Winfield: I'm never going to make an excuse

Having covered Antoine Winfield since the 2005 season, it has been a rarity to see the cornerback miss a tackle once he has closed in on a receiver or running back. But Winfield, and many of his teammates, struggled to make simple tackles Sunday in the Vikings' loss at Carolina.

Told after Wednesday's practice that he seemed to miss as many tackles against the Panthers as he had in the past four-plus seasons, Winfield said: "I believe it. I think I missed three total. It was just bad body position. Sometimes I was up. Steve Smith, I missed two on him. He's a quick guy, strong. It was just bad technique but something I could easily correct."

A potential bigger concern than an off night for Winfield is the condition of his right foot. He missed six games over seven weeks after hurting the foot in October against Baltimore and after returning with a strong game against Cincinnati, he appeared to have problems on Sunday.

Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said after the game that it did not seem as if Winfield could push off on the foot the way he needed to in order to close on a tackle. "He's not all the way back, that was obvious," Frazier said. "You couldn't see the push off that you can normally see."

A follow-up question was asked of Frazier about how well Winfield had played against the Bengals a week earlier. "He did but he was in different positions," Frazier said. "He was required to do something a little bit different. We've got to do what we've got to do to help him get to where he needs to be so he can close on the 5-yard routes or whatever it is. Have that spring." Winfield refused to blame his foot, even though he remains limited in practice because of the injury. "I'm never going to make an excuse," he said. "If I'm out on the field I feel like I can do my job. I was a little off but I would never use that for an excuse."