Greenway done for year.

KSTP Article
Greenway is done for the year.

Not a good way to start the year

This is a terrible way to start the preseason, Lets just hope that this is not a start to an injury trend this year. Hopefully Henderson is actually going to continue what he has done so we don’t even notice Greenway is hurt.

I was listening to the game on the way home last night, first thing I though was…why in the he!! is he covering kicks?? Good call Childress!

BIRDDOG

Since I know that there is a lot of questioning the call to have him in I will through in my two cents of why. He is a rookie, That is what rookies do on the defense. He is not a clear cut starting linebacker yet he has to earn the respect of his teamates. You would also question if this guy was just sitting the on the bench doing nothing. You have to see what he is made of. It is a freak thing that happened. It happens every year to every team. I cannot blame the coach on this one.

I was a Special Teams coordinator for 9 years at the college level. You NEVER, EVER put your blue chipper on the friggin kickoff team…..that is the most dangerous….

Rookie or not, you don’t put your #1 draft pick on kickoff team, 1st preseason game of the year……

Some dumace needs to be fired for this…..

I don’t agree with tossing your first round pick into covering kick returns. Greenway is a linebacker and was going to be a pass rusher. Hes fast and likes to hit so some genius decided he was going to run down kick returners. But hey like Childress said, he’ll be ready for next year.. What a joke.. First year coaches are going to make mistakes. Lets chalk this one up as # 1

OK I will admitt that I am not the biggest football mind in the world. But it still make no sense to me that he should not be in the mix because he is your first round pick. All indication was that he had not won the starting spot this is where he was going to start the season. Urlacher plays specialteams no way he was going to be more important to this team than Urlacher.

Urlacher doesn’t run down the field on kickoffs….

If he was a backup, in the regular season, that is one thing, but the first preseason game???

Kinda like putting him there in a scrimmage

That is my humble opinion

An injury can occur anytime from getting off the bus to celebrating a made field goal (Gramitica). They are a part of the game. You never know when they will happen, but to blame Childress is wrong. Greenway wasn’t the starting LB at this time, so why not put him in on special teams. I think you would rather have him in there than Smoot, Sharper, etc… that are starters. You could blame the field, his shoes, the Raider who hit him, Greenway, anyone, it is just part of the game, but Childress shouldn’t be blamed, heck he was the 17th pick, it isn’t like it was Reggie Bush!!

I think if Childress would have drafted Bush, he probably would have him tackling kick returners.

It is what rookies do. Also, I think it is dumb but Urlacher does play on kickoffs in the regular season. Just not in the preseason

This stinks–I’ve been at the University of Iowa for six years now, and saw Greenway play many times. I have resisted becoming a Hawkeye fan, but I was glad to see the Vikings pick Greenway.

No one has brought up the larger issue of whether there should be pre-season games at all. (It’s about more TV and stadium revenue. If you want season ticket packages, you have to pay for two meaningless exhibition games.) Personally, I think there should be two pre-season games, not four. The college game gets by with no exhibition games, although most Division I powers essentially play a couple of exhibitions against the UL-Lafayettes of the world.

Pre-season games in the NFL are used mainly to evaluate the talent of marginal players and to work out problems with systems, which is why starters normally only play a series or two. However, only so much can be determined in practice, which is why the starters are out there at all in the pre-season. In Greenway’s case, he was not a starter, and it is customary to use non-starters and rookies on special teams. You may recall that Randy Moss returned kicks in his rookie year.

Using rookies on special teams, and playing starters and/or high draft picks in meaningless games for a series or two, allows coaches to see how they play in a setting that cannot be fully replicated in scrimmages. The risk, of course, is losing a valuable player in a meaningless game. Washington, of course, just lost their starting RB Clinton Portis for several weeks due to an injury in a pre-season game.

In short, I don’t blame Childress for having Greenway out there on special teams–can anyone name a coach who does not use his starters at all in the pre-season? Injuries can occur at any time in football, not just on special teams.

My read : Greenway, (sounds a lot like GreenBay) may be out for the season, my prognostication, Greenway will recover earlier, much earlier!

