The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: A 2011 Minnesota Vikings Franchise

[bobthenailer]

NFL Draft - Round 5 Recap
Pick	Team	Player	Pos	Ht	Wt
130	Carolina Panthers	DeMarcus Love	T	6'5"	315lbs.
131	Denver Broncos	Stanley Havili	FB	6'1"	230lbs.
132	Buffalo Bills	Mike McNiel	TE	6'4"	235lbs.
133	Cinncinati Bengals	Cliff Matthews	DE	6'4"	268lbs.
134	Arizona Cardinals	James Carpenter	T	6'5:	305lbs.
135	Cleveland Browns	Chris Carter	OLB	6'2"	240lbs.
136	San Francisco 49ers	Jermale Hines	FS	6'1"	216lbs.
137	Washington Redskins	John Moffit	G	6'5"	323lbs.
138	Dallas Cowboys	Jamie Harper	HB	5'11"	235lbs.
139	Washington Redskins	Markus White	DE	6'4"	262lbs.
140	Houston Texans	Zach Hurd	G	6'7"	325lbs.
141	Minnesota Vikings	Jaiquawn Jarrett	FS	6'1"	202lbs.
142	Kansas City Chiefs	Ricky Stanzi	QB	6'4"	230lbs.
143	St. Louis Rams	Wayne Thomas	OLB	6'2"	250lbs.
144	Miami Dolphins	Justin Boren	G	6'3"	320lbs.
145	Jacksonville Jaguars	Greg Salas	WR	6'1"	207lbs.
146	Oakland Raiders	Bilal Powell	HB	5'10"	215lbs.
147	Philadelphia Eagles	Taiwan Jones	HB	5'11"	200lbs.
148	Minnesota Vikings	Marcus Gilbert	T	6'5"	320lbs.
149	Kansas City Chiefs	Kris O'Dowd	C	6'4"	302lbs.
150	Detroit Lions	Brandon Hogan	CB	5'10"	190lbs.
151	Indianapolis Colts	Will Hill	FS	6'1"	207lbs.
152	Philadelphia Eagles	Henry Hynoski	FB	6'2"	260lbs.
153	Washington Redskins	Kendrick Ellis	DT	6'5"	343lbs.
154	Seattle Seahawks	Cecil Shorts	WR	6'0"	190lbs.
155	Seattle Seahawks	Scott Tolzien	QB	6'2"	208lbs.
156	Atlanta Falcons	Darvin Adams	WR	6'3"	185lbs.
157	New England Patriots	David Arkin	G	6'5"	302lbs.
158	Chicago Bears	Chykie Brown	CB	6'0"	194lbs.
159	New York Jets	Pierre Allen	DE	6'4"	265lbs.
160	Pittsburgh Steelers	Jason Pinkston	T	6'4"	308lbs.
161	Green Bay Packers	Ronald Johnson	WR	5'11	187lbs.

Even though the big QB trades had not happened, the Redskins did send DT Albert Haynesworth packing back to Tennesee for a 5th round pick. In the 5th the Vikings took Jaiquwan Jarret, a young safety who would backup Abdullah and provide much needed depth and competition at the position. After that they took the best Tackle still available. He could even be called on to start if McKinnie and Loadholt didn't improve but Frazier hoped it would not come to that. Two years ago they were both good tackles, hopefully after the off season they would be again.

[bobthenailer]

So mainly because the draft tailed off after the 5th round (not everyone who was in the mock was actually part of the draft class, one of the shortcomings of importing from NCAA, its amazing what guys like DanIverson1973 can get done nonetheless) so I simmed the rest of the draft.

Players drafted by the Vikings

DT Marcell Dareus
G/C Mike Pouncey
CB Curtis Brown
QB Greg McElroy
FS Jaiquan Jarrett
T Marcus Gilbert
G Lee Ziemba
TE Jordan Cameron

I will put together a roster and explain training camp/final cuts later.

[bobthenailer]

Training Camp was underway. Frazier had hoped that he and Spielman had made the adjustments necessary to get the Vikings out of their rut. He would see how that went as camp went on. Some of the rookies were living up to their expectations, some were exceeding them and some were just trying to get the hang of what they had to do.

