Thread: Travis Taylor Brings Power To The Vikings (Video)

Travis Taylor Brings Power To The Vikings

Published August 04, 2006 03:31 am

When Travis Taylor signed with the Minnesota Vikings prior to the 2005 season, visions of becoming an integral member of the team’s big-play offense led by quarterback Daunte Culpepper weighed heavily into that decision.

[size=18px]Taylor-made?[/size]

Despite atypical height for West Coast offense, Taylor has plenty of talents that fit new system

By Jim Rueda
The Free Press

MANKATO —
When Travis Taylor signed with the Minnesota Vikings prior to the 2005 season, visions of becoming an integral member of the team’s big-play offense led by quarterback Daunte Culpepper weighed heavily into that decision.

Today, Culpepper is doing his thing in Miami and the Vikings’ big-play offense, developed first by Dennis Green and then carried on by Mike Tice, is history. In its place is a version of the West Coast offense which features short, quick passes, slant patterns and the occasional shot down field.

While it’s not what Taylor had in mind when he signed with the Vikings, he’s not complaining. He says the team has bought into new coach Brad Childress’ system and believes he and the rest of the receivers can make it work.

“I’m a big guy — one of the taller receivers in training camp — so I’m not what you would call the typical receiver for the West Coast offense,” he said this week. “But we understand what coach Childress and (offensive coordinator Darrell) Bevell are trying to do.

“We just all need to learn the terminology, learn the routes and get on the same page and it should be effective. There are a lot of talented receivers on this team who know how to make plays.”

Taylor was the leading wide receiver for Minnesota last year with 50 catches for 604 yards. He was second among wideouts in touchdowns with four.

As for adjusting to the new system, Bevell says the seventh-year receiver is doing just fine.

“Travis has been having great camp,” Bevell said. “I think he’s probably had the most catches of the wide receivers up to this point.

“He’s doing a nice job whether he’s inside the slot or outside. He’s a very savvy receiver who has a great feel for how to use his abilities to get open.”

Starting quarterback Brad Johnson agrees: “Travis always makes plays. He runs good routes, catches the ball, he can move in from the slot position to the X or Z or to the flanker position. There’s a lot of things we do in the slot and he’s able to make moves, find holes in there, find lanes.”

Although Taylor is not the smaller, quick, speedy type of receiver usually associated with the West Coast attack, he has attributes which fit the system well. One of them is his ability to shed defenders quickly at the line of scrimmage. That’s a crucial talent in the short passing game.

He’s also improved his blocking which not only frees up other receivers but turns short runs into long ones. Still, blocking is something Taylor says he still needs to work on.

“That’s a never-ending battle,” Taylor said. “No matter what kind of offense you’re in, a receiver can always be a better blocker.”

Despite the new system, Taylor believes the offense may click sooner than expected because quarterback Johnson returns as the starter. Johnson came off the bench last year to lead the team to a 7-2 record in its final nine games.

“It’s unfortunate that Daunte had to get hurt the way he did, but all the receivers got a chance to work a lot with Brad last year,” he said. “From a timing standpoint that going to be a plus for us. There’s good chemistry there between Brad and the receivers.”

Taylor-made?

Wonderful. That means that we will be able to count on him this year.

Another great report on my favourite receiver! Go Travis!!

Travis could really surprise alot of people this year.People forget that he was a first round draft choice for a reason.He managed to rack up 600+ yards last year, whose to say he dosnt take that number to 800 or over 1,000?

"WilliamsonOfTroy" wrote:

Travis could really surprise alot of people this year.People forget that he was a first round draft choice for a reason.He managed to rack up 600+ yards last year, whose to say he dosnt take that number to 800 or over 1,000?

It all depends on how the coaching staff are going to distribute the passes.

If you remember last year we allmost allways have the catches spread out to a bunch of recievers. Something tells me that this year fewer players will get a lot of passes, and thereby big numbers. Who those will be will sort itself out as we go along.

aLwayss had faith in this kidd0o

He was our best recieving threat last year apart from Wiggins. They pretty much explained it well in the video. He's a physical possession reciever that is really good at catching in the middle of the field. His 600 yards last year were not all that bad and if he can duplicate those numbers playing in the slot this year, I will be very happy.

He definitely has great hands and is one of our top receivers for that fact IMO.