Joe Mauer and Ron Gardenhire "fire back". Yawn....

I love Mike Redmond. He's 5'11", 205 pounds and has lasted to be 36 years old. But he has more heart than anyone on this Minnesota Twins team. And he's largely been an underrated hitter. Granted over his 10 year career in the show, his power numbers leave little to be desired (the most home runs he has ever hit were 4 in 2001 with Florida, and the most RBIs he has had in a season are the current 38 he has).

His career averages (batting average/on base percentage/slugging percentage) stand at .293/.349/.354, and .295/.347/.354 this season. Compare that with say an unnamed third baseman with a .198/.286/.254 line on the season, those numbers appear that Mike Redmond is Ty Cobb compared to Nicky Punto.

What's my point? First, Mike Redmond is everything to love about a baseball player. Although being physically inferior to the skills of a Joe Mauer, he has more heart and guts than Mauer could ever give on his best day. He had seven stitches in his head after get plunked in the head with a bat, and still went out, put on his gear and manned the backstop for the Twins the next day. Mike Redmond is America.



Nick Punto sucks. No one would question moving Joe Mauer if there was an actual competent player at the hot corner instead of the Twin's version of Neifi Perez. The most insane decision by this front office was to let Jeff Cirillo go for nothing. Granted in the long term, his future would have been short with the Twins, but a solid bat and the ability to play Third, Second, First, DH pays dividends on a team with little right handed pop or depth.



As I write this, Joe Mauer likely tripped over Tim Brewster's defensive game plan (Nah, that doesn't exist. It was probably a rock) in the parking lot on the way home and injured his hamstring. If his legs have responded this way towards catching, it's unlikely it will get better over time. I understand the argument of his impact as a defensive catcher, but what good does it do if he's going to face (or not face in this case) injuries?

I'm not a doctor, nor am I much of a baseball manager (and neither was Dusty Baker), but a move of Mauer if no viable option emerges at third would be a smart, progressive idea. Something the Twins seem foreign too.

Correct optimism or a blurred picture?

After seeing the Vikings defense give a great effort against the Jets tonight, you'd get the feeling that they may be ready to take the next step and challenge the Chicago Bears for the NFC North division. Yet we get sidetracked and have to remember "This is just the pre-season." The Vikes will unlikely have 3 defensive touchdowns in one game (much less two) every game, but this defense and running game is showing that is capable of challenging in the NFC.

As I had mentioned before, the pass rush is and still remains a question mark and it's now obvious that Brian Robison and Ray Edwards need to be the starters. Robison has that burst of athleticism that this unit hasn't seen from the edge in quite a long time. The part that seems surprising to me is the effectiveness that the Jets were able to run the ball during the 1st half and has me questioning the overall depth of the defensive tackle rotation. Although non-football related and a bit of a mess from a PR standpoint, you can't help but be intrigued by the tenacity it took officers to arrest the latest addition of the Minnesota Vikings

With the majority of the scoring being handled by the offense tonight, it's still tough to figure out what to make of this Viking offense. We have yet to see Tarvaris Jackson throw a deep ball and signals to me that Brad Childress may be hiding his lack of accuracy on deep throws to prevent defenses from overloading the box until he improves. Reading too much into it? Possibly, considering the West Coast offense is predicated on short passing, yet that didn't stop Bollinger from nearly having a deep ball picked off on his first drive.

I'm beginning to change my opinion on how I feel about Bollinger. And this is where the pre-season becomes difficult to judge as there are over-riding factors involved such as which first and second stringers are in the game, play-calling, and the overriding factor that defenses are playing very vanilla in the pre-season. It makes Tarvaris' evaluation more difficult as you have to remember in the first game against St. Louis that the Rams have one of the weaker defenses in the NFC and aren't going to come out and test Jackson right away. If neither QB can succeed in that kind of a situation, their success will be limited.

Either way, Tarvaris is the starter for this team, but the situation behind him stands blurred at best. Brooks has been shaky, Drew Henson looked OK but is largely inexperienced, and Tyler Thigpen should not be considered an option to be a #2. As largely opposed as I've been to some of the decisions to bring in what are essentially "Chilly's guys" (Bollinger, Hicks, McMullen, etc.) Kelly Holcomb would make me and a lot of fans rest easier.



Miscellaneous thoughts:




-Dear Joe Buck,

Stop broadcasting.

Signed,
DeafEars

After Buck had defended Jericho Cotchery's spike of a football (which seemed strange considering he bashed Randy Moss to death over PRETENDING to moon Green Bay) I turned on the mute button and listen to Paul Allen on KFAN. As a fellow play-by-play broadcaster myself for several years I continue to be in awe in how much I enjoy listening to Allen call games for the Vikings.

