Judge will release ruling on NFL players’ StarCaps case

Minnesota Judge Gary Larson is expected to release a ruling that is critical to at least three NFL players, including Minnesota Vikings Pat Williams and Kevin Williams and New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith.

All of the three are facing the same four-game suspension after testing positive for the same banned diuretic found in the over-the-counter weight-loss supplement StarCaps before the 2008 season. Smith actually has stopped making efforts to fight the suspension, but because the two Vikings players are still attempting to avoid the suspension with the support of Minnesota labor laws, his suspension has not been carried out as the league has to wait until the Williamses’ case is decided.

Therefore, after long-time debate, Larson’s ruling will finally lead things to a conclusion, not the end actually, as the losing side is expected to appeal to the Minnesota court of appeals for further arbitration. But at least, we can expect to know whether Smith could put on his Saints jersey to play at the beginning of regular season or four games later.

Brad Childress is still waiting for Brett Favre with patience

The time that has passed since the beginning of the offseason proves how patient the Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress is in waiting for 40-year-old quarterback Brett Favre to make his decision on whether to wear back Vikings jersey or to retire in real sense.

As a coach, you’re a mother hen, you’d like him to be there for all of it (offseason work and training camp)," Childress tells Nichols in an interview conducted at the league meetings in Orlando, Fla. "But I’m enough of a realist to know that’s probably not going to be the case."

Announcing retirement at the beginning of last offseason, Favre eventually changed his mind to join the Vikings, a team he used to play against for 12 years as a Green Bay Packer. Beating many people’s criticism, he managed to have one of his best seasons and lead the Vikings to the NFC Championship game. As for this offseason, he has not made any high-profile announcement on retirement. But it is still hard to guess what the quarterback’s final decision is like. Since he could join a new team each time after he announced retirement, no words about retirement could mean that he would like to have a real retirement. Who knows? We can only be as patient as Childress to wait for his final decision.

The Vikings continue with their patience in waiting for Favre’s decision

According to the Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress, he did not have any conversation with Brett Favre recently except for some texts exchanges. However, the team is just as optimistic that the legendary No. 4 quarterback will wear back his Vikings jersey for the 2010 season.

Childress said he would have another visit to Favre during the offseason but it is unlikely to happen in near future, he would like to let Favre enjoy some downtime right now away from the game. At the same time, the Vikings have also been ready to get some new quarterback from the draft that begins next month.

Another hot topic to be discussed among the Vikings is about running back. They are in need of a qualifying running back that could replace departed Chest Taylor. The team originally hoped LaDainian Tomlinson could join to fill that role but the running back chose to sign with the New York Jets. And there is no other comparable running back available on the free agent market now, so the Vikings could also have to get a new running back from the draft.

Vikings rookie WR Harvin has 50-50 chance to play against Panthers

Minnesota Vikings rookie Percy Harvin returned to practice Friday after missing all last week’s practice and weekend’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals with because of severe problems with migraine headaches. And the team estimated that the rookie has 50-50 chance to play in this Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers.

Harvin felt well enough to participate in individual drills with his helmet and Vikings jersey on during Friday’s light workout, and Coach Brad Childress listed him as questionable to play against the Panthers.

Harvin has been struggling with the problem for most of his life, calling the migraines “scary” to the point where he must “lay down and hope for the best.” Because of the migraines, he missed two games as a sophomore at Florida in 2007 and has missed a handful of practices this year during flare-ups. However, the rookie still managed to be the second on the team in receiving and second in the NFL in kickoff returning.

Vikings returned to win

After losing last week’s game to the Arizona Cardinals, the Minnesota Vikings soon recovered and returned to the team ranking third in the league. They won this Sunday’s game over the mistake-prone Cincinnati Bengals 30-10.

The No. 28 purple Vikings jersey was seen everywhere on the field as Adrian Peterson ran 26 times for 97 yards and two touchdowns, contributing the biggest part to the Vikings’ victory. While quarterback Brett Favre was not doing best, completing 17 of 30 passes for 192 yards, one touchdown and an interception.

Peterson’s counterpart in the Bengals, Cedric Benson finally finished 1,000 yard for this season by having 16 carries for 96 yard in the game, but with the team’s loss, to having his first 1,000-yard season just became something less exciting.

Coach Childress will stay with Vikings through 2013 season

Having been coach for the Minnesota Vikings for four years, Brad Childress will stay with the team for a few more years and is expected to help the team win more games.

Childress signed a five-year, $10 million deal with Owner Zygi Wilf in 2006, and the team under his watch has improved each year: going 6-10 in 2006, 8-8 in 2007 and 10-6 with an NFC North title last season. As for this season, the Vikings has been 8-1 and Wilf decided to give Childress more incentives to encourage more improvements before battling with the undefeated New Orleans Saints for the top seed in the NFC-he signed to three-year contract extension with the coach.

What Childress impressed the boss most is that he has instilled a positive environment and created a strong foundation for future success, including persuading star quarterback Brett Favre to get out of retirement and put on purple No.4 Vikings jersey.

Brett Favre may still stay with Vikings for 2010 season

It has been rumored that star quarterback Brett Favre has bought a bunch of land in Preston, Minnesota for deer hunting. And that causes a lot to believe that the quarterback will still wear purple No. 4 Vikings jersey for 2010 season.

Plus, Favre has signed a $13 million contract with the Vikings for next season. But the contract is just less convincing than the land-buying because Favre, who is well-known for changing decision to people’s surprise, may still make mind to retire if he does not like the players, coach or stadium of the team.

The Vikings are 8-1 now, and very sure they will go directly to the playoff for this season. It is just not a bad idea for Favre to end his career in Minnesota: bringing the team to a Super Bowl will make it more likely for him to enter the Hall of Fame.

Vikings rookie WR Harvin was ill

As several starters of the Minnesota Vikings are fighting injuries, another bad news is that rookie receiver and return man Percy Harvin was ill. Not sure what the illness is, but it seemed that it is bothering the player enough to prevent him from taking a practice.

According to Coach Brad Childress, the unspecified illness has been bothering Harvin for long as he has had trouble with migraine headaches this season. Will he be available to play Sunday’s game at Green Bay? Childress said that it is possible as he is hopeful that Harvin will be all right to practice on Friday, leaving two days for the rookie to get ready for the game.

As for the injured starters in Vikings jerseys, they continued fighting their injuries and missing practice. Receiver Bernard Berrian was nursing his injured hamstring, linebacker E.J. Henderson was dealing with a knee injury and cornerback Antoine Winfield was recovering from his foot injury.

Steelers still seeking ways to slow down Vikings RB Peterson

In order to keep their 100-yard streak, the Pittsburgh Steelers must find a way to slow down the Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who gained 180 yards against the Cleveland Browns and 143 yards against the Baltimore Ravens.

To beat the unbeaten 6-0 Vikings on Sunday seems like an impossible task for the six-time Super Bowl Champion team Steelers. Vikings quarterback Brett Favre remains one of the NFL’s prolific passers, and Peterson’s 624 yards rushing lead the NFL and his 5.16 yards per carry average through 36 career games is the highest in NFL history at that stage of a career.

But the Steelers have their own confidence. Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin refused to call Peterson the NFL’s best running back. The team itself is No. 2 against the run and managed to limit No. 2 rusher Chris Johnson of the Tennessee Titans to 57 yards and No. 3 rusher Bengals’ Cedric Benson, who is the first to break the Baltimore Ravens’ 100-yard streak this season, to 76 yards. They have kept the 100-yard streak for 24 regular season games and find no reason to back away from the challenge of rusher in the Vikings jersey.