Rice Almost Ready....

[zepman]

He sure looked good running around at practice today. I'm sure he's got alot of conditioning work and catching up to do but it's not like he has to learn the playbook.

I'm still optimistic about this year...if we can somehow get back to .500...THEN get Rice back...then I believe it's "game on" again.

The Vikes are going to get on a roll...it needs to start this Sunday with a thrashing of the Cardinals!!

[JIvers]

It's good to hear that Rice will be back, but I am afraid that 2-5 is too deep a hole for the Vikings to climb out of this year.

Hopefully they don't rush Rice's return and jeopardize his health, as we will need him in the post-Favre era...assuming there is an NFL season next year.

[paceman]

I agree Zepman. Lets turn this thing around. This weekend is a playoff game for us. To have any chance at making a run we have to win sunday. I think they will.

[schmitty3]

I also agree Zepman. If you look at the upcoming schedule they are all games we can win.

home vs Cardinals

away vs Bears

home vs Packers

away vs Redskins

home vs Bills

home vs Giants

home vs Bears

away vs Eagles

away vs Lions

No reason we cant win all of em.

[Steve Foss]

I also agree Zepman. If you look at the upcoming schedule they are almost all games we can win.

home vs Cardinals

away vs Bears

Well, can't win this one -- home vs Packers

away vs Redskins

home vs Bills

home vs Giants

home vs Bears

away vs Eagles

away vs Lions

Fixed it for ya.

[SkunkedAgain]

Packers, Skins, at the Bears, Eagles with Vick, and finishing against the Lions are the toughest games. Yes, I believe that the Lions will be peaking at the end of the season but still not playoff eligible.

Going 10-6 is overly optimistic for this team to only lose one game from here out. Two losses is even optimistic in my viewpoint, which gets you to 8-8 as more realistic and still one heck of a turnaround. That's going 6-3 through the stretch and hoping that 8-8 is good enough at the end of the season to snag a wild card birth.

I know that the entire NFL and especially the NFC have not been as strong this season, but I still think that the overall records will be in the 9-11 win range to make the playoffs.

[fishersofmen]

Yep I think we finish 8-8.

[FISHINGURU]

Pass the glue this way guys!!

[Fish Head]

As much as I hate to admit it, I can't see them going better than 8-8. They have a lot of things to fix.

I don't think Rice will be a big factor this year. Although I did pick him up on one of my fantasy teams this week, just in case.

[flipper]

I predict the Vikings will lose to the Giants, the Eagles and the Packers. And one other game to be determined. If they lose to Arizona on Sunday they may as well give up.

[Scott K]

6-10

[Born2Fish]

9-7 or 8-8. Not real sure just how far Rice is from actually playing in a game yet (He said he was pretty sore from practice), but the Vikings still can win more than a few of their last games. They just need to start by beating Arizona this weekend and keep it going from there.

[SkunkedAgain]

As I stated above, 8-8 is optimistic. I think that the realistic range is 6-10 up to 8-8. Many of these are winable games but the Vikings haven't won many of those. They've only won the two gimme games so far.

[FISHINGURU]

Stick a fork in em, best thing that can happen to this team this season is a bad record, a high draft pick, and a new coaching staff.

[Scott K]

It looks as though Vegas likes the Vikes this week, they have them picked by 9. Seems optimistic to me!

[fishersofmen]

What a baby sitting on the bench in a must win game on the road because he's not in "game shape". Way to hold off on surgery until pre-season in the first place. Good luck on a new contract......

[Dylan33]

After huffing the model airplane glue all morning I say we win every game from this point on and make a big run in the playoffs...SUPERBOWL HOMEBOY!!!

[Dylan33]

After huffing the model airplane glue all morning I say we win every game from this point on and make a big run in the playoffs...SUPERBOWL HOMEBOY!!!

SOBERING UP NOW....we win MAYBE 3 more games all season....finish 5-11 at best. Chilly is gone. Sid Rice will not have any impact.

[Born2Fish]

I think that Rice will have a small impact when/if he comes back. It will give the QB (whoever that happens to be) a legit big down field threat to throw the ball to, opening it up some more for Peterson. Even if just for decoy purposes.

[FISHINGURU]

After huffing the model airplane glue all morning

I see a few other guys around here like to huff glue also!!

[SkunkedAgain]

Quote:

Could Sidney Rice Shut It Down In Search For Contract?

Not playing might be in his best contract interest Brad Biggs

November 17, 2010, 08:45 AM EST

The great mystery surrounding Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Sidney Rice continues to unravel.

The Vikings have one week to promote the veteran from the physically unable to perform list or place him on injured reserve. Coach Brad Childress essentially left it up to Rice last week to determine if he would be ready to play at Chicago. Rice, who practiced hard during the week, opted to sit out despite widespread speculation he would make his debut after sitting out the first half of the season following hip surgery in the summer that easily could have been done in the spring.