Frazier was especially pleased with the players he had drafted for the secondary, Curtis Brown at CB was catching on really fast and Jaiquwan Jarrent was going to push Tyrell Johnson and had already passed Hamza Abdullah on the depth charts. Lee Ziemba was a little slow to catch on at Right Guard but he'd get there in time. Gilbert also had to learn his position, but Pouncy was solidifying his hold on the Right guard position. He had been able to beat both DeGeare and Herrera and hopefully could solidify the right side of the line. Sullivan was still at Center and McKinnie was still at Left Tackle. McKinnie had come back lighter and hopefully he could turn the corner and keep his QB safe. Marcell Dareus was another Day 1 starter and would be with the team for many years to come.


Things were also interesting at QB, even with a new system, Joe Webb was closer to Collins than any of his other competitors. He still had to work on his throw abit, still had that wobble sometimes but he had the plays down and in scrimmages was able to find the holes. He had even called an audible once or twice, but he had also checked out of what would have been a passing play and into a running play on a blitz which resulted in Toby Gerhart getting piled on 3 yards behind the line. Rhett Bomar was another surprise. He still had that uneasiness when pressured but he had the strongest arm of everyone there and was also pretty smart. McElroy unfortunately was at the back of the pack and wouldn't be starting anytime soon, but that's what Collins was for. Still, Frazier had already been talking to Spielman about what they would have to do if they were going to carry 4 QBs on the 53 man roster.


FINAL CUTS
CB Marcus Sherles - Marcus was a good kid but the competition was just too much
CB Simeon Casille - Castille was one of the better DBs to come up from the UFL but he just couldn't compare to the better backs on the team and was probably headed back to the UFL.
CB Cord Parks - Cord was fast, but he just couldn't cover well, could get mixed up about what exactly he was supposed to do or where he was supposed to go. To make matters worse he was blazingly fast but had repeatedly muffed catches during the pre-season and was out of serious contention as a return man
SS Tyrell Johnson - After he was passed by Jarret on the depth chart the writing was on the wall. Johnson might become a good safety some day but just wasn't worth what they were paying him right now.
WR Juaquin Iglecias - Iglecias was headed for the practice squad for his final year of eligibility. Another smart kid, he just couldn't catch as good as either Freddie Brown or Jaymar Johnson who had showed up to training camp ready to compete.
WR Freddie Brown - Also headed back to the PS, Brown had ideal size to be a possession receiver/body catcher but he couldn't run routes like Johnson could.
T Patrick Brown - Brown had been outclassed by Gilbert and was probably going to be picked up by another team as soon as he was released.
G Seth Olsen - This was a hard decision, the edge probably should have gone to Olsen except Ziemba certainly had more potential. Olsen would make it somewhere.
G Anthony Herrera - Herrera had recovered from his injuries but as a result he was not able to start exercising until shortly before camp, which had been difficult for him. After being showed up by Pouncey and DeGeare the writing was on the wall. Herrera had thanked Spielman for the opportunity, even-though Herrera had been with the Vikings before Spielman had been hired. Anthony Herrera had started as an un-drafted rookie and had worked his way into the starting lineup for 4 years. It was an achievement to be proud of.
DT Jimmy Kennedy- Another veteran player who had been through this before. Kennedy was starting to slow down. He wished he had gotten more playing time to show what he still had but there was no changing what was bound to happen sooner or later. There was a demand for decent 4-3 defensive ends though and Kennedy would probably find himself back on either of his old teams in Denver or St. Louis
WR Greg Lewis- Lewis was a guy who was brought in from Philadlephia (after a short stay in New England) on Childress' watch in 2009. Decent receiver, made that spectacular catch with Favre during the final seconds of that game against the 49ers in 2009, but other than that he was a backup, and Frazier wanted to get younger here.
WR Hank Baskett- Baskett had was a nice big target for QBs, problem was he just couldn't catch as well as he should have been able to, and there were better ways to use a roster spot.

[bobthenailer]

So this is going to get difficult, because the CPU makes very very weird decisions/allows unrealistic off season moves to happen, I am having to step in and be sort of GM to every team. Just to give an example of this, the Texans signed OJ Atogwe, Nnamdi Asomugha, and Kris Jenkins! The Ravens also signed Braylon Edwards, T.O. AND Randy Moss! It kind of has a bias for big spending teams in FA (the Red-Skins, Chargers and Cowboys always seem to make big moves, and the Pakers and Steelers don't) but some of the moves make no sense and you get left with a great crop of guys unsigned in free agency. I am going through each team, making sure it looks good, and getting all the decent free agents signed somewhere.

