Fans, once you’re done reading “Inside the Helmet” with Gus Frerotte, be sure to check the Vikings Blog to stay on top of all the Alltel Vikings Training Camp action.
They say a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. NFL observers will also tell you that a team may only be as good as its backup quarterback. And while that analogy likens an NFL backup quarterback to a weak chain link, the reality is that nothing could be further from the truth.
In 2007, 60 different players started at quarterback – 60! Three different players started for the Vikings – Tarvaris Jackson, Kelly Holcomb and Brooks Bollinger. The path to postseason play isn’t typically led by a team’s second-stringer, but it’s certainly not unusual for an eventual postseason participant to receive a helping hand for a game or two from its backup quarterback.
It is for that reason Minnesota brought in Gus Frerotte, a 15-year NFL veteran who has probably seen just about anything any team can throw at him. The 2008 season will mark his second stint with the Purple, and he’s glad to be back in Minnesota.
“I love it here,” Frerotte said after an early training camp practice. “I love the Vikings and I love Minnesota, so it’s been good.”
During his first stint as a Viking (2003-04), Minnesota loved him, too. His shining moment came in Weeks 3-5, when he started in place of an injured Daunte Culpepper. In three games as the starter, Frerotte threw seven touchdowns and only two interceptions en route to guiding the Purple to three straight wins. The Vikings got off to a 6-0 start that season, and Frerotte was a significant part of that effort.
For his career, Frerotte has a completions percentage of 54.2 and has a touchdown-interception ratio of 102-91. Those numbers won’t blow anyone off their feet, but he’s proven to be a reliable player at a position that requires a steady hand.
Despite Frerotte’s wealth of NFL experience and his easy transition to life in Minnesota again, he still has a lot of learning to do.
“It’s a long process,” Frerotte says of learning a new playbook. “There are a lot of plays and a lot of verbiage. Everything is new to me, so there is a lot of studying. I want to get to the point where there’s not thinking, there’s just playing, but it’s going to take a while.”
So while the thinking is that Frerotte was brought in to help polish starter Tarvaris Jackson, the situation actually calls for some give and take between Frerotte and both Jackson and Brooks Bollinger. Frerotte can lend some guidance to the much younger Jackson, but there are also times when Frerotte will be the learner.
“At times I try to leave Tarvaris alone because I know he has a lot of things going on,” says Frerotte. “I do talk to him about a lot of things, about some of the experiences I’ve had. I try to give him tips here and there. He’s really impressed and seems to have really improved. He’s come a long way from last year and it will be exciting to watch him play.”