At risk of starting a controversy, I’m not the biggest Greenway fan in the world. Honestly, I would have rather had Hodge (his teammate at Iowa). Greenway benefited in this years draft because the outside linebacker selection was thin to say the least. Even though he was 4th in the nation in tackles per game, in my opinion, he’s a 2nd round pick at best. You can’t coach size and believe me, he’s undersized. While he has speed, he’s not a run stopper.. instead he’s a cover guy.. ala Kailee Wong. Hodge on the other hand is a run stopper. That’s important because of the constant penetration running backs get on our D line and linebacking core. We needed a LB to plug holes… and Greenway is not that guy.

With that said, it’s extremely unfortunate a guy so young and with so talented was injured. But on the bright side, I don’t think he was going to be the impact player projected for this tampa 2 defense and at least is happened now and not in week 2 or 3 when he got E.J. Henderson’s starting position. At least now we have time to backfill.

My 2 cents.

I would agree with Jjack. Henderson has been playing like a banshee. But I feel bad for this kid. Many rookies that miss the first year, never seem the same again..

And now Koren Robinson with a DWI….aaaarghhhhh

OMG!!! I thought you HAD to be kidding.

But you are not!

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Along with drunken driving, Robinson is accused of fleeing police, reckless driving, speeding and driving without a valid license, said Sheriff Dave Lange.

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If there was a smiley face for scream until my head exploded I would insert it here.

So much for Maddens “feel good story of the year” as he described it during the game Monday…..

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At risk of starting a controversy, I’m not the biggest Greenway fan in the world. Honestly, I would have rather had Hodge (his teammate at Iowa). Greenway benefited in this years draft because the outside linebacker selection was thin to say the least. Even though he was 4th in the nation in tackles per game, in my opinion, he’s a 2nd round pick at best. You can’t coach size and believe me, he’s undersized. While he has speed, he’s not a run stopper.. instead he’s a cover guy.. ala Kailee Wong. Hodge on the other hand is a run stopper. That’s important because of the constant penetration running backs get on our D line and linebacking core. We needed a LB to plug holes… and Greenway is not that guy.

With that said, it’s extremely unfortunate a guy so young and with so talented was injured. But on the bright side, I don’t think he was going to be the impact player projected for this tampa 2 defense and at least is happened now and not in week 2 or 3 when he got E.J. Henderson’s starting position. At least now we have time to backfill.

My 2 cents.

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I agree and disagree with alot of this. The NFL draft is one of my favorite hobbies!

I also think Hodge was a better college player, and is a better run player. But Hodge is NO WHERE CLOSE to Greenway as a pass defender, and it there is one thing the Viking LB corps has sucked at, it is pass defense. How many times the past few years have Viking LB’s allowed completions over the middle on 3rd and medium. That is the rationale I think behind the Greenway pick.

I was not a huge fan of the guy, and I have my reservations on how good he will be, but I don’t think it was a terrible pick.

Since when is 6’2 1/2″, 242 pounds small? He’s bigger than Henderson is now, and the same size as Thomas. 25 pounds bigger than Derrick Brooks.

PS, EJ is going to be a monster this year.

MB — I absolutely didn’t say it was a terrible pick. I just said that he was a 2nd rounder and I would have rather taken Hodge for this new defensive scheme.

As far as size — I think he’s undersized — lol. While there are exceptions like Tedy Bruschi at 247, most of today’s quality linebackers are bigger.

Ray Lewis 250
Brian Urlacher 258
Jeremiah Trotter 262
Joey Porter 250
Mike Vrabel 262
Marcus Washington 250

10-20 lbs of muscle is a TON to these guys in their effectiveness to hit hard as well as TAKE HITS. Linebacker is a brutal position and these guys need that size.

Also, don’t forget this is Greenways SECOND knee problem. He underwent reconstructive surgery in 2002.

So… with all that said, if we were going to take an undersized linebacker anyways, gimme hogde. He’s faster to the hole, has better explosiveness to the outside giving him better range on pass coverage and he hits like a TRUCK. Finally, he doesn’t miss as many tackles as greeway because he doesn’t leave his feet as often and he plays lower on the tackle. While irrelevant now, if someone can come up with a missed tackles per game stat that would be sweet… I’d like to see it.