-Allen brought up an interesting point in which the Vikings may have the best rotation of three running backs with Adrian Peterson, Chester Taylor, and Mewelde Moore in the NFL. That's not to say that they have the best combination of backs as compared to the rest of the league, they don't, but looking at the depth chart and going "three deep" it's impressive. It's shocking to me how underused Mewelde Moore has been, and it will likely continue with addition of Adrian Peterson.

Add Artose Pinner and Ciatrick Fason behind Taylor, Peterson, and Moore the Vikings have great depth at the position.

-As a proud Iowa Hawkeye fan, I'm very excited about Chad Greenway. The second he was drafted, I ran out in my yard screaming sounds of joy. And so far he hasn't disappointed.

-LOL @ this piece written on Dontarious Thomas at VikingUpdate.com. A player who has largely looked clueless, missing tackles, and was routinely faked out of his shoes in his first two seasons appears laughable to me to receive any praise. Great, he can miss tackles at every linebacker spot, good for him. Let's keep him as he is, a great athlete that lacks the instincts to be a good linebacker.

-Although he'll like never play much, Heath Farwell strikes me as a tough, scrappy player who would fit in well if called to duty. Generously listed at 6-0, 235 pounds, he tackles well and has a nose for the ball that has always impressed me in the past 2 pre-seasons I've seen of him. Unfortunately he will find himself with 7,500 less in his paycheck this week.

-This special teams is far from earning that title. Coming from a unit that never blocks a FG, rarely blocks a punt, nor creates big returns in the punt and kicking games, and gives up huge chunks of yards, this unit may be what keeps this team from being able to make it far in the NFC.

-I've never been a big Ryan Longwell fan and continue to have mixed feelings on him. The part that disturbed me about signing him was his performance in 2005 at Minnesota while he was still in Green Bay when he went 2-4. The Vikes won that game 23-20 with a Daunte Culpepper 23-31, 280 yard, 2 touchdown effort which seems to be a distant memory. Either way, he'll remain what he is, a solid kicker that's pretty good inside 40 yards and pretty shaky outside of it. To my disappointment he'll likely still be kicking off this season where he finished 34th out of 36 possible kickers in Touchback %.

-I expect that the New York media will be calling for Chad Pennington's head as he did his best impression of Brad Johnson tonight. The winner of the "Comeback Player of the Year" award looked largely overwhelmed by the pass rush and overall pass defense giving up 2 INT's. Pennington in the previous game against Minnesota last season went 29 for 39 for 339 yards with a TD and INT. That said, let's hope as a Vikings fan base that the pass defense will be able to put up this kind of performance in the regular season.

-I will remain unconcerned with Cedric Griffin even after a poor performance where he missed a few tackles. It will take more than one preseason game for me to change what was a solid season by Griffin last year. Even if he falters this season, the Vikes have improved depth with Marcus McCauley looking impressive and a returning Devonte Edwards (and hopefully the release of falsely charged Ronyell Whitaker).

-I don't check out Page 2 at ESPN.com very often, but these pre-season news and notes gave me a good laugh.

-A big thanks goes out to Aaron Gleeman for the link on his blog

I'm still without FSN North and ESPN in my apartment, so I'm still without the ability to comment on the Minnesota Twins. Given how horrible the offensive production has been for the Twins, maybe I'm doing myself a favor.

Slow week, two new posts coming soon

I apologize to any new readers, I just moved from a house in West Saint Paul to an apartment in Inver Grove Heights and have been busy with school, alcohol, doing stand up comedy, and getting settled in. I'll have a post recapping some thoughts from the previous pre-season game and tonight's game with the New York Jets.

To check out my stand up comedy, visit http://www.myspace.com/mikejungblut

My name is DeafEars, I write about stuff.

Everyone is mediocre in their own way, either you're ugly, you're boring, stupid, I happen to think I shine in all facets of mediocrity. My name is Mike Jungblut and I'm originally from Northeast Iowa and I just moved to the Twin Cities over a month ago. I'm not sure what I'm planning on doing with this blog, but I feel inspired enough by AaronGleeman.com to hopefully produce something interesting about the Vikings, Twins, and Timberwolves, Iowa Hawkeyes, and Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Thankfully the best time of the year has arrived, football season. I'm a lifelong Vikings and Iowa Hawkeyes fan, each with their share of highs and lows. I have no opinions of the Vikings just yet given the strange nature of their off-season. Here was a team that got off to a nice start off the gate , sputtered down the stretch but still likely could have made the playoffs in spite of being inept at quarterback, pathetic on the right side of the offensive line, terrible at wide receiver, vanilla play calling, and no pass rush.

