Some Football Thoughts

Week 1 of the 2019 NFL Preseason is in the books. Here are some of the football things that have been on my mind.

1. One of the great curiosities of the NFL's preseason is the fan and media reaction to it. When Week 1 hits, everyone is thrilled that football is back. By Week 2, maybe Week 3, everyone is sick of the sloppy play and absence of "real" football. Everyone complains that most of the players in the games won't be around in a month. They also complain if a star player sees a hint of action. Basically, everyone starts complaining about the preseason mere days after trumpeting the preseason.

2. Personally, I've always enjoyed preseason games. I understood early on that the games are practice games. They are just part of the process, an extension of training camp rather than the start to the regular season. They were never meant to be real games. They were never advertised as such. And they absolutely should not be priced as real games. One of the great wrongs that the NFL has ever committed has been forcing fans to pay real game prices for practice games.

3. I can not wait to see the regular season version of the Minnesota Vikings offense. I can not wait to see how a diverse, talented tight end group is used in the offense. And I absolutely can not wait to see Dalvin Cook play in the offense.

4. Antonio Brown is out of his mind.

5. Most of the talking heads and all of the football haters have enjoyed pointing their pointy fingers at the NFL over the issue of brain injuries. In their minds, the NFL is the only party deserving of blame. For some reason all of the other levels of football have always received a pass. The NFL absolutely does deserve blame but there is a lot of blame to go around. Everyone involved in the game is responsible for the current situation. And "current" really isn't accurate. Brain injuries in football aren't a new thing. All levels of football deserve blame. From youth leagues to the NFL. Many football coaches, at all levels, have long encouraged big hits over fundamentally-sound hits. Hell, fans routinely encourage those hits. So, fans deserve some of that blame as well. Oakland Raiders fans loved, and encouraged, the sort of hits that Jack Tatum used to end the football career of Darryl Stingley. In a preseason game. The players have always been seen as the victims. In reality, they are part of the problem. Tatum was an excellent example of this. He showed zero consideration for his peers. He showed zero consideration for his own welfare. Most players don't. They routinely ignore concussions. They'd ignore concussions today, despite all the information that's out there and a supposedly eye-opening movie, if given the chance. Antonio Brown wants to use an outdated helmet, one that doesn't pass current safety standards, because he's comfortable with it. So comfortable that he's willing to risk his own brain. It seems that in this case the NFL has greater concern for Brown's current and long-term welfare than he does.

6. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is a magical place. So is Canton, Ohio.

7. The Vikings have themselves a new kicker, or punter, or kicker-punter. They traded a 2020 fifth round pick to the Baltimore Ravens for Kaare Vedvik. Over the last seven years the Vikings have addressed the kicker position with three draft picks, a 6th to select Blair Walsh in 2012, a 5th to select Daniel Carlson in 2018, and now a 5th in 2020 to acquire Vedvik. While I don't like seeing the Vikings invest more draft capital on a kicker, the position has to get settled. Too many games have been given away to missed extra points and field goals. Too many playoff games and games to get into the playoffs have gone the wrong way. If Vedvik is the kicking answer he's easily worth the fifth round price. He's also an accomplished punter. He kicked four field goals (55,45,26,29) and two extra points as well as booming two punts over fifty yards in Thursday night's 29-0 preseason win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. If he wasn't on the radar of kicker-needy teams last preseason, he certainly was after the first game of this preseason. Will Vedvik handle both kicking and punting for the Vikings? It would be tempting to open up a roster spot for one of the hotly contested position groups (defensive line?) but I think that's a gamble that's probably not worth taking. Until I see different, I'm guessing that Kaare Vedvik is the Vikings kicker moving forward. Maybe the punter. Or kicker-punter.

8. It just feels right for the Vikings to have a Norwegian player on the team.

9. Every multiple-round mock draft that I did for the Vikings (and I did a lot of them) included Baylor receiver Jalen Hurd. So it was real disappointing to see the San Francisco 49ers grab him from me in the third round.

10. Rest In Peace Darryl Drake.