Well, that was something, wasn't it?
Now I'll go ahead and say this right now- I didn't see the game. I haven't seen anything aside from highlights this preseason... which makes me about on par for course for watching preseason Viking games. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the only preseason Viking game I have ever watched in my life was the one in 2010 when Brett Favre returned. It's not that I don't care- actually, I wish I could watch some of these. It's just that when you're in Florida and don't own the NFL ticket, well... good luck catching a preseason game.
That said, I did read all the comments, as is my habit, to essentially keep up with what was going on. IMO, it's not a lot to freak out about; I've perhaps been the biggest proponent of 'preseason means nothing'. Heck, the Bucs trounced Tom Brady and the Patriots last night... do you think ANYTHING like that would actually happen in the regular season? Yeah, me either. (Yes I know that if you look at the final score, it appears anything like an actual trouncing... but Brady himself was sacked twice and was 1TD to 1INT. Not his best day.)
But we're not here to talk about whether preseason is important or not. We're here to talk about injuries. Apparently, somebody failed to inform the Vikings about Chris' admonition to just stay healthy... because they did anything but. Read on.
First off, fortunately we didn't have any incredibly dramatic injuries- no KEY starters went down, and there were nothing along the lines of snapped ACLs or anything of that sort. That said, it troubles me considerably that the injury count resides largely in a familiar area for us... the secondary.After wracking up so many boo-boos in that part of the field last season that I felt I had a genuine shot of making the team had I just flown up and tried out, the Vikings saw a total of 5 DBs last night suffer various injuries. Mistral Raymond was held out of the game during warmups after experiencing what is being described as "lower back pain". Those kinds of things are incredibly vague, especially in the preseason... for all we know it's something a trip to the ice bath will fix, and he was just held out for safety's sake. On the other hand, it could be something pulled/ sprained/ etc. No clarification on the actual nature of the injury is available at this time, except that he "couldn't bend".
Also on the vague side is Safety Andrew Sendejo. Carted off the field, he was seen rubbing his knee, with the assumption that something had happened with it... but now some reports are saying "sprained ankle". Now, as many knee problems as I've had, I've never actually had an ankle injury, so I don't know if that's something that would cause you to feel pain/ soreness in the knee. It's possible he hurt both, but that the knee was just an 'owie' (as Ben Leber would put it) with the ankle actually having the injury.
Less vague are injuries to Marcus Sherels, Josh Robinson, and Eric Frampton. Marcus Sherels also suffered a sprained ankle, the severity of which I can't confirm at this time- but it sounds as if it's not too bad, which is great considering he is reportedly in the front running to be our PR (and but for a holding penalty- which is not his fault- showed why last night). Josh Robinson joined Chris Cook on the sidelines with a concussion of his own, and that's not good at all. As we all knew Robinson has been showing real promise to make the roster as a CB and to be a major piece in our near total rebuild of the secondary; the fact that he is now the second CB to suffer a concussion bothers me. I know it's not something we're doing as a team; concussions happen. But they're never good, and they're scary, scary injuries because the effects from each one can vary from 'next to nothing' to 'potentially career ending'. I'm not thinking Robinson is going to be anywhere near the second category, fortunately, but there's just something foreboding about the fact that both he and Cook have had their "bells rung" this preseason.
Eric Frampton left the game with a strained groin, and in my opinion that could be it for him. Frampton was never really a Viking based on the strength of his Safety play, as it was always his status as a "special teams ace" that kept him around. However, with guys like Audie Cole stepping up in that department (and then making INTs on the actual field of play to boot), it's looking like Frampton won't be... coming alive. (Sorry. Had to. Blame Chris.) Unless he's really an apple of Mike Priefer's eye, I'm thinking cometh the Turk, goeth the Frampton.
On the other side of the ball, Rhett Ellison took a hit to the knee and was taken from the field. An MRI is scheduled; fortunately, there's nothing out there indicating that this should be of great concern, and that this is likely just a precautionary move. Fortunately, his injury was the only one on the offensive side of the field.
Of course, key Vikings Chris Cook (concussion), John Carlson (knee), Letroy Guion (knee) and Adrian Peterson (seafood jambalaya) were held out of the game altogether, along with Robert Blanton (hamstring), who could be looking at a roster spot opening up if for nothing more than depth now that three other safeties have all experienced some form of injury.
Hoping everyone gets healthy soon, and that we don't have any further injuries next week. SKOL!