The Boys Are Back In Town

Today the Vikings were back in Mankato for their second and final Sunday practice after having their day off following their first exhibition game of the season vs. the Seahawks. Good news right off the bat, no news of any of the guys engaging in drunken shenanigans or causing a ruckus on their night off (granted there wasn't much to celebrate after that game). Speaking of which... many players were spotted spending their night off at the Target Center, where former WWE star, U of M wrestler, and wannabe Vikings defensive lineman Brock Lesnar was taking on Heath Herring in only his 3rd MMA contest. (In case you care, he won)

Anyways, on to the stuff you care about, heres today's observations from training camp.

Injury Report

• Heath Farwell was no where to be seen after his assumed season-ending ACL tear
• Backup Defensive Tackle Kendrick Allen was not practicing, couldn't tell you why though
• Backup Fullback Naufahu Tahi was also not practicing
• Marcus McCauley was back on the field and participating in all team drills
  
• Garrett Mills is back after sitting out a big portion of training camp, he'll have some work to do to beat out Branden Jones - who has really taken advantage of Mills' injury
  

Observations

• Practice was cut about 20 minutes short
  
• Maurice Hicks, Aundrae Allison, Albert Young, and Darius Reynaud, respectively, saw time as Kick Returners.
  
• #97 Ellis Wyms was seeing time in with the first team defense in place of Pat Williams on 3rd and medium situations
• They continued to switch things up on defense today giving more people shots with the first team, my guess to see how people work together and get different looks. This time they switched up both the CBs & Safeties. During one drill Cedric Griffin and Charles Gordon were the CBs with the first team D, along with Frampton opposite Sharper
• Rufus Alexander is the only winner in the wake of the Heath Farwell injury, seeing time with the second team defense along side Ciurciu and Pope
  

Highlights

• E.J. Henderson had a great pass deflection, jumping the route and swatting down a ball intended for Adrian Peterson
• Charles Gordon had the only interception of the day during a 3rd & five drill, picking off a Tavaris Jackson pass -- the first one I've seen TJack throw since in I believe practices
• Ciurcui put his hands up and tipped the ball away on the line of scrimmage coming off of a blitz, followed by Rookie Defensive End Martail Burnett jumping up and picking it off
• Speaking of Burnett, he had a very solid camp today. This is the best time of training camp with only a couple more days left, you can tell the young guys are really fighting to keep their jobs. Burnett had his way with starting Right Tackle Ryan Cook, beating him on a couple plays and causing havoc in the pocket. Not good news to hear about Cook, but to his credit Martail was just on fire today
• E.J. Henderson came soaring across the line off scrimmage on a blitz, but the highlight goes to Jackson, who remained completely calm, and did what you never saw in that situation last year - he stepped up in the pocket and completed a ~12 yard gain to Shiancoe
• The starting defensive definitely came to play today, completely whipping around the second team offense. On one play Jared Allen, Ben Leber, and E.J. Henderson were all chasing down Frerotte, who was forced to throw the ball away. On the very next play, E.J. came exploding through the offensive line and was immediately in Frerotte's face running full speed. Henderson yelled as he ran, causing #12 to jump. I'm not positive... but I think Frerotte had to go to the lockroom to change his pants after that one. I'll just put it this way, if it was a full contact game, I don't think old Gus would have walked away from that one...
• Jared Allen completely destroyed Artis Hicks on one play, basically shoving him to the side out of his way
• Aundrae Allison had a great diving catch off of a Tavaris Jackson throw, who was forced to once again step up in the pocket, as both defensive ends on the play where in the backfield
• Bobby Wade had the biggest reception of the day, hauling in a pass on a slant which hit him 25 yards down the field. He then got a key block down field (didn't catch who it was from) and ran it the next 25 yards into the endzone

Lowlights

• Aundrae Allison, who so far has been having a great camp, let a pass go straight through his hands and bounce of his knee. I'll give him some slack since it was a little low, but it was still a very catchable ball
• As mentioned, Cook really had his hands full versus Martail Burnett, he's been doing very well so far in camp so normally don't expect him to get beat by a guy three slots down on the depth chart
• Sidney Rice surprisingly had the worst play of the day, who dropped a perfectly thrown Jackson pass, which sailed right over his shoulder and in between his hands after beating Marcus McCauley on the play

Thats pretty much all I've got for you guys today, I'll be uploaded the pictures as soon as I click "Publish Post" so be sure to check those out. Once again, thanks for reading.

SKOL!