Welcome back everyone! This piece is the second in a series of moves that Odin's Eye would make if I were the Triangle of Authority. Even looking up the pictures for this post, I got excited. Dude is a physical freak. Everson Griffen stands 6'3, 280 pounds and runs a 4.66 40-yard dash. According to his NFL combine report, he is especially powerful in confined space and his agility and speed in space are better than most DEs. His agility and speed stems back to his days as a high school running back. As any NFL draft analyst worth their salt would tell you, you can't get caught up in measureables, as some fans may with a player like Joe Webb. We aren't the Raiders here, setting our depth charts by 40 times. However, I've watched the Vikings nearly every play of every game this year, and this guy is an animal. He plays mostly on special teams and rotates in on defense sparingly as a linebacker or defensive lineman. He has accumulated 21 tackles (15 solo, 3 for loss), 4 sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in that time on defense, as well as 9 tackles and a forced fumble on special teams.
Despite trying not to fall in love with the sheer athleticism that Griffen has displayed in his time on the field, it's hard not to. He is a gunner on special teams, and is probably one of the biggest gunners in the entire NFL. He can really move. Last week, on a screen pass to Darren Sproles, he caught up to Sproles from behind before Sproles was knocked out of bounds by Jamarca Stanford. How many 280 pound men have you seen catch a guy with Sproles' speed, from behind no less? Don't act like you're not impressed. He also scooped up a botched snap by the Saints in stride and would have scored if not for the Breesus' all out effort to stop him. If you skip to the 0:40 second point in this highlight, those plays are back-to-back. I just re-watched the play where he catches up to Sproles from behind, and I recommend you do too. He is on the opposite side of the field when Sproles catches that ball. Holy sh*t. He also blew by the Saints' left tackle on that fumble recovery.
Note:I had to watch the discount double-check commercial to get to those highlights. Man do I hate that ad and everything it represents. For those keeping score at home, that's two Saints-Vikings searches in a row that have resulted in a kick to the plums. RODGERS!?! DISCOUNT DOUBLE-TWAP!!
Not only has he wowed me with his athleticism, but unlike Joe Webb, Griffen has made the most of his opportunities. His 4 sacks this season are good for 3rd on the team behind Brian Robison (6.0) and some other guy with a mullet or something. I'm no mathemetician, but I'm willing to bet if you projected Griffen's statistics over how many snaps a starter like Robison has gotten (I tried, but could not find how many defensive snaps Griffen has been on the field for this season), they would look pretty, prettttty, pretttttty, prettttttay good.
Going forward, I expect big things from Griffen. His draft stock dropped a 2 years ago because of concerns about his work ethic, and he was seen as a high-risk, high-reward pick. As long as he keeps his name out of the police reports, I believe this man will replace Brian Robison or one of our linebackers by next year. I mean, for Pete's sake, isn't it about time the Vikings got a pick right that wasn't in the first round? Think of the damage this 280 pound beast can do to an offensive player when he can get the type of short-range momentum that comes with a 4.6 40. He has the potential to be an absolute sledgehammer on the field. His abilities as far as pass coverage and hands go, are still mostly unknown. The good news about that is if he struggles in those areas, he is originally a defensive end. Brian Robison signed a 3-year, 14.1 million dollar deal this offseason, which makes him relatively cheap and a leading candidate to be replaced after an underwhelming first season as a starter this year. Chad Greenway signed a big deal, so don't expect to see Griffen replacing him. Erin Henderson has played decently enough this season to garner a starting spot next year. My opinion about his brother E.J. has been made here before, but to refresh you all, I feel he has lost a step and is one of the players that needs to go in order to improve our NFL-record breaking (and not in a good way) defense.
I don't see the Mike position as a good fit for Griffen if he were to play in the linebacking corps, so Greenway or Erin Henderson would have to convert to the middle to make room for Griffen. Otherwise, he may end up replacing Brian Robison, who has really dropped off the radar after a solid start to the 2011 season. Wherever Griffen ends up being plugged in, it's this blogger's strong opinion that he needs to be utilized more frequently in any way possible. There's really nowhere to go but up for this defense and Everson Griffen himself. One might say the sky is the limit for him.
So tonight I was at work when I felt like I had a bit of an epiphany. I kind of hate that we have Joe Webb on our team.
