Jerry Gray's magic boxing gloves appear to be working.
When the Vikings reassembled at Winter Park the Monday after their bye seven weeks ago, Gray, the defensive backs coach, put a pair of boxing gloves on Xavier Rhodes, the team's big and then-grabby cornerback, and sent him out to practice.
The idea was to make Rhodes use his hands without being able to grab. Rhodes was tied with teammate Everson Griffen for the league lead in penalties — seven in four games — and had just been docked $17,363 for a horse-collar tackle during a three-penalty afternoon at Denver.