Afternoon Practice: Sunday August 2, 2009

Well, its only two and a half hours until morning practice begins, but I guess I'll give you guys something to read until I get back from there. Sorry about the delay with this one, had to go straight from camp to work.

The Vikings started out the day working a lot on Kickoffs. In addition to the guys that have already been getting reps back there, Glenn Holt and Chester Taylor also spent some time with the return units. Oh, and some guy named Percy Harvin too. The team spent a lot of time today working on reverses on returns, the most intriguing pair back there being Jaymar Johnson fielding the kick, and handing it off to Percy. Talk about a speedy combination. Aundrae Allison continues his poor camp, fumbling when attempting to receive a hand off on a reverse, and later almost falling down when cutting on a return.

Notes & Observations:

• Sidney Rice is looking like a solid starter. During individual drills, Rice made a nice leaping grab in the endzone . The next pass, on the very same play, rookie Nick Moore attempted to do the same - and failed
• Percy Harvin is already getting different looks. The Vikings have been practicing a lot of end arounds with Harvin and Reynaud being the beneficiaries. In addition, Harvin was set in motion and lined up next to the QB and received a direct hand off
• Peterson continues his woes in the passing game, both with his mediocre pass blocking and his constant dropping of short passes. He did, however, make a very nice grab from Sage during red zone drills
• Booty needs to step up his game. He had consecutive passes broken up by defenders, and two plays later had a play whistled dead for hesitating much too long.
• Rookie Phil Loadholt vs incumbent starter Ray Edwards is turning into a real battle
• Heath Farwell is back to last years form, it seems like he's making plays every time he touches the field
• Speaking of linebackers, E.J. Henderson is looking great, showed his speed getting to the ball to break up a pass intended for Kleinsasser
  
• Ben Leber and Benny Sapp collided during 11 on 11's, Leber laid on the ground for a few seconds, it understandably took Sapp a little bit longer
• Visanthe Shiancoe and Marcus McCauley are probably the two having the best camp so far. Aundrae Allison needs to step it up: Darius Reynaud, Jaymar Johnson, and Glenn Holt are all making bids for his place on the team

Again, sorry about the delay getting this post up. Morning Practice begins in two hours, that post should be up before 12 noon CST.