As everyone has surely heard by now Cheap Adam Thielen Jersey , Minnesota Vikingsr17; defensive end Everson Griffen returned to practice with the purple on Wednesday. Griffen has been away from the team since an incident in the week leading up to the Vikingsr17; contest against the Buffalo Bills in Week 3, and has missed five games while he was sorting himself out.Following Wednesdayr17;s practice session, Griffen fielded questions from the Twin Cities media. Courtesy of the award-winning Minnesota Vikingsr17; PR department, we have the full transcript of his question and answer session below. Enjoy, everyone!First off I want to take full responsibility for my actions that went on in September. Ir17;ve had a lot of support from my family, the Minnesota Vikings, the doctors, my teammates, and the fans. I want to give my apologies to the people I impacted, Ir17;m sorry if I affected them in any type of way. Just excited to get back here with my team and get back to the grind of things. Itr17;s been hard to be away, but Ir17;m happy to be back and itr17;s a good feeling right now. Ir17;m taking it one day at a time, one thing at a time to get things back on track.Q: What did you learn over the last five weeks? Whatr17;s different about you?A: I learned a lot about the man outside of football. I had a lot of time to reflect on my life and where I want to go and the decisions I made, and I just want to get better with some of my decisions that I made and improve on them.Q: What was it like coming back into the facility this morning?A: It felt great, it felt great to see my guys. I love each and every one of my teammates, and it was just good to see the smiles on their faces, and they welcomed me with open arms. They want me to be the wild man, and I want to be that wild man, but Ir17;m just taking it one day at a time and just processing everything and getting everything back on track.Q: What kind of things did you do the last four weeks to now feel ready to rejoin the team?A: Ir17;m not comfortable answering that question right now, but in the future Ir17;ll be able to.Q: Your17;ve said that this is an ongoing work in progress, that coming back doesnr17;t mean everything is done and over with?A: This is bigger than football, this is part of the process. We got a team, we got a good group of individuals http://www.vikingscheapshops.com/cheap-authentic-trae-waynes-jersey , the Minnesota Vikings, the doctors, myself, my family, and we got a plan in place and wer17;re going to execute that plan day-in and day-out, and wer17;re going to stay on top of it. Thatr17;s our goal. This is bigger than football, and itr17;s part of the plan. Ir17;m excited to be back.Q: Your17;ve talked about someday telling your story. Do you know when that will be?A: We have a plan in place, but wer17;re going to take it one day at a time. Wer17;re not going to place an expectation on the outcome, wer17;re just going to keep it day-by-day and do the right things and stay on top of improving each and every day.Q: Was there anything in particular you feel led to your troubles in September?A: Ir17;m not ready to get into that right now, but eventually I will be able to. Everything is going as planned, and like I said, wer17;re taking it one day at a time, one thing at a time. Ir17;m just excited to be back. It was good to have some time to myself and figure out some of my things that I need to handle. I had a lot of support, a lot of fan support, and even a lot of support from you guys, the media. It feels good to see the love and the fan base that was there.Q: You said your teammates want to see you be the wild man on the field. Can you still do that after getting a handle in your personal life?A: Of course, but thatr17;s in due time. Like I said Ir17;m trying to keep it simple in my life and keep it simple and go day-by-day and just do the right things day-in and day-out r11; on and off the field. Q: Do you feel physically ready to play?A: Yeah, I feel good. I feel good. I was working out. I was able to work out and do the things I have to do, but playing this game of football it requires more than just working out. You got to push somebody, hit somebody, get your timing back. Itr17;s more to go on the football just in running and training by myself. Ir17;m able to play football, but I still have to got to get back in the pass rush flow and my run flow and stuff like that.Q: When you stepped away from the team Cheap Mike Hughes Jersey , did you know that was the right thing for you?A: It was the right thing for me, completely.Q: Did you know that right away?A: 100 percent.Q: Are you playing on Sunday?A: Coach Zimmer can answer that question for you.Q: Did you consider taking this year off?A: Our doctors, our coaching staff, the Vikings, my family we just had a plan and I executed the plan and we took it day-by-day, step-by-step and it led up to this point. We made the decision that I was ready to come back and now Ir17;m back.Q: Does football feel like a comfort zone for you?A: Absolutely. I live for this each and every day, but I also live for my family too. You got to have that balance in life and thatr17;s what Ir17;m working towards, having that balance each and every day.Q: Do you have a message for anyone that might be going through anything similar to what you are?A: If you are you need to ask for help. You need to go out there and find a good support team and do the right things to be able to be able to take care of yourself. Thatr17;s what itr17;s all about, taking care of yourself and taking care of your actions and doing the right things.Q: Do you feel like you have a platform to affect millions of people, whenever you are able to share your story?A: 100 percent. Thatr17;s the plan, 100 percent. I just want to be able to do it at the right time, the right place, and the right opportunity. Itr17;s just right now is not the place, not the time, and I just got to focus on the right things and the right things are my family, finding that balance and getting back to work, and just executing my plan that we have in place.Q: Was it ever difficult to stay patient when you were waiting and watching the games?A: I was patient in my first four years in playing in the NFL sitting behind Jared Allen, Brian Robison, Kevin Williams, Pat Williams. Patience came early to me at a young age. It was hard watching my guys play, but I learned patience and being humble and waiting your time. I feel like everything