[bobthenailer]

2011 Minnesota Vikings
#	OFFENSE	POS	AGE	HT	WT	COLLEGE
6	Kerry Collins	QB	37	6'5"	245lbs.	Penn State
14	Joe Webb	QB	24	6'4"	220lbs.	UAB
3	Rhett Bomar	QB	26	6'2"	225lbs.	Sam Houston / Oklahoma
13	Greg McElroy	QB	22	6'3"	225lbs.	Alabama
28	Adrian Peterson	HB	26	6'1"	217lbs.	Oklahoma
32	Toby Gerhart	HB	24	6'0"	231lbs.	Stanford
27	Lorenzo Booker	HB	26	5'10"	191lbs.	Florida State
83	Jeff Dugan	FB/TE	30	6'4"	258lbs.	Maryland
44	Ryan D'Imperio	FB	24	6'2"	240lbs.	Rutgers
15	Steve Breaston	WR	28	6'0"	189lbs.	Michigan
12	Percy Harvin	WR	23	5'11"	184lbs.	Florida
16	Emmanuel Arceneaux	WR	24	6'2"	210lbs.	Alcorn State
85	Greg Camarillo	WR	29	6'1"	190lbs.	Stanford
11	Jaymar Johnson	WR	27	6'0"	176lbs.	Jackson State
81	Visanthe Shiancoe	TE	31	6'4"	240lbs.	Morgan State
40	Jim Kleinsasser	TE	34	6'3"	272lbs.	North Dakota
86	Jordan Cameron	TE	23	6'5"	245lbs.	USC
74	Bryant McKinnie	LT	31	6'8"	335lbs.	Miami
66	Marcus Gilbert	LT	24	6'5"	320lbs.	Florida
76	Steve Hutchinson	LG	33	6'5"	313lbs.	Michigan
73	Lee Ziemba	LG	22	6'6"	320lbs.	Auburn
65	John Sullivan	C	26	6'4"	301lbs.	Notre Dame
68	Jon Cooper	C	25	6'2"	291lbs.	Oklahoma
78	Mike Pouncey	RG	23	6'4"	310lbs.	Florida
72	Chris DeGeare	RG	24	6'4"	325lbs.	Wake Forest
71	Phil Loadholt	RT	25	6'8"	343lbs.	Oklahoma
62	Ryan Cook	RT	28	6'6"	328lbs.	New Mexico
*	=Practice Squad Member
13*	Juaquin Iglesias	WR	24	6'1"	205lbs.	Oklahoma
89*	Freddie Brown	WR	25	6'4"	210lbs.	Utah
79*	Patrick Brown	T	24	6'5"	310lbs.	UCF
#	DEFENSE	POS	AGE	HT	WT	COLLEGE
96	Brian Robison	LE	28	6'3"	259lbs.	Texas
99	Vernon Gholston	LE	25	6'3"	264lbs.	Ohio State
97	Everson Griffin	DE	23	6'3"	273lbs.	USC
69	Jarred Allen	RE	29	6'6"	270lbs.	Idaho State
92	Jayme Mitchell	RE	27	6'6"	285lbs.	Ole Miss
93	Kevin Williams	DT	31	6'5"	311lbs.	Oklahoma State
75	Marcell Dareus	DT	24	6'3"	306lbs.	Alabama
98	Letroy Guion	DT	24	6'4"	303lbs.	Florida State
90	C.J. Mosley	DT	28	6'3"	305lbs.	Missouri
51	Ben Leber	LOLB	32	6'3"	244lbs.	Kansas State
50	Erin Henderson	LOLB	25	6'3"	244lbs.	Maryland
56	E.J. Henderson	MLB	31	6'1"	245lbs.	Maryland
54	Jasper Brinkley	MLB	26	6'1"	252lbs.	South Carolina
52	Chad Greenway	ROLB	28	6'2"	242lbs.	Iowa
59	Heath Farwell	ROLB	29	6'0"	235lbs.	San Diego State
55	Kenny Onatolu	ROLB	28	6'2"	225lbs.	Nebraska-Omaha
26	Antoine Winfield	CB	34	5'9"	180lbs.	Ohio State
23	Cedric Griffin	CB	28	6'0"	203lbs.	Texas
48	Curtis Brown	CB	23	6'0"	185lbs.	Texas
31	Chris Cook	CB	24	6'2"	212lbs.	Virginia
21	Asher Allen	CB	23	5'9"	192lbs.	Georgia
39	Husain Abdullah	FS	26	6'0"	204lbs.	Washington State
47	Jaiquawn Jarrett	FS	23	6'1"	202lbs.	Temple
33	Jamarca Sanford	SS	26	5'10"	200lbs.	Ole Miss
22	Hamza Abdullah	SS	28	6'2"	216lbs.	Washington State
35*	Marcus Sherels	CB	24	5'10"	175lbs.	Minnesota
24*	Cord Parks	CB	25	5'10"	185lbs.	Northeastern
#	SPECIAL TEAMS	POS	AGE	HT	WT	COLLEGE
8	Ryan Longwell	K	37	6'0"	200lbs.	California
6	Chris Kluwe	P	29	6'4"	215lbs.	UCLA

