DAILY CLIPS

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2018

LOCAL NEWS: Sunday, December 9, 2018

Star Tribune Road team with winning record unavoidable on Vikings' path to playoffs By Ben Goessling http://www.startribune.com/road-team-with-winning-record-unavoidable-on-vikings-path-to-playoffs/502278711/ Harrison Smith remains a marvel in Vikings secondary By Sid Hartman http://www.startribune.com/harrison-smith-remains-a-marvel-in-vikings-secondary/502277651/ Solid offensive line play is giving Seahawks balance that Vikings don't have By Mark Craig http://www.startribune.com/solid-offensive-line-play-is-giving-seahawks-balance-that-vikings-don-t-have/502279731/ Offensive line sparks Seahawks' surge By Mark Craig http://www.startribune.com/offensive-line-sparks-seahawks-surge/502279741/ Dalvin Cook: Vikings ready to "impose their will" By Mark Craig http://www.startribune.com/dalvin-cook-vikings-ready-to-impose-their-will/502278701/

Pioneer Press

Vikings’ Eric Kendricks calls it ‘special’ facing brother Mychal after NFL suspension over By Chris Tomasson https://www.twincities.com/2018/12/08/vikings-eric-kendricks-calls-it-special-facing-brother-mychal-after-nfl-suspension-over/ Charley Walters: Vikings badly need win over Seahawks By Charley Walters https://www.twincities.com/2018/12/08/charley-walters-vikings-badly-need-win-over-seahawks/

Vikings.com Vikings Full Injury Report Against the Seahawks on Monday Night Football By Eric Smith https://www.vikings.com/news/notebook-vikings-defense-focused-on-containing-elusive-wilson Vikings Run Game Sees Uptick in Yards, Not Carries, in Road Loss By Chris Corso https://www.vikings.com/news/vikings-full-injury-report-against-the-seahawks-on-monday-night-football What’d They Say: Seahawks Talk about Vikings By Lindsey Young https://www.vikings.com/news/what-d-they-say-seahawks-talk-about-vikings 3 (Non-Vikings) Games to Watch in Week 14 By Craig Peters https://www.vikings.com/news/3-non-vikings-games-to-watch-in-week-14 How to Watch & Listen to Vikings at Seahawks in Week 14 By Craig Peters https://www.vikings.com/news/how-to-watch-listen-to-vikings-at-seahawks-in-week-14

‘Dear Kyle’ Letters Explain Tight End’s Impact on Lives By Craig Peters https://www.vikings.com/news/dear-kyle-letters-explain-tight-end-s-impact-on-lives

VIKING Update Sunday slant: Definition of contender has changed for Vikings By Tim Yotter https://247sports.com/nfl/minnesota-vikings/Article/Definition-of-contender-has-changed-for-Vikings-126089033/ Notebook: Kendricks questionable but ‘will be fine’ By Tim Yotter https://247sports.com/nfl/minnesota-vikings/Article/Eric-Kendricks-questionable-but-will-be-fine-Trae-Waynes-out-126075686/ L.O.B. 2.0? Not yet, but getting there By John Holler https://247sports.com/nfl/minnesota-vikings/Article/Seattle-secondary-isnt-Legion-of-Boom-20-yet-but-getting-there-126058494/

1500 ESPN

Trae Waynes won’t play against Seahawks; Eric Kendricks listed as questionable By Judd Zulgad http://www.1500espn.com/news/2018/12/trae-waynes-wont-play-seahawks-eric-kendricks-listed-questionable/

Road team with winning record unavoidable on Vikings' path to playoffs By Ben Goessling The Vikings’ considerable accomplishments in their first 4½ seasons under Mike Zimmer — a 45-30-1 record, a pair of NFC North titles and a trip to the NFC Championship Game last season — were built on the bedrock of principles the coach considers to be foundational: football intelligence, a paucity of mistakes and a level of mental grit that has often allowed them to shake off early mistakes and prevail in the fourth quarter. There’s another key ingredient to the formula the team has divined under Zimmer: home-field advantage. And if the 2018 Vikings are to make the kind of deep playoff run many had predicted for them, it’s very possible they will have to do it without that potent piece of the recipe. If these Vikings, who are 27-11 at home under Zimmer, are going to capitalize on their considerable potential and make a run to Super Bowl LIII, only two paths still seem available to them. They can beat Seattle on Monday to keep their division title hopes in decent standing, or attempt to do three times in as many weeks what they have done only twice in Zimmer’s tenure: win a road game over a playoff team. Since Zimmer took over as Vikings coach in 2014, they are 2-8 on the road against playoff teams in the regular season. They lost their only road playoff game, 38-7 in the NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia last year. This season, the Vikings are 0-1 on the road against a team that’s already qualified for the playoffs (the Rams), and 0-2 against two teams that would be in the playoffs if the season ended today (the Patriots and Bears). In Zimmer’s tenure, the Vikings have only won four of their 17 games on the road against teams with a winning record; their .235 winning percentage in such games is 17th in the NFL in that time. While their struggles to beat good teams on the road are far from unique, they’re also flailing in an area that’s been fairly essential to the résumé of recent teams that have made deep playoff runs. Of the 32 teams that have played in conference championship games since 2010, only six have gotten that far without a road victory over a team without a winning record. It’s been a different story at home. Under Zimmer, the Vikings are 7-7 against playoff teams at home, and 1-1 in the actual home playoff games they’ve hosted. Since 2016, they’re 5-2 against playoff teams in the regular season, though the mark will drop to 5-3 once the Saints — who beat the Vikings at home on Oct. 28 — officially qualify for the 2018 playoffs. “That’s why they give you three points in the points spread when you’re playing on the road,” Zimmer said. “It’s a combination of travel. It’s staying in different beds. Somebody told me once, it’s not just the crowd noise, but everybody there is rooting for them. So, the aura or whatever it is. “You always try to maintain the same consistency on the road as you do [at home], but there’s a lot of factors that go on.” It was striking to hear the coach — usually one to exhort his team to overcome adversity through its own fortitude — talk about things such as travel schedules and crowd noise in such stark terms. And yet, he’s right to do so: the data suggests those things have a real effect on the kind of home-field advantage the Seahawks will enjoy on Monday night. Teams traveling two or more time zones west are 14-32 in Pacific coast night games since 2006. Seattle is 18-4 at home at night in that time, with only New Orleans (in 2007) and Atlanta (last year) winning at the deafening CenturyLink Field after traveling at least two time zones west.

PUBLICATION: Star Tribune DATE: 12/9/18

The Vikings, as a whole, have been an above-average road team under Zimmer: their .487 winning percentage away from home ranks 11th in the league since 2014, in a time where road teams leaguewide have an average percentage of .429. But no matter what happens to the Bears against the Rams on Sunday night, a loss to the Seahawks would leave the Vikings at least 1½ games back in the division with three to play. They would essentially need to win out, and hope the Bears drop one of their two games — at home against the 4-7-1 Packers or on the road against the 2-10 49ers — before the two teams meet at U.S. Bank Stadium on Dec. 30. In other words, their best chance to win a division title and play at least one playoff game at home lies with their ability to topple a fellow contender in a daunting environment on Monday night. Getting in only as a wild card would require a sudden answer to a problem that has vexed them for the better part of Zimmer’s tenure. “It has that [playoff] vibe,” defensive end Stephen Weatherly said. “This is that type of game, and that’s how we must treat it.”

Harrison Smith remains a marvel in Vikings secondary By Sid Hartman The most versatile defensive player in the NFL is Vikings safety Harrison Smith, and it shows every week as coach Mike Zimmer positions him all over the field. Smith has 63 tackles, three sacks, three interceptions, two fumble recoveries and a forced fumble.

Only Smith and fellow safety Derwin James of the Los Angeles Chargers have recorded at least three sacks and three interceptions this season. Pro Football Focus had Smith ranked as the 15th-best player in the league heading into this season and he has lived up to that expectation. And after making first-team All-Pro in 2017 and being named to his third consecutive Pro Bowl, there is no doubt that the 29-year-old will be a fixture for the Vikings for years to come.

Kyle Rudolph has been teammates with Smith going back to 2009 at Notre Dame. The Vikings tight end said that all he has seen from Smith is improvement. “He has just gotten better and better every single year. I am fortunate to have practiced against him nine out of the last 10 years,” Rudolph said. “Nobody studies harder than he does and his ability to disguise coverages and move around in the back end pre-snap is still what separates him from a lot of guys in this league.

“After the ball is snapped his ability to play the run, to blitz, to cover, you know there is nothing he can’t do. There is no situation we put him in that doesn’t suit his game.”

Rudolph said that his game has evolved right alongside his college teammate.

“Practicing against him every single day, he definitely makes me a better player,” he said. “It’s easier on Sundays because the guys we go against on Sundays aren’t nearly as good.”

Rudolph earns key award

There’s no question that Rudolph deserves being named the Vikings nominee for the 2018 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award. He and his wife, Jordan, made a huge commitment to the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital last year. On the field, the belief was that Rudolph would play a key role in the offense this season because of Kirk Cousins’ fondness for throwing to his tight end and the fact that offensive coordinator John DeFilippo was a big believer in the West Coast offense. And that has been the case. Rudolph has 46 receptions on 60 targets for 463 yards and two scores. His 76.6 catch percentage is the highest of his career. He’s on pace for 61 receptions for 617 yards, which would both be the second-highest totals of his career.

Rudolph said that he’s always happy to be involved in the offense, but the biggest factor for the Vikings’ success is to have balance.

“It’s good to get some passes thrown my way,” he said. “We’re starting to get things going. When we use everyone on offense, we’re really tough to defend.”

PUBLICATION: Star Tribune DATE: 12/9/18

Seattle a challenge

For all the ups and downs of this season, the Vikings control their own destiny. Win their next four games and they make the playoffs.

Rudolph said he knows Monday’s game is critical.

“This is like a playoff game for us,” he said. “It will be a rocking atmosphere, it will be loud. They’re a really good football team. They’re playing really good on a three-game win streak. It’ll be a good test.

“For us the playoffs start this week, but with that being said, everything we’ve done to this point has led to a four-game season. We just have to go out and play well, and why not start playing well in December?”

Grant, Carroll go way back

In Bud Grant’s final stint as Vikings coach in 1985, he hired a Pete Carroll to his staff as defensive backs coach. Grant recalled what led him to hire the 34-year-old Carroll in the first place.

“You get lots of résumés of coaches that want to be coaches or have experience in coaching,” Grant said. “He wrote a great résumé and alluded to a lot of things that I believed in in coaching.”

Carroll went on to great accomplishments. He is also one of the big what-ifs in Vikings history because he was nearly named the coach in 1992 when Dennis Green got the job. “I recommended Pete very highly,” Grant said. “At that time the commissioner [Paul Tagliabue] stepped in and said he would like to have more teams consider black coaches. That I think was the tipping point that they hired Dennis Green, who was a great coach here in his own right. “But I think Pete would have been successful here in this atmosphere.”

Carroll won two national titles at USC. He led the Seahawks to back-to-back NFC championships, winning one Super Bowl and losing another. Grant said those wins, and losses, have made Carroll a great coach.

“He’s got the resiliency to be a good coach,” said Grant, whose relationship with Carroll has made a big impact on the Seahawks. “In order to be a good coach you have to be resilient and not get overcome by losing or overwhelmed by winning. Pete could handle both sides of that.