It’s a frustrating situation for the Vikings, and it’s no less clear whether or not he will be elevated in time to play Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. There is some strategy involved for Rice, who is in a contract year after exploding last season with Brett Favre. He’d like to get paid and nothing would hurt his value more than going out there and being a shell of the performer he was last season. Nothing is hurting the Vikings more than playing without him. That’s why they pursued Vincent Jackson. That’s why they did a rent-a-receiver with Randy Moss. They need Rice on the field.

According to Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the man with the plan behind the scenes is agent Drew Rosenhaus. Per the report, if the Vikings lose to the Packers Sunday and drop to 3-7, Rice could feel there is no upside in him returning this season to play for a losing team. It might not be worth the risk to him. But he’s had just one big season and the league has seen what one-hit wonders are like at the position.

Maybe Rice wants to gamble on his 2009 stats at the bargaining table. It wouldn’t be a complete surprise. But it sure wouldn’t treat the Vikings right, not after Rice pushed off surgery far too long.

Oh uh Viking fans!

[FISHINGURU]

Who needs him or Moss? We have the Greg Brothers, Benard Berrian and Baskett.

[greebs]

Favre has needed him badly this year. Moss didn't help Favre so much but might have helped greatly had randy felt like giving it his all. Last year's schedule would be have been good for this years team too.

[FISHINGURU]

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP)—Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Sidney Rice bristled at the notion that he’s

taking his time to come back from hip surgery, saying Wednesday he wants nothing more than to play against the Packers this weekend.

Rice had the procedure in late August and hasn’t played this season. He returned to practice two weeks ago, and the Vikings have one week left to move him from the physically unable to perform list to the active roster before he’ll be ineligible to play at all this year.

Rice has full clearance from the team’s medical staff, and the Vikings have put the final decision about when he’s ready in his Rice’s hands.

Coming off a Pro Bowl season with an expiring contract for a team whose season is on the brink of implosion, Rice might not have much to gain by playing in 2010. But he spoke out Wednesday against speculation that he’s more concerned about his value on the market as a soon-to-be restricted free agent.

“I’ve not spoken about money—not one time—since I’ve been here,” said Rice, a second-round draft pick in 2007. “This is all about being healthy. I want to be healthy. I want to have a good, long career, so I have to protect myself as well.”

After addressing reporters in the locker room, Rice posted an entry on his blog at sidneyrice18.com titled “A Bunch of Bull” in which he adamantly denied a disinterest in playing this season for self-protection reasons.

“I wouldn’t dare do the fans or my teammates like that,” Rice wrote.

He also reiterated he plans to play on Sunday against Green Bay and defended his decision to sit out last week at Chicago.

“I went pretty hard in practice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and I was feeling significant discomfort Friday and Saturday when I woke up,” Rice wrote. “So I decided not to go out there and risk getting hurt or, in my eyes, hurting the team by playing before I was ready and taking away from the team by not getting healthy.”

Neither the Vikings nor Rice have described the surgery or the injury in detail, but Rice said it was “very serious.” He said he’s been trying his best to get back on the field.

“I want to be playing. I want to be out there with my teammates, having fun with those guys,” Rice said. “It doesn’t always happen like that. But know that I am pushing to be out there.”

When asked if he’s confident Rice will play this year, coach Brad Childress said he didn’t know. He said Rice is not being coerced to return sooner than he’s ready.

“It’s not a deal where you boot him out of the car and say, ‘You’re in.’ The guy’s got to be able to function and function at a high level,” Childress said.

Asked whether he thought Rice was excited to come back, Childress said yes.

“I do from the standpoint that I don’t think he’d be out here practicing these last couple weeks,” the coach said. “It’s really easy to malinger and hang around the training room and say, ‘Hey, it’s just not right.’ I don’t see that from Sidney.”

The Vikings were depleted at wide receiver by the end of their loss to the Bears, with not only Rice sitting on the sideline but Bernard Berrian

(groin) and Percy Harvin (ankle) out of the game as well. Berrian was on

the active list, but he aggravated the injury and never played. Harvin got hurt in the fourth quarter and didn’t return.

Harvin was limited in Wednesday’s practice, though he said prior to the workout his left ankle is “doing a lot better.” Berrian didn’t practice at all. Given his health and the fact that Randy Moss is gone, Rice’s presence

— even as a part-time contributor—is that much more critical for the Vikings.

“This offense has missed him quite a bit—our deep passes, in the red zone,” Harvin said.

However, Harvin refused to use Rice’s absence as an excuse for Minnesota’s lack of success in turning long drives into touchdowns.

“When you’re on the 2-yard line, when you’ve got the best back in football, Rice has nothing to do with being able to run the ball in,” he said.

[FISHINGURU]

Hey, maybe Percy should be the new coach, with that last couple sentences sounds like me and him think the same way.

New coach and an improved O-line and we'd be able to smash the ball within the 5 yards line every time.