Before you bash me, listen for a second. It is well documented that Webb is a phenomenal athlete. He is big, fast, and can jump high. It's all really breathtaking to witness.
HOWEVUH *Stephen A. Smith voice*, while he may be a considerably better all-around athlete than your average NFL-er, what is he really good at? He has shown almost nothing at the WR position in the two years he's been in the league. He has one catch in his career as a Viking. and this is the position we originally drafted him for. Webb hardly can get on the field even with our terrible receiving corps. My argumentative mind tells me this may be because he is also our backup QB and our coaching staff wants to keep him healthy, but if you're going to try to use a guy like we have tried to use Joe Webb, I doubt his status as backup quarterback is what's holding our coaching staff back. If he was good enough to be on the field as a receiver, he would be in my occasionally not-so-humble opinion.
Webb's running abilities have really been at their best (actually, they have only been effective) when he is in as our main QB, because the defense can't automatically assume he's going to run it like they do when he lines up in the backfield in the "Blazer" formation. When Joe has operated out of the Blazer formation he's gotten stuffed like a holiday turkey. He could be amazing if he had much for passing skills, but at this point those are questionable at best. As a quarterback, he is a 58% career passer with a 1:3 TD-INT ratio and a 5 yard/attempt average.It's a small sample size, but in my mind, his position will never be at quarterback. If you disagree, I'd love to hear why.
One aspect of his failures has been the timing of them. This aspect is not Joe Webb's fault at all. That's on the coaching staff and more specifically, Bill Musgrave. At times, Musgrave's offense looks like it could be very effective. At others, the playcalling makes you throw your hands up and wonder what the heck he was thinking. We ran two straight plays last week where Joe Webb faked handoffs to CHRISTIAN PONDER. What starting defensive player in the NFL is going to believe for a second that Christian Ponder is taking that handoff? (Vikings players not included.) Sure enough, no Saint did and he was promptly stopped after 3 yards. The next play Webb was hurried into an incompleted pass to Percy Harvin. (He also had one play earlier in the game where he was dropped for a 3 yard loss from the same formation.)
NOTE: As I was looking up the exact results for those plays, I Googled "Vikings-Saints recap". I clicked the first result, and quickly realized it was the recap for the 2009 NFC Championship. Talk about an unexpected kick to the plums. Not cool, Google.
Again, this is a great athlete, and I acknowledge that. But guess what? The NFL has seen plenty of Joe Webbs. If you're not able to apply your athleticism to a specific part of the game (receiving, passing, blocking, returning or rushing the ball), you really aren't good for much. Josh Cribbs has been successful in Cleveland, but mainly for his return prowess (Joe has shown little to nothing in this area) while Brad Smith has made a decent living doing the same for a couple AFC East teams. Both have had decent success running Wildcat formations (Webb has not), but their marks have been made in the return game and as wide receivers as well. Joe is a 6th round pick, so we don't have a ton invested into him. He certainly wouldn't be the first 6th round pick by the Vikes that hasn't succeeded, if in fact he doesn't.
So what I'm asking, is how much longer do you folks think we should try to find ways to get Webb involved when he really hasn't shown much in the opportunities he's been given? Has his lack of success been Bill Musgrave's fault? Is it a collective problem between not being able to sustain drives long enough to utilize the Blazer formation properly, an inconsistent offensive line, and coaching mistakes? I really can't be sure. I'm glad I'm only pretending to be the Viking coaching staff and not actually a part of it. They really have a mess on their hands. We're almost to the end of his second season, so attributing it to adjusting to the NFL is an argument that's running out of slack in a hurry. I personally am getting a little tired of seeing every gimmick play we try for Mr. Webb fail miserably. Maybe it's time we give up. To decide whether to give up on Webb or Musgrave is not my problem, but at least one is at fault here.
The last two games for the Vikings would have been painful if we weren't completely out of the playoff hunt and if we weren't, well, the Vikings. First, let's get through my notes from the loss to the Denver Tebows that I totally called:
Finally, an exciting game played by the Vikings. Christian Ponder shows signs that he is a good quarterback and also shows signs that he may be not so great of a quarterback -turnovers at terribly inopportuned times - is this guy Romo 2.0? Very similarly to the Raider game (and the Lions game), Ponder has turned the ball over both deep in our own territory and deep in enemy territory. This is a big red flag to me as a great football mind for these reasons: turnovers deep in your own territory equal easy points for your opponents, and turnovers deep in enemy territory equal out to forfeiting the opportunity for points for your team. These are the biggest momentum killers in the game of football.