“He could lose and he could win and therefore he has been a coach for as long as he has, and a great coach.”

JOTTINGS • The Vikings’ remaining opponents have a .521 winning percentage. The only teams in the NFC playoff hunt who have it tougher are Carolina and Philadelphia.

• Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was asked what he recalls from his Vikings days. “It’s a long ways back, but it really got me my start in the NFL,” he said. “I had a stop off in Buffalo that didn’t amount to much but the Vikes with Bud [Grant] and Burnsy [Jerry Burns] and the guys, it was a great experience, a great five years.”

• Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson is posting a career-best 115.5 passer rating. “He is doing a great job for us,” Carroll said. “He’s had a great run, and he’s a fine player and a fine leader on our team.” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said Wilson will present a unique challenge from other QBs: “He’s very good, he is different. He has a lot of mobility, a lot of creative plays. They have become a run-first offense so they’ll run the ball quite a bit. He throws a great deep ball.”

• Harrison Smith on the Vikings defense so far: “We’re doing some good things but we can help determine ballgames a little bit better. Just have to keep tightening things up and running to the ball and hitting and causing havoc.”

• Rochester John Marshall basketball standout Matthew Hurt told Gophers Illustrated that he’s taking official visits to Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina but is still deciding if he will take an official visit to Minnesota.

• Karl-Anthony Towns has looked like a different player of late. In the Timberwolves’ 121-104 victory over Charlotte, he had his second career game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks. It stands as only the 20th such game since he entered the NBA.

• It’s interesting to note Wolves forward Robert Covington is No. 1 in the NBA in steals per game at 2.25 while the player he was traded for, Jimmy Butler is second at 2.14.

Solid offensive line play is giving Seahawks balance that Vikings don't have By Mark Craig The key to a happy, harmonious team, fan base, front office and coaching staff usually rests on the ability of their offensive line to consistently dominate the other team’s big fellas. Before we knighted Sean McVay for reinventing the game of football last season, the Rams rebuilt the young man’s offensive line into one of the top two or three units in the league. The Rams are a league-best 11-1, winning 54-51 shootouts, averaging 9.1 yards per pass and 4.8 per run. Yes, Sean’s 32-year-old offensive mind could prove to be historically sharp. But that kind of balance can’t be found — by any play-caller — behind a line that lacks continuity or top-line talent and strength. In Kansas City, where the Chiefs are an AFC-best 10-2, Andy Reid’s brilliant, rejuvenated mind has skill players going every which way in a symphony of three-way misdirection. Patrick Mahomes reads the defense’s confusion and flicks the ball left or right, back or forth, short or long. Try doing all that fancy, futuristic movement with defenders crashing through the front door at the snap of the ball. It wouldn’t work. In Minnesota, an ongoing story line features old-school head coach Mike Zimmer vs. new-school offensive coordinator John DeFilippo. Zimmer is open about wanting more commitment to the run. DeFilippo accepts the boss’ evaluation as having some merit but also expresses his opinion that bosses aren’t always right. Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle Duane Brown (76) blocks against Detroit Lions defensive end Romeo Okwara (95) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson) More “Balance to me is going to be different each week,” DeFilippo said. “If you just go in with the same plan to attack an opponent each week, I don’t think that’s going to give you the best chance for success.” Their problem isn’t communication. It’s not the age of the school of football they attend. It’s the fact their offensive line hasn’t played well enough to satisfy either one’s approach consistently. And that makes offensive line the team’s No. 1 priority heading into the offseason. Meanwhile, the situation up front in Seattle sits at the other end of the spectrum. Pete Carroll wants to run the ball, and, by gosh, run the ball they have. It started with Carroll firing offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and Tom Cable, his line coach and run game coordinator, after Seattle missed the playoffs last season. “We needed to do some things a little differently,” said Carroll, whose team plays host to the Vikings on Monday night. “Take advantage of the personnel we had and the style of offensive linemen we were able to get.” In doing so, the hope, Carroll said, was to elevate quarterback Russell Wilson’s “awareness of what’s going on in the game.”

PUBLICATION: Star Tribune DATE: 12/9/18

Carroll hired fellow run-game enthusiasts Brian Schottenheimer and Mike Solari as offensive coordinator and line coach, respectively. Solari then talked massive right guard D.J. Fluker into following him from the Giants to Seattle. “I’m really grateful that it’s worked out,” Carroll said. “Russell is more in command than he ever has been.” Wilson is on pace for a career low in interceptions and career highs in passer rating and touchdowns. And no other team in the league averages more runs per game (31.7) than Seattle. Of course, there was that two-game hiccup to start the season. Seattle started 0-2 with 12 sacks allowed. They had thrown the ball 69 times and run it 38. As an organization, Seattle recommitted to the run. Since then, the Seahawks have run the ball 326 times and passed it 257 while averaging 164.8 rushing yards per game, going 7-3 and climbing to the NFC’s fifth playoff spot. Of course, it helps that Fluker returned from a hamstring injury in Week 2. He won’t play Monday because of that hamstring, but undrafted rookie Jordan Simmons stepped in for him against the Rams in Week 10 and played well. It also helps that guard J.R. Sweezy returned from Tampa Bay this season and has started all 12 games. That right tackle Duane Brown has proved he was worth trading for last year. That center Justin Britt has been durable. That right tackle Germain Ifedi was a first-round pick in 2016. “Things have fit well,” Carroll said. “Those guys up front have done a good job kind of setting the tone for how we play our football.”

Offensive line sparks Seahawks' surge By Mark Craig THE LINE STARTS HERE The five main reasons Seattle has won seven of its past 10 games while averaging 164.8 yards rushing and experiencing run-pass harmony between Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer: Left tackle Duane Brown: Four-time Pro Bowl selection and 11-year veteran was acquired via trade from Houston on Nov. 1, 2017. Has started all 12 games at left tackle. Left guard J.R. Sweezy: 2012 seventh-round draft pick who spent the past two years in Tampa Bay before returning. Has started 10 straight games at left guard after starting the first two at right guard. Center Justin Britt: 2014 second-round draft pick. Has started all 12 games at center. Right guard D.J. Fluker: 2018 UFA from the Giants. Missed the first two games and Week 10 against the Rams. Will miss Sunday’s game against the Vikings because of a hamstring pull. Will be replaced by undrafted rookie Jordan Simmons, who played well back in Week 10. Right tackle Germain Ifedi: 2016 first-round draft pick has started all 12 games at right tackle.

PUBLICATION: Star Tribune DATE: 12/9/18

Dalvin Cook: Vikings ready to "impose their will" By Mark Craig

Seattle is the NFL’s Great Dane of running the football. The Vikings fall somewhere between wiener dog and chihuahua. But you know those little chihuahuas. They don’t like to back down. Do they, Dalvin Cook? “[The Seahawks] are going to try to possess the ball as much as they can,” the Vikings running back said. “We got to try to possess the ball more than they do. And that means running the football.” Seattle averages a league-best 148.8 yards per game, including 164.8 since recommitting to the run in Week 3. The Vikings rank 30th (86.1) and have an ongoing story line featuring coach Mike Zimmer’s public prodding of offensive coordinator John DeFilippo to run the ball more. Friday, DeFilippo said he would like to get more carries for Cook. Cook heads into Monday night’s game at Seattle with 74 carries in seven games, the same number he had in the four games he played last year before his season-ending knee injury. “My touches are going to come,” Cook said. “I’m not into the whole ‘Coach Flip, get me the ball’ thing. We’ve got enough guys on this team who make plays on offense to where I don’t need the ball as much. “But if they want to run the ball some more, that’s what we’re going to do.” Cook had 354 yards and two touchdowns on his 74 carries last year. This year, he has 312 yards and no touchdowns. But his receiving numbers are up by 16 catches, 104 yards and one touchdown (1-0). Seattle ranks 17th in run defense (116.8). “We have to impose our will,” Cook said. “It’s about running the football. Everybody knows to run the football you have to impose your will early. That’s what we’re going to go and do.” Clinging to sixth seed Clinging to the sixth seed with four games left isn’t what most people envisioned for a team that went 13-3 a year ago with backup quarterback Case Keenum starting 14 games. “Things don’t always go your way,” Cook said. “That’s how life is. Everything didn’t go how we wanted it to go this season. Guys got hurt. I got hurt. But when we put it all together, we know what type of team we got. “We’re going to put it all together and play complementary football, and we’ll be all right.” Kendricks in, Waynes out After missing the first two practices of the week because of a rib injury, middle linebacker Eric Kendricks returned Friday and was listed as questionable. All indications are he’ll play a week after posting a career-high 18 tackles in the loss at New England.

PUBLICATION: Star Tribune DATE: 12/9/18

“He’ll be fine,” Zimmer said. Ruled out for Monday night’s game were left corner Trae Waynes (concussion), tight end David Morgan (knee) and receiver Chad Beebe (hamstring). Waynes’ absence means undrafted rookie Holton Hill will get his second career start. He started against the Saints on Oct. 28. Fluker out Seattle’s vaunted run game will be without starting right guard D.J. Fluker, who’s out because of a hamstring injury. Fluker, who left the Giants to sign with Seattle before this season, has been an integral part of Seattle’s turnaround in the running game. The resurgence began in Week 3, the first game Fluker was able to play. Fluker missed only one other game. Rookie Jordan Simmons replaced him against the Rams in Week 10. “[Fluker] is a good player,” Zimmer said. “They’re all big, strong guys. They all play the same way.”

Vikings’ Eric Kendricks calls it ‘special’ facing brother Mychal after NFL suspension over By Chris Tomasson Round 3 in the NFL between the Kendricks brothers could be the most bittersweet one. Linebacker Eric Kendricks and the Vikings on Monday night will face linebacker Mychal Kendricks and Seattle at CenturyLink Stadium. It will be the first game back for Mychal after serving an eight-game league suspension for pleading guilty to insider trading. It will be the third straight season the brothers have met, the previous two coming when Mychal was with Philadelphia. But now there’s uncertainty about whether Mychal’s NFL career could be derailed after he is sentenced in January to what could be up to year in prison for having used information from an acquaintance to make about $1.2 million in illegal profits on four trades. Undated photo of brothers Eric, left, and Mychal Kendricks, as youngsters in Fresno, Calif. Photo courtesy of the Kendricks family. Eric said Saturday the ordeal has been tough on his family since his brother was charged in August, and then released by Cleveland, which had signed him last June as a free agent to a one-year, $3.5 million deal. “We’re sticking together, man,’’ Eric said. “I’m just there. He knows I’m there.’’ Eric is looking forward to again playing against his brother, with Mychal having won the first two meetings. The Eagles beat the Vikings 21-10 in 2016 and 38-7 in the NFC Championship Game after last season. Mychal won a Super Bowl ring two weeks later at U.S. Bank Stadium when Philadelphia beat New England 41-33. The two, who were high school teammates in Fresno, Calif., did meet once in college. Eric’s UCLA Bruins beat Mychal’s California Golden Bears 31-14. “It’s always cool,’’ Eric said of games involving the two. “I grew up playing the sport and watching him. It’s always special to the family.’’ Eric is listed as questionable for Monday’s game because of a rib injury but is expected to play. Head coach Mike Zimmer said he “will be fine.” Eric said his brother is “pretty juiced” for the game. Speaking to reporters Saturday in Seattle, Mychal said he is “so excited to be back.’’ “It is special in a sense that during a hard time like this, you lean on those that love you,’’ Mychal said of his first game back being against his brother’s team. “You lean on those that have been there all our life and it’s emotional coming back. What better way to come back than to play a loved one?’’ Eric is coming off one of his best NFL games, having a career-high 18 tackles and an interception in last Sunday’s 24-10 loss at New England. Mychal was asked if he watched his brother’s games during his suspension.