happens for a reason and I needed this. I needed this to figure out myself and it was a good thing.Q: Are you proud of the way they played?A: Yeah, theyr17;re playing awesome right now. Wer17;re playing like a team Cheap Dalvin Cook Jersey , a blue collar team, a tough team, a team that is smart, a team that is physical, and a team that Coach Zimmer sees that we can be day-in-and-day-out. It was tough for the first few games, but it got easier for me. They did an excellent job.Q: What was it like taking your chair back in the defensive line room?A: It was awesome, man. Just getting back into life in general r11; driving my car, doing all the little things. You got to appreciate the little things in life and I appreciate the little things in life. Ir17;m not taking any day, every day is a blessing. You got to be grateful and Ir17;m just excited to back here. Once again, I apologize if I affected anybody, impacted anybody. I take full responsibility for my actions and Ir17;m excited to be back and get the ball rolling.Q: Was the NFL and players association supportive of you throughout the process?A: Yeah, everybody. We had a good support cast. My family was a big support cast, the Minnesota Vikings family was a big support cast, the doctors. We did a good job putting a plan in place and we executed the plan. It was, like I said, it was a time and place where I needed this in my life and Ir17;m happy that it was a right time and it was perfect timing for me.Q: How difficult is it to ask for help?A: Yeah, you got to put your pride aside. Sometimes you just got to put your pride aside and know when enough is enough. Sometimes you got to take it upon yourself and know when enough is enough and when you canr17;t handle it r11; when life is too much and you canr17;t find that balance. Thatr17;s all I tried to do is find that balance and work towards my health and wellness in not just football. Itr17;s bigger than football. Itr17;s my life, my family, my kids. Q: Do you feel like your17;re feeling ready? A: I feel good. Itr17;s a day-by-day progress. Ir17;m feeling great. My first day back and I feel good. Got to knock a little rust off. Havenr17;t played football in five weeks, but that comes with practice being deliberate in my practice and just doing it day-in-and-day-out. Going into the offseason, the Minnesota Vikings had three quarterbacks on their roster that many considered to be, at the very least Matt Wile Jersey , solid options. They had Case Keenum, who was coming off of the best season of his career in leading the Vikings to the 2017 NFC Championship Game. They had Sam Bradford, who looked amazing in the 2017 opener before getting injured and giving way to Keenum. And they had Teddy Bridgewater, who fought back from a gruesome knee injury to get back on the field and had endeared himself to many of the Vikingsr17; faithful despite not putting up huge statistical numbers.Yet, when the time came to give out a big quarterback contract in March of 2018, Vikingsr17; GM Rick Spielman, head coach Mike Zimmer, and offensive coordinator John DeFilippo decided that the answer to that question was r0;none of the above.r1; Instead, they wined, dined, and eventually gave the first fully-guaranteed contract in the NFLr17;s free agency era to Kirk Cousins. Cousins had bided his time in Washington, playing under the franchise tag for two consecutive years, but was never really embraced by the coaching staff in the nationr17;s capital. . .or the majority of the fan base, for that matter.Itr17;s still early in the season, but to this point it appears that the people that run the Vikings might kind of sort of have an idea about what theyr17;re doing.Wer17;ll skip Bridgewater, who hasnr17;t seen the field in 2018 because her17;s backing up Drew Brees in New Orleans.In Arizona, Bradford started the first three games of the season for the Cardinals (who the Vikings will see this coming Sunday). In those three games, he threw for a total of 400 yards, including a 90-yard performance in a shutout loss against the Rams. He was pulled late in the teamr17;s Week 3 loss to Chicago in favor of rookie Josh Rosen. In each of the last two games, not only has Bradford not played, he hasnr17;t even been active. That means that not only was he behind Rosen on the depth chart, her17;s now behind Mike Glennon.Yes Cheap Kirk Cousins Jersey , Mike Glennon. But at least her17;s getting about $20 million this year to not dress on game day.In Denver, things havenr17;t been much better for Keenum. He got off to a decent enough start, throwing three touchdown passes (and three interceptions) in a season-opening victory over Seattle. Then, he had no touchdown passes in Week 2.Or Week 3.Or Week 4.He finally got back on track against the Jets on Sunday with two more scoring throws, but the Broncos are now riding a three-game losing streak after winning their first two games.Cousins, on the other hand, has been pretty good.With Brees yet to play in Week 5 action, Cousins is currently second in the NFL in passing yardage (behind Jared Goff), and is currently completing over 71% of his passes, despite being one of the most pressured quarterbacks in the National Football League so far this season. Her17;s thrown 11 touchdown passes through the teamr17;s first five games, and has thrown only two interceptions, both of which came on passes that really should have been caught by their intended receiver. Her17;s on pace to shatter just about every Vikingsr17; single-season passing record.I understand that Cousins gets the benefit of an incredibly talented supporting case, with Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs comprising the best receiving duo in the NFL and Kyle Rudolph continuing to do his thing as well. Keenum and Bradford undoubtedly benefited from having those players to work with as well. However, Cousins was good before he got the opportunity to work with this group of skill position players. The Vikings knew that Cousinsr17; skills would be even more enhanced by getting to work with those guys. Keenum and Bradford, on the other hand, got the benefit of playing with those players as well but couldnr17;t get the Vikings to the promised land.I canr17;t imagine that there are a lot of holdouts left in the pro-Keenum or pro-Bradford or pro-Bridgewater camps after the first five weeks of this season. However, at this early juncture, it sure does look like the Vikings have made the right decision.