Even with all the missed tackles and blown coverages by the secondary, I wasn't getting angry like I do sometimes when the Vikings are up to their typical ridiculously idiotic things. Say it out loud: our fourth string cornerback is #1 on our depth chart. The secondary we are fielding has no business starting, and they wouldn't be without the barrage of injuries we've faced this year. The defense played wonderfully in the first half and awfully in the second, while the offense did the opposite and played pretty badly in the first half and quite well in the second, thanks to some great plays by Percy and Gerhart wearing down the Broncos defense.
However, at the end when the Broncos were in extra-point range and we had no timeouts, the decision to just let them run the clock enraged me. In a situation where it is clear the other team can run the clock down to nothing and kick a <30 yard field goal and you have a minute left, you gotta let them score. At least then we would have a fighting chance. I do not believe you can hold out and hope for a forced fumble or a blocked/missed chip shot FG in the NFL (Frazier indicated later in the presser that they were going for the block), because NFL teams will execute in that situation 99% of the time. This is not the NCAA where field goals (especially indoors) are commonly missed from short range. On ESPN's NFC North Blog, Kevin Seifert disagreed, and had this to say on the matter:
The Broncos had a 95.3 percent chance to win the game the moment they made the interception. Had the Vikings allowed an immediate touchdown, their chances of driving the field for a touchdown on their ensuing possession and ultimately winning the game in overtime was 2.5 percent. So statistically speaking, the Vikings had a better chance of stopping the Broncos' final possession, as they tried to do, than pulling off a non-traditional miracle.
I agree with the idea that directly after the interception when we had 2 timeouts that we should've tried to make the stop, and if we did not allow a first down our worst-case scenario would have been the ball back with about 25-30 seconds and no timeouts. But once Willis McGahee broke off a 15 yard run down to our 4 yard line, I doubt we were better served by letting them run the clock down for a 21-yarder, which is essentially an extra point. Think fast, how many extra points have you ever seen blocked? Okay, now how many times have you seen a team score in 50 seconds? The percentage of us winning may have only been increased slightly if we let them score, but in "the game of inches", those are inches in the right direction.
Positives from this one included: Jared having another awesome game, Percy absolutely BEASTING for possibly the best game of his career, including two 50+ yard catch and runs for touchdowns, Kyle Rudolph having another ridiculous catch and Devin Aromashodu looking halfway like a passable starting receiver (he would go on to drop a long pass late in the Lions game).
The Lions game started out worse than any game this season, and if not for a late rally engineered by Joe Webb and aided by a penalty-prone Lions squad, would have probably gone down as the ugliest, most unwatchable game of the season. Yes, I know you're thinking about the Packer MNF game, but this was 21-doughnut 9:06 into the game. In the Packer game, the score hit 24-doughnut on a Jordy Nelson touchdown catch 4:15 into the 3rd quarter. Anyhow, it ended the way we probably needed it to end, with a loss. Spoiler victories are fun to watch, and knocking the division rival Lions further away from the playoffs would have been nice.You know what is nicer than that? The #2 pick in the draft. Tell me how much you remember that great Viking victory last year over the heavily favored Eagles which cost us a few draft slots. Nobody gives a hoot about a victory when it doesn't mean anything, and that's exactly what this would have been. With RyanMatt Kalil, the only top-5 OL prospect in the draft, most likely headed back to USC for his senior year (turns out this was just a rumor), we may be able to command a king's ransom to whatever team is desperate to trade up for a player like Matt Barkley or Robert Griffin III. The Browns have 2 number 1's they may be willing to give up in order to get their shot at a franchise quarterback, since Colt McCoy hasn't exactly been setting the world ablaze. Even if we kept the pick, we could end up with Mo Claiborne from LSU, who is considered by many to be every bit as good as last year's top-5 cornerback from LSU Patrick Peterson, or 2-time Biletnikoff award winner Justin Blackmon from Oklahoma State. Both of those players would fill big needs and have the potential to produce immediately. Check the links and see what you think for yourselves.