PUBLICATION: PIONEER PRESS DATE: 12/9/18

“Honestly, watching my brother play makes me nervous and anxious, so I try to not watch his games and every time, I don’t watch his games, he balls out,’’ Mychal said. “It’s like a superstition of mine. I can’t watch it on television.’’ Mychal does view the games later on his iPad and then offers critiques. Undated photo of brothers Eric, left, and Mychal Kendricks, playing high school basketball in Fresno, Calif. Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Eagles. “He’s still my brother,’’ Mychal said. “I want the best for him. … I’m like, ‘You missed that there, you should have got that there, good job there.’’’ Eric, 26, tops the Vikings with 107 tackles, and is all but a lock to become just the second Minnesota player to lead in that category in each of his first four seasons. Last April, he signed a five-year, $50 million contract extension that takes him through 2023. The future for Mychal, 28, is much more uncertain. He is playing on a $790,000 minimum contract with Seattle, and it remains to be seen what will happened after he is sentenced. “I’m not going to harp on the past,’’ said Mychal, who played three games with the Seahawks earlier this season before the NFL suspended him. “I’m not going to predict the future. I’m just going to be right where I’m at, so take it day by day.’’ And Monday will see the two brothers going against each other again. “It’s always a blessing,’’ Eric said.

Charley Walters: Vikings badly need win over Seahawks By Charley Walters Were the Vikings overrated this season? Many purported NFL experts this year predicted 11 victories for Minnesota for a team that would play well into January. ADVERTISING But now, the Vikings (6-5-1 with four games remaining) desperately need a victory against the surging Seahawks in Seattle on Monday night, probably just to remain alive for the playoffs. Even owner Glen Taylor admits he has been surprised at how quickly the Timberwolves have rebounded (nine victories in 12 games) since trading Jimmy Butler to Philadelphia on month ago. Joe Mauer (2004-18) is the greatest catcher, dating back to 1901, in the Washington Senators-Minnesota Twins franchise, finishing ahead of Earl Battey (1960-67), Muddy Ruel, (1923-30) and Butch Wynegar (1976-82), according to meticulous research in a new Tom Stone book, “Now Taking the Field,” which lists baseball’s all-time dream teams for each of the game’s 30 organizations. Ex-Twins-Senators owner Calvin Griffith, who died in 1999, would have turned 107 last week. Hall of famer Bert Blyleven was pitching coach for three World Baseball Classic Netherlands teams, for which new Twins second baseman Jonathan Schoop played last year. “He works his tail end off, has a great attitude — a really nice addition for the Twins,” Blyleven said. New England Patriots players broke into a chorus of locker room cheers when coach Bill Belichick told them they would get an extra day off following last Sunday’s 24-10 victory over the Vikings. If the Vikings are still in the playoff chase heading into their final regular season game against the Bears in Minneapolis on Dec. 30, and if the Bears have already clinched the division, it could be fortuitous for Minnesota should Chicago decide to rest players to avoid injury. Seahawks pro personnel scout Willie Schneider played football, baseball and hockey at Cretin-Derham Hall, then was a standout fullback for the University of St. Thomas, where his uncle — Seahawks general manager John Schneider — received a degree. Booger McFarland, Lisa Salters, Jason Witten and Joe Tessitore call the Vikings-Seattle game on Monday night for ESPN, with Kevin Harlan and Kurt Warner covering the game on Westwood One national radio. Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Michele Tafoya call Sunday night’s important Bears matchup against the Los Angeles Rams on NBC. NBC Sports NFL analyst Tony Dungy on Seattle: “Watch out for these Seahawks. They are gelling at just the right time.” Ex-Viking Adrian Peterson, 33, who has rushed for 856 yards for the Redskins this season, could be in the discussion as the NFL’s comeback player of the year.

PUBLICATION: PIONEER PRESS DATE: 12/9/18

Brian Kelly’s first year as football coach at Notre Dame was Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph’s last with the Irish. “You’re a good college coach when you’re a good recruiter,” Rudolph said. The football Gophers, ranked No. 63 nationally by athlonsports.com, are expected to receive gift cards and headphones as player swag from the Quick Lane Bowl. Ex-Apple Valley point guard Tre Jones is averaging 29.4 minutes per game as a freshman at Duke, second only to RJ Barrett’s 30.4 minutes, while averaging 9.1 points and six assists. Former Gopher Reggie Lynch, 24, is averaging 10.1 points and 4.1 blocked shots after 16 games for Kalev/Cramo in Estonia. That was Texas’ Shaka Smart among coaches watching Cretin-Derham Hall freshman point guard Tre Holloman, who turns 15 on Sunday, score 13 points with 10 rebounds, seven assists, four steals and a blocked shot in last weekend’s Breakdown tournament. Holloman had double-doubles in his first two games this season. Gophers freshman Daniel Oturu on Thursday night attended alma mater-reigning state basketball champion Cretin-Derham Hall’s victory over Apple Valley, which is in a down year following the loss of Jones to Duke. Gophers women’s basketball (8-0, No. 14-nationally ranked), under first-year coach Lindsay Whalen, is averaging 5,893 spectators per game. Last season, under coach Marlene Stollings, the Gophers averaged 3,130. Fun to watch: University of St. Thomas indefatigable freshman point guard Anders Nelson from Edina. Troy Burne professional Dave Tentis was named 2018 winner of the Minnesota PGA Bill Strausbaugh Award for integrity, character and leadership in mentoring. It’ll be a who’s who of current and former Minnesota sports officials, including several from the NFL, at a big holiday lunch at Mancini’s on Thursday. Mounds View native Mark Sembrowich, the former Yale, Stanford and Army men’s basketball assistant, has joined coach Barry Wohler’s staff at Orono High School. Sean Hjelle, the former Mahtomedi pitcher who received a $1.5 million bonus out of Kentucky last summer, has grown to nearly 7 feet with a fastball in the 93-mph range. The St. Paul Saints are working on a franchise museum for next year with items dating back to the early 1900s. Back in Minneapolis last week as play-by-play voice of the Houston Rockets was high-energy former KSTP-AM sports talk host Matt Thomas, 46. Paul Ramseth, 76, who played for the 1961 Gophers’ Rose Bowl champions, earned undergrad and masters degrees from Minnesota in the 1960s and last month earned a Ph.D. in education. Happy birthday: Carl Wetzel, who with Bill Masterton were the first players signed by the North Stars, turns 80 on Wednesday. Hamlin Nelson, the successful former Pine City football coach who lives in North Branch, is grandfather of Casey Nelson, 26, who has a goal and four assists for coach Phil Housley’s rising Buffalo Sabres. The United States Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which will include Eagan’s Natalie Darwitz on Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn., is a sellout. White Bear Lake’s “Jumping” Jim Brunzell lost a much admired friend and mentor with the passing last week of fellow former professional wrestler Larry “the Axe” Hennig. “Affectionately called him dad,” Brunzell emailed.

Home plate box seats for the Twins’ spring training opener against Tampa Bay on Feb. 23 in Fort Myers, Fla., are $30; left field lawn seats, $12. Lynx players Alexis Jones, Temi Fagbenle and Cecilia Zandalasini are playing in Europe this winter for their respective national teams. Maya Moore is taking the winter off. Ex-North Stars radio voice Stephen Michael, who resides in St. Paul, is in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates this weekend broadcasting the Grand Prix world powerboat championship in nearby Sharjah. New head golf professional at Braemar in Edina is Jay Meyerhoff, formerly at Rush Creek in Maple Grove. Ex-Vikings coach Mike Tice has former QB Gus Frerotte as offensive coordinator for the NFLPA all-star team for draft eligible players he’ll coach Jan. 19 at the Rose Bowl stadium. Former Timberwolf J.R. Rider, who was at Target Center last week, said he’s expanding his documentary, “Raw and Uncut,” which he labels a “testimony.” Ex-Gophers athletics director Joel Maturi is featured guest on local TV’s “Behind the Game” on Friday. Current Gophers AD Mark Coyle appears on Jan. 18. Local sports personalities will give updates on their organizations at a Q&A Dunkers breakfast on Thursday at the Minneapolis Club. Ex-Gophers center Casey Mittelstadt, 20, has four goals and five assists for the Buffalo Sabres. Ex-Wild wing Jason Pominville, 36, has nine goals and nine assists for the Sabres. Local author Pat Borzi’s “Minnesota Made Me,” a paperbook anthology of 38 sports figures with state connections that shaped their careers, is in its second printing a month after initial release. Ex-Augsburg College basketball star Devean George, 41, who experienced three NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, remains involved in commercial real estate in Minneapolis. The $750,000 Quick Lane Bowl payout for the Gophers, which includes having to sell tickets, is expected to end up costing the university money. Wisconsin, which lost 37-15 to the Gophers in the Big Ten finale, plays in the Pinstripe Bowl for a $4.3 million payout. Intense rivals Cortland (N.Y.) and Ithaca College already are planning to break St. Thomas-St. John’s Division III football attendance record of 37,355 when they play next November at the NFL Giants’ MetLife Stadium. The guy overseeing Seattle’s successful quest for a NHL expansion team is Tod Leiweke, who lived in Mendota Heights when he was president of the Minnesota Wild. Wishing the best for Tink Larson, the Waseca baseball legend recovering from hip replacement surgery. Twins owner Jim Pohlad, on reports that free agent Bryce Harper, whose agent is Scott Boras, turned down $300 million to re-sign with the Washington Nationals: “Agents are doing their jobs for their clients.” DON’T PRINT THAT Whether Vikings offensive coordinator John DeFilippo gets serious consideration for the Packers’ head coaching job will depend on whether Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers approves.

