Posts tagged: leslie frazier

After Allergic Reaction, Peterson Expected To Be Okay

July 31, 2012, by No comments yet

Much has been made of the Vikings efforts to protect their franchise running back, Adrian Peterson, by keeping him away from contact for as long as possible.

It appears, however, that seafood may have been a bigger threat to Peterson than taking a couple of shots from Jasper Brinkley.

Peterson suffered an allergic reaction to seafood and experienced a shortness of breath and swelling of the face, which gave team officials a scare on Monday.  Peterson was handled by the team’s medical staff and then taken to a hospital.  Peterson was able to return within a couple of hours, according to reports, and is expected to be at practice on Tuesday.

“I don’t know if any one of you has had anyone experience that, but, yeah, it was scary,” Leslie Frazier said. “But he’s fine now. Everything’s fine.”

“We’re anticipating him being back in rehab tomorrow, whether he’s doing things in the pool or back out on the field. He’s cleared to get going tomorrow,” noted Frazier.

After reportedly getting black eyes at the hands of the Houston P.D. earlier this offseason, and now experiencing these allergies, I find myself wondering for the first time ever if Peterson has an insurance policy on his face.

Peterson Will “Fight” To Avoid PUP List

July 27, 2012, by 3 comments

Adrian Peterson got into some trouble for allegedly fighting with members of the Houston Police Department, but that isn’t going to deter him from fighting with team officials that may try to put him on the PUP list, sidelining him during training camp.

“I’m going to lobby to get out there. I feel like I can participate a little bit,” Peterson said in Mankato on Thursday.  “”It’s going to be their call. My main focus is just getting out there and trying to get myself ready. To be honest with you, I’m going to try to fight against (PUP) so I can get out there and be involved. Ultimately, I know these guys are going to do what’s best for this team.”

Head Coach Leslie Frazier indicated that he would talk to Peterson late on Thursday and discuss how the rehab is going.  Frazier reiterated that the team plans to include doctors and trainers in the process of deciding what the immediate plan should be for Peterson.

Peterson again insisted that he did nothing wrong during his altercation in Houston, and expressed confidence that the truth will come out in his favor.

“New Faces” Top Frazier’s Priority List

July 27, 2012, by 1 comment

Leslie Frazier’s first year as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings was arguably the worst season for any head coach in the history of the franchise.

This year, with the lockout in the rear view mirror, provides some hope, however, that Frazier and the Vikings will be able to utilize a full offseason to fully implement their plan to improve.  That plan, as Frazier alludes to, centers on getting all of the roster additions up to speed.

“We have a lot of work to do, as well all know,” Frazier said. “We have a lot of new faces that are going to be on our football team that are going to be starting for us and playing for us, so as a staff one of the things we’ve talked about and leading up to training camp some of the things we’ve talked about were developing the young players on our football team and trying to get those guys to be ready for that Jacksonville game and to help us throughout the season.”

“And then just working to improve throughout training camp,” Frazier continued.  “That’s the goal, to try to improve every single day in some phase. If we can do that, we’re hoping everything can come together and we can get off to a good start and have a good football season. We have a lot of work to do, but we’re excited to be down here to kickoff the 2012 season.”

On Thursday, the Vikings took care of some administrative stuff and player physicals, and Friday morning will feature a walk through with the first practice coming in the afternoon.

Simpson Wants To Quiet Critics

July 27, 2012, by 2 comments

Jerome Simpson could possibly open training camp as a starter today, across from Percy Harvin, after impressing just about everyone that was paying attention during offseason workouts and drills.

The issue there, however, is that we all know that Simpson will not start the regular season as a starter due to his three game suspension.

“I’ll be fresh coming back after those three weeks,” Simpson told the Pioneer Press.

Not only will Simpson miss the first three weeks, he will also gradually be losing reps as training camp grinds on, according to Leslie Frazier.  The plan has to include getting some other guys some reps with the first team so that the Vikings can plan for someone else taking on a starting role during those first three weeks.

Simpson sounds eager to make his Minnesota debut in week four, however, and prove that he hasn’t hit his ceiling as an NFL receiver.

“A lot of people are saying we have a weak (receiving) corps,” Simpson said. “We can prove them wrong.  I just want to bring something here that hasn’t been here before, and I think ya’ll know what that is. A Super Bowl (title). That’s my No. 1 goal.”

Adam Gives His Opinion On Leslie Frazier

July 6, 2012, by 10 comments

I am heading out for the weekend, off to meet long-time internet friend and fellow Vikings fan “Fran the Man” to do some fishing on the famous Tangle Lakes (pictured  above). 

Before trekking off into the wild, however, I wanted to get one last post up as sort of a response to a comment received under my recent post on Leslie Frazier’s USO Tour.

B. Grant wrote:  “Nice piece here, Adam. Shows some real class on Leslie’s part (and on your part for pointing it out to us). Gonna put you on the spot, now…  What’s your true gut feeling about Leslie Frazier as an NFL head coach? Is he gonna have a long term and eventually successful run here in Minnesota, or will we be looking at a different head coach in the not-too-distant future? Can Leslie be a Super Bowl champion head coach? Go ahead, give us your honest take on this.”

Okay, it has been a while since I have taken a real hard stance on something and made foolish predictions, so now seems like a fitting time to rekindle my old love for hack bloggering.

Yes!  I think Leslie Frazier can be a Super Bowl winning head coach.

