Holler: Timing of injury hamstrings Shiancoe

With a chance to finally establish himself in a new offense, Visanthe Shiancoe’s setback with a hamstring injury will delay his emergence and his timing with Donovan McNabb.

In the NFL, timing is everything.

As far as timing goes, things couldn’t be much worse for Visanthe Shiancoe.

Saturday was supposed to be Shiancoe’s “coming out party” with the new offense. If any Vikings veteran has reason to be playing for a purpose this season, it’s Shiancoe. When Brett Favre showed up at Winter Park, it was Shiancoe that first tossed out the “Favre-a-palooza” line that became something of a two-year mantra/slogan for life in Vikings Country.

With Donovan McNabb now quarterbacking the Vikings, Shiancoe should have been a fixture of sound bytes for TV, radio and the worldwide interwebosphere. Instead, it has been largely the sound of silence.

When the Vikings drafted Kyle Rudolph in April, one of the first things noted by those that follow the comings and goings of the Vikings was that the team drafted at a position that has three veterans already on the roster – Shiancoe, Jim Kleinsasser and Jeff Dugan. Just as quickly, it was noted that all three are in the final year of the current contracts.

Of the three, Shiancoe is by far the most likely to cash in on the post-CBA cash bonanza. Yet, his ailing hamstring has sidelined that plan.

Shiancoe has been sidelined since before Donovan McNabb was allowed to practice with the Vikings. Say what you want to about quarter-speed walk-troughs, but they don’t replicate what can be done in game situations, where a fraction of a second can be the difference between a touchdown for the offense and an interception return for the defense.

Shiancoe has missed significant early time in getting a rapport going with McNabb as he plays for the next big contract of his career. In the process, it has greased the wheels for Rudolph to get more acclimated to the pro game. While Shiancoe didn’t need a lot of time to get a groove going with Favre, he wasn’t playing in the final year of his contract. He is now and the hope is that he will be able to catch on as quickly with McNabb as he did with Favre. But, as it currently stands, Shiancoe is missing out on what could be a critical time – both short-term and long-term – for his Vikings future.

THURSDAY NOTES

The conspiracy theorists are now convinced that a tweet from Jim Irsay of the Colts may have shown legitimate proof that Indianapolis had an interest in signing Brett Favre. The signing of recently retired Kerry Collins is proof enough that the Colts were interested in a grizzled veteran that they were willing to scour the list of the retired to find an insurance policy.

The Vikings stadium effort is going to get a push at the Minnesota State Fair, which opens today. The Minnesota Momentum booth at the state fair will try to convince fairgoers of the viability of a new stadium in Arden Hills.

Anthony Herrera is slated to start Saturday, which might be his last opportunity to win back the starting right guard position. Ryan Cook and Chris DeGeare are currently the frontrunners for the starting job on opening day Sept. 11 at San Diego if Herrera doesn’t pass the test Saturday.

---

John Holler has been writing about the Vikings for more than a decade for Viking Update. Follow Viking Update on Twitter and discuss this topic on our message boards. To become a subscriber to the Viking Update web site or magazine, click here.