Long-time Rube friend TRAVIS YANO sent this video to me. Poor CHAD JOHNSON -- became embroiled in a legal buzzkill and was cut by the Miami Dolphins. Now he cannot ball in glitzy South Beach with these sexy, beautiful cheerleaders.

The Vikings are not interested in The Artist Formerly Known at Ocho Cinco because (a) he's not very good anymore and (b) doesn't fit the theme of getting younger and re-stocking the shelf. We are stuck on the outside in terms of game-changing wide receivers but guys like Chad and PLAXICO BURRESS (age 35) just don't fit the theme.

We cannot fix everything at once. After drafting MATT KALIL and HARRISON SMITH the belief is the LT and SS spots are secured for years to come, but we still need work at DT, LB, probably CB, S and WR. I do feel we are okay at QB and that CHRISTIAN PONDER will be good-not-great to start. After watching back the preseason opener I was very satisfied with how he played.

CP zapped the NFL's best defense with a 52-yard hit, which is tough to do. I, too, liked when pressured he ran with his eyes down the field and threw away the ball instead of forcing some bunk pass into coverage. Ponder's debut was very solid and I hope he builds on it Friday against Buffalo.

We are just going to have to accept until next year's draft and/or free agency we are not going to have a game-changer on the outside catching passes from CP7. JEROME SIMPSON will help but he had many drops last year with Cincy and that already emerged in the San Francisco game. He's fast and can win battles outside but has to haul in passes to help open things for others. If he does catch pass after pass safeties will have to respect his skill set and that means the tight ends, PERCY and the running game should flourish.

I happen to like our offense quite a bit. The 2012 offseason theme was to fortify the offense to give Ponder a chance to do his thing. The first OL will be fine, and once JOHN CARLSON returns we should be able to do some damage with the tight ends. I still believe KYLE RUDOLPH will emerge as a top-eight TE in the game and looked very fluid at Candlestick. Rookie JARIUS WRIGHT received some run with the "1's" which means they are giving him a big shot to win some significant playing time.

ADRIAN PETERSON is off the "PUP" and back in the mix but most likely will not play against Buffalo. My guess has been he will receive some carries a week from Friday against San Diego, and it makes sense to do it at home and not bring him to Houston for the preseason finale. He is ready to go and the knee is quite sound almost eight months removed from the ACL tear. He needs some game action prior to the Jacksonville season opener.

The Buffalo game: Need to see rookie CB JOSH ROBINSON get some action. He was held out of the Niners game due to a recovering hamstring injury and is an important factor to our success this year. Veteran CB CHRIS CARR is not good enough to run the "nickle" and Josh being a third-round selection was drafted to help and to assist now. I'd like to see this commence Friday.