Vikings Notebook: Coaches want Chris Kluwe's focus on football

Vikings P Chris Kluwe thinks it’s no laughing matter that Ray Guy is not in the Hall of Fame. (US Presswire)

Vikings special teams coach Mike Priefer agrees with his P Chris Kluwe that former P Ray Guy should be in the Hall of Fame, but he is not exactly pleased with Kluwe’s method for getting the word out. Last week, Kluwe taped a message saying “Vote Ray Guy” over the Hall of Fame patch on his jersey in the Chicago game and it has received plenty of attention.

“I don’t even want to talk about that,” Priefer said. “Those distractions are getting old for me, to be quite honest with you. Do I think Ray Guy deserves to be in the Hall of Fame? Absolutely, but there are other ways of going about it, in my opinion.”

Coach Leslie Frazier said that that the most important thing for all of his players is that they are focused on the next game on the schedule -- especially a game with St. Louis that has playoff implications -- and he said that includes Kluwe.  

“We’ve had some conversations, Chris and I,” Frazier said, “and right now he knows his focus has to be on the St. Louis Rams. He’s assured me that’s where his focus is, and we just have to keep moving forward.”

Light duty for Rudy: TE Kyle Rudolph’s only touch in Sunday’s game against the Bears was the onside kick recovery he made to clinch the win. Rudolph, who is second in the league for tight end touchdowns with eight and was only targeted twice against the Bears, said to talk to the coaches when asked about the lack of productivity. So Frazier talked.

“It can happen when the opposing team does a pretty good job of trying to take some things away,” Frazier said. “And it wasn’t like we didn’t attempt to get the ball to him, we just didn’t connect. He’s always a part of the game plan, so we’ll try again this week. The most important thing is that we’re productive on offense and we were ready to be productive on Sunday, although he didn’t get a catch. We ran the ball very well and we won. I am sure Kyle will attest to the fact that we want to win the game. We’d like to get him some catches, but the most important thing is for us to win the game.”

Injury update: CB A.J. Jefferson, who suffered a concussion in the Bears game, returned to practice, and Frazier said he had been cleared of the concussion protocol. Frazier said it was encouraging news and that Jefferson will start Sunday.

RB Adrian Peterson was held out of practice Thursday. He was listed on the injury report the past two days with an abdomen injury. Frazier said the training staff checked Peterson’s abdomen and he's fine and should be ready to practice Friday and play Sunday.

“His abdomen is a little sore, so we held him out,” said Frazier, who added he held him out for a combination of the injury and to give him rest. “He probably could have done some things today, but it was wiser just to hold him out. “

Frazier said that CB Antoine Winfield was also held from practice. “We did hold Antoine out, more rest for him as well. His knee’s a little sore, but we want to give him some rest.”

The remainer of the players listed on the team injury report had limited participation in practice: LB Jasper Brinkley (shoulder), RT Phil Loadholt (knee), LG  Charlie Johnson (ankle) and TE Kyle Rudolph (shoulder). The following players had full participation: DE Jared Allen (shoulder), CB Robert Blanton (neck), DT Letroy Guion (shin) and Kluwe (left knee and right groin).