<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Smart Vikings fans might want to purchase their No. 9 Brooks Bollinger jerseys now. They could become a very popular item.It won't take long. As soon as young Tarvaris Jackson makes a mistake or two, the coyotes will start to howl: "We want Bollinger! Brooks is our man!" Because everybody knows ..."The No. 2 quarterback is always very popular," Bollinger said with a chuckle. "I've been on both sides of that. I've gotten booed. But it's out of my control. It's out of my hands. You can't get caught up in something like that."The Vikings reported to Winter Park Tuesday to begin a series of "organized team activities". That sounds as if it could be a barbecue followed by a sack race. In reality, it's a string of practices where the coaches scream and fuss just as if Opening Day were right around the corner.During Tuesday's OTA the Vikings worked a lot on their KAO (kick-ass offense). Some of the guys mentioned that they still were mastering the subtleties of the KAO, which apparently is more complicated than a couple of handoffs followed by a too-short dump pass.As the workout progressed, it seemed as if all eyes were on Jackson. He's a good kid who could turn out to be a good quarterback. But right now he is as green as grass. The team's newest addition at the position, Tyler Thigpen, is even greener as he's straight out of college.This brings us to Bollinger, who at 27 finds himself the graybeard of the quarterback kiddy corps. In terms of experience,Advertisementit's as if he's Otto Graham or Sammy Baugh - at least compared to the other raw recruits."You know, we were just joking about that," Bollinger said as he walked off the practice field with the other quarterbacks. "I went from being the young guy to the old guy really quick. These guys are giving me a hard time."This is Bollinger's first offseason as a member of the Vikings. He was a late addition to the team last summer."You build relationships during training camp," he said. "But I walked in the day after all that ended. I was walking around saying, 'Hi, I'm Brooks.' ''Meanwhile, he was pretty sure all the guys were smiling, nodding and thinking: "Who?""It took me awhile," he added.This time around, he says he feels much more comfortable. The son of Rob Bollinger, a former University of North Dakota coach, he's never been shy about giving his opinions on football-related matters. Now he's really piping up in team meetings."I speak up a little," he said with a laugh. "I grew up a coach's kid. I love the chess match."During Tuesday's OTA, Bollinger appeared to be working with the second-team KAO. That's no surprise. Although Jackson hasn't been officially anointed, he's clearly going to be the No. 1 quarterback for as long as he can hold on to the job.I don't to want to alarm anyone, because this is such an early practice - excuse me, OTA. But receivers were dropping balls as if they were covered with fire ants. There was no hard man-to-man contact during the workout. And sometimes the receivers weren't even being covered. Maybe the stick-um hadn't arrived.Anyway, for the most part the throws from the quarterbacks appeared to be true. And this group of signal-callers, which also currently includes journeyman Drew Henson, seemed to be pretty close-knit. For that reason, Bollinger said, if and when the inevitable quarterback controversy flares it won't be awkward."It all depends on who you work with," he noted. "If you have a good group of guys at quarterback, it's like being with your brothers."Besides, he added, the media and the fans concoct those sorts of controversies. The players know there is so much more involved than just the man behind center. That said, he's not here merely to offer advice and be a safety valve, either. Bollinger wants to play."At the end of the day, you're still going to have to go on that field and build toward something," he said. "I want to compete. It's about creating tempo and enthusiasm every day."Jackson has precious little NFL experience. Plus, his experiences haven't been particularly pleasant. Bollinger has started in this league. I can't envision any scenario in which Bollinger doesn't get a chance, at some point this season, to make a major contribution.So you might want to latch onto a No. 9 jersey now while they're affordable. If Bollinger puts up big numbers, I'm pretty sure Zygi will jack up the price.</div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Brooksie5 @ May 23 2007, 11:34 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Well duh.. he's a stud. He should easily win the starting job.</div>Exactly.Brooks > Tavaris.
I can see Tavaris starting by the end of the first half of the regular season. It'd be a smart move not to start him until then, however.
