MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010
Vikings Defensive Coordinator Leslie Frazier
We had a good spirited practice; a Thursday on a Monday. I think our guys are working hard and looking forward to lining up in a few days. It was a good day at practice.
Q: Are you concerned about your health at cornerback for the game against the Saints?
A: We’re going to show up. Those guys are going to play hard. Whoever’s dressed is going to play hard and give us the effort they always give us. We’ll definitely be there on Thursday night.
Q: Will you be going to a dime-package with the guys you have now?
A: It’s a possibility. There are different combinations that we can use. We’ve been exploring all of those possibilities and we’ll just see how it all shakes out.
Q: Would it be hard to bring in a new guy and get him up to speed?
A: I don’t know. We’re getting pretty close now to game day, but you’ve got to explore all options. We’re talking about a bunch of different scenarios.
Q: Where is 
A: He’s going to have to step up and play for us on Thursday night, regardless of what has happened in the past. We expect him play well. We expect every guy that lines up on Thursday night to play well. We have high expectations for Lito, just like we do for all of our guys. I’m sure he’ll play fine.
Q: Will
A: The fact that he’s out here practicing gives us some hope. So, we are just trying to ascertain here over the next couple of days whether that’s a real possibility. We’re going to give it another day and just see how he does tomorrow. He has already done far more than we expected when we decided to put him on the 53 (man roster). It is similar to what we saw with
Q: Has Cedric been practicing in full?
A: We’re rolling him in.
Q: Any possibility
A: Chris wasn’t able to participate today. If he doesn’t work tomorrow, the likelihood lessens. It would be tough to put him out there without any practice. So we’ll see if he’s able to practice tomorrow or not.
Q: Is E.J. okay to go full out in every situation?
A: That’s our expectations. That’s how we presented it to him and that’s how he wants it. We’re going to let him go and he’ll tell us how he’s doing.
Q: Is there a lot of anxiousness for your defense going into this game?
A: I think the way our season ended and then with all of the things that have happened over the offseason, there’s a sense of excitement about starting a new season. It’s probably not unlike most teams. The difference is the fact that we played in the NFC Championship game just gives you a different type of approach to training camp and to the regular season. There is excitement throughout the league on opening day.
Q: Are you happy with the defensive lineman you kept on the 53-man roster?
A: No question. That’s a premium position. It’s so hard to find d-lineman, especially pass-rushers and defensive tackles. We’ve got a group that has really performed well throughout the OTAs and training camp. It was hard to part ways with the ones that we do have, but also with the ones that we had to let go. Some of the guys that we had to let go had done a good job for us as well.
Q: With all of the emotion going into this game, do you have to tell your guys not to do anything stupid out on the field?
A: You talk about that. You want to make sure you got the energy that you need when we line up on Thursday night. That’s important, because otherwise you are going through a thousand different scenarios in your mind and you have exerted so much energy prior to the game that you might not have as much left as you need. We’re trying to approach this in the right way. It is game one of 16, no matter what happens with the outcome of this game. All of the hype that surrounds the game; it’s still one of 16. Whether it determines how the Saints’ season goes or how the way our season goes, there aren’t a lot of first games that determine your season. You have to temper that emotion to a degree.
Q: How important is it to stop their 3rd down opportunities?
A: The number-one offense in the league? Extremely important. They are a very good offense. The numbers say so. It’s very important.
Q: How much is preparation different for a game like this?
A: It is different, because you are not certain over the offseason of what changes a team has made; what wrinkles they are going to try and have for you. Especially when you finish a season with that team, they have a chance to really study you and come up with a new idea or new plan as to how to attack you. Such as what you mentioned before, 3-of-13; I’m sure there weren’t many games a year ago where they went 3-of-13 on third down. They’ve got to be looking at things and trying to figure out what they can do different and vice versa. We’re trying to figure out what they might try to do different. That first game is a little bit different because you don’t have the information that you will have in week four or week five on a particular team.
Q: Do they go 4-wide regularly?
A: It’s a mix. It’s a part of who they are. They give you multiple personnel groups and multiple looks. That’s what they do.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010
Vikings Special Teams Coordinator Brian Murphy
Q: Who is going to be your punt-returner?
