With McKinnie out, Vikes express trust in Hicks

"I'm not too far away, so I'll just come out here each day and try to get back in a rhythm," he said, unsure yet whether he would wear a brace on the knee for the game.

Childress, however, sounded more skeptical.

"He's looking like a pirate with a wooden leg right now, out there moving around," the coach said. "He's kind of making spot throws and standing in one place. He really has no movement skills to speak of at all. It looks like he has cement shoes on."

Asked if he was worried about the quarterback's mobility, Childress expressed more a bit more confidence.

"If you'd have asked me 10 days ago, I would have said, 'Yes,"' he said. "But I know how he's working at it. I know what he's putting into it over the course of this past weekend. I think he'll build to where he's going to be OK."

As for the absence of his 6-foot-8, at-least-335-pound left tackle, Jackson just shrugged.

"I have the great-most confidence in Artis," he said, adding: "He's pretty much played everywhere on the offensive line, except center. He's going to help us out a lot. I don't feel like it's going to be a great dropoff."