[bobthenailer]

Now for a little more narrative, if the last few set the tone for where the team was at before the draft, this one is to show where the team is as they get ready for the 2011 season.

The hot sun bead down over Mankato, Minnesota. The whole team was working, doing drills, trying to get ready. The 2011 NFL pre-season was about to start. Head Coach Leslie Frazier was anxious to hit the field with the team he had helped reshape. During the off-season he had done his best to put his mark on this team. As the former Defensive Coordinator he had a very good idea why the defense, which up until last year had been one of the best in the league, had stalled and lost some games and failed to keep the team in some others. With the personnel changes he and Rick Spielman had implemented, especially in the secondary Frazier though that they could silence their critics from last year. On the offensive side of the ball (which Frazier would be quick to admit was not his strong point) he had brought in Offensive Coordinator Bill Musgrave and Quarterbacks coach Craig Johnson.

At first look Musgrave had a somewhat spotty history with his past stints as Offensive Coordinator, briefly with the Carolina Panthers before resigning, and then for a few years with a lackluster Jacksonville team. Musgrave's strength though had been his QB development. He had helped ungainly prospect Byron Leftwich forge a career despite having a lumbering throwing mechanic, and, after his exit from the game at the professional level, helped develop Matt Schaub at the college level, who he would later coach in the pros with the Atlanta Falcons. During his time with Atlanta Musgrave was also responsible for tutoring what some viewed as one of the brightest young quarterbacks of the decade, Matt Ryan.

Musgrave had taken a somewhat unique approach to his new position with the Vikings. Rather than come in with an agenda, a way of doing things and a system to teach, Musgrave would do the opposite. In January when a lot of coaching positions started to open up and his previous employers in Atlanta had allowed him to interview for different Offensive Coordinator positions, Musgrave had chosen Minnesota. Not just for who he would be working with (even though he had Adrian Peterson, he also had an Offensive line that needed to be tuned-up and question marks at the wide receiver position) but because of the opportunity he was going to have to influence the team, and mold it to his liking. Musgrave's plan was simple, yet complicated and difficult at the same time.
Musgrave started training camp off with some very vanilla stuff. Simple routes, simple protections, quick easy reads. Progressively through the first week, he had stepped things up bit by bit. Afterward he sat down, one on one with most players, especially the ones who would be starting. What did they like, what didn't they like, what did they have trouble with. He also made sure that he would have sessions with each of the QBs with the Johnson present so that he could also have input. Musgrave was constructing his own offensive system, this team and its play-book was his sandbox and his players were his pail and shovel. By learning his player's strengths and weaknesses Musgrave could coach to the players strengths, work on and if need be avoid their weaknesses, and adapt his play-calling and play-book accordingly. He had to keep this in perspective (obviously every player wasn't going to have THEIR own plays) but in his opinion, especially just starting out, he was going to have more success bending his play-book around his players than he was bending his players around his play-book.

The Vikings new offense had one more ace up their sleeve as well. Quarterbacks Coach Johnson and his relationship with the Vikings' new would-be starting QB, Kerry Collins. Collins had never been a great QB in Tennessee, on the contrary he had had some pretty bad games and underwhelming performances. The thing was, for all of his years in Tennessee (with the exception of 2010 when Johnson had become the Running-backs coach) Johnson had been his QB coach. Collins knew Johnson, Johnson knew Collins. They had worked together for 5 years, and Johnson could take what he knew about Collins (strengths, weaknesses, preferences, habits) and give that to Musgrave to help him adapt/create his scheme. Obviously this would make things a little bit harder if one of the other QBs had to take a snap, but that could be managed and adjustments could be made. If Musgrave could pull it off, design a coherent play-book which best suited the players he would be working with, and then USE the play-book effectively, which was probably going to be the most challenging part of all, it looked like they could have a hit on their hands.

