From: jag@unislc.uucp (John Ganske)
Subject: Minnesota Vikings News 8/20/92
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 17:19:59 GMT
Keywords: vikings green dennis playoffs training camp


Vikings news for Thursday August 20,1992

  from a Minneapolis StarTribune article, by staff writer Jim     
  Souhan, titled "Playoff fever? Some Vikings have caught it":

    (my editorializing: Geez! I hate to see such premature
     talk of playoffs and....gag, choke, gasp, the Super Bowl.
     Come on Vikes, let's just take it one game at a time
     (after all, you haven't even played any games that count
     yet this season).  I would be happy with a team that can just 
     play well through an entire game, and mabye, just maybe, win 
     a few.)

   from the article:

     Vikings veterans entered their first training camp under
     coach Dennis Green wondering how they would survive.  
     They left Mankato on Wednesday wondering how they would
     spend their playoff paychecks.

     "I left a team that won 11 games - 12 conting the playoffs -
     and I expect this team to win as many, if not more, this     
     year," said Vikings linebacker Jack Del Rio, a Plan B signee
     from Dallas.  "I mean, now.  This year.  Or I wouldn't be    
     here."

     A camp that began in a torrential rainstorm and with the
     ominous releasing of former All-Pro safety Joey Browner
     ended 29 days later with clear skies and summy predictions.
     "I thin this has been a great camp," said tight end Mike Tice,
     a veteran of 11 seasons.  "This team gets along extremely    
     well.  I think Denny (Denny?....Denny?!) has done a great job
     of building unity, and I think the guys realize that we don't
     need any superstars to go to the Super Bowl.  What we need is
     47 guys working towards our goal: to be the talk of the      
     nation."  

     I went to the championshiop game three years in a row with
     Cleveland," said safety Felix Wright, who recently half-     
     jokingly predicted the Vikings would play in the Super Bowl.
     "This team has more talent than that team.  So my expectations
     are high.  I just said: Don't be surprised."

     "This team," said safety Todd Scot, "definitely can go to the
     playoffs."

     In the past, newcomers to the Vikings have looked at the     
     roster and predicted championships.  The difference this year
     is that veterans are looking at game films - and into each
     other's eyes - and predicting championships.

     "I think we're better than anybody thought," Green said.  
     "But I'm not surprised by that....I'm not sure why people
     have us rated so low.  I think people probably underestimated
     a veteran team."

     Despite making dramatic personnel move that removed Browner,
     Wade Wilson, Keith Millard and Herschel Walker from the      
     roster, Green has insisted that this is a strong, veteran
     team that needed a tuneup.  He has added a few fresh spark
     plugs such as Scott (safety Todd Scott I guess), linebacker
     Carlos Jenkins and Plan B signees Del Rio, Tice, Roger Craig,
     and Vencie Glenn, and has promised to revitalize players such 
     as Chris Doleman, Al Noga, and Anthony Carter.

     So far, he likes what he sees.  "We're a hustling team," Green
     said.  "I would be disappointed if we went out and played 
     somebody and they out-hustled us.  That would not be good.
     The bottom line is we're probably hustling and playing as hard
     as anybody in the NFL right now.  Anybody who's seen us in
     parctice, or seen us play games, whether we have the first
     or third team in, would probably agree with me."

     Green professed to be unsurprised by his team's 2-0 preseason
     start, or his players' predictions.  But he is reserving his 
     own predictions until he sees how his players react under 
     less-than-optimal conditions.  "We were able to obtain what 
     you should be able to obtain in this rarefied atmosphere,"
     he said.  "The key is what happpens when some guys live in
     Eden Prairie and some in Minneapolis and you only come
     together for a five-hour period of time, rather than being
     together 16 hours a day down here."

     Green's training camp was entirely different from those run by 
     his predecessor, Jerry Burns.  Green and his staff kept the  
     team on the field for much less time; they placed more       
     emphasis on special teams, third-down passing defense and    
     other specific situations; they spent more time in meetings,
     and they tried to condition players during practices and
     weightlifting sessions rather than with sprints and runs.

     "I think we're playing a lot better than we were last year
     at this point,"  Wright said.  "We're not all beat up.
     We're going into the season fresh, which is unusual - unlike
     a team like Kansas City or New Orleans (both these teams
     hold camp in Wisconsin, and have practiced with the Vikes)
     that is pretty tired and dead right now.  I like our         
     philosophy.  Not that I have a choice."

     Green doesn't leave much room for choice, but he doesn't act
     like the taskmaster he was depicted as int he Vikings'       
     advertising campaign.  He has kept the players at arms' length
     emotionally, but not once has he ripped into a player, or 
     castigated the team, within earshot of the fans or media.

     "He's not real friendly with players; he doesn't talk to you,"
     Carter said.  "He seems to want to be in a position where if
     he has to get on you, he's not going to have to say, 'Well,
     he's a friend of mine, I can't critisize him.'  But in some
     ways he's a players' coach, because of the way he works things
     and tries to keep you fresh."

     Said Del Rio: "He's a tough coach, but he's not having to be
     stern with us.  We got the message."

     Green is more hands-on than Burns, and will run special-teams
     squads or scout teams during practice.  But mostly he observes
     and offers suggestions as his coordinators, Jack Burns and
     Tony Dungy, handle the offense and defense.

     "There's no reason for this team to feel sheepish about the  
     fact that we're 2-0, or that we've scored a lot of points and
     not allowed many,"  Green said.  "What I know is that this   
     team can play at a real high level of intensity.  They can 
     bring it."

   "Training camp report"

      Ugly men/ Center Kirk Lowdermilk won the team's annual 
      "Ugly Man" contest, but only because guard Brian Habib,
      according to ugly sources, stuffed the ballot box to 
      avoid becoming the first ugly man ever to win the award
      while not being on the ballot.  Habib, ugly sources said,
      would have won in a landslide had he not stuffed the 
      ballot box.  Habib has won the award before, and was trying
      to avoid becoming a rare repeat winner.

      Wednesday's action/ The Vikings held their last practices
      in Mankato, then left town in a hurry.  The morning practice
      was heated, as the combination of a month of camp and a night
      of celebration left a few players fiesty.  The best fight of
      camp took place, between defensive tackle Mike Teeter and
      offensive tackle Tom Rehder, and Anthony Carter responded to
      a hit by linebacker Greg Manusky by nailing him in the rear
      with a perfect spiral.



John Ganske      -------------------------
a readheaded dad, vegetarian, cyclist, runner, volleyball player,
programmer, and all-around good guy, glad to be back in Minnesota
and soon to become small-time (very small-time) farmer 
     -----------------------------------------------------  
Unisys Corp.                            jag@unislc.slc.unisys.com 
Roseville, Minnesota                    612 635-7545  
----------------------------------------------------------------- 

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