The Vikings began on-field preparations for the Chiefs by conducting a morning walk-through and then an afternoon practice at Winter Park on Wednesday. Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress addressed the media on Wednesday and most of the questions posed to him regarded his starting quarterback situation.
Tarvaris Jackson, the team’s starter for Weeks 1 and 2, was injured late in the game last Sunday against Detroit and still seemed sore on Wednesday. Brooks Bollinger spelled Jackson against the Lions and the Vikings acquired veteran quarterback Kelly Holcomb earlier in the season as extra insurance.
The current situation begs two questions; will Tarvaris be healthy enough to play on Sunday, and if he’s not, who will start in his place?
Being that it is too early in the week to make either of those decisions, concrete answers were not available from either Childress or Jackson, who also addressed the media on Wednesday.
Jackson did say, however, that his injury is improving each day and that he hopes to be available on Sunday.
“As far as Sunday goes, I’m trying to get there,” Jackson said. “I’m just getting treated each day and then just trying to get to the point where I can maybe go out there and play.”
Coach Childress said he would take a day-by-day approach and also mentioned there wasn’t a pre-determined amount of practice Jackson would need to start on Sunday.
“I am truly day-to-day, but I have never set a rule like a guy has got to be at a Thursday practice or a Friday practice,” Coach Childress said. “It’s more by what you see and what you know. If he can make a recovery by Friday, we’ll just see where he is in the game plan.
“That is why you prepare, that is why these guys are professionals. They are all up on the game plan; they have been doing this through training camp. It’s just a matter of whether they can physically accomplish it.”
And if Jackson can’t go?
“I am not a big ‘if not’,” Coach Childress said. “Obviously if he cannot go today I am going to divide the snaps with those guys, with Kelly (Holcomb) and with Brooks (Bollinger).”
Familiar opponent, unfamiliar environment
Sunday’s game presents a familiar opponent for both teams because of the two joint practices the teams conducted with each other in August.
What will be unfamiliar for Minnesota is the environment; the Vikings haven’t visited Arrowhead Stadium since 1999, when they lost to the Chiefs by a score of 31-28.
Chiefs Head Coach Herm Edwards dispelled the notion that the two joint practices held during the summer would provide an advantage to either team on Sunday because the schemes are rather “vanilla” during the workouts. But he did say that he thought both teams derived something positive from the experience.
“I thought it helped both teams,” Edwards said. “I know we enjoyed it. I thought we got something out of it. I’m pretty sure they felt they got something out of it too.”
The advantage Kansas City could benefit from is the home-field advantage. Arrowhead Stadium is widely known as one of the loudest and most difficult NFL venues to play in, and that will pose a significant challenge for the Vikings.
Since 2005, the Chiefs are 13-3 at home and in 2006 the Vikings were just 1-4 on grass surfaces. On top of that, Minnesota was one of the most penalized teams in 2006 and they are coming off a game in which they were penalized 12 times on the road at Detroit.
The Vikings will surely have to be at their best to overcome the hostile environment on the road in Kansas City. But Vikings offensive guard Artis Hicks says the key to neutralizing the disadvantage derived from playing on the road in a hostile environment is simply concentration and communication.
“The best thing you can do is just focus in a little bit more,” Hicks said. “You have to listen just a little bit more and focus a bit more as well because a lot of times that can be the difference on the road in a hostile environment. You have to pay attention to the little things.
“As far as the linemen, we have to do a better job of communicating. If one of us hears the call, then we just have to keep yelling it out down the line to make sure everyone hears it and we’re all on the same page.”
Sneak peak
Coach Edwards downplayed the fact that having two practices with the Vikings during the summer could produce an advantage for either team come their regular season contest. Another possibility he downplayed was whether or not the joint practices sweetened the Chiefs opinion of quarterback Tyler Thigpen, whom the Vikings drafted in April. After Minnesota cut Thigpen, Kansas City signed him to their roster, disallowing Minnesota to add him to the practice squad.
“Well not a lot,” Edwards said when asked what the Chiefs saw of Thigpen during the two joint practices. “We really liked him in college. We studied him a lot; we had him in here with our visits. We were actually thinking about drafting the kid kind of where Minnesota drafted him.”
Offenses struggling
Sunday’s contest between the Chiefs and Vikings pits two teams who have struggled to score points on offense against each other. The Chiefs, who qualified for the AFC playoffs last year, have scored just one offensive touchdown in 23 possessions. The Vikings have struggled as well, managing just two touchdowns over the first two games.
“I am still trying to figure it out to tell you the truth,” All-Pro Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez told the Twin Cities media in a conference call on Wednesday. “I think it’s a combination of a bunch of things. I don’t know if we’re executing the plays that are called. I think everybody has to assume responsibility; I know I will.”
Gonzalez, by the way, is just one touchdown shy of tying Shannon Sharpe’s NFL record for touchdown receptions by a tight end. He is also just 85 receptions shy of tying Sharper for the NFL record for career receptions by a tight end.
Notes
- Minnesota trails the all-time series with Kansas City, 4-5. The first ever meeting between the teams came on January 11, 1970, in Super Bowl IV in New Orleans, with the Chiefs prevailing, 23-7.
- Vikings personnel consultant Paul Wiggin was the Chiefs head coach from 1975-77.
- Tony Richardson played 11 seasons for the Chiefs (1995-2004) and earned
- Pro Bowl berths in 2003 and 2004.
- Center Matt Birk and tight end Jim Kleinsasser are the only remaining Vikings from the team’s last regular season trip to Kansas City back on December 12, 1999.
- Safety Mike Doss posted the first sack of his career when he brought down QB Trent Green at Kansas City (10/31/04) when he was with Indianapolis. Doss also forced a career-high 2 fumbles in the game.
- Former Vikings Michael Bennett, Napoleon Harris, Khreem Smith and Tyler Thigpen are all on the Chiefs roster.
- Vikings linebacker Ben Leber and Chiefs linebacker Donnie Edwards were teammates in San Diego.