As Frazier walked around camp he looked in on some of his new players. Wide-out Steve Breaston was going to be his new #1. This was a bit of a gamble since it was a role Breaston had never had to play since his past number of years in Arizona had been spent with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. Still, Breaston had that ambition and drive to him. He went from being a late round pick for depth, to return specialist, to cracking the starting lineup in Arizona. Now he was going to be the go-to guy in Minnesota. He was small, fast, and skilled, but there would be no way of knowing how he would do until game-day in Week 1. Next he would have a look at the QBs and see how they were doing.

It wasn't often that a team would carry 4 QBs out of training camp to the active roster. It left them a little short at other positions (notably in this case WR) but it was something that himself and the front office had come to a consensus on. Greg McElroy was still behind the 8 ball a bit, he was close to Bomar in some ways, and didn't quite get the "happy feet" Rhett was prone to, but facts were, McElroy wasn't ready to pass Bomar on the depth chart. Despite this, the team could not risk putting McElroy on waivers and getting him onto the practice squad, even if he made the squad he would get poached soon after, the same went for Bomar.

Bomar as well, when calm and collected was a pretty good passer. He could make decent reads, get the ball where it had to go, it was just when he got shook that he started making mistakes. Someone get into his face or make him move or run react a little bit and it was all over. There was going to be an incomplete pass or a turn over. By far this was his biggest weakness. It really didn't help that for the past two years on the Giants Bomar had mainly been in-charge of the scout team.

Joe Webb's progress had stalled a little bit, which was especially not good. Frazier had already decided, once Webb had solidified his #2 position at QB, that he would not leave Webb there if he didn't feel that 1) He was continuing to improve and was becoming a better QB and 2) That Bomar or McElroy was not better than him. Webb would probably have been the most talented athlete on most NFL teams (but not this one since he had Percy Harvin and the monster known as AP to contend with) and Frazier couldn't help but wonder from time to time if he should switch Webb over to wide out or return man, just to keep him on the roster. Hopefully Webb would get through his rut so that Frazier could stop thinking about it. As he had seen with the years Brad Childress had T-Jack on the roster, he could not put Joe Webb ahead of the whole team, even if the pay off (Webb becoming the next Michael Vick) was almost worth it. If Webb's skill at playing the QB position had plateaued he would have to move on.

Since there was some contention in the back of Frazier's mind about exactly which one of his young QBs had a future at the #2 spot, Frazier decided that it was gut-check time with Rhett Bomar. "Bomar, get over here." Frazier shouted out to Bomar who was on the field doing footwork drills. Frazier rarely was known to yell and scream at players. He could, but he had a lot of the same, quiet patience and intensity that his old Mentor Tony Dungee had given off whenever he was in charge. Bomar jogged over, obviously the work out was getting to him a little but that wasn't a bad thing, better to make sure he's in shape here than it is for him to fall flat during a two minute drill in a real game. "What's going on Coach?" Bomar asked as he arrived. "OK Rhett, we're getting ready for the season and our first real game next week. I know you've done this sort of work before when you were with New York so you're our man, you running the scout team for this year. I'll have Bill and Craig go see you and run some stuff by you after practice. "

Normally on a team, the least experienced QB (usually the third string guy) runs the scout team. Himself and a number of other backup quality players imitate players, both offensively and defensively, that the starters on their team are about to face. This gives the whole team more preparation, both the guys who are going against the scout team since they get to see strategies and plays the coaching staff has pulled off their opponents tape, but the guys on the scout team as well as they get to understand some of the concepts of what the other team is trying to do, from an inside perspective, how to stop or counteract it. If they are running a certain zone coverage, where to find the gap, and so on. The catch was, while just telling Bomar he was running the scout team wasn't a big deal, it actually was. The message it was sending him was, look, your basically the worst QB on our team, the rookie is better than you are so we don't want to take any of his time away from practice, we're going to take yours instead. Obviously Bomar was not going to have a favorable reaction to this. The thing was though, Frazier was testing him out without Bomar knowing it. maybe he could have been smart enough to figure it out but put on the spot like this most didn't. Frazier was about to test his character and leadership abilities by seeing what he would do next.