During 29 snaps, Vikings pass rusher Everson Griffen managed to generate zero pressure on Patriots QB Tom Brady in last Sunday’s 24-10 loss, profootballfocus.com points out. Griffen and Vikings offensive tackle Mike Remmers could be facing significant pay cuts next season. Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor telephoned pal Fred Hoiberg to express solace for his firing as coach of the Chicago Bulls last week. Led by a $5,000 donation from Gophers coach Richard Pitino and wife Jill, within 24 hours of the death of guard Dupree McBrayer’s mother Tayra from cancer last week, well-wishers through the university raised $15,000 to pay for the funeral on Wednesday in New York. Lifestyles: That was Vikings co-owner Mark Wilf zooming in to the Twin Cities on Wednesday morning, then out Wednesday evening via private jet. Pssst: The Gophers football program, due to a significant drop in attendance this season, is projected to lose $3 million. The Gophers’ P.J. Fleck’s annual salary of $3.55 million ranks 34th among highest-paid college football coaches, according to USA Today. Look for Hutchinson’s Mike Cannon, who worked the Ohio State-Michigan football game on Nov. 24, to be named an on-field official for the NCAA national championship game on Jan. 7 in Santa Clara, Calif. It looks like Vikings presumed free-agent linebacker Anthony Barr, 26, could end up with the New York Jets or Indianapolis, or another team with more than $100 million in salary cap space. Viking Adam Thielen’s restructured contract before next year’s training camp could exceed that of fellow wideout Stefon Diggs’ $72 million, five-year deal. Whether the Vikings re-sign defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson, 28, paid $8 million this season, could depend on whether he demands $10 million annually on a three-year deal. The Twins were able to insure 75 percent of the $30 million contract Kirby Puckett signed in 1992, but only 50 percent of Joe Mauer’s $184 million deal signed in 2010. Jacksonville and the New York Giants could be offseason suitors for ex-Viking Teddy Bridgewater, the Saints’ backup QB, Sports Illustrated speculates. Former Timberwolves coach Kevin McHale has received the last payment of the $11 million the Houston Rockets owed him after they fired him four years ago. The Gophers have sold nearly 7,800 season tickets for men’s hockey, but much fewer than that are showing up for games. Tight end Maxx Williams, 24, who left the Gophers early three years ago, has 14 catches for 127 yards in eight games for the Baltimore Ravens, is being paid $1.3 million and can become an unrestricted free agent after the season. Minnesota’s United FC Loons Major League Soccer team that next season moves into Allianz Field in St. Paul has an estimated value of $248 million by Forbes. Loons owner Bill McGuire has put in least that much into the franchise. More than a few spectators at the Gophers-Oklahoma State men’s basketball game last week at U.S. Bank Stadium — site of April’s NCAA Final Four — were fuming that it took nearly an hour for some to get out of the underground parking lot just west of the stadium.

There are 17 college strength coaches paid more than $300,000 annually, USA Today points out. The Gophers pay their football strength and conditioning coach $270,000 a year. The Vikings have gone from 20-to-1 odds last week to win the Super Bowl to 33-to-1 this week, according to Bovada-Las Vegas. Monday’s opponent, Seattle, from 40-to-1 to 28-to-1. The Packers have gone from 100-to-1 to 250-to-1. It’s $75 for an unsigned Bud Grant memorabilia item at a Southtown Center sports show this weekend, $110 for a signed item. A Jack Morris game-worn No. 47 Toronto Blue Jays 1992 World Series jersey sold for $1,720 in a national online auction. Baseball’s major league minimum salary next season will be $555,000. Membership renewals for the Gophers women’s Fast Break Club have reached more than $7,600. The new Williams Arena floor was re-painted light gray to resemble a weathered “barn” look. OVERHEARD NBC Sports NFL analyst Tony Dungy, who coached Indianapolis to a Super Bowl championship, on the Packers’ firing of coach Mike McCarthy last week: “I’m extremely disappointed. This man won a Super Bowl for you … to not let him finish out the season, to me, it’s ridiculous. I just don’t think you treat a Super Bowl-winning coach like that.”

NOTEBOOK: Vikings Defense Focused on Containing Elusive Wilson By Eric Smith

EAGAN, Minn. — There are plenty of plays that stick out from the Vikings 10-9 loss to the Seahawks in the Wild Card Round of the 2015 playoffs. But there is just one snap that sums up the wizardry of Russell Wilson. Minnesota led by nine points early in the fourth quarter at the University of Minnesota when the Seahawks had the ball at the Vikings 39-yard line. The Seattle quarterback was in the shotgun and wasn’t ready when the ball was snapped. The pigskin glanced off his left shoulder pad and rolled all the way back to Seattle’s 45-yard line. Wilson slid to the ground, gathered the ball and smoothly picked it up in a seamless motion. He then rolled to his right, eluding a handful of nearby Minnesota defenders before launching a pass downfield to Tyler Lockett that the wide receiver took down to the 4-yard line. The play went down as a 35-yard pass in the box score, but it was more than that, as the sequence showed off an athleticism that the Vikings are preparing for on Monday night. “Ha, that’s Russell being Russell,” said Vikings defensive tackle Tom Johnson, who was on the field on the play. “By far one of the best quarterbacks in the league at rolling out of the pocket. That’s what he’s known for. For him to make a play like that, that’s not uncharacteristic for Russell, you know? “That’s one of the things you have to know about him, and you have to contain him,” Johnson added. “He’s capable of making all those throws on the run and is an accurate thrower on the run. That’s something you have to be expecting in certain situations.” Wilson ranks ninth among NFL quarterbacks with 245 rushing yards, which means he is averaging a hair over 20 yards on the ground per game. And he doesn’t have any rushing touchdowns so far this season, even though Wilson had tallied at least one rushing score in each of his previous six seasons. But the Vikings know that it’s more about Wilson’s elusiveness than the fact that he’s going to rack up yardage on the ground. If the quarterback can get outside of the pocket, he can extend plays and hit a teammate for a deep gain, much like he did in that playoff game. “[He’s dangerous with] his legs,” said Vikings cornerback Mackensie Alexander. “He’s able to extend plays, and he throws great deep balls. “That’s going to be vital for us,” Alexander added. “We have to be very disciplined and get to him and get him on the ground and make sure we eliminate big plays against him.” Added Vikings safety Harrison Smith: “He’s an athletic guy. Not that he can’t run, but he throws the deep ball really well. His athleticism allows him to create, and he’s great at that.”

PUBLICATION: Vikings.com DATE: 12/9/18

The Vikings defense knows that they have the tough task of pressuring Wilson but also trying to contain him in a bubble of sorts as well. “I think you have to mix it up on him,” said Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer. “They have some movement passes where they get out of the pocket. Then they have some scrambles and they have some normal play action drop backs.” Added Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen: “He’s kind of all over the place. He’ll back up, he’ll shuffle, he’ll do anything to get out of the way and not get sacked.” Besides being on the field against Wilson in that Wild Card game, Johnson was with the Seahawks all offseason and to start the 2018 campaign before he was released and eventually re-signed with Minnesota. The defensive tackle has been both part of the opposition and teammates with Wilson, so he’s had an up-close view of what to expect Monday night. “It’s extending the downs,” Johnson said. “It’s having them in third-down situations and him being able to make plays to get that first down and move the chains. “Those runs that he does have, those rolling out plays and making DBs stick to the coverage … it’s a task and something they do well, but something we’re going to have to defend,” Johnson added. Rudolph reacts to ‘Dear Kyle’ video You aren’t alone if you’ve shed a tear or two while watching the “Dear Kyle” video that showcases Kyle Rudolph’s involvement in the community and at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital. The video, which can be seen here, highlights Rudolph’s nomination as the Vikings nominee for 2018 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. It has drawn thousands of emotions, including from the Vikings tight end himself. Rudolph summed up what the video meant to him and the reactions he has received. “A lot of responses to the video with how powerful it was,” Rudolph said. “That’s just a testament to the guys down at [Vikings Entertainment Network] and our PR department, my wife … everyone that got together and put the effort forth to get the letters. “For our video department to have the creativity to format it that way, it was really cool for me to hear from people I don’t hear from that often. A little more uncomfortable since I’m not used to being emotional,” Rudolph added. “I said it in the press conference … well, my wife said it … but I didn’t cry at our wedding. She knows I don’t cry very often, so it was definitely a little uncomfortable seeing that. But you don’t hear from those people that often, so to hear from them was really special.” View image on Twitter View image on Twitter Minnesota Vikings ✔ @Vikings He cried. You cried. We cried. The 'Dear Kyle' letters show how strong @KyleRudolph82's impact has been on local children's hospital patients and their families.#WPMOYChallenge Rudolph �: http://mnvkn.gs/6vM6CL

2,107 11:50 AM - Dec 8, 2018 489 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy Rudolph, who was also up for the award in 2017, said he would be honored if he eventually won the award. The recipient of the 2018 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award at the NFL Honors awards show in Atlanta the night before Super Bowl LIII. “It would be cool. I mentioned it the other day, obviously, the accolades and awards aren’t why we do the things we do,” Rudolph said. “And to be quite honest, it’s a little uncomfortable at times when people are telling you what a great thing it is that you’re doing because we just want to help people out and make their lives a little better. “We feel fortunate to have the platform that we have to go out and do better and make it for that,” Rudolph added. “Obviously, you look at past winners … Cris Carter winning it here with the Vikings … the award getting named after Walter Payton, some say it’s the most prestigious award in our sport. It would definitely mean a lot.” Praise for Seattle’s O-line The Seahawks rank first in the NFL with 148.8 rushing yards per game as the Seattle offensive line as paved the way for the league’s best ground game. That unit has also allowed 37 sacks, which is tied for the eighth-most in the NFL, but the Vikings say the Seahawks o-line has established itself as one of the top units in the league. “From what we’ve seen in the preseason ‘til now, they’ve been running the ball more, so they’re more aggressive that way instead of passing the ball,” said Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter. “They run the ball 32 times a game or something like that, so that’s one thing we have to focus on.” Added Zimmer: “I think they’re using [it] to their advantage [that] they are running the football a lot. They have a really good zone scheme that they do. They have a few traps, a little bit of crack toss. They’re tough, physical guys that come off the ball and get some double teams and try to remove you off the football.”

Vikings Full Injury Report Against the Seahawks on Monday Night Football By Chris Corso EAGAN, Minn. - The Vikings held their last practice of the week on Saturday in preparation for the game against the Seahawks at CenturyLink Field on Monday Night Football. Wide receiver Chad Beebe (hamstring), tight end David Morgan (knee), cornerback Trae Waynes (concussion) were all listed as out after not practicing this week. Waynes suffered a concussion against the Patriots last week. Linebacker Eric Kendricks (rib) was listed as questionable on Saturday. Kendricks was a limited participant in practice on Saturday after not practicing on Thursday and Friday. Mike Zimmer said “he’ll be fine” when he addressed the media during his Saturday press conference. Wide receiver Stefon Diggs (knee) was a limited participant in practice on Thursday,Friday and Saturday. Diggs did not receive a status on Saturday’s injury report and is expected to play. Cornerback Xavier Rhodes (hamstring), wide receiver Brandon Zylstra (foot) and guard Mike Remmers (low back) were all full participants in practice this week. All three players are expected to play on Saturday. Cornerback Holton Hill (finger) was added to the injury report for the first time on Saturday and was a full participant in practice. The Seahawks have released Saturday's injury report. Linebacker K.J. Wright (knee) is listed as out after not practicing this week. Wide receiver Doug Baldwin (hip) did not participate in practice all week and was listed as questionable. Guard D.J. Fluker (hamstring) also did not participate in practice all week and was listed as doubtful. Running back Rashaad Penny (ankle) was added to the injury report on Saturday as a full participant in practice and was listed as questionable.