Quarterback : All eyes will be on Tarvaris Jackson in the first pre-season game tonight, and I hope Childress gives him more than just one or two series' of play. My expectations are low, but if he's put in the right situation where the running game is going to protect him (and the pathetic right side of the line can protect him) I believe he can elevate himself into the Top 13-20 QB's in the league. The tools and athleticism are there, but it was clear in the games he played in last season that the game was moving too fast for him.

Brooks Bollinger is being overlooked in all of this and if Tarvaris looks shaky in the 4 pre-season games, he needs to be the starter. Most fans look at the game against New England when he came in the 4th quarter and got crushed and immediately assume he's not suitable to be a starter. I look at when he came in against Chicago and was efficiently able to move the ball down the field and become intrigued. In the short-term Brooks Bollinger could potentially manage this team well, and I hope he gets every chance to compete with Jackson.

RG and RT : Nothing made me scream more last season than the names of Artis Hicks, Marcus Johnson, and Ryan Cook. Their inability to even protect Brad Johnson ultimately lead to his and there demise. With their inability to even run-block made the run offense as predictable as any team in the league. Every defense that faced the Vikings knew that A) Chester Taylor would run off Steve Hutchinson and B) Brad Johnson can't throw deep. At times the best option they had at RG was Jason Whittle and he was not re-signed.

I wasn't that blown away by Ryan Cook last season. In fact his name to me mirrors such horrible 2nd round picks as James Manley, Raonall Smith, Willie Howard, and Michael Boireau. If he winds up becoming a player, great, but he will still be a huge reach in my eyes. He has some nice tools and a good work ethic, but he will have the burden of being a Viking's fans whipping boy if he has the same kind of struggles that Marcus Johnson has had.



Wide Receiver : This collection of receivers ranks at the bottom of the NFL, and rightfully so. The Vikings did their usual charade of "not overspending" and let Drew Bennett and Kevin Curtis run off to contending NFC teams. In all fairness, I would have spent the money on Bennett who has the ability to be a solid no. 1 or a good No. 2 then I would have spent on Kevin Curtis. Curtis is going to be a fine player in the slot, but the Viking's roster is riddled with players who have the same kind of potential with a much lower price tag.

We've been given the usual "Troy Williamson has improved!" speech from the various media outlets, but I'm skeptical. I don't believe anyone expects him to become a top 10 receiver or ever 30 for that matter, but hopefully can prove to be a deep threat and inject a little life in this offense. And hopefully with his new glasses he'll improve his doomed eye sight.



Sidney Rice and Aundrae Allison are both receivers I'm hoping will be healthy enough to play tonight. Rice has the physical skills that even as a rookie he could be the biggest scoring threat this offense has. Seeing the clips of him reminds me of a healthier Marcus Robinson (who was ridiculously overlooked when healthy last season) and could give the Vikes some hope in the red zone. I have not seen enough of Allison to gain a fair opinion, but everything I've read appears that he's another physical talent that can catch the ball. I expect this group overall to improve dramatically this season.

Play Calling : In all fairness to Brad Childress, he didn't have a lot of premiere players at his disposal to do a lot of things creatively. However when it was clear that his offense was unable to move the ball with a wore down Chester Taylor it wouldn't have been a horrible idea to run reverses or screens with Troy Williamson and some of the other receivers, gadget plays, just something to liven things up. They had success with a Fake FG earlier in the season and ever since then seemed to play each game with their tails between their legs. It remains to be seen if Darrell Bevell will get an increased role, but it certainly couldn't be worse than what was seen at the end of last season.

Pass Rush : Another area that was incredibly weak but has a lot of upside for this season. Ray Edwards has been talked a lot about in camp and I felt like he wasn't getting enough snaps last season has the opportunity to be a big impact player this season. The other player I'm excited about is Brian Robison. As a Hawkeye fan, I was able to see first hand in the Alamo Bowl last year the kind of speed, quickness, and athleticism that can produce a pass rush. Kenechi Udeze who's been thrown under the bus by a lot of people has a lot more ability than most people will give him credit for. I look for him to turn in a better season. Losing Erasmus James killed what little pass rush the team had last season and it remains to be seen if he can recover fully or not.

I'm living without cable right now which means, for each week I'm only getting to catch 1 Twins game, and the rest I'm struggling to listen to on 1500 KSTP as I curse Nick Punto's name at the top of my lungs. Thankfully the Vikings game is on Channel 5 in the Twin Cities and for once my boredom of local TV will end if only for a few minutes.

-MJ