy, he puts that foot back and drives and their inside guys get nice and low.”
Here’s a look at Brady on third-and-1 against the Packers. The Pats go no huddle. When neither defensive tackle lined up over the center, Brady simply falls forward for the first down. The next play is an 8-yard touchdown run.
Former NFL quarterback Sage Rosenfels said on the Purple Podcast this week that there’s probably more to the Pats’ sneak success than a commitment to using the play or taking teams off guard.
“With some teams, and I think the Patriots are one of them, it’s sort of like a play where it’s a sneak, but it depends on however the look is,” Rosenfels said. “I do believe they have that play down to a science, better than other teams.”
It’s true, but not by a mile. A Yale paper found that the league wide success rate of sneaks was 82.8 percent, nearly 20 percent higher than non-sneak plays in short-yardage situations.
The secret might just be that Belichick uses it more than everyone else.
The only quarterback with more runs on third and fourth-and-short since 2010 is Carolina’s Cam Newton and his carries include other types of rushes like option plays.
The next quarterback behind Brady’s 55 short-yardage runs during that time span is Andy Dalton with 42.
“Brady is pretty good at it,” former Vikings quarterback Rich Gannon said on Mackey and Judd. “I know this sounds crazy, but there are some quarterbacks who are good at it. [Brady] has got the length that you like, he knows kind of how to torpedo himself between the center and the guard… I also think some coaches are worried about their quarterback getting hurt, but how many times have quarterbacks gotten hurt on a quarterback sneak?”
“The thing about it that drives me crazy is that you got fourth and less than a yard and the quarterback is in the shotgun,” Gannon added. “I don’t understand that.”
Making it work for Kirk Vikings offensive coordinator John DeFilippo has a goal for his quarterback each week: Gain one first down.
“Whether it be a QB sneak, a third down and six run up the middle, whether that be whatever, our goal is to get one a game, so Kirk did a great job of doing that last week,” DeFilippo said on Thursday.
Cousins is 4-for-5 gaining first downs on sneaks and has totaled eight rushing first downs — a little below his OC’s standard.
“The more I can steal a first down now and then running the football, the better our offense will be,” Cousins said.
With the incredibly high first-down rate, it might make sense for teams to sneak every time they get into third or fourth down spots with less than two yards to go. But it’s a little more complicated than that.
If a team ran the sneak each time, opposing defenses would set up fronts to give themselves better shots at shutting it down.
“When they know it’s coming it’s a lot harder,” Vikings veteran center Brett Jones explained. “Then They’re just going to fire out and just try to fall down and it’s really tough to push when they are low like that.”
NFL coaching staffs are known for the meticulousness, so it should come as no surprise that they are prepared on a weekly basis for the looks thy might get from the opponent’s front seven and they give players an idea of how to attack with a sneak.
“Any time you run the sneak, it goes into a lot of preparation with the way in which they play their front,” Jones said. “Lots of times you’ll see defenses will put two guys in the A gap. That makes it preventative to run sneak. But if you know there’s just one guy in the A gap, there’s an open A gap to the other side, you’ll be able to run a sneak. So usually there’s some form of communication, whether it was the quarterback during the week saying, ‘we’re going to go this way for the sneak,’ and you know you’re going to be going forward and favoring the way the quarterback’s going and the other guard is going to be working with you.”
Rosenfels points out that if the quarterback has his own option to call sneak, he has to quickly assess the chances of converting based on the defense.
“Sometimes they get into a four-point stance and what they call ‘submarine’ where they are literally just submarining at the knees and getting underneath the center so they just create a pile,” he said. “That’s where you want to jump over. Where are the linebackers in this thing? Are they right there at the line or are they back four yards deep?”
“There is actually a lot that goes into a sneak, it is incredible.”
Asked if Cousins called his own sneak on the key second-and-1 play, Zimmer smiled and said, “I don’t know.”
It certainly isn’t a reach to think Cousins saw the tractor-trailer sized hole between the DTs and knew he could gain a first down.
There are times where things are happening too fast to be sure whether the opposing defense might have an advantage or the situation is simply too important to avoid the highest percentage play. In that case, Jones says it becomes a one-on-one battle for each lineman.
“Sometimes they give you unscouted looks and you still try to run it and then it’s just man on man, just trying to see who can push them farther,” Jones said. “Especially with some of these D-tackles in the league, it makes it tough but we’ve had a lot of success with sneaks.”
There are some other considerations to keep in mind, like what to do with the ball. That changes depending on whether it’s third or fourth down.
