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After Christian Ponder and the rest of the offense threw the ball up and down the field during Tuesday’s practice, the Vikings defense responded on Wednesday with perhaps its best showing of Organized Team Activities (OTAs). The back and forth between the two units is a good sign for Leslie Frazier and his staff as they look to foster fierce competition throughout the offseason program and into training camp to best prepare for the 2013 season.

As we explained on Tuesday, observations from OTAs should be taken with a grain of salt because there are restrictions set forth by the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that limit much of what is accomplished in a typical training camp or regular season practice, and the Vikings abide by those restrictions during OTAs.

With that being said, the star of the show was DE Brian Robison, who collected a pair of INTs during practice. His first came on the first play of the team period after CB Xavier Rhodes tipped a pass high in the air; Robison turned around quickly enough to get under the tipped pass and secure it. The veteran DE’s second INT came near the end of practice when he leaped into the air to grab a bullet pass and came down with the ball in the end zone. Others who tallied INTs on Wednesday included Brandon Burton, AJ Jefferson and Roderick Williams.

In fairness to the offense, much of Wednesday’s competitive periods were about putting the offense in adverse situations, such as being backed up inside the 5 yardline, needing to convert a 3rd-and-long and facing blitzes/pressure. But those are situations the Vikings offense will face from time-to-time during the season, so it’s good to practice in those circumstances now to iron out the wrinkles and be ready for the real thing come September.

“It was good. They put us in a bunch of tough situations today, but it’s great to go through those here early in June, and I thought the guys did really well today,” Vikings TE Kyle Rudolph said following practice. “You go through these really tough situations here in early June so when we get to the season and the preseason in August and September it makes it easier on ourselves.”

Speaking of Rudolph, he and the 3 other TEs on the Vikings roster are the subject of Wednesday’s OTA spotlight…

An important position
The TE position is of utmost importance in the Vikings offense because of how many different things Offensive Coordinator Bill Musgrave demands of them. Aside from running routes and catching passes, the Vikings feature a powerful ground game that relies on road-grading run blocking from the TEs. Also, Musgrave isn’t afraid to move his TEs around the formation, from splitting them out wide to lining them up in the slot and even placing them in the backfield, in motion or in stacked positions with receivers.

“The tight end position is unique, especially in this offense because we do run the football so often and you’re expected (to do) a lot in the run game,” Rudolph explained. “You don’t want to be the guy that misses your block because Adrian can score at any time. To be a complete tight end is really our focus every day.”

Here are a few quick notes on each of the 4 TEs the Vikings have on the roster…

Kyle Rudolph: Deceptively fast and quick, Rudolph is respected for his playmaking ability but I think it’s mostly because of his size and ability to out-muscle and out-leap defenders for the ball. When you watch him practice, particularly during individual drills, you notice how fast and quick the 6-6, 258-pound TE moves. The reigning Pro Bowl MVP, Rudolph came on strong in 2012 with 53 receptions and 9 TDs. No other Vikings pass catcher was targeted more than Rudolph (93) in 2012, and it won’t be a surprise to see Ponder and Rudolph continue to develop their rapport while burning defenses. More than any other pass catcher, Rudolph seems to be in rhythm with Ponder and that will pay dividends for the Vikings offense for many seasons to come.

John Carlson: Rudolph may get there some day, but no Vikings TE has better body control than Carlson. The 5-year pro never has to re-do a drill because of poor or sloppy footwork, and rarely does he come down with a pass during drills or competitive periods without securing the ball in traffic or toe-tapping a couple times before going out of bounds. Injuries set him back during his first year as a Viking in 2012, but a healthy Carlson in 2013 will make a big difference for this offense. Another note on Carlson is his leadership. After struggling through the first two periods of practice with 3 dropped passes, 2nd-year player Rhett Ellison grew frustrated. But Carlson took 30 seconds between periods to play a quick pitch-and-catch with his younger teammate, and from that point forward Ellison didn’t drop a pass in 6 targets during competitive periods.

Rhett Ellison: Aside from the early drops and then the impressive recovery going forward, the only note I made about Ellison was that he’s always square, whether at the point of attack, the point of reception or running down the field in the run game or after a catch. He was an unheralded contributor to the Vikings offense a year ago, mostly because of his blocking (watch the Week 3 San Francisco game and his work against DE Justin Smith).

Chase Ford: On the Vikings practice squad last year, Ford measures in at 6-6, 255 pounds and with his size and athleticism combination I think he’s essentially the prototype NFL  pass-catching TE. Will he develop into a productive player at this level? We don’t know that yet, but I see plenty of reasons why he will and I’m looking forward to watching him the rest of the offseason program and then during training camp down in Mankato.

Colin Anderson: The young pup in this group, Anderson joined the Vikings this offseason as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Furman. The St. Louis, MO native measures in at 6-4, 240 pounds and wears jersey No. 45. That’s about all we know about him for now, so he’s one worth watching going forward.