For crying out loud though, did it really have to end with a blatant facemask no-call on our quarterback? You know, the same position that Tom Brady, the guy who got a penalty called on the defense for tackling him, plays? The last thing we needed this season was another terrible insult-to-injury type loss that FaceMaskGate has now provided us with.
Christian Ponder looked awful in this game. He threw 3 interceptions, one was returned for a touchdown, and also had a fumble lost in the end zone for a Detroit touchdown. He could have easily had 5 or 6 interceptions by my count if the Lions defensive backs caught balls that hit their hands and chests. This kid is really starting to worry me. I get it, rookies make mistakes. The problem is, he isn't learning from the mistakes. He is making the same turnovers every time. The greatness of my football mind is arguable at best, and perhaps the plays need to get more creative, but it seems to me that he really gives away the hitch routes that we throw. That was the route he was intercepted on multiple times today and the nature of that route makes TAINTS (touchdowns after interceptions) a frequent result if intercepted.
With all that said, there is no quarterback controversy here. Ponder is a rookie and I will begrudgingly accept his mistakes. I am simply outlining the areas in which I think he needs to improve. As Vikings fans we all know that excitement need be tempered at all times. Christian Ponder has shown flashes of potential and nothing more. While some may point to inconsistent first year stats of Mannings and Aikmans, there are also Tim Couches and David Carrs out there whose starts were very similar to our rookie quarterback's. For now, we have to give him the benefit of the doubt. He is playing behind one of the worst offensive lines in recent memory and a wide receiver corps that is pretty thin as well. Let's just say the cupboards are pretty empty for Chef Christian at this point, and over the next few years he should have some better ingredients to work with.
Doing it wrong...
Anyway, after Christian was benched for his performance/health reasons, Joe Webb brought us back with some spectacular running plays, breaking Fran Tarkenton's franchise record for rushing yards in a game by a QB with 109 and a TD, and our defense played pretty darn well all game. Our secondary was pretty bad, but pretty bad is actually pretty good at this point in time for us. If you're excited to have your 4th cornerback back in the lineup as the starter, you might be a Vikings fan. We're so beat up in the secondary we should probably contact the Make A Wish Foundation and see if any of their kids' wish is to play in the NFL, then at least we'd get some positive headlines. Go ahead Leslie, throw Little Jimmy back there at strong safety. He surely couldn't get burned any worse than Jamarca Sanford and Ced Griffin have been, even if his condition does include club feet and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Jared Allen picked up his 100th sack as a Viking and 3 sacks overall, though that may be subject to change. The three sacks brought his season total to 17.5 with 3 games remaining, meaning he will need to average 2 sacks per game for the rest of the season to break Michael Strahan's NFL single-season sack record of 22.5.
Doing it right, all the time.
It's really becoming a strong opinion of mine that the Vikings need to clean house. I don't mean cut a couple players or veterans to send a message, either. I mean it in the sense that if the Vikings were a country, we need to drop an atom bomb on them. Look at who has come to play every game this season. It is literally the same 3-4 players, every time. Percy Harvin is a swiss army knife of an offensive weapon. How awesome is it to have a guy like Percy at 5'11, 180 pounds breaking tackles, refusing to go down until 4 guys make him? Jared Allen may give us the only good memory of this year if he can have a couple nice games in the next 3 and set the sack record. If we had 11 Percy Harvins on offense and 11 Jared Allens on defense, that'd be one hard-nosed, game breakin', mullet rockin', spear huntin', quarterback strippin', touchdown scorin' Super Bowl champion of a team right there.
"Mighty Mouse ain't got nothin' on me"
There are also a handful of solid players that do not make a ton of standout plays (Greenway, Kevin Williams, Erin Henderson, John Sullivan) but are still worth keeping. Finally, there is a good-sized portion of the team that has shown they do not have the ability to make plays that need to be made. Phil Loadholt was the 2nd most penalized offensive lineman in the league last year, and is good for at least one sack allowed/false start/hold per game this year. Charlie Johnson gives away more sacks than Santa gives away Christmas presents. Jamarca Sanford has no concept of how the Cover-2 defense is supposed to operate. Cedric Griffin has been beaten like a rented mule this season. Lorenzo Booker has about half as many fumbles this season as he has touches.
You're doing it wrong.