PUBLICATION: Vikings.com DATE: 12/9/18

Running back Tre Madden (chest) was a limited participant in practice on Saturday and was listed as questionable as well. Tackle Duane Brown (ankle), running back Chris Carson (finger), linebacker Shaquem Griffen (knee), defensive end Dion Jordan (knee), safety Shalom Luani (quadriceps), defensive tackle Shamar Stephen (foot) all were full participants in practice on Saturday and are expected to play. Click here for both team’s injury report. Did Not Participate in Practice (DNP) Limited Participation (Limited) = less than 100% of a player’s normal repetitions Full Participation (Full) = 100% of a player’s normal repetitions GAME STATUS: Out – Will not play Doubtful – Unlikely to play Questionable – Uncertain if player will play * A player listed on the injury report without a Friday status is a virtual certainty to play

What’d They Say: Seahawks Talk about Vikings By Lindsey Young EAGAN, Minn. – The Vikings will travel to Seattle this afternoon to face the Seahawks for the sixth time – but just second in the regular season – under Head Coach Mike Zimmer. The Vikings played against the Seahawks in Week 13 of the 2015 season and again in the Wild Card playoff game that January. The NFC teams have also met in the past three preseasons. Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson spoke to Seattle media members this week and was asked about playing a Minnesota defense that doesn’t have a “glaring flaw,” and he pointed to Zimmer before turning attention to his players. “They have Coach Mike Zimmer, [and] he calls it up great for them,” Wilson said. “They’ve got a lot of different guys that can make a lot of plays. Harrison Smith, watching him on film, he’s one of the most talented guys on the field every time he steps on the field. It’s fun watching him and seeing what he can do on the football field. “The two linebackers, [Anthony] Barr and [Eric] Kendricks, they’re all over the field, too,” Wilson continued. “The defensive line, they’ve got so many guys rushing and getting to the quarterback and everything else. They have a really good [defense] from the corners to everybody. Like I said, there’s not a weak link. What we’re going to have to do is just be really sharp in terms of our preparation. Be rock solid on third down, be rock solid in the red zone and see where that leads us.” Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll called the Vikings a “difficult team” to play and said several factors make that the case. He added the familiarity with Minnesota’s players because “they’ve done so much” and with Zimmer’s system, predicting the Monday Night Football contest to be a tough one. Carroll is most recently familiar with Vikings defensive tackles Sheldon Richardson and Tom Johnson, the latter having spent 2014-17 in Minnesota before signing with the Seahawks in free agency and starting the 2018 season with them. Seattle released Johnson in September, and the Vikings brought back the veteran. Carroll said he had initially “hoped” to bring Johnson back to the roster. “He’s been a terrific player over a long period of time with a really good motor, savvy, [and] the consistency was always there,” Carroll said. “Last year, he had played the most he played probably in his career in a season, and he just showed that he could be an every-down guy for you. We thought of him as an older guy that we would want to make sure we counted his reps and took full advantage of that. We just didn’t get the chance to stay steady with it, and he’s doing well. He’s got 3.5 sacks or something. They’re doing a good job.” Here are other highlights of the Seahawks talking about the Vikings this week: C Justin Britt on familiarity with Richardson and Johnson:

PUBLICATION: Vikings.com DATE: 12/9/18

“Well, me and Sheldon, we go back to college [at Missouri]. Having Tom Johnson here in the preseason, got a good look at him and a lot of reps. But, he got the same amount with us, so it’s a chess match. It’s a chess match anyways, and you add the aspect of us playing with each other, it kind of elevates that even more. We’ll know what they’re going to do, they’ll know how I set, how I run-block. I’m sure they’ll say the same thing; we’ve just got to be right and not worry about them being on the team in the past. You’re just going out there and seeing a defensive tackle and going out there and taking care of business.” Defensive Coordinator Ken Norton, Jr., on Minnesota’s offense: “They’re good players. They have a good quarterback. I think they have a really good scheme. I think the quarterback knows how to get the ball to them, and they know what to do when they get it. The guys understand how to receive, and they understand how to run routes, and they’re a really, good skilled football team. I think they work really well together.” “They’re really skilled in the backfield. They’re explosive, they’re fast, they catch and run really well. They’re good receivers. They hit the hole pretty hard, and they break tackles. I think we’re going to have our hands full. They’re, again, a talented group. They’re explosive, and they do things really well. Their run game has been really solid.” LB Bobby Wagner on the Vikings balance offensively: “They like to pass a lot more. But they use their running backs a lot more in the passing game. They try to get them out in the flats, they try to set up screens and different types of things, but you kind of see that they want to run the ball, they want to establish the run and things of that nature. I wouldn’t be surprised if they come in and try to run it a little bit more and try to balance up their offense. But yeah, you watch them, they pass a lot, and we have to really be on our keys.” Britt on the Vikings defense: “Their technique is very sound. They’re not over-complicated. Their third down is excellent – they’re one of the best third-down groups in the league. We’ve just got to stay on schedule, stay right, not get behind the sticks. Technique-wise, they’re very sound and they’re very disciplined with their gaps. Again, it’s about us and doing right and understanding the schemes of the plays and the ins and outs. The film study and preparation, I think, is everything.” Carroll on dual threat of Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs: “They seem extremely well connected with [Kirk] Cousins. The intricacies of the things that they’re running and the timing that they’re able to show consistently on really good concept stuff. The guys come through and make the catches, they’re both good after the catch, they both get down the field. They’re possession guys, they’re down-the-field guys, they have all of that ability in them. So, it just makes it really hard, and the QB knows it. They seem to really have hooked up well with the quarterback, too. The execution is as good as you can get.”

3 (Non-Vikings) Games to Watch in Week 14 By Craig Peters As the days on the 2018 calendar dwindle, the stakes for each NFL game seem to increase. With Minnesota (6-5-1) set to visit Seattle (7-5) for Monday Night Football on ESPN (it also will air on WCCO in the Twin Cities), Vikings fans can cast their attention on Sunday’s lineup of games. The first game of the post-Mike McCarthy Packers is scheduled to air throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and the Dakotas. Atlanta (4-8) will visit Green Bay (4-7-1) for a noon (CT) tilt on FOX between teams that are far removed from when they met in the NFC Championship two weeks before Super Bowl LI. FOX has the doubleheader this week, and almost all of the country — outside of the Pittsburgh, Oakland, Detroit and Arizona markets — will receive Philadelphia’s game at Dallas. The 6-6 Eagles are trying for a late-season rally by securing their third consecutive victory, but the Cowboys are also hot, having won four in a row to take the lead in the NFC East with a 7-5 record. The non-Vikings game that is most important to Minnesota this week is the visit by the Rams to face the Bears at Soldier Field. Los Angeles (11-1) has already clinched the NFC West, but the Rams need to finish the season a game ahead of the Saints in order to secure the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC Playoffs because New Orleans (10-2) claimed the head-to-head on Nov. 4. A win by the Bears (8-4), who are a game and a half ahead of the Vikings in the NFC North, would give Chicago a 93-percent likelihood of winning the division, according to analytics site FiveThirtyEight.com. A loss would decrease that likelihood to 70 percent. Here are notes on the Falcons-Packers, Eagles-Cowboys and Rams-Bears games. falcons-packers-120818 Falcons (4-8) at Packers (6-5) Kickoff: Noon (CT) Sunday Watch/Listen TV: FOX Sirius: 125 (ATL), 83 (GB) | XM: 383 (ATL), 225 (GB) Overview

PUBLICATION: Vikings.com DATE: 12/9/18

A loss by the Falcons would knock them out of the postseason. The Packers are hanging in by a barely visible thread. By the way, the CBS game scheduled to air at noon (CT) in most of Minnesota is Baltimore (7-5) at Kansas City (10-2) in a matchup with strong implications for the AFC Playoffs if a higher-stakes game is more of your style. Falcons Notes Matt Ryan ranks third in the NFL with 3,814 passing yards and is one of three players this season with at least 3,500 passing yards and a passer rating of 109.3 or higher. He’s averaged 326.8 yards per game and thrown 12 touchdowns and just one interception in his past four games (passer rating of 124.9) against the Packers. Julio Jones leads the NFL with 1,323 receiving yards and ranks fourth with 86 receptions. In his past four games against Green Bay (including playoffs), Jones has totaled 28 catches, 576 yards and three touchdowns. Deion Jones returned from injured reserve last week after getting hurt in Week 1 and showed why Atlanta has missed the linebacker. He had 15 tackles (13 solo) and a sack against Baltimore. Packers Notes Aaron Rodgers has played the Falcons eight times (including playoffs) and averaged 327.8 yards per game. He’s thrown 21 touchdowns against three interceptions for a passer rating of 112.9 in those games. Davante Adams is tied for second in the NFL with 11 receiving touchdowns and ranks fifth with 85 receptions this season. Since 2016, Adams is tied with Antonio Brown for the NFL lead with 33 receiving touchdowns. Blake Martinez leads the NFC with 106 tackles (league stats). He’s had 10 or more tackles in three of the Packers past four home games. eagles-cowboys-120818 Eagles (6-6) at Cowboys (7-5) Kickoff: 3:25 p.m. (CT) Sunday Watch/Listen TV: FOX Sirius: 78 (PHI), 83 (DAL) | XM: 391 (PHI), 225 (DAL) Overview

Side note: The Patriots can claim the AFC East for the 10th consecutive season with a win or tie against the Dolphins. The NFC East, however, has been one of the most balanced since 2004. Every team in the division has claimed at least two crowns in that timeframe, and no one has repeated since the Eagles claimed three in a row from 2002-04. Philadelphia also was the division champ in 2001 before the league underwent realignment and is trying to repeat. Eagles Notes Carson Wentz’s 13 career games with 300-plus passing yards already rank second in franchise history behind Donovan McNabb’s 27. Wentz was 32-of-44 for 360 yards in a 27-20 loss to the Cowboys on Nov. 11. Zach Ertz ranks second in the NFL (behind Adam Thielen’s 98 receptions) with 93 catches. He is second in the league among tight ends with 978 receiving yards. Brandon Graham had a sack and forced fumble last week against Washington. He has had a sack in consecutive games against Dallas. Cowboys Notes Dak Prescott has completed 46 of 59 passes (78 percent) for 537 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions (passer rating of 121.5) in his past two games, connecting with Amari Cooper 16 times for 255 yards and two scores in that span. Ezekiel Elliott ranks second in the NFL with 1,150 rushing yards and 1,573 yards from scrimmage this season. Since Week 9, he is the only player with 500-plus rushing yards and more than 750 scrimmage yards. Leighton Vander Esch is going for his sixth game in a row with more than eight tackles. He had 13 tackles and an interception against the Eagles on Nov. 11. Vander Esch is one of two rookies with at least 100 tackles (league stats) in 2018. rams-chicago-120818 Rams (11-1) at Bears (8-4) Kickoff: 7:20 p.m. (CT) Sunday Watch/Listen TV: NBC Sirius: 81 (LAR), 83 (CHI) | XM: 226 (LAR), 225 (CHI) Overview

Trying to list the number of things that have changed for the franchises since these teams last met in Chicago (Sept. 23, 2012) is daunting. How about just saying that “almost everything” is different. Los Angeles is trying to finish a perfect 4-0 against the NFC North; Chicago is aiming for its sixth win this season at Soldier Field and could take a significant step toward earning a home playoff game. Rams Notes Jared Goff ranks second in the NFC with 3,754 passing yards and third in the conference with 27 touchdown passes. Todd Gurley leads the NFL with 1,649 scrimmage yards and 19 touchdowns. He is the eighth player in NFL history with 1,600-plus yards and 18 or more touchdowns in a team’s first 12 games. Aaron Donald leads the NFL with 16.5 sacks and 20 tackles for loss in 2018. He has had 2.0 or more sacks in five of his past six games. Bears Notes Mitchell Trubisky appears ready to return to the lineup after missing the past two games. He has averaged 285.4 yards and thrown 14 touchdowns against four interceptions in his past five home games. Tarik Cohen set career highs with 12 receptions and 156 receiving yards last week against the Giants when he also had a passing touchdown. He is the first running back with at least 12 catches and 150 receiving yards in one game since Shane Vereen in 2013. The Bears lead the NFL in turnover differential (plus 12) and interceptions (21). They are tied for the NFC lead with 16 forced fumbles. Full Week 14 Schedule Thursday Result Titans 30, Jaguars 9 Tennessee improves to 7-6; Jacksonville falls to 4-9. Noon (CT) Sunday Games Jets (3-9) at Bills (4-8) Giants (4-8) at Redskins (6-6) Saints (10-2) at Buccaneers (5-7)

