The "Unofficial" Chris Walsh Fan Club

The only highlight of our first pre-season game was none other than Mr. August, Chris Walsh.

Walsh lead all Vikings receivers in receptions and yards, nabbing 5 catches for 68 yards. Most of the catches were third down grabs that moved the chains, keeping the drive alive. Even the ESPN commentators liked how Walsh knew where the first down marker was and made sure he was past it. Remember all those years where we lead the league in third down passes that were too short?

Walsh's longest grab was a spectacular 20 yard catch for a touchdown at the 11:54 mark in the second quarter.

Walsh is known for his hard hitting blocks, also known as "crackbacks" but today, Walsh was on the receiving end of such a hit. The entire dome went "ohhh" after Walsh was nailed just after catching a pass over the middle. Walsh managed to hang onto the ball, gaining the first down.

Instead of bringing out the trainers, as many of Walsh's blocked individuals have done, he literally hopped back onto his feet and ran back the huddle clapping the entire way. As the crowd began to join Walsh's enthusisasium, Walsh started pumping his fists in the air, letting the crowd know he was pumped.

Walsh did handle a couple of punt and kickoff coverages but did not make any tackles. On the first punt, he was the first guy down the field, and forced the runner to head for the sidelines, which on punt returns is a bad thing. The returner was tackled a few steps later.

Walsh also handled a kickoff coverage. He seemed to let a guy by him as Walsh focused on one particular player. I have to head over to a friends house and grab a video tape of the game to figure out if that was a boo-boo or not.

Here's what Joe Theismann thought of Walsh's performance. wav (432k) | quicktime (220k)

After the game, Walsh was interviewed on KSTP by Joe Schmidt. Check out a wav file (2.9 MB) or quicktime file (1.4 MB) of the 1:10 interview.

The picture on the left was the featured photograph on the main Vikings page at NFL.com.