Last night after helping my daughter move in for college, we were leaving mankato at 11:00 pm and, noticed two police cars make a u-turn in front of us, the car they were after was moving atleast 100mph! A half mile latter we met two more police cars (probably the ones that started the pusuit, but couldn’t catch him)
In our rear view mirrors we seen the car fly thru the same stoplight we just crossed seconds before
After seeing this last night, we made some comments that it was probably a vikings player. I hope they cut him from the team, and put an end to all this embarrasment

Yes, Hodge was probably the better run-stopper in college, but the lead-blocks in the NFL will be made by fullbacks and linemen bigger than Hodge had to deal with in the Big Ten. The knock on Hodge is that he doesn’t quite have the mass to be an elite linebacker in the NFL. A good linebacker, yes, which is why the Packers took him in the second round, but not a linebacker of Greenway’s potential.

Hodge is a typical Iowa product: he is from Florida, but was passed over by the big three Florida schools because of the size issue, and was considered a “tweener” here (a half-step slow to be a safety, just a little light to be a linebacker). Hodge made up for the size issue with speed and hard work, helped along by very good coaching.

Iowa specializes in taking guys like Hodge who don’t quite have the attributes the very top-tier programs want, and making something of them. The record of these Iowa-type players in the NFL is mixed, though. Robert Gallery was considered a “can’t miss” number one pick at offensive tackle, but he has so far had a poor career with the Raiders, and he didn’t look any better last Monday night against the Vikings. The word on him now is that top-notch blocking technique made him look a little better in college than he really was. On the other hand, safety Bob Sanders of Iowa was taken in the second round by the Colts, who had questions about his size. Sanders was listed at 5’11” and 170, which I think was generous. Sanders has had a good couple years at Indianapolis, though, and has a reputation as one of the hardest hitters in the league.

Greenway slipped under the radar to Iowa, mostly because he played high school ball in the middle of nowhere, AKA Mount Vernon, South Dakota. Greenway’s potential, at least before the knee blowout, was greater than Hodges, though–make no mistake about that.

to think that is the only thing the vikings had going for them this year to. GO BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!! GO HAWKEYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who let a chicago bear rooting bass guy in here?

I don’t think Hodge has the speed or athleticism to ever be a good NFL pass defender. No doubt, in college, he was a better run player than Greenway, but I think Greenway’s value lies in his all around game. I liked Hodge much better at Iowa, but I don’t think he projects to the NFL as well. We will see how it plays out I guess.

On the size thing, in the “Tampa 2” which the Vikings now run, the weak side LB is typically small. Cato June, who made the probowl last year for the Colts as a WLB, is a converted S and is 223 pounds. Derrick Brooks is about 230 at the most, Lance Briggs is under 240.

Don’t get me wrong either, Greenway was not one of my favorite players in the draft, but in the weak draft class that was 2006, he was a first round pick. In a year of good prospects, probably only 13 or 14 of this years crop would have been 1st round picks.

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Who let a chicago bear rooting bass guy in here?

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oh come on now a bass guy now that is an insult i am a true eye fisherman who once in a while wants to catch an easy fish so i fish for bass.

GO BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chad Greenway and Abdul Hodge were both loved here at Iowa by us Hawkeyes. They were sort of “Diamonds in the Rough” as propective recruits go. Greenway was a farm kid from South Dakota that never got much notice from the majors and Hodge an inner city kid from Florida who was a bit undersized to get much attention from the Florida big three or anywhere else for that matter. Both just ripe for the pickin’s at Iowa. These two guys for what ever unlikely reason just hit it off, and became the best of friends. One, was a bit of a redneck who liked country music and the other preferred hip hop and all the jive that seems to suit inner city youths. They became roomates and almost seemed to be joined at the hip. Where you found one, you found the other. They visited each others homes numerous times during their tenure at Iowa. They played off of each others strengths and weaknesses, which is probably one reason why they were so good at Iowa. It’s almost fitting that one should go to Minnesota and the other to Green Bay. They’re both excellent citizens and role models and really enjoyed doing youth enhancement events together while at Iowa. I have a bit of personnal experience with their dedication to kids when Grandma and I were visiting one of our grandsons undergoing treatment at the University of Iowa Hospital Childrens Wing. In walked these two “huge” guys. The accompaning nurse introduced them and it was heartwarming to watch how they interacted with all those little kids. The ones who were able to, absolutley malled these big guys. Hanging onto legs that they could hardly get they’re arms around, as they went around talking to the ones who were too sick to join in. They were there for over an hour hugging,teasing, and playing with the kids. My sympathy goes out to Chad for his season ending injury and wish him a speedy and successful recovery. And my best wishes go out to Abdul for a successful Rookie season in the NFL. We’re gonna really miss those two fine individuals here at Iowa.

Gramps