Patriots (9-3) at Dolphins (6-6) Ravens (7-5) at Chiefs (10-2) Colts (6-6) at Texans (9-3) Panthers (6-6) at Browns (4-7-1) Falcons (4-8) at Packers (4-7-1) 3:05 p.m. (CT) Sunday Games Broncos (6-6) at 49ers (2-10) Bengals (5-7) at Chargers (9-3) 3:25 p.m. (CT) Sunday Games Eagles (6-6) at Cowboys (7-5) Lions (4-8) at Cardinals (3-9) Steelers (7-4-1) at Raiders (2-10) 7:20 p.m. (CT) Sunday Night Football Rams (11-1) at Bears (8-4) 7:15 p.m. (CT) Monday Night Football Vikings (6-5-1) at Seahawks (7-5)

How to Watch & Listen to Vikings at Seahawks in Week 14 By Craig Peters EAGAN, Minn. — The Vikings have reached the fourth quarter of the 2018 season. Minnesota (6-5-1, 2-1-1 NFC North) will visit Seattle (7-5, 2-2 NFC West) for a showdown on Monday Night Football between a pair of teams that would be in the NFC Playoffs if the postseason started this week. It will be the Vikings 62*nd* appearance on Monday Night Football and a tough environment for Minnesota in facing a Seattle team that has won three in a row. Kickoff is 7:15 p.m. (CT). The game will be broadcast nationally by ESPN and air in the Twin Cities on WCCO (Channel 4). Seattle would be the No. 5 seed, and Minnesota would be the No. 6 seed if the postseason began this week. According to FiveThirtyEight.com, Seattle has an 88-percent chance of making the playoffs entering Week 14. The best the Seahawks can do, however, is the No. 5 seed because the Rams have already clinched the NFC West. Minnesota has a 60-percent chance of making the playoffs and a 20-percent shot at the division, according to the site’s predictive simulator. If the Vikings win (without taking into account any other games that will be decided by kickoff), their chances at a playoff spot jump to 85 percent, and the run at the division bumps up to 35 percent. Under the same parameters, a loss by the Vikings drops their playoff likelihood to 44 percent and their division likelihood to 11 percent. A tie would give Minnesota a 68-percent likelihood for a playoff spot and a 29-percent chance at the division. The Vikings are 2-3-1 on the road in 2018, and the Seahawks are 3-2 at home this season. Here are the ways to watch and listen to this week’s game. TV BROADCAST Kickoff: 7:15 p.m. (CT) ESPN (will also air on WCCO Channel 4 in Minneapolis/St. Paul)

PUBLICATION: Vikings.com DATE: 12/9/18

Play-by-Play: Joe Tessitore Analysts: Jason Witten (booth) and Booger McFarland (sideline) Sideline Reporter: Lisa Salters LOCAL RADIO KFAN 100.3-FM/KTLK-AM 1130 Play-by-play: Paul Allen Analyst: Pete Bercich Sideline Reporters: Greg Coleman and Ben Leber Radio Pre-game Show: Mike Mussman | 5 p.m. (CT) KFAN and KTLK serve as the flagship stations for the five-state Vikings Radio Network. NATIONAL RADIO Westwood One Play-by-play: Kevin Harlan Analyst: Kurt Warner Sideline Reporter: Scott Kaplan SATELLITE RADIO Sirius: 81 or Streaming 819 (MIN); 83 or Streaming 828 (SEA) XM: 226 or Streaming 819 (MIN); 225 or Streaming 828 (SEA) NFL GAME PASS NFL Game Pass provides access to replays of every game, the NFL Films Archive and more for fans in the United States. International fans who subscribe to NFL Game Pass can watch games live. Click here for a free trial. DIRECTV NFL SUNDAY TICKET.TV NFL SUNDAY TICKET.TV provides live streaming service for customers who cannot get DIRECTV where they live. Eligibility is based on location, residence type or enrollment in any university in the U.S.

The service allows fans to stream all live, out-of-market NFL regular-season games every Sunday (based on customer’s device location) that are broadcast on FOX and CBS. The service is available on computers, tablets, smartphones, gaming consoles or streaming devices. Three different packages are available. Click here or visit NFLSUNDAYTICKET.TV/VIKINGS for more information.

‘Dear Kyle’ Letters Explain Tight End’s Impact on Lives By Craig Peters Dear Kyle, You meant a lot to Anton, which means a lot to me. … One of the few things that would make his day was you, and mashed potatoes. … I don’t know how to thank you but I will keep trying until I get it right. … I can never thank you enough! But I can thank you for being there as a friend to Anton. He really loved you. Every day at the hospital was a pain for Anton, but he always seemed happy, especially when you walked through the door. — Kenya Delgado The above excerpts are from a letter of thanks written by Kenya Delgado, 12, of Texas, to Kyle Rudolph, who has been selected as the 2018 Vikings Community Man of the Year and the team’s nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year. She first met Kyle during a visit by the Vikings tight end to the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital while her brother was undergoing treatment in 2015. Kyle didn’t know those words — and other heartfelt notes of thanks — were waiting on him when he walked into Twin Cities Orthopedics Studios one morning before the day’s meetings started. The reliably composed tight end sat down and was presented a folder. Nondescript on the outside, the folder’s contents were anything but. Words from Kenya, her 8-year-old brother, Judah, and their mother, Vanessa, reminded Kyle of his small friend who faced such tough challenges and never backed down but passed away at age 5. There were notes from other patients and their family members, reconnections with people from his hometown of Cincinnati and Elder High School, former Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis, and Kyle’s wife, Jordan. The Rudolphs have twin daughters and a son on the way, but helping the patients and their families remains a priority. Kyle Rudolph’s End Zone, which opened in March 2018 after more than a year of fundraising ($1.6 million), has provided a place of respite, and the entire Rudolph family brightens spirits during multiple visits throughout the year. The ink — handwritten or typed — made the tattooed tough guy tap his feet, shift positions multiple times and tear up.

PUBLICATION: Vikings.com DATE: 12/9/18

As the gratitude gushed from page to page, so did he. “My wife doesn’t even see me cry much,” Kyle explained, still full of emotion just moments after reading the final note. “She could probably tell you she could count on one hand — we’ve known each other for almost 10 years. She got mad at me because I didn’t cry at our wedding. It’s just not something I do, but when you hear from so many people that you love, you hear their appreciation, it means a lot. “It’s why we do what we do,” he added. “We just want to impact these people’s lives, whether it’s the patients, the families, anyone in the Twin Cities, to be quite honest. This is home for us, and we just want to do what we can to help others, no matter what they’re struggling with.” Time was short, and the outlook was bleak. It didn’t matter that Anton and the Delgado family had been able to attend Minnesota’s Nov. 8, 2015, victory against the St. Louis Rams. A month later, as Kyle and teammates were en route for a Dec. 10 game at Arizona, Jordan let him know via phone call that there was nothing doctors could do to save Anton’s life. “Without any hesitation in his voice, he was like, ‘I’ll be there.’ I don’t even know what time they got home [from Arizona]; it was probably 3 or 4 in the morning, and he told me he couldn’t sleep. He went and got bagels and donuts and was at that hospital by 7.” In addition to breakfast just hours after returning from a 23-20 loss, Kyle brought the jersey from the 2013 Pro Bowl when he won MVP honors. Before presenting it to Anton, Kyle wrote: To Anton: From a Pro Bowl MVP to a real life MVP. Anton passed away Dec. 15, 2015. He was buried in a Vikings Kyle Rudolph jersey. Jordan said she thinks Kyle chose to give Anton the jersey because, “Kyle has said it numerous times, whether it’s in our press conferences there or to the kids alone, they’re the MVPs. They’re like, ‘Who is your super hero?’ ‘Well, you are. You guys go through some tough stuff.’ ” The Delgado family can’t stop appreciating Kyle’s willingness to be there, in person, with them when death was certain but the timing wasn’t known. “We honestly had no idea [when Anton was going to pass away] and let him know that,” Vanessa Delgado recalled. “His willingness to step into hard places, there’s a lot of people who would run from that. … He could have said, ‘Hey we’re thinking of you, we’re praying for you,’ but instead he offered to step into this really hard place that I don’t think would have been easy for a lot of people to do.

“Anton, at this point, was sleeping most of the time, and he opened his eyes and looked at Kyle and looked at the Pro Bowl jersey that Kyle gave him,” Vanessa added. “It was probably one of the last three smiles, I think, of his life.” The friendship between Kyle and Anton was so natural that Kyle became part of the Delgado family, understanding their grief and sharing their sorrow. “Kyle gave Anton that gift of friendship, his Pro Bowl jersey and time. He offered to be there with us and sit there with us during hard things,” Vanessa said. “I think that’s one of my memories with Kyle that I’ll treasure forever, that he didn’t do the easy thing, which would have been, ‘Hey, we’re thinking of you guys,’ and send some flowers, but he stepped into Anton’s room, a place death was coming. “We were going through hard things, and he uplifted all of our spirits and attitudes that day by hanging out with us. His character shows up in that because he didn’t show up with media, he didn’t post it on social media. We actually asked permission to put it on Anton’s page. It wasn’t, ‘Look what I’m doing. I’m hanging out with kids who are sick.’ He was Anton’s friend.” Kyle was grateful that he made it back to visit Anton one final time. “The biggest thing when I found out that there wasn’t much time, I thought I wasn’t going to make it back from Arizona in time, so to be able to get back and spend time with the family and to see Anton — he couldn’t say much, but his smile pretty much said it all,” Kyle said. It has been almost three full years since Anton passed away, but his spirit and courage live on. In 2016, Kyle used his “My Cause My Cleats” platform to display “Anton Tough,” a catch phrase that sprouted when it was written by a nurse during the child’s final week. “That was huge for us because he definitely is one of the bravest, toughest people in the world,” Vanessa said of the son she and her husband, Jason, adopted from Russia. “His skin condition left him with open wounds all over his body, comparable to third-degree burns, so from the time he was born to the time he was 5 years old, it’s a life of pain and narcotics to cope and really hard things, but you never would have known, meeting him. “He was the happiest, most joyful person in the world and never was down,” she added. “So Anton Tough became his catch phrase and slogan, and that has just translated into all of our lives. We can do hard things. We can go through things that we don’t want to go through and walk them out with grace because Anton showed us all of that because he was the toughest person we all had met.” *** Kyle has an innate ability to connect with patients and families. His brother, Casey, survived pediatric cancer. Kyle, who was young at the time, has since learned what it was like for his brother and their parents. The sincere bonds developed help inspire patients like Nathan Njoroge, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in March 2017.