“Alex Gibbs of the Texans would always say, ‘never put the ball out unless it’s fourth down,'” Rosenfels said. “If it’s fourth down, by all means put the ball out there.”
There also might be a second chance option if the defensive tackles stick the interior linemen.
“The best hole might almost be like a mini option where you see this hole because there’s four guys crammed right over the ball basically and you want to run outside toward the B or C gap and maybe there’s a softer spot over there,” Rosenfels said.
Here’s an example in which rookie Sam Darnold does not take the ball up the middle, rather he follows the guard for a first down.
Gannon believes teams too often overthink key short-yardage situations.
“Look at the Tennessee Titans in a critical game on Monday (against Houston),” Gannon said. “On a fourth down they handed it to a tight end who had never had a carry in the NFL, so some of it’s coaching.”
And some of it might be that teams are focused so much on fooling their opponent that they lose sight of the oldest of old school football concepts: Imposing your will.
“There’s really an attitude to it,” Gannon said. “Some of these teams have become so finesse.”
Of course, Cousins pointed out that that self preservation does have to be part of the equation.
“You certainly want to bring your legs and you want to find the open gap or get behind a double team and create push, but ultimately you want to get the necessary yards and then get down and not expose yourself to unnecessary hits.” Cousins said.
Stopping Brady Teams rarely try QB sneaks against the Vikings and there is a very large reason why: Pro Bowl nose tackle Linval Joseph.
Over the last two years, there have only been five attempts by quarterbacks to run up the middle on third or fourth-and-short against Minnesota’s top-ranked defense. Massive Bills QB Josh Allen had two successful tries. Darnold went 1-for-1. but Joseph was out that game with an injury. DeShone Kizer snuck in from the goal line last year. A Cam Newton run last season in Carolina was stuffed.
That’s it.
“I think it’s his mentality,” veteran defensive tackle Tom Johnson said of Joseph’s success on short yardage stuffs. “Everybody has tools, everybody is big in this league, but Linval brings a whole different level when you talk about intensity and quick twitch, you don’t see that many guys be that explosive and that accurate and be that consistent. When he’s on point, when he’s doing that, it’s hard to stop.”
Defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson welcomes anyone who is willing to come up the middle.
”We laugh,” defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson said of his reaction to teams running up the middle. “Seriously, we laugh. Run the ball up here, OK. We get mad when they run the ball outside.”
But even Joseph can be beaten on a sneak if the alignment isn’t set up right.
In a rare stuff of a Patriots sneak, the Tennessee Titans — who are blessed with the services of DT Jerrell Casey — shift right into the gap Brady was attempting to attack. Notice right before the snap, the linebacker No. 59 tells the defensive tackle to move over. It seems the entire Titans defense is trying to tell him to move, possibly having seen the look from the Patriots on tape.
Here’s the problem with defending the Patriots’ sneak game: They have counter punches.
The failed attempt came on third and just over one yard. On fourth down, the Patriots’ offense line summed into the D-line like it was another sneak, but instead Brady ran a little bootleg and completed an easy pass to running back James White for a first down.
And in the end, it comes down to execution.
“You might think [Belichick] is being sarcastic like, it’s a stupid quarterback sneak, let’s not overthink this, but I do believe they have certain rules and he’s not going to give those rules up,” Rosenfels said.
In New England, the Vikings will have their hands full with an all-time great quarterback and a team that’s stacked with impressive weapons, from White to dynamic utility man Cordarrelle Patterson to former Browns standout Josh Gordon.
You can see how teams overlook the Patriots’ most unstoppable play. PUBLICATION : The Athletic DATE: 12/2/18
Vikings Week 13 preview: Can Minnesota keep it rolling against Tom Brady and the Patriots?
By The Athletic Staff
For the first time since Brad Childress was the coach and Brett Favre was quarterback, the Vikings are headed out to New England for a game against the Patriots.
It marks the third game in a stretch of four difficult contests for the Vikings who take their 6-4-1 record to Foxboro, Mass., for a matchup against the 8-3 Patriots.
After a tough loss in Chicago, the Vikings bounced back with an impressive win at home over the Packers. Can the Vikings keep it rolling on the road? Our Vikings crew of Chad Graff, Arif Hasan, and Jon Krawczynski previews Week 13.
