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Photo - Vikings.com

By: Aj Mansour | KFAN.com
@AjMansourKFAN

Minneapolis, MN - It's always more pleasant at Winter Park the day after a victory. Leslie's happy and players are in good moods, actually looking forward to meeting the press. Stemming off of Sunday's 24-13 victory over the previously undefeated San Francisco 49ers resulted in just such a situation. With almost too much to cover, we're going notebook style today. Here's what you might have missed down at Winter Park yesterday.

Mistral Raymond's ankle is NOT broken:
Leslie Frazier came out yesterday and set the record straight in regards to Mistral Raymond's injured ankle. "There is no fracture," Frazier said. "He subluxed the ankle which creates a little pain and tension for him for sure, but [there's] nothing other than that." For those of you who are scratching your head, a subluxation is medical lingo for "an incomplete or partial dislocation." Raymond went down in the second quarter of Sunday's game and was replaced by Jamarca Sanford who played a huge role in the Vikings victory. Raymond is expected to miss at least 1-2 weeks.

Jerome Simpson celebrated his return from suspension with pancakes:
Set to return to the Vikings on Monday, Jerome Simpson woke up early Monday morning and celebrated his excitement with pancakes! "I got up about 8 o'clock this morning and cooked me some pancakes and bacon. Just got the day started. Read a little news, watched a little ESPN." Shortly after his early morning ritual, Simpson rejoined his teammates in the film room to review Sunday's game. Simpson said that he was watching his teammates upset the 49ers from his couch at home with his dog Yoshi by his side. "I was screaming the whole time," Simpson said. "I was just like a fan, maybe even worse than a real fan. It was just me and my French Bulldog Yoshi. I was kind of in there by myself most of the time cuz I was getting too riled up for him. I was into the game the whole time, I hate the commercial breaks."

Simpson, who was suspended for the first 3-games of the season, said that Monday felt like it was the first day of school for him. "I couldn't wait until Monday morning came because i was just so excited. I know that everything is behind me now, hopefully this is the last time that I've got to talk about suspension."

Jerome has yet to catch a ball from Christian Ponder this season but has been taking passes from the J.U.G.S. automatic throwing machine. "It's probably going to be a little different too just seeing it come out of somebodies hand. I've got to keep my poise and everything. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be excited. But once I catch that first ball and that first play I'll be right back in the groove I think."

The Vikings will be practicing the next couple of days with 54 players before Thursday at 3pm when they have to officially make a roster move to counteract the activation of Simpson. If I had to guess, that player will likely be WR Stephen Burton.

Friendship between Rudolph and Ponder carries over into success on the field:
It's been widely publicized that second year players Kyle Rudolph and Christian Ponder are not only teammates on the field but good buddies off of it as well. Monday, Coach Frazier explained how he thinks that relationship off the field has tranlsated into success on in games.

"I think it's big and I think it shows up on the field," Frazier said of the friendship. "Those guys are close friends off the field, they do a lot of things together, a lot of charity work along with hanging out together. It carries over to what happens during games. That's without question one of Christian's favorite targets, trying to get the ball to Kyle, and for good reason. Kyle usually comes through for him so it means a lot that they have the type of relationship that they have. For a quarterback sometimes the tight end becomes a security blanket and that's what Kyle has become for him in so many ways. A lot of that has to do with their relationship off the field as well as what happens on the field."

Rudolph and Ponder have connected on 13 passes this season for 138 yards and three touchdowns.

Back in the starting lineup, Jamarca Sanford leaned on teammates during his time on the bench:
Heading into the season with two open safety spots, fourth year safety Jarmarca Sanford had his eyes on a spot in the Vikings starting lineup. With the drafting of Harrison Smith in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft, the final spot was up for grabs between Jamarca and Mistral Raymond. When week one came around, the job was given to Raymond and Jamarca was devasted.

"The first three days I was just dead," Jamarca said. "Things just don't work out like you always plan them too. I knew I had put in the work and I knew that when my opportunity comes I've just got to show them that I'm ready to go."

During his time backing up Raymond, Sanford kept his spirits high by working hard and leaning on his teammates who had found themselves in similar situations in the past. Sanford said that when his spirits were low, he turned to Percy Harvin, Jasper Brinkley and Erin Henderson to lift him up.

"It's just like a normal friend," Sanford said. "You're having problems you just go talk to them. Percy, he related to me and Jasper and Erin. I felt comfortable talking to them about my problems and they just helped me get through it at a critical time."

As he said, Sanford made the best of his opportunity on Sunday recording seven tackles and a huge forced fumble.

Aj Mansour covers Minnesota Sports for KFAN.com. Feel free to leave comments and questions regarding this post in the space provided below. For Vikings' updates and breaking Vikings' news, follow Aj on Twitter. @AjMansourKFAN