McDermott finger injury garners substantial coverage

Long snappers are among the first players to return to the field during halftime, usually returning from the locker room with several minutes left on the clock in order to snap a few footballs.

Kevin McDermott added an additional purpose last Thursday, searching for the tip of his left pinky finger, which was detached after it was caught in an opponent's helmet during a play — at least that's what he's figured out from a film review.

"That's what it seems like," McDermott said. "I wasn't staring at it when it happened, and from the tape, that's kind of what we've been able to figure out."

David Morgan filled in briefly for McDermott, who didn't react demonstratively when the injury occurred and returned to action.

"I felt a pain in my hand and looked down and saw, so I immediately kind of just held pressure on it and jogged to the sidelines and went to the trainers," McDermott said.

McDermott suffered a season-ending shoulder injury at Green Bay in Week 16 last year, but the rarity of this situation has garnered significant media attention from the likes of Deadspin and Barstool Sports. He also talked about the injury on KFAN's Power Trip this week.

"I've been knocked out of a game, obviously last year with the hurt shoulder, but this is kind of a freak accident that some people have gone their whole careers and never seen something like this. But kudos to our training staff – they got me fixed right up."

Followers of Barstool Sports' Pardon My Take Twitter account voted McDermott as the "Football Guy of the Week."

Brothers gets back in mix

Linebacker Kentrell Brothers returned to Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center this week after serving a four-game suspension.

The Vikings have a roster exemption until Oct. 8, but if they want Brothers to play on Sunday, he would need to be activated and another player would need to be released so that Minnesota could stay within the 53-man limit.

Brothers said he definitely missed the team during the time away. He had to watch from home and wonder if he could have helped the Vikings, particularly on special teams. Brothers had 16 special teams tackles last season, which was second on the team.

"It was a long four weeks. You guys saw how the games went," Brothers said. "There's some certain situations where I feel like I could have helped a couple of ways, but I wasn't able to. It sucked, but again, I'm here now."

Brothers also said he's not assuming he can just walk back into his role.