What I’m watching Graff: The Vikings’ pass rush against the Patriots’ offensive line. Last week, the Vikings pressured Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers despite employing very few blitzes. If the Vikings only need four pass rushers to get after Tom Brady, they give themselves a much better chance. Mike Zimmer hasn’t faced Brady much, but he has been successful against him when he was the defensive coordinator of the 2013 Bengals who sacked Brady four times, intercepted him, didn’t allow a touchdown pass, and kept him under 200 passing yards. It’s a tough ask in New England, but if the Vikings can slow the Patriots it’ll start with pressuring Brady with just their front four.
Hasan: The matchups in this game are fascinating. Stephon Gilmore and Jason McCourty match up well with Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs while Jayron Kearse should play his toughest assignment yet in Rob Gronkowski. The Patriots interior offensive linemen dominated the Jets defensive line, so they could provide bigger challenges to Linval Joseph and Sheldon Richardson than one might have originally thought. Plus, Tom Brady is supposed to be on the decline, so watching that will be interesting.
Krawczynski: Danielle Hunter. He’s been an absolute monster this season and the Defensive Player of the Year talk is not out of line. On Sunday he’ll be lining up against Tom Brady, maybe the best to ever do it. Brady gets rid of the ball quickly, rarely makes mistakes and is always in control. Hunter specializes in taking people – quarterbacks, linemen and running backs in particular – out of their comfort zones. It seems like the Vikings are going to need to get home with the pass rush similar to what they did against Aaron Rodgers on Sunday night to have a chance against the Patriots.
The Vikings win if … Graff: The defense can slow Brady the way they did Rodgers last week, while the Vikings’ offensive line opens enough holes in the running game for Dalvin Cook and Latavius Murray to be successful. Zimmer this week applauded Bill Belichick’s ability to take away a team’s strengths – they “make you try to beat them left-handed,” Zimmer said. That’s why Zimmer thinks the Patriots will force the Vikings to try to beat them with their running game, which ranks 30th in the NFL. If the Vikings can do that, they might be able to do what few teams can – leave Foxboro with a win.
Hasan: If they keep Brady out of rhythm. He’s been seeing ghosts in the pocket, short-arming throws and playing without the precision timing we’re used to seeing from him. Their offensive line is good but not great, so DL pressure won’t be easy to come by but will certainly be available. Offensively, if they diversify their targets and vary up their game, they should find themselves in the red zone fairly often. The Patriots clamp up well in the red zone though, so well-designed goal line plays are a must.
Krawczynski: Kirk Cousins slings it like he did against the Pack. No mistakes. No fumbles. No interceptions. The margin for error is razor thin on the road against the Patriots in December. But Cousins has shown that it’s possible and he’s capable of bringing it at that level. With the running game spotty at best, this game likely will rest on the arm of the Vikings franchise quarterback.
Playoff meter Graff: Finally looking up after a big win over the Packers. But they’ll likely need a road win in one of these next two games at New England and at Seattle to keep their wild card spot.
Hasan: Lukewarm. They did what they needed to do against the Packers and have a greater than two- thirds chance of making the playoffs. But that still means they need to grab two or more crucial wins with a schedule that puts them against three winning records. They have to prove they can pull those wins out.
Krawczynski: With all of the talent on this team and coming off of the win against Green Bay, the playoff meter is pointing in the right direction. A win in New England, in December, might require the revival of the Super Bowl meter going into Seattle next week. With our fearless leader Zack Pierce on paternity leave, who will stop us?
Game predictions Graff: Patriots 27, Vikings 21. Zimmer’s defense has a chance to slow Brady like few in the NFL can. The Vikings should keep this one close into the second half. But actually escaping with a road win over the Patriots? That may be too tough even for this defense.
Hasan: Patriots 24, Vikings 18. Brady may be declining but the Patriots rarely lose home games and the Vikings have had issues finishing against finishers. A big game for Gronk or James White seems in the offing.
Krawczynski: Vikings 24, Patriots 20. Yeah, I said it. The Patriots are 5-0 at home this season and like 400-2 at home in December in the Brady-Belichick era. But their defense is vulnerable this year and it feels like the Vikings defense has found something. Don’t try this at home, kids.
Week-by-week picks A split decision for a tough game in New England. Chad and Jon remain in the lead – but with differing opinions for Sunday’s game, we could have an outright leader for the first time. What do you think? Head over to our Twitter poll to let us know.
PUBLICATION : ESPN DATE: 12/1/18
Head games: How Kirk Cousins uses brain training to get an edge
By Courtney Cronin
MINNEAPOLIS -- Every quarterback in the NFL has his own disciplined regimen to help him withstand the physical and mental demands of the position. Tom Brady’s process of achieving peak physical performance blew up into a well-known brand known as the TB12 Method.