Now, there is a long laundry list of reasons to doubt Frazier.  He mistakenly hung his hat on washed up veterans like Donovan McNabb and Bernard Berrian last season.  Chris Cook’s disasterous arrest prior to a Packers game and Adrian Peterson’s horrible injury during a garbage game, both happened under his watch.  Bill Musgrave, under Frazier’s authority, seemed to greatly underutilize players like Percy Harvin, Kyle Rudolph, and even Adrian Peterson at various points last season.  There was even some unexpected wishy-washy decision making at the end of the season when a hobbled Christian Ponder, who perhaps shouldn’t have been playing to start with, was replaced a number of times by Joe Webb.  Familiarity led to jobs being handed to Fred Pagac and Mike Singletary but the results were not at all favorable.  Botched challenges and too many penalties were just more signs of a dismal season.

More aggravating to me than anything listed above, and also more worrisome, were some very questionable play calls that ended up deciding games… and not to the Vikings benefit.  Who can forget Toby Gerhart’s fourth down carries against Detroit and Atlanta, both of which screamed “desperation” and signaled to the fans that the 2011 was forever lost.

Still, despite all of the negatives, I think that this is not only a new season but also a very different season and Frazier will make improvements that show exactly why he is an asset to the team.

First, there is no lockout.  Taking over a roster with a shortened offseason and two new quarterbacks as a first year head coach is not an enviable position to be in.  The negative consequences of the craziness that was the 2011 offseason were evident throughout the season, but I think we have already started to see (outside of Percy Harvin) a cohesiveness this year that just simply wasn’t there last year.

Secondly, Frazier gets to be a coach.  He put his name on enough poor personnel decisions last offseason that the Vikings ended up essentially demoting him and giving sole authority over the roster to General Manager Rick Spielman.  I think this will take a lot of pressure off of Frazier and allow him to sit back and do the two things he does best:  coach football and mentor young men.  What we saw this offseason, in the way Frazier and Spielman handled the sudden eruption from Percy Harvin, was a refreshing change from the days of Brad Childress and, while we don’t know all the details, this is the first true evidence we have to suggest the new power structure is an improvement over the old Triangle of Authority.

Cutting down on off-the-field problems, instilling a sense of discipline on this young roster, and seeing progressive improvement and development in all phases of the game are essential to Frazier’s future with the team.  No single factor will have more weight, however, than the progression of Christian Ponder.

If Ponder excels, Frazier has a future.  If he stumbles, Frazier likely doesn’t.  Fair or unfair, right or wrong, I think that will be the case regardless of how Frazier does in all the other aspects of coaching this season.  Ponder and Frazier (and possibly Spielman) are tied together with a knot that is too tight to undo.  Ponder’s improvement and success are paramount to the future of this young team, and the employment status of Leslie Frazier and his staff.

So far, all signs are pointing towards an improved quarterback situation, so right now I have no reason to doubt Frazier or his ability to turn this mess around and get started down the right track.

Okay, have a good weekend everyone!

I’m off to catch some fish.

Happy 4th, Leslie Frazier Style

July 4, 2012, by 3 comments

Independence Day.

Today is a day to remember those that fought for our freedom.  Those that later fought (and are currently fighting) to protect it.  It is a day to remember everything and everyone that makes this country the greatest on Earth (no offense, Denmark).  It is a time to spend with friends and family, enjoying the summer with a fishing pole in one hand and a brat in the other.

Both Brett and I extend a “Happy Fourth of July” to all of our readers and want to remind everyone to celebrate safely.

The holiday also makes for a perfect reason to mention that Leslie Frazier is currently representing the NFL on a USO tour in the Persian Gulf.  He is the only current head coach to make the trip to visit our overseas troops, joined by former coaches Bill Cowher and Eric Mangini.

Frazier had an opportunity to take advantage of some rare downtime between minicamp and training camp and rest and relax, but instead decided to do what he described as a “small thing” in an effort to lift the spirits of the service men and women stationed away from home.

“It just puts in perspective that there’s nothing you should ever complain about,” Frazier said.

Indeed, sir.  Indeed.

Spielman Says The Vikings Will Make Harvin Situation Work

June 24, 2012, by 2 comments

At the moment, all seems well on the Percy Harvin front if you are a fan of, say, any of the other 31 teams in the NFL.

Us Vikings fans, however, we know better than to get comfortable with anything.  To us, if something looks stagnant, it is probably a ticking time bomb.  Like how nice that big inflatable roof looks?  Like the enthusiasm coming from the guys in that huddle… all twelve of them?  Like your chances on this Gary Anderson field goal attempt?

So, yeah, when sites like PFT or ESPN declare the Percy Harvin storyline “dead” all we Vikings fans are really going to do is sit on the edge of our seats and wait for this thing to blow up.

Rick Spielman, however, wants us to know that Percy Harvin’s previously stated discontent is something he, his staff, and the coaches are prepared to handle.

“There’s different personalities that you have to deal with on a daily basis, but when you look at Percy, what he brings to us on the field, how much passion he has to play football, he gives us a great opportunity to win on Sundays when he’s on the field,” Spielman said recently. “We try to know and understand when we draft a player, sign a player as a free agent, or bring a player into our organization, how we’re going to have to handle this player. Is he going to be handled differently? What do we have to do differently to handle a player? Those are a lot of pre-discussions that we have before we bring players in. And you just have to have a game plan if a guy has an issue or something and then try to work off that.”

“I know coach Frazier really met and sat and talked a lot with Percy. I dealt more with the business side of it and dealt with his agent, Joel Segal,” Spielman said. “As far as I know, the last dialogue I had, we’re expecting Percy to be at training camp and ready to go.”

We still don’t know, and possibly never will know, what caused Harvin’s outbursts last week and the reported request for a trade, but as of today it looks like Spielman and Frazier were able to tag team the issue effectively.

Training camp starts next month, however, and Harvin’s name will almost be the first one called during a much anticipated roll call.