Devin Aromashodu has just as many drops as he does great catches. Even the ultimate warrior, EJ Henderson, needs to go. I've got a lot of respect for EJ as a football player for battling back from what should have been a career-ender and starting. That said, he doesn't have the mobility needed out of an effective Cover-2 Mike linebacker anymore. We need a sideline to sideline playmaker in the middle who can cover the increasingly athletic tight ends in the league, and I don't believe EJ is the guy we need in that position if we are to return to the top of the NFC Norse division.
The way the team has battled back in games recently is a great sign that our coaching staff still has the players playing hard. Some of these players (hell, who am I kidding, plenty of these players) at this point simply are not equipped to be playing in the roles they're in. The defensive backs that are playing now are a product of injury forcing them to be in, so there's really no question that the players we have seen the last few games back there will not be starting next year. The offensive line's issues however, are a product of lack of talent.
Both of these groups need to be almost completely rehauled. This means one of two things: either the Vikings will be active in free agency this year and will add starters in the secondary, offensive line and/or receiving corps, combined with at least 1-2 added immediate starters through the draft, or we will try to build strictly through the draft and potentially have another rough season next year. If we can add two or three impactful free agents and have a decent draft, we could be looking at competing again next year. With Allen and AP approaching the back end of their primes and Percy Harvin only having a couple years left on his rookie deal, we should be looking to compete sooner than later. To do so, we're gonna have to make some big changes. Thanks for reading y'all. Have a good week and as always, SKOL.
Donovan punches the time clock for the last time as a Viking today.
It appears that the Donovan McNabb era has officially ended here in Minnesota. His career stats as a Viking: 94-156 for 1026 yards, 4 touchdowns passing (1 'rushing' - but let's be honest he could have crawled in on that play) and 2 interceptions.
I was very wrong about how this season would go with Don at the helm. I thought he looked good in the preseason, but after getting a bigger sample size we all saw how awful he truly was. After so many telegraphed WR screens, passes bounced yards in front of receivers feet, and a give up flop in our own endzone in Chicago, we all knew it was time for him to go and the Ponder era to begin. Since then, he's hardly been mentioned by any media outlet. My best guess (and I am not necessarily a great football mind, but run with me here) is that after Cutler broke the news that he may be done for the year and the Texans grabbed Jake Delhomme, who has no business being a starter anywhere, McRib and his agent saw their best chance to get in on a playoff team's roster and potentially start. I can only hope that a playoff team is dumb enough to think that a quarterback who was benched by a 2-9 team can help them in any way. The mere possibility of a playoff-caliber team having a front office inept enough to sign this man makes me excited. We will just have to wait and see.
According to ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter, citing league sources, Donovan's agent requested the release. Early speculation has him potentially headed to either Chicago or Houston, two very QB-needy franchises at this point. Herm Edwards believes this would be a good fit for Chicago. He clearly has not watched Donovan McNabb play a single snap this year. Hopefully the Bears feel the same way though. I would love to watch how ol' McRib performed once exposed to an environment rich in deep dish pizzas and topping-heavy hot dogs*. He'll probably convert to offensive line.
Mmm... Deep Dish
*Seriously, this guy is in no shape to be a professional athlete. My girlfriend's father was at a Vikings charity event no longer than 2 weeks ago and testified that he witnessed McNabb eating wings and nachos for a solid half hour straight. I'm pretty sure that's not part of Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers' diet. Maybe the man is in need of a career change. Watch out, Adam Richman.
EDIT:It has come across the newswires that McNabb requested his release after being dropped down to the 3rd string quarterback on the depth chart. I can only speculate on why his depth chart position mattered to him when it was clear he wouldn't see the field ever again as a Viking. Perhaps he just wanted to be able to eat nachos and chicken wings all day in peace and not have to do the pesky things that being a pro football player entails, like you know, practicing and being on the sideline during games. Either way, unless a team claims him off waivers (which is not likely) he will still be getting paid by us.
So Donovan shall be living the dream whether he gets picked up or not. Who else in the world gets to be fired from their job and still get paid by the company that canned them? I am aware of the existence of severance packages, but perhaps I'm just naive. I'm not sure which would be more awesome, to be Tom Brady and be great at my job or Donovan McNabb and be awful yet still get paid to sit home and stay away from footballs. Now the only people tasked with catching McNabb's bounce passes will be his kids in the backyard. I still am willing to bet the neighbor kid will get an interception or two on a telegraphed bubble screen. (BTW, the answer is Tom Brady. His wife is Gisele. I'm pretty sure Donovan McNabb's wife is Mrs. Butterworth or something.)