A: We are going to choose from
Q: Is it a situation where it is one guy returning or several?
A: We’re still working through it. We very well could see a couple different guys. We’re looking for the best matchup in the phase.
Q: Is Greg comfortable with returning?
A: I’d say to me he looks comfortable. We’ve had him underneath live punts since he walked in the door. He catches the ball easily; very good hand-eye coordination. Just what you see from the wide receiver position.
Q: Do there need to be improvements for Percy on returning?
A: Last year was a pretty good standard. With Percy, what makes him a special returner, not only his God-given physical qualities but he’s fearless. More times than not if you push the ball and drive the ball into the return, good things are going to happen. That’s a hard tackle to make with a guy coming downhill at you. Pretty much anybody in the league can tackle anybody going sideways. When Percy gets you going up and down, he’s a dangerous return man. If anything the other 10 guys need to continue to improve and refine the blocking and execution portion. Because I know we’ve got a guy that’s committed to scoring in that phase.
Q: Do you think the lack of repetitions
A: I don’t think it was any fewer than years past. We’ve always brought somebody in to have a guy that took those reps. I wouldn’t say he’s behind. We’ve done quite a bit of work on our own, just taking our time with measured reps and quality of reps. Versus where you are out at practice and the volume of reps are important because you are working with the other 10 guys. He’s had plenty of work and he hasn’t done anything short of what he’s done in the past. He’s had some very good workouts in the past two and a half weeks.
Q: Did he (Longwell) handle the change last year of moving the ball around on kicks?
A: I think he did. I know that he put a lot of work into it. His years here, he was asked to hit the ball in one spot and things like that. When we asked him to move the ball around, he worked at it and he did what we asked him to do. We’ll continue to do that. It’s a long season and teams are too good and returners are too good to just be predictable. I think a guy like Ryan, being able to move the ball around, gives you an advantage. I know this – whether it’s New Orleans or any other team, there’s a lot of quality return guys and a lot of dangerous threats. You can’t just let a guy sit back there and field the ball in the same spot through the course of the season. They will end up beating you.
Q: Are you happy with the cover-guys after you cut down to the 53-man roster?
A: Coach Childress and Rick Spielman and Scott Studwell and those guys, having been here from the very beginning, those guys have done a very good job with loading our roster with talent. Not only on the front end but those guys that you play with on special teams. We’ve upgraded every year – that talent pool. I think for the most part we’re consistent this year and have most of the guys back which is a plus. The way the 53 shook out is real credit to those guys and the work they put in to make sure every phase has their share of talent.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010
Vikings Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell
We’re back up here for the opening of the season. Excited about it, going back down to New Orleans. Get to have another opportunity to play an outstanding team. Looking forward to it. We have been able to put a little bit of practice time in here. We were able to work on third-down this morning. We’re excited to go down there. It’s going to be a great challenge for us.
Q: Where is
A: He’s looked good. We need to get him out there as much as we can, try to load it as much as he can at this point, and see how it’s going to hold up. His conditioning has looked good. He’s done things on the side, whether it’s in the pool, whether it’s with [athletic trainer] Eric Sugarman, to keep his conditioning up. But it’s a matter of loading it up and making sure that it will hold up under 65 or 70 plays a game, all the way up to 90 plays.
Q: Do you still consider this a run-first offense?
A: Absolutely. I think that we need to try to get Adrian the ball as much as we can. We need to hand him the ball. It’s easy to turn around and hand it to him, but the thing about this offense is that we do have a lot of weapons; whether it’s Shiancoe, whether it’s Bernard, whether it’s Percy, Adrian, you can continue on with the list. You’re trying to spread the ball around as much as you can to get those guys involved. We could turn around and hand it to him 40 times, but we have a lot of playmakers on the outside that still have the ability to get explosive gains. It’s a combination of being able to try to mix that. We need to have the running game to be efficient. I’ve said it many times, if we run the ball for four yards at a click, we’ll continue to turn around and hand it to him. Sometimes we can fashion things up in the passing game where we know we can get a bigger chunk to be able to get the ball down the field. Is it a run-first? That’s what we’d like to be able to pride ourselves on. We’ve talked to our offensive linemen about being physical, being able to exert our will on the opponent.