It’s no different for Kirk Cousins.
The countless hours the Minnesota Vikings quarterback pours into perfecting his craft are tied together by something that has been a part of his daily life for the past seven years: brain training.
Through neurofeedback, which is a real-time measurement of the brain’s activity, and the coaching he gets with his breathing and monitoring of sleep, the 30-year-old Cousins has a method for mitigating stress, recalling and processing information at a rapid rate and sharpening the peripheral and mental awareness he needs to perform at his best.
Cousins often refers to the intentionality with which he lives his life as the basis for everything he does. The effort he has put in to train his brain is a major part of that and gives him an edge in an area that may compensate for any physical attributes he lacks.
The neurological data he and his doctors at Neuropeak Pro can dissect lets Cousins know when his brain is functioning at its highest level and what he can do to stay in that zone for an appropriate period of time.
An old adage says the most important 10 inches in football are between one’s ears. Just like the hours of film he watches, live and virtual reps he takes, a strict diet, workout routine and recovery process, brain training is as important as anything else to Cousins.
"Quarterbacking isn’t as physical as it might seem," Cousins said. "Yeah, we’re professional athletes, but when you look at the top guys in the world, a lot of them are 40 years old. I always joked, and this is no disrespect to Tom Brady, but he kind of looks like a baby giraffe when he runs around. If it was all about being the biggest, fastest, strongest, a lot of us wouldn’t be in this position.
"I think quarterback comes down far more to the mental, to the nonphysical in the sense of your leadership, your emotional makeup, your ability to process information and have spatial awareness. All those things are hard to measure. There aren’t as many tests at the combine and that kind of thing. I am trying to train those things the best I can because I realize that’s the key to being a really good quarterback."
How it works Situated somewhere at 30,000 feet in the air at the beginning of October, Dr. Tim Royer was reading an electroencephalogram (EEG) test of Cousins’ brain activity that the quarterback had taken the night before. During the NFL season, Cousins runs up to three or four sessions of medical-grade EEG testing per week as part of his brain training regimen. A picture of what Cousins’ brain is doing at the beginning and end of each session is sent via text to Royer.
Royer, a neuropsychologist, has been working with Cousins since the quarterback's final year at Michigan State in 2011. Over the past eight years, Royer has helped Cousins set goals and optimize his performance through measuring what his nervous, respiratory and endocrine systems are doing at a given moment. The equipment used to take the EEG (Neuropeak Pro provides its clients with lightweight mobile devices to conduct the testing themselves from anywhere -- all it takes is connecting a couple of wired electrodes to the head) provides Cousins with a massive dashboard for everything in his body. It tells him what his heart is doing, what the surface of his skin is reacting to and any other physiological functions to determine his baselines for when he’s stressed, focused, etc.
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins believes the mental aspect of the position is key and uses brain training to help. Quinn Harris/USA TODAY Sports On this day at the beginning of Week 6, Cousins’ EEG was all over the place. He had just gotten home from beating the Philadelphia Eagles and his sleep and focus were off. By Thursday, back on his routine, the EEG was looking perfect.
"It’s like any muscle group," Royer said. "It has to recover. During that time, we’re able to see what the neurological recovery is."
The common denominator of any type of recovery is rest, most critically sleep. Making sure Cousins is getting the right kind of sleep is something Royer bases on the QB’s sleep architecture, which is a blueprint that lets the doctor see what’s happening from moment to moment in the sleep cycle.
The data is tracked through a polysomnograph, which measures brain waves while one is sleeping. There are four main components Royer looks to measure: how many times the brain awakens at night, how long it takes for the brain to wind down so Cousins can go to sleep (the ideal range is between 10 and 17 minutes once he lies down), how much deep sleep he’s getting (what Royer calls the "holy grail of sports" because this is when hormones are made) and the QB’s rapid eye moment (if Cousins’ REM is off, Royer says, he’s wasting time in the film room because what he’s processing is not getting stored).
Cousins needs nine hours of sleep to function properly during the day. What happens when he’s asleep is going to determine his processing speed, how well he remembers things and, most importantly, his hormone production. Royer believes athletes need to be making testosterone to perform at a high level and stress can inhibit that production.
