Vikings' Links on Opening Day

"There is no sports event like Opening Day of baseball, the sense of beating back the forces of darkness and the National Football League." -- George Vecsey

Unlike last summer, I don't plan on shutting down this blog during the dog days of summer between the NFL draft and the beginning of training camp. Instead, I'm going to allow myself a little more leeway in my topics and will have posts about baseball, the Twins and any other sports related topics that strikes my fancy. I won't ignore the Vikings, but they won't be my sole topic. That's one of the reasons why I don't have a draft preview up today. I'm still planning on writing something on wide receivers Limas Sweed, DeSean Jackson, Devin Thomas, as well as taking a look at some second and third round prospects (and I might preview a few of the first round corners if I have time), but I just couldn't bring myself to write about the draft during Opening Day.

For those of you who aren't excited about Opening Day (and I don't know what to think about you), you're in luck. There's still a lot of good NFL stuff out there to read.

• Football Outsiders has a piece on ESPN.com about the quarterbacks that took the most punishment last year. If you're looking for a reason for the Vikings to draft a lineman in the first round, this is the article for you. Only nine more quarterbacks got hit (and sacked) as often as Tarvaris Jackson was last year, and no NFL team allowed their quarterback to get hit as often as the Vikings did.
  

• There's a new Vikings blog, Viking Vision. As I always say, the more the merrier (the lack of quality Vikings' blogs back in the day was one of the main reasons I started the Ragnarok). It's definitely worth checking out, especially the VikesTube section, which has an archive of quite a few good Vikings videos.
  

• Cold Hard Football Facts has been profiling all 32 teams prior to the draft, and their Vikings' profile was put up earlier this month. I missed it when it was originally posted, but it's still worth a read, especially because they consider the Vikings to have 10-6 talent, even now (as do I). The Purple should be a playoff team this year or they should find a new coach, simple as that.

• Like Childress' first year, the Vikings are opening on the road on Monday Night Football. As someone who currently lives on the East Coast, I'm all for more nationally televised games, so this is good. And I remember the last time the Purple played the reigning division champion Packers on Monday Night Football. Who could forget Moss' 190 yard, 2 touchdown performance at Lambeau his rookie year?

• The Star Tribune has a good rundown on the Vikings' issues finding a quality backup for Tarvaris Jackson. If they can get Sage Rosenfels or J.P. Lohsman, I'd be happy, as either one could step in and perform well enough to give the Vikings a chance to win and both would be able to mentor Tarvaris without complaining about backing him up.

Finally, I'd just like to thank everyone who's stopped by this site in March. This month was only the second time I've ever had more than 3000 site visits (the other being this December) and I'm still stunned that many people would read my Vikings stuff, especially in March. And for those of you who do stop by, please don't hesitate to leave me feedback, positive or negative (constructive only, please). I write the site because I enjoy it, but I also do it because it makes me a better writer, so any feed back is appreciated.