EDIT: I just want to say that although my writing about the Vikings will continue to emphasize the fact that we suck, it needs to be understood that the difference in talent level between the best team and the worst team in the NFL is almost nada. This is why teams like the Broncos and Bengals can be in the bottom 5 one year and the playoffs the next. It only takes a few bounces the other way and a handful of different calls on offense or defense to turn a 3-7 team into a 7-3 team. So whenever I refer to the Vikings 'sucking' as a collective, it's not necessarily an indictment on the players' talent or effort level as much as it's just an observation of how things have gone this year. Sometimes once you get a rock rolling downhill, it's tough to stop. That's just how the year has gone for us and doesn't mean we don't have what it takes to be a good team with a handful of minor changes. Oh, and a completely overhauled secondary and offensive line. Thanks for reading.
Hello all, nice to see your faces again! I don't want to apologize again for being AWOL from the blogosphere, but I do feel bad about it. Especially since judging by the 2-3 views I see this joint getting every few days, which indicates I have at least 2-3 loyal readers. Maybe. I appreciate y'all if you're out there.
It's nearing the end of the semester here at school, so naturally things are getting a little hectic. I guess my life right now feels a little bit like how I imagine the Vikings themselves are feeling every Sunday: a little burnt out. It's tough to write week in and week out about a team that seems to do just about the same thing every week; it just doesn't make for interesting writing. I've still been there to watch every game, but between working 30-40 hours a week on a night shift, having school during the day and recently purchasing Call of Duty: MW3, it can be hard at times to want to dedicate the little free time I have to write about (and therefore, basically relive) the games that we continue to lose by shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties, lack of adequate personnel and boneheaded plays.
If anything requires an apology, it's probably that last sentence above. What an unholy fucking lung full of words that is. But you know what? I'm not going to change it. Kind of the way the Vikings don't seem to change much of what they do week to week. I'll give a quick summary of the last couple of games, about which I have said nothing.
Packer Game: We got our asses thoroughly kicked. Reamed, even. You see my post below this one? That's really all I had to say. They shut down our run, they demolished our pitiful excuses of an offensive line/secondary, and basically killed any semblance of a will to win that the Vikings had by the time the first quarter was over. I called in sick to work just so I could see this game, so I almost feel like the Vikings owe me a refund for my lost wages while I fell asleep midway through the 4th quarter of this beatdown. It was dreadful to watch and on top of it the MNF crew was especially relentless in their constant praise for the Packers and their quarterback. DID YOU KNOW THAT AARON RODGERS LIKES TO THROW WHERE CORNERS ARENT LOOKING?! WHAT A TRICKSTER. HOW ABOUT THAT TED THOMPSON? DOES THIS GUY KNOW HOW TO BUILD A TEAM THE RIGHT WAY OR WHAT? Oh, and Kyle Rudolph had a nice catch.
Raider Game: This was a close game until a brutal sequence of events. At about the 11-minute mark in the second quarter, we were in the red zone driving for what could have become either a 10-3 or 14-3 lead when Ponder throws a terrible pick into double coverage at the 5 yard line, returned to the 47. Raiders drive a short field and score a touchdown (10-7 Raiders). Vikings get the ball back, march back into enemy territory, only to have a botched field goal attempt. Raiders score again on a short field (17-7 Raiders). On the ensuing kick return, (we're sitting at about 1:30 left in the half at this point) Lorenzo Booker loses a fumble deep in our territory, allowing the Raiders yet another short field with which to push the lead to 24-7 at halftime.
Maybe that isn't a sequence of events to some people, it's just a terrible quarter of football. Either way, it was god-awful to watch. The second half consisted of the Raiders doing their best to hand us the game, but Christian Ponder (who I like, by the way) kept pushing it back towards them. All three of his turnovers were in a red zone. Two he threw deep in Raider territory and cost us points, and the other was deep in our own territory and gave the Raiders points. All 3 interceptions displayed awful decision making. Adrian Peterson also got injured after a promising start to the game and has yet to return to the field. Overall, the entire game was basically like a dumpster fire, if the dumpster on fire was the one behind the abortion clinic that all the aborted fetuses are deposited into.
