Zimmer Lays Down Hammer; Sits Rhodes and Diggs Out of Wednesday Practice

PHOTO: Vikings.com

Hey, hey, hey — as Toups put it earlier today, what would Vikings Camp be without some controversy?

Today’s came in the form some unexpected absentees from this afternoon’s practice. Neither Xavier Rhodes nor Stefon Diggs were on the field. It was picked up on pretty quickly, as one can assume. And then, some recent camp spats that have gone on between the two heavyweights came to light.

Diggs and Rhodes were going at it in practice yesterday, and Diggs had a few exchanges with Andrew Sendejo during this morning’s walk-thru.

— Ben Goessling (@GoesslingStrib) August 8, 2018

But, it’s all rumors until Mike Zimmer comes out and makes them truth (unless they were rumors that nobody really knew existed until he mentions them, but that was a whole two days ago).

For context, this carried over from yesterday’s practice (and probably even longer). Rhodes, seemingly upset w/ Diggs’ TD catch and showboating, stayed in w/ reserves and tried to call Diggs back onto the field to go at him again. Seemed like typical camp riffs.

— Andrew Krammer (@Andrew_Krammer) August 8, 2018

First, before I go any farther, I just want to mention how quickly Mike Zimmer is stealing my heart. Every time he comes to the podium, it’s must see TV. The guy is a cross between Greg Popovich and Bill Belichek. And, who knew that when combined into one human, their interviews would be even better. Yesterday Zim helped give us the Incognito talker and today he gives us this.

As for the players involved, I love that too. Maybe even more than I like Zimmer’s actions in this story. From all reporting, Training Camp is a grind. It’s a whole bunch of practice for a bunch of guys who have done these drills over and over again. Friendly competition can often turn unfriendly. If you’ve never competed with a friend, and not been friends by the time the competition ended, then have you ever really competed? Probably not.

Sometimes the competitive drive beats one’s love for another human. It’s only temporary most of the time, as I’m sure the case will be here. I mean, in all reality, those two were probably sipping iced tea in the locker room, laughing at the thought of being out on the field in the 95 degree humidity, as Andy Carlson so eloquently states here:

Basically Zimmer’s discipline for Diggs/Rhodes is “Hey you stay in his air conditioned facility instead of sweating your ass off in MN August heat competing for roles you have zero chance of losing anyway. And think about what you did.” pic.twitter.com/iLegQjEHna

— Andy Carlson (@AndyCarlsonShow) August 8, 2018

Oh boy, what will tomorrow bring? We know what Saturday will….

via GIPHY

GAME DAY.

Eric Strack
Minnesota Sports Fan @RealMNSportsFan