Jackson really isn't the future at QB. I'm sorry. I've watched pretty much every single Viking game since forever and when I saw him play last year, I just wasn't impressed. He just doesn't have what it takes to win in this league.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Brooksie5 @ May 23 2007, 07:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Jackson really isn't the future at QB. I'm sorry. I've watched pretty much every single Viking game since forever and when I saw him play last year, I just wasn't impressed. He just doesn't have what it takes to win in this league.</div>Well he was a rookie QB, its pretty common for them not to be impressive.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (david81 @ May 23 2007, 07:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Brooksie5 @ May 23 2007, 07:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Jackson really isn't the future at QB. I'm sorry. I've watched pretty much every single Viking game since forever and when I saw him play last year, I just wasn't impressed. He just doesn't have what it takes to win in this league.</div>Well he was a rookie QB, its pretty common for them not to be impressive.</div>I wasn't impressed with Alex Smith his rookie year, come to think of it. :thumbsup:
I wasn't impressed by Vince Young, Matt Leinart, or Jay Cutler in their first games. What does that mean? Nothing..Jackson will be starting next year. He has the skillset to be a great player in the league. The question is can he step up and be a leader and become a great quarterback in the mental aspect of the game. That's something i'm leery about considering he's normally quiet in the media and, from what i've heard, on the field. Bollinger is not starting material IMO. He's a quality backup for most teams but I'm not sure if he has what it takes to take the next step. In the end, I trust the coach's judgement over mine or any idiot writer like Tom Powers. The coach is supposed to be the expert. If I knew more about who should start and if we need a vet backup, I would be in the position Chilress is in.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (PurplePeopleEaters @ May 23 2007, 07:19 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I wasn't impressed by Vince Young, Matt Leinart, or Jay Cutler in their first games. What does that mean? Nothing..Jackson will be starting next year. He has the skillset to be a great player in the league. The question is can he step up and be a leader and become a great quarterback in the mental aspect of the game. That's something i'm leery about considering he's normally quiet in the media and, from what i've heard, on the field. Bollinger is not starting material IMO. He's a quality backup for most teams but I'm not sure if he has what it takes to take the next step. In the end, I trust the coach's judgement over mine or any idiot writer like Tom Powers. The coach is supposed to be the expert. If I knew more about who should start and if we need a vet backup, I would be in the position Chilress is in.</div>Ehh, my thing was I was never sold Tavaris as a prospect to begin with. Being fully honest, I can't figure out how for the life of me how he was a Second Round Pick.
For better or worse, Tavaris is the quarterback of the future. Brad Childress made that offical when he passed on Brady Quinn. As for Tavaris not doing too good last year, we really couldn't expect much more from him. He was a rookie, he was coming from a small school, he had Brad Childress's terrible play calling, and look who he had to throw to.Admittedly, he still has Childress's play calling and a lack of good WRs to deal with, but he definitly has all of the physical talent to become a very good QB, and he now has AD in the backfield for defenses to concentrate on. Is he going to be amazing this year? No. I think it will still take another year or two for him to be able to play to his ability, but the potential is defenitly there.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (supernothing @ May 29 2007, 01:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>For better or worse, Tavaris is the quarterback of the future. Brad Childress made that offical when he passed on Brady Quinn. As for Tavaris not doing too good last year, we really couldn't expect much more from him. He was a rookie, he was coming from a small school, he had Brad Childress's terrible play calling, and look who he had to throw to.Admittedly, he still has Childress's play calling and a lack of good WRs to deal with, but he definitly has all of the physical talent to become a very good QB, and he now has AD in the backfield for defenses to concentrate on. Is he going to be amazing this year? No. I think it will still take another year or two for him to be able to play to his ability, but the potential is defenitly there.</div>Great post. I agree with all of it. I think Tavaris still needs a lot more time to develop. He's still a developing player that will take about two or three years for him to fully develop into the potential that he holds.
Completely agree supernothing. Tarvaris is not going to break out right away but I see him being decent this year with the vikings going the steelers route from a few years back by running the ball to take pressure off of the young quarterback. We already know that Chester can rack up a good 1000 yards when fed the ball for a season. Adrian peterson has tons of potential. Now IMO Brad will be doing a lot better with his playcalling this year after the first year growing pains of last year. We're going to be a very traditional team this year. Lots of running. Lots of defense. It could work. It could fail completely... either way I see tarvaris being pretty good down the road.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (PurplePeopleEaters)</div><div class='quotemain'>Tarvaris is not going to break out right away but I see him being decent this year with the vikings going the steelers route from a few years back by running the ball to take pressure off of the young quarterback. We already know that Chester can rack up a good 1000 yards when fed the ball for a season. Adrian peterson has tons of potential. Now IMO Brad will be doing a lot better with his playcalling this year after the first year growing pains of last year. We're going to be a very traditional team this year. Lots of running. Lots of defense. It could work. It could fail completely... either way I see tarvaris being pretty good down the road.</div></p> What he said. </p> You can't judge how Jackson is going to do in the NFL after two starts. You need to give the man time before you judge him. </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Brooksie5)</div><div class='quotemain'>Jackson really isn't the future at QB. I'm sorry. I've watched pretty much every single Viking game since forever and when I saw him play last year, I just wasn't impressed. He just doesn't have what it takes to win in this league.</div></p> I recall hearing recently that Childress said, "He is ahead of where McNabb was at a similar stage in their careers"</p> I'm no fan of Childress (It all has to do w/ how he handled the Culpepper situation) butBrooks IMO is no more than a caretaker at the position.</p> Just curious; Who else is on the depth chart @ QB for Minny?</p> p.s. Good luck w/ Fred Evans. He has tons of potential but is quite a loose cannon it seems. </p>