Q: Adrian took the NFC Championship loss pretty hard last year. Have you seen any different approach this offseason from him?
A: Adrian’s a very competitive guy. He takes this whole thing seriously. I wouldn’t say that that loss has affected him in one way or the other because when he’s out here working, he comes to work and he competes hard, he finishes plays. He scratches and claws just like he does in the game. I see the same work ethic from him in practice whether we had that win or had that loss.
Q: Do you embrace it when teams come at you with a lot of pressure because of the matchups that it creates?
A: Going back to the game last year, we feel like we have playmakers outside and if we can hold up long enough inside and block them up to give Brett enough time to get it out there we’ll make big plays. I think it showed itself in that game. We were still able to make plays even when they had a free rusher. And there will be times when we can block everyone but one guy, because the quarterback has to throw it, he can’t protect for himself. Yes, we kind of take it as a challenge. We want to block them up, and we want to be able to make them pay for it when they do it. Most of the time when you make them pay, you run them right out of it. They say, ‘We better think twice about doing that.’ And that’s what we have the ability to do. In last year’s game we were able to make the plays and they still continued to come, and we had a lot of good plays in that game as well.
Q: Has Camarillo gotten up to speed?
A: He’s done a nice job. He’s come in and picked up things quick. We’ll feel very confident throwing him out there in any situation.
Q: Where do you feel Adrian is at in his protection?
A: He’s come a long way, and I’d say he’s come a long way even in these last two weeks. He’s been outstanding, in terms of going back to that San Francisco pickup, where he didn’t quite step in there with as much confidence and conviction, to the last game against [Seattle] where you could see him do it, where he was able to step up in there and you could see him hold his ground. I’ve seen him going to the right spot, where he’s supposed to be. I’ve seen him stand in there with conviction and pick it up. And then I’ve seen him do a good job of reading, ‘Is that guy really blitzing or is he rushing to cover me and I need to get out?’ He’s come a long way.
Q: Is your third-down back still by committee, or has Adrian improved to the point where he is going to handle that?
A: I think it’s still going to play itself out. I believe you’ll see more than one guy in there. I don’t think every third down you’ll see the same guy in there. At this point we’re still going to mix it in. We’ll continue to go from there.
Q: With Darren Sharper out, does that change anything in the way that you’ll attack the defense?
A: It doesn’t. They still have 11 guys over there and we’ve got to figure out where they are and how to attack them. Whether it’s Malcolm Jenkins standing back there or Sharper, it’s the same.
Q: What did you guys see from
A: He’s a young guy that’s big; he’s strong. He was able to run and do some nice things. I liked particularly at the end of training camp, he was in there against our ones, you could see him going against
Q: How high is the bar set for your offense this season?
A: I think each year stands on its own. In the last game of the season, that’s the 18th game, so we had it rolling pretty well. This is the beginning of the season. It’s a one-game-at-a-time type of approach. It’s the first game of the season. Is it where it was in the 18th week? No, it’s not there. Brett, he was weed-eating two weeks ago. Percy Harvin was in the hospital. Shiancoe was on the sideline; Adrian was on the sideline. It’s still coming together. It’s going to continue to improve each and every day. Sullivan was on the sideline as well. We need to get each and every one of those guys in there, continue to work together through these weeks and you’ll see us continue to get better. Does that mean that we’re willing to take a step back? No, we expect to have that same production that we did in that last game, but we kind of know where we are at this point.
Q: Do you guys like what you saw from
A: We like what we saw from Anthony. We like what we’ve seen from Cooper. It gives us the flexibility to say who we would put in there. We’re not going to put that out there. Both guys have done a nice job. I think both guys are capable of it, and we want to make sure that when we put those guys out there that we’re going to have the five best guys that are going to help us win.
Q: How much more preparation do you give to a week one opponent, since you have such a long time before the game?
A: This is obviously a little bit different. We played them at the end of the season, so we had a book on them and they had a book on us. They played [one] more game that we were able to look at, but we know them and I think they know us. There’s going to be some great excitement going in to this game.
Q: Is it hard to watch film from that NFC Championship game?