“He’s gone through multiple chemotherapy sessions, he’s gone through surgery, two transplants, radiation, and now is working to better his immune system,” said Nathan’s father, Edwin. “He’s pushing and charging and doing what it takes to get better and staying positive. He’s a kid that does all this and knows when he gets visits like that, they make him push harder and harder in life.” Nathan created a handmade newsletter, complete with photos, to express his appreciation to Kyle. University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital Director of Development Nick Engbloom said Kyle makes the hospital “feel lighter” during visits. “The hospital can be a very heavy place to be. There are many things going on, from diagnoses that might not be positive and things that put families in troubling times,” Engbloom said, “but when Kyle Rudolph is present and we’re doing events with him, it makes the hospital feel lighter and takes a burden off everyone’s shoulders, not just patients but staff, families, doctors, nurses, everybody here. It just becomes a lighter experience.” Nurse Cindy Osborn concurred. She has seen the Rudolph family visit with patients in the postpartum wing. “I think what made it so impactful is because it was fresh for Kyle and Jordan with their daughters, and it really made an impact on this family to come talk about their birth stories, which is really important for women, and they could sit and chat and be so comfortable.” From their repeated visits, the Rudolphs wanted to create a space for patients and family members to escape the stresses of challenging medical conditions. In planning Kyle Rudolph’s End Zone, the Rudolphs met with the hospital’s Kids’ Council, which is made up of patients, past patients and siblings. “We were like, ‘Don’t hold back. Give us all of your ideas,’ Yes, there are some things we can’t do because of regulations, like a skate park,” Jordan explained. “That’s not quite something we could do. Zip line, we couldn’t do. Basically what we got from it is kids wanted to be active. They wanted to go in there and be kids. They wanted a space that was theirs.” The space includes a basketball hoop, sports simulator, bubble hockey table, sensory space for patients on the autism spectrum, a lounge, video game consoles, space for arts and crafts and a family kitchen. Those are the visible amenities. The impact of Kyle Rudolph’s End Zone, however, runs much deeper. Ashley Baltzell wrote that the End Zone has made her son, Cooper, “so much happier during hospitalizations.” “It’s a place that he can decompress after going through medical procedures, and most importantly, a place he can go to where he actually forgets that he is in the hospital,” Baltzell wrote. “Cooper becomes a different kid when he visits; he doesn’t have anxiety about which

doctor will come in the door next, or which procedure will come next. Cooper is able to just be a kid and PLAY without any fears.” Kyle said it’s been “pretty incredible” to see the End Zone surpass their initial goals for the space, having already received nearly 4,000 visits. “I don’t think we thought it would go as well as it has, and that’s a testament to the hospital staff, to the Kids’ Council that we met with,” Kyle said. The primary questions that the Rudolphs asked the Kids’ Council were, ‘What are some things that if you weren’t in the hospital and you were at home, what would you want to be doing?’ and ‘How would you be living your life normally?’ “I think the best feedback that we’ve gotten so far … a mother told Jordan and I, ‘When we leave here, [my son] complains that he doesn’t want to go back to the hospital.’ He believes when he’s in the End Zone that he’s not in the hospital,” Kyle explained. Jade, a 17-year-old, provided ideas for the End Zone and has been inspired by Kyle’s commitment to community service to pay it forward with a special project of her own. Her mother, Shonna Gacke, wrote a note about how the involvement in the End Zone so positively impacted Jade. For kids with critical, life-threatening illnesses, they may not feel like they have a voice or say in what is happening; you gave that to her, and I can’t thank you enough for that. Kyle Rudolph's Holiday Huddle Rudolph and his wife, Jordan, sponsored â��Rudyâ��s Holiday Huddleâ�� for patients and their families at the University of Minnesota Masonic Childrenâ��s Hospital. 1 / 22 Kyle demonstrated care and concern for others much earlier in life. When he was about Jade’s age, he was a multisport standout at Elder High School in Cincinnati. He remains a supporter of the program, providing a major financial donation for the school’s athletic facilities, but the connection to the program is even more personal. Greg Wolber, whose son Jeffrey, now 23, was born with Spina Bifida, is confined to a wheelchair and is developmentally delayed. Kyle made sure that Jeffrey was included and treated well, from giving Jeffrey a pair of football gloves to simple high-fives and fist bumps. Kyle has since been able to send the family tickets to attend a Notre Dame game and to see the Vikings. He also still exchanges texts messages with Jeffrey. Excerpts from Wolber’s letter:

A lot of kids in high school would ignore, snub or walk away from kids like Jeffrey. But not Kyle, he always made it a point to come over and say something to Jeffrey and shake his hand. Jeffrey would text Kyle after watching a (Notre Dame) win on television and tell him “good game Kyle,” and Kyle would always text Jeffrey back. He still responds to texts and texts Jeffrey to this day. Guys like Kyle don’t come around very often. He is truly a class act. Even before he became a Viking. Kyle explained, “I just always remember as a kid, even far younger than high school, I was always gifted athletically and not everyone else was. As a little kid, at times that can be hard. People can pick on you and cast you aside because you’re not gifted athletically and might not fit in. I just always tried to be there for those kinds of kids.” Weis vividly recalled recruiting Kyle to Notre Dame, together taking the first steps of an everlasting bond between the coach and player that went well beyond the gridiron. Weis considers Kyle an honorary son, and Kyle believes there’s been no better second father figure in his life. Weis wrote with parent-like pride: You already exhibited that special quality of helping others. You grew from a leader of the freshman class to a leader of the program. You had already begun a life of community service without even knowing it. You were already a positive role model for our team. As I taught our team’s players about community service and the impact they could have off the field, I often used you as an example. Of all the players that I have been involved with in 37 years of coaching, no one has done more for others than you. As a guy who coached in the NFL for 16 years … I believe you would be the perfect choice to receive the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. Kyle said Weis has been “one of the big role models in my life and someone who taught me a lot about service.” “The way that he lives his life and how he serves others, doing so much for the special needs community, and what Hannah and Friends has been able to do for the South Bend community,” Kyle said. “Now that they’ve lived in South Florida, how much they’ve been able to do not just with kids with special needs, but adults. Now they’ve moved on to a military initiative and helping veterans with special needs. His heart never stops. I try to make him proud and do what I can to help others. “I’ve always told him that he’s been like a father figure to me,” Kyle added. “When you go into a kid’s home at 16 years old and start the recruiting process — a lot of college coaches tell parents

that they’re going to be father figures. Some are, some aren’t, but he truly was to me and still is to this day.” Kyle Rudolph: Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Nominee View photos of Kyle Rudolph accepting the nomination for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award with his family. 1 / 27 Vikings Executive Director of Social Impact Brett Taber announced Kyle’s selection to Twin Cities media members, and Owner/President Mark Wilf presented Kyle with the award for Vikings Community Man of the Year. “I’ve been with the Vikings for 12 years,” Taber said. “In that time, I’ve seen no player that has embraced this community more, given more of their time, their money, their celebrity to making this community and world a better place, so thank you, Kyle, for that. Kyle thanked the Wilf family for setting an example that encourages Vikings players to positively impact the community. “What you guys have built here from a facilities standpoint, obviously, but from a personnel standpoint is second to none,” Rudolph said. “Without your guys’ leadership, we wouldn’t have the drive and the opportunity to do the things that we do in the community, so thank you for that.” He also thanked previous teammates who took a fresh-faced 21-year-old under their wing immediately in 2011, noting the influence of previous Vikings Community Man of the Year winners Steve Hutchinson, John Sullivan and Chad Greenway. “On behalf of our family, it truly is our pleasure to do the things that we do. … [Recognition isn’t the reason] we do the work that we do,” Kyle said. “Jordan and I are extremely passionate about kids, and we do what we can do to help them be just that. They’re not in the circumstances they’re in for a reason. These diseases and cancers that they’re fighting don’t discriminate. They didn’t choose to have their childhoods taken away from them for a short period of time or some for a long period of time. The biggest thing we try to do is provide these kids with an opportunity to be kids. They shouldn’t live their lives any different than [my children], and that’s having fun and living each day to its fullest.”

Sunday slant: Definition of contender has changed for Vikings By Tim Yotter With quarterback Kirk Cousins in the fold and Sheldon Richardson joining the NFL’s No. 1 defense from 2017, expectations were high for the Minnesota Vikings. Free agency was winding down and “NFL Christmas in March” had gifted the Vikings some pretty nice, new shiny things. Perhaps all they needed to turn offseason tinsel into an end-of-season title was an offensive lineman or two and the new lead reindeer of the group, John DeFilippo, should be able to guide the longship in the sky to the Valhalla. Even Vegas was bullish on the Vikings back then, setting their Super Bowl LIII title chances at 9/1 odds, the third-best in the NFL behind the New England Patriots (5/1) and Philadelphia Eagles (17/2). That was on March 22. After almost nine months, there are complications bringing the expectations to term. These days, the Vikings are coming to terms with lowered expectations while holding hope for another playoff miracle. Once considered serious Super Bowl contenders, the Vikings are simply hoping to get hot and still have a chance at the NFC North title and, from there, see where that brings them in the playoffs. With a roster that seemed to only improve from the one that took Mike Zimmer to the NFC Championship Game in January, even the head coach has admitted some surprise at the state of their currently playoff position three-quarters of the way into the season. “I guess so, a little bit. Every year, things change, not just players but schemes,” Zimmer said. “This year, I see a lot of different things that maybe we saw once in a while and now you see it all the time. So offenses are always trying to figure out how they can hurt you defensively and vice versa. Everything in football is cyclical – these blitzes were really good for eight years and now you’re trying to change up and these coverages were really good for eight years. That’s just kind of how it all evolves all the time.” The hiring of DeFilippo as Zimmer’s third offensive coordinator in five years and the acquisition of the best quarterback available in free agency brought increased expectations. Zimmer and DeFilippo talked personnel, scheme and strategy often during the offseason. So far, however, the offense hasn’t been able to find a consistent rhythm. Cousins looked like a sure thing early on as he kept pace with the best in the NFL in the exploding numbers associated with many passing offenses around the league. But balance has been hard to come by. The Vikings have run the ball 253 times and thrown 491 passes, but Dalvin Cook said he isn’t too surprised at how the season has panned out so far. “It be like that. It don’t go that way all the time,” Cook said. “That’s how life is, you figure that out. Everybody knows that. Everything ain’t going to go how you want it to go. Everything didn’t go

PUBLICATION: VIKING Update DATE: 12/9/18

how we wanted it to go this season … guys have been missing time. Once we put it all together, we know what type of team we’ve got and that’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to put it all together and be one unit and play complementary football and we’ll be alright.” At least the Vikings still have a chance. The Green Bay Packers went from fifth-place 14/1 odds to win the Super Bowl in March to firing their head coach at the start of December. Amazingly, the Packers were tied with the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers with 14/1 odds almost nine months ago. The Packers are left praying for improbable myriad scenarios to occur to give them the slimmest of hopes to make the playoffs. Most likely, that dream dies this Sunday or the next. The Rams are now 11-1 and in the driver’s seat in NFC seedings. The 49ers lost their quarterback right after the Vikings beat them in the season opener and have floundered since. It’s just another reminder that the odds of March don’t often turn to Super Bowl gold. Only the wisest (and luckiest) of bettors reap the benefits of NFL futures betting. Too much happens between free agency’s fool’s gold and one team standing as the gem of the league 11 months later. In two of his first four games, Cousins threw for more than 420 yards and three touchdowns apiece. In his last eight, his high-water mark is 359 yards and he has five games with fewer than 260 yards and one (vs. Detroit) with 164 yards. “I think part of it is just different schemes,” Zimmer said. The view here is that Cousins is still worth the price paid considering the rest of the playoff-worthy roster, sans the offensive line, looked primed for a deep playoff run. In the first four games of the season, Cousins’ gaudy numbers – 10 touchdowns, two interceptions and 1,387 yards – helped lessen the blow of a pass defense that temporarily lost its way. But in the last four games, with the pass defense mostly back on track, Cousins has looked pedestrian. He has seven touchdowns, five interceptions and 969 yards. He is the primary player that will have to relocated that extra gear, not only in the playoffs but if the Vikings want to make the postseason at all. “Well, another gear isn’t the way to word it because that would imply that we didn’t have that gear the first three quarters [of the season] and I certainly don’t want to acknowledge that or entertain that. But to say can we catch fire, can we hit our stride, can we be more consistent, can we start achieving at our potential more? Yes, I think that’s what we’re looking to do,” Cousins said. “I do think that we can point to some times throughout the years that we’ve underachieved, not because we weren’t giving effort or preparation. But we just haven’t been able to sustain the level of potential in this locker room play in and play out and I think that’s what we’re challenging ourselves to do in this final stretch of four games is bring your absolute best to the table, fulfill your potential every play and every game. And if we do that, let’s see where we are at the end of the month.” The reality of the Vikings’ season to date is that consistency and well-rounded performances have been hard to find for any stretch. When the passing offense was humming along to start the season, the defense inexplicably had one breakdown after another. As the defense simplified and modified, the offense took a downward turn.