Bomar didn't so much as make a face as he did get a sort of look. Frazier could tell for just a second that Rhett Bomar felt like he'd been smacked in the face, that his efforts the past few weeks were meaningless. Within a split second Bomar was normal again, concealing exactly how he felt about what he had just been told. "Sure coach" he said as he walked back to his drills. Frazier knew, if Bomar had his head screwed on straight, and had what it took to make it as a QB, he wouldn't let this bother him. He would do a great job with the scout team and that would be that. If he did let it bother him, and he kind of slacked off with his drills, that would be a warning sign that it got to him and that he couldn't take the heat. Worst of all, and it was good on Bomar that he hadn't done this. He could have pitched an argument about why should he have to do run the scout team instead of the rookie. If Bomar had of said that Frazier would have known right away that he didn't have the maturity to make it in any sort of leadership role. The fact that it bothered him was good, it was supposed to bother him, and it showed that he cared about his job.

As Frazier walked back towards the press tent, he chuckled to himself, remembering the first time he'd seen Brad Childress use that trick/test to sound out a rookie, Chilly had been a bit more abrasive with it (as he usually was with most things) but that man had earned a degree in psychology for a reason. He was going to have Johnson watch Bomar, especially today to see if he noticed any change in his work habits.

[mnwildgophers]

Very good writeups and I love the makeup of the team. I'm excited to see how it all goes in the coming days during training camp

[bobthenailer]

Camp wrapped at Mankato, the players returned to Winter park to get ready for their first pre-season game. The construction work at the Metrodome had finished on schedule and the first game would be played on August 13th. Their opponent, the Tennessee Titans. The irony here is that not only were the Titans another team that had just introduced a new coaching staff, but they were the team the Vikings new starting QB and QB coach had come from.

As Kerry Collins got suited up for his first game at the Metrodome, things felt different. It was hard to put his finger on it, it just was. The new Viking offense was going to be mainly run based, something that he had been used to from his time with Chris Johnson. Adrian Peterson was the heart and soul of the Vikings offense. Give him the ball and let him take it as far as he could. Collins (like his counterpart on the other team) was going to be playing more in this game than was normal for a starting QB in a pre-season game, this was mainly to get him up to speed with his new teammates. Even though they had been practicing all month, there was nothing like a real football game. As Collins got out onto the field for warm-ups he looked across at the Titans blue and white jerseys. They sure didn't waste any time he though as he saw his replacement as Titans starting QB, Bruce Gradkowski. Gradkowski was wearing #5, the number that had belonged to Collins a few months ago. He didn't feel bad about it though. After the Titans cut Vince Young they gave his #10 to Jake Locker the next day. As the crowd roared (he always remembered the dome was loud but there was nothing like being there, it was always louder than you remember it) Collins put his helmet on and buckled his chinstrap. It was time to go to work.


__________________________________________________ ____________


Frazier walked into the locker room after the game. It was only a pre-season game, but there was a lot more work that would have to be done. Especially at Quarterback. Kerry Collins had been rattled. No other way to describe it. The Titanshad some decent CBs, and with Albert Haynesworth back in blue, they did have a ferocious pass rush. Sullivan and Pouncey had been beaten a few times off the line by Haynesworth's bulk. Still there was something more too. Collins had played the whole first half. With the offense being rather run heavy he had not had to pass a lot but when he did have to pass it was important. Collins had gone 4 for 13 and 14 yards, most on check downs for 2-4 yards each with a 7 yarder thrown in. This was only the pre-season they could work this out but, it was hardly a promising sign. Joe Webb (against an admittedly mediocre group of Titan 2nd and 3rd string backups) had gone 4 for 6 and 40 yards in the 3rd quarter and picked up 16 yards on the ground on a single rush. He had thrown a 31 yard TD-pass to Steve Breaston. A corner got his hands on it but Breaston juggled for the catch and then took it home. The best play of the game had been made by Rookie DE Marcell Dareus. Bruce Gradkowski was rather slippery as a Titan, they rolled him out and had him passing on the run frequently. Sometimes this was done to great success, other times not. Brian Robison got to him just as he was unloading the ball. It went up, came right down in Dareus's hands, for about 2 seconds Marcell Dareus was experiencing something completely new. After the novelty wore off he tucked the ball in and ran it back 36 yards for the TD. Ultimately, the game had been decided by the leg of Ryan Longwell who sent a ball 47 yards through the goal posts for a field goal 20-17 Vikings. Things could have been better but they sure could have been a lot worse. Now they had a meaningless victory, and problems that they could hopefully address before the season started. It was a whole lot better to know stuff like this now, Frazier thought.