Sleeping in hotels every weekend during the season coupled with hectic travel schedules can mess with Cousins' routine. Royer programs Cousins’ sleep for road games based on the time zones he’ll be traveling to. The night the Vikings lost to the Buffalo Bills in Week 3, Cousins was already beginning to get acclimated to Pacific time, two days before the Vikings packed up and headed to Los Angeles. A regimen of melatonin and blue light therapy allows Royer to program Cousins for any time zone.
"I have a big enough sample size over seven years to say it has helped. I think it is worth it for the long haul. And I'm doing it not just to be a good football player, but I think the best, healthiest version of myself also off the football field, too." Kirk Cousins Royer says this type of sleep monitoring was a reason behind Cousins’ success in his first trip to London in 2016. The Redskins tied the Cincinnati Bengals, but Cousins put on a record day at Wembley Stadium, throwing for 458 yards, 38 completions (breaking his previous team record of 33) and recording the 16th 300-yard passing game of his career.
Cousins has honed his cognitive functioning in other ways. During the 2016 offseason, he watched every Star Wars movie as a way to measure his brain activity when hooked up to an EEG monitor. The point of the exercise was for Cousins to monitor his sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight -- healthy for when our lives are in danger) and parasympathetic nervous system (conserving energy, slowing heart rate, lowering blood pressure). If his brain lost focus or exhibited high beta waves, which are associated with stress and anxiety, the movie would shut off. Given that the brain is the best problem-solving device in the world, when the movie skipped or paused because Cousins’ activity spiked, it forced his brain to go to work to find an answer for why that was happening.
It’s the type of activity Cousins could translate to the field, helping him be cognizant of situations that would cause him to fold under pressure, like throwing an interception in the red zone. Royer and his team aimed to hijack Cousins’ system via the movie mythology. The body is conditioned to go into a fight-or- flight state when pressure is at its peak, which is not optimal for performance. The goal is to find that perfect middle ground -- i.e. performing calmly in tense situations.
"When people’s brains aren’t optimized, their brain gets stuck," said Tim Bergsma, the managing director of Neuropeak Pro. "They stay in stress mode. They can’t do this extra shift from one situation to the next. They just get stuck. We’re giving [Cousins] the ability to navigate all those situations at the level of an expert, where he can go from a calm situation to a high-pressure situation to an expert. He can make those transitions flawlessly."
Cousins convinced 'it has helped' So does it really work?
The way Cousins says he can tell the brain training is paying off goes beyond the situational focus he has to hone his performance in high-stress moments during a game. Training his brain to be as alert late in the game as it is when he takes his first snap helps prevent decision lapses and increase the likelihood of satisfactory execution.
Kirk Cousins believes training his brain helps him on the field, including in pressure situations. Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire "I’d like to think the training can help with all that I’m processing mentally, like remembering to send a motion or a shift, remembering the snap count, having my eyes where they need to be, going through the progression quickly but not hurried and not rushed," Cousins said. "Playing fast but not playing rushed. I think those are all things I’m trying to get better at and using this training to help with.
"I also think anticipatory stress is always something I’m trying to combat. In other words the 24 hours, the 12 hours leading up to the game, there can be a lot of butterflies and a lot of anxious feelings and nervous energy. I think he helps me process that and handle that so that it isn’t crippling or paralyzing in any way."
Royer, who also works with NBA teams, including the Orlando Magic and Portland Trail Blazers, and has a client list that he says includes other NFL players, including Super Bowl MVPs, talks with Cousins for an hour over the phone the night before every game to go through his sessions during the week to determine where he’s progressing and where he can make improvements.
The payoff might not be tied directly to a specific statistical mark, such as throwing for 4,000 yards or 25 touchdowns, or cutting down on his number of fumbles in a season, but Cousins believes there is a palpable effect.
"He told me [in October] that he’s playing at a different level, at a high level than I’ve ever played," Royer said. "And he said what contributes to that is all the brain training he’s done. He’s noticing rather than becoming impulsive or pressured, that he’s actually gaining seconds in decision-making because his brain is in a better place."
Added Cousins: "I can look back now and see there’s a correlation between the periods where I’ve been very intentional with the neurofeedback and with the sleep and just staying on top of these things. I feel like I’ve played my best football during that time period. Now you can say maybe they’re not related, but it has correlated and then there have been times where I’ve drifted away from it and I can tell I haven’t played my best.
"I have a big enough sample size over seven years to say it has helped. I think it is worth it for the long haul. And I’m doing it not just to be a good football player, but I think the best, healthiest version of myself also off the football field, too."