A: I don’t think that there’s a guy that wouldn’t say that it tears them up. You have a pit in your stomach, all the way even until the last drive. The scoreboard’s always the first thing that comes up when you’re watching tape. You keep seeing the score, you keep seeing the time, you see we had the ball. Yeah, it’s still very hard to watch.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010
Vikings Running Back
Q: You seemed to take that loss against the Saints pretty hard last year. How much of that is still with you?
A: I personally feel like the taste will always be there. But it’s those types of situations that you’ve got to take the time to get over it. But you never forget the situations, being in that position and being so close and not making it. The taste is still there, but there’s been work since that point in time to make sure that doesn’t happen again, the way that that game ended.
Q: Coach Bevell said that you’ve come a long way in the last couple of weeks in your pass protection. Do you agree with that?
A: Each year I always find things to improve on, and with the absence of Chester Taylor, the great third-down back we had, I really overemphasized in the offseason doing those things. Running routes, protection, things like that. Really just focus on things, and as a team work on things that I’ve been working on. I just have improved.
Q: Have you ever been more anxious to get the preseason behind you and get the season started?
A: Not at all. Ending the way that our season did last year, it was motivation. There’s just something about being in that position and knowing that you’re that close. And knowing on top of that, that we basically beat ourselves with turnovers. Those are the things that kept us from winning a championship. I was very anxious during the offseason. I always work hard, but it felt different this offseason. I was able to experience something that I hadn’t experienced before, so it just made me even hungrier during the offseason.
Q: Will you even allow yourself to look at the Super Bowl banner on Thursday night?
A: Yeah, I’ll look around when I’m in the stadium, in different stadiums. It is what it is. I don’t like it. I’m not going to like seeing it up there, but it is what it is. I’ve just been focusing on putting that behind us, still got that sour taste in your mouth. It’s a new season. What they did last year and what we did last year doesn’t matter. I’m just focused on getting the ball rolling and starting it off good, with a win.
Q: Brett has mentioned that this is your team. How do you look at it?
A: I feel like it’s our team. Without the quarterback the offense wouldn’t be as explosive and productive. Without
Q: What do you have to do to step back and keep from getting overhyped for week one?
A: A lot of guys, we have been in a situation way bigger than this first week’s game against New Orleans. Last year, the NFC Championship Game. Having a group of veteran guys on both sides of the ball, we know how to handle ourselves and conduct ourselves. We just know that we’ve got to go out there and stay focused and eliminate the mistakes that we had last year against those guys, and we’ll definitely win.
Q: Have you found something to help you handle the ball better?
A: Just really doing a study on myself. Eric Bieniemy did a really great job of presenting me with a lot of different cut-ups, where I put the ball on the ground or left the opportunity open to put the ball on the ground and guys just didn’t take advantage of it. It’s all mental. As far as the physical part, it’s just holding it high. I found out by studying myself that when I’m going down I kind of brace myself with the hand I’m carrying the ball in, and that’s leaving opportunities for those guys that are reaching, and scraping and punching for that ball, giving those guys the opportunity to make big plays.
Q: That’s more instinctive though, to brace yourself. How do you keep from doing that?
A: Just not brace yourself as much. I’m a pretty tough guy, so just keep the ball high and fall down. Like you said, it is all off instinct, but when that becomes a problem, you sit there and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got to eliminate doing this.’
Q: How do you balance that, with guys trying to knock the ball out instead of trying to just tackle you and maybe allow you to get a few extra yards?
A: That’s a good way to look at it too. I look forward for guys to try to tackle me and tackle the ball. They might not be on the field too long if they continue to do that.
Q: With what happened to Favre last year, does that add a little something to this game?
A: It does. For the simple fact that all the respect, me personally, and the other guys I know they feel the same way, all the respect that we have for Favre, his heart and his leadership and what he brings to this team, we really feel like those guys got some cheap shots in. We are going to definitely eliminate those hits and protect him more. We’re definitely going to be the ones delivering the blows.
Q: Do you think they crossed the line at all?
A: Everyone’s watched the game. They crossed the line once or twice and got him pretty good. We’re going to be out there playing fast and playing hard and take away those hits on the quarterback and issue our hits.