DeFilippo also pointed to consistency as he reflected on the first 12 games. “Consistency in the red zone, on third downs,” he said. “That is what we need to just keep always striving to do is just stay consistent with third down, red zone situational football because that allows you to extend drives and extend plays.” The Vikings took time during their Week 10 bye to self-scout, but that hasn’t always produced improved play. Since then, they have dropped two of their last three games, with that streak continuing the trend of falling to winning teams and beating losing ones. To date, the Vikings have yet to beat a team that currently has a winning record. They will have two more opportunities to change that, including Monday night in Seattle (7-5) and in the season finale at U.S. Bank Stadium against the Chicago Bears (8-4). The latest odds have the Vikings at 33/1 to win the Super Bowl, down from 20/1 before their loss in New England. The Rams and Saints, who both beat the Vikings earlier this year, are first and second in Super Bowl odds. The Patriots are fourth, behind the Chiefs, the Bears are eighth at 18/1 and Seahawks are 10th at 28/1. It’s not too late to reverse the trend of increasing odds, but it’s getting there. Beating the Seahawks and Bears and going 4-0 in the final four weeks would put the Vikings back in the conversation for contender of more than just the division. That’s the scenario they envisioned in March, but they haven’t played anywhere close enough to the level they can or should. Their train will either leave the tracks or have momentum built up for the playoffs in the next month.

PUBLICATION : VIKING Update 12/9/18

Notebook: Kendricks questionable but ‘will be fine’ By Tim Yotter Mike Zimmer’s assumption on Thursday that two of his starting Minnesota Vikings defenders would be healthy enough to play on Monday night in Seattle appears to be half right. Linebacker Eric Kendricks returned to practice on Saturday after sitting out on Thursday and Friday with a rib injury that didn’t limit his snaps in Sunday’s game. Officially, Kendricks is listed as questionable, but head coach Mike Zimmer said “he’ll be fine” when asked if it was a matter of pain tolerance for the middle linebacker. Cornerback Trae Waynes didn’t practice on Saturday and was ruled out for Monday night, along with tight end David Morgan and receiver Chad Beebe. Waynes was going through some exercises on Saturday, which means he is making progress advancing through the various stages of the concussion protocol but not close enough to play. Waynes suffered his injury in the second quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Patriots, knocking him out of the game after playing in 19 of the 74 defensive snaps for the Vikings. Undrafted rookie Holton Hill is likely to make his second NFL start in place of Waynes. Hill has progressed “pretty good for a young guy,” Zimmer said. Getting Kendricks back would be a big boost to the Vikings’ run defense against the Seahawks’ top-ranked rushing attack. “They’re exceptional at running the football. They do a good job with their offensive line up front, they’re physical, and they get to the second level very well,” Vikings defensive coordinator George Edwards said. “The running back has great vision, he’s able to see all the cuts. He can make all the cuts, he can get out on the perimeter, he’s a tough tackle for a defensive back. He’s got the strength to hit it up inside, those types of deals. We’ve got our work cut out for us in the run game this week, and it’s one of the things we’re emphasizing this week.” Chris Carson leads the Seahawks with 157 carries for 704 yards, four touchdowns and a 4.5-yard average. Rookie Rashard Penny has 73 carries for 369 yards, including a 108-yard game against the Rams, when Carson was out with injury. Penny is averaging 5.1 yards per carry. Mike Davis is also involved in the running game with 90 carries for 396 yards, three touchdowns and a 4.4-yard average. Carson has three 100-yard games while Davis and Penny have one apiece, each during games when Carson was inactive. “I think you look at them over the first couple games of the season, they were a different team. I think what they did was settle down and say, ‘This is what we’re good at.’ That’s what they do,” Edwards said. “… They’re a good situational offense. You can tell, they do an exceptional job of number one, not turning the ball over, and number two, they just keep the sticks moving. Kendricks had a career-high 16 tackles on Sunday and added one interception and a pass defensed. If he is able to play a full game with his rib injury, it should help the Vikings’ run defense.

“Eric did a tremendous job, which he usually does from week to week. He pays attention to the detail, he understands what we’re doing in the coverage as far as matching the routes,” Edwards said. “The break that he got on the interception was exceptional. When he’s in position to make a play, he’s going to make a play, whether it’s been in the run game or being able to get the people in the open field or whatever the situation has been.” NOTES Special teams coordinator Mike Priefer is a fan of Monday Night Football, even if the Vikings are 5-10 in the all-time series against the Seahawks. On Monday night, the Vikings 3-2 in the Zimmer era. “Excited to get the opportunity to play on Monday Night Football. I grew up watching as a young guy,” Priefer said. “I would sneak out of bed after my parents went to bed and try to watch a few games over the years and probably got caught a bunch of times, too. Got in a lot of trouble. I love Monday Night Football. I think it’s exciting for the players, exciting for the coaches because it’s the only game in town. Especially the meaning this game has for both football teams, so it’s going to be fun.” Adam Thielen remains in first place in the NFL for receptions (98), is second in receiving yards (1,166) and tied for fifth in touchdowns catches (nine), but QB Kirk Cousins says Thielen takes a different approach in wanting the ball. “He’s going to ask for the ball because he feels like it can help us win. I think it’s unselfish of him to ask for the ball because he’s saying, ‘I’m only asking for it because I feel like I can help us win when the ball is in my hands’ and it would be hard to argue with him,” Cousins said. “He’s going to ask for the ball or have ideas of how he can help us from a team perspective. I don’t think he talks a whole lot about his stats, but I don’t know of anybody in this locker room who walks around talking about their stats. … Adam doesn’t make it about him.”

PUBLICATION : VIKING Update 12/9/18

L.O.B. 2.0? Not yet, but getting there By John Holler For years, the Seattle Seahawks enjoyed incredible defensive success due in large part to a secondary that was so good that it earned an intimidating nickname – The Legion of Boom. It was an all-star cast that wasn’t dissimilar from The Beatles. They had three stars – cornerback Richard Sherman and safeties Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor. All three came up at the same time and had several revolving supporting players at cornerback playing the role of Ringo. To look at the current 2018 Seahawks, the Legion is gone. Injuries did in Chancellor. Sherman was allowed to leave and signed with division rival San Francisco. Thomas held out and let the Seattle front office know they were No. 1 when he suffered a season-ending injury while playing on a franchise tag. PAID CONTENT BY VERIZON WIRELESS Get the gifts you want. On the network you deserve. The cast currently in place bears no resemblance to the L.O.B. – cornerbacks Shaquill Griffin and Tre Flowers, safeties Bradley McDougald and Tedric Thompson and backup band session players Justin Coleman, Delano Hill and Akeem King. But, they’re looking to be L.O.B. 2.0. The Minnesota Vikings have their fair share of experience with the initial L.O.B. incarnation. They're gone. This new group is still getting its feet under itself and trying to build its own foundation after the dismantling of the house. While quick to claim that he wasn’t wide-eyed by the precision of the original members of the band, wide receiver Stefon Diggs said that, in the early stages of his professional career, going up against the original L.O.B. was a wide receiver tutorial. “They run the same system, but it’s definitely different guys,” Diggs said. “I’m saying nothing against those new guys, but those old guys were pretty good. I played against them when I was young – that was my rookie year. It was good to go against that early and be exposed to understanding concepts of everything. Knowing the game and being smarter than your opponent is huge.” The names have changed – quickly and dramatically in the Northwest – but the L.O.B. legacy is embodied in the current cast of characters replacing those that paved the way. “You see the same system and you really see the same mentality,” wide receiver Adam Thielen said. “I think a lot of those guys, you can tell that they watched film of those past guys before them, because they play a lot alike. They’ve had success with it. As of late, they’ve been playing really good defensive football and you can tell that they’re finally starting to really mesh together as unit – playing fast, not thinking [too much] and not making a lot of mistakes.” The Seahawks have a knack for finding players that fit into what they do defensively. As such, the names that are currently unfamiliar to casual NFL fans are the focus of those in the eye of the hurricane. Do the Seahawks have “a type?” “I think so, especially for this system,” Thielen said. “You’ve got to have certain types of guys in certain positions. They obviously have some guys that play really well in that system – not saying they wouldn’t

play well in other systems. They play with so much speed that it makes it tough. Even if you know what coverage they’re in, they play with so much speed it makes it tough on you to get open.” The names have changed, but the system remains the same. From head coach Pete Carroll to new defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr., the Legion of Boom baton has been passed on to the next generation of baby Boomers, but the same smell remains for those who are going up against them, especially on their native soil. “They’re all new guys, but as long as Pete’s there – he’s a defensive mind – and Ken Norton is a guy that’s been with Pete in the past so they have their system that they continue to run and the body types want to fill,” tight end Kyle Rudolph said. “Their defense is still playing at a very high level. What jumps off the tape is their team speed. Those guys fly around and create a bunch of turnovers. We’re going to have to take care of the ball.” They may have their differences in terms of time together, but, as the season has progressed, Seattle’s defense has found its swagger again. The L.O.B. was the L.O.B. long before the rest of the NFL world accepted a self-proclaimed nickname that germinated into an accepted piece of league history. If you back it up, you get to keep it. The current secondary of the Seahawks has big cleats to fill and is a long way from making a claim to follow-up success commensurate with a nickname that sticks. But, they’re starting to make a footprint that rain won’t wash away – even in Seattle. They’re not a replica, but they’re getting there. “They’re a lot different, but there are some similarities,” Rudolph said. “Those guys we went against over the years played together so long. The cohesiveness you have to have on the back end of the defense and know what guys need to do, they played so well and fed off one another. These guys are still learning to work together, but you can see it on tape that they’re going to be a good group for a long time to come.” The Vikings hope that reputation won’t get traction until some point after Monday night.