Falcons Game: This game was truly a clinic on how a good team should beat a terrible one. The Falcons dominated the time of possession battle for the first half, holding the ball for more than 20 minutes and imposing their will on a porous Viking defense. By halftime, we were down 17-0 and not much hope remained for a team missing it's leading man in AP. Percy Harvin did his best Tim Tebow impression and tried to carry the team back on his own, but we fell short. The only reason we were really in this game anyways was because of an idiotic special teams player on the Falcons missing a fire call and getting hit by a bouncing punt deep in their own territory and an unexplainable 4th and 13 touchdown pass from Ponder to Harvin where for some reason a linebacker was lined up against Percy. We also had the longest non-scoring play in NFL history. Nobody almost scores like us. I imagine on that return, Percy's life soundtrack would've gone from:
WHO GON' STOP ME HUH?
To...
OH NO, NOOO!
Anyway, that should bring us up to speed. This week we are facing the Denver Broncos. If you haven't heard, Tim Tebow is their quarterback. I like Tim Tebow. If you don't like Tim Tebow, you truly are a hater. He's a nice guy. I've never read anything bad about him, anywhere. He's one of the few players in the NFL that you know without question is giving full effort on every play and is there because he loves the game. That said, I do hate how ESPN will not shut the fuck up about him ever. I get it, his name creates buzz. But since he took the reins, their offense has only scored more than 17 points once. They are 5-1 in that span. If you had no idea who was on a team that went 5-1 over a stretch, and their offense only scored over 17 once in that span, would you credit the wins to the offense or the defense? Exactly.
Of course it isn't that simple. From the games that I have watched, the offensive line gives Tebow years of time to sit in the pocket. It takes Tim a little bit more time than your average NFL quarterback to make it through his reads and progressions, so on the few passes they do attempt, he really needs it. Tebow doesn't turn the ball over (1 time in 6 games), so now people have shifted from "he is inaccurate and doesn't hit his receivers with regularity" to "his passes are so inaccurate, not only does he not hit his receivers, but he completely misses any form of human life!" Sometimes something that is a perceived as negative can end up as a positive.
Their run game has been the fixture of the offense since Tebow has come in, which should be a good sign for the Purple. We currently rank 9th in rush yards allowed, and are still clinging to the reputation of a staunch run defense built by the Williams Wall. Sometimes I think that's more of offenses simply choosing to pass instead of run, and yards allowed is really not one of the most indicative statistics in the NFL of anything. Just ask last year's Chargers, who ended the year #1 in yards on offense AND defense, yet didn't make the playoffs. Willis McGahee has enjoyed somewhat of a career revival this year as well. He's a Miami alum, so that makes me happy. Eric Decker is Tebow's favorite receiver when they do pass, and he will have a little homecoming Sunday, as he is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and grew up in Cold Spring.
The defense is led by defensive rookie of the year race leader Von Miller, who has 10.5 sacks, Elvis Dumervil, and Champ Bailey, and have really helped keep the team in games when the offense isn't clicking. They held the Chargers to only 13 points last week, so I'm sure our offense will have its hands full this week. This should be a close game. I believe this is one the Vikings can win, despite their horrid play over the past few weeks. Tebow Magic can't last forever, can it? Who am I kidding. We will blow this one too.
Prediction: Broncos 20, Vikings 14
If AP was playing, I'd give us the nod. But we've looked like shit on a stick the past two weeks without him outside of Percy and CP7. I think Von Miller and Dumervil will take advantage of our two traffic cone tackles and be chasing Christian Ponder all over the field, and I really just think the Vikings suck this year. They kinda sucked at the beginning of the year when we were healthy. Now we are missing 3/4 of our starting secondary, one of our top receivers, and a couple offensive linemen. I love them, but they just have sucked donkey balls for about 90% of the season. So keep losing. At this point in the season, it will only make us better for next year. It hurts to watch, but I will watch nonetheless. Bring da pain.
Good afternoon everyone!
I want to take a moment and apologize for my lack of contributions in the past week and a half or so. My life has definitely gotten busier than it was when I started this blog. When I started, I had no job, it was summer and I had no money to really do much with, so I was just hanging out a lot. Well, the money situation hasn't really changed, but I now find myself working a 2nd shift job that starts at 5 p.m. and I usually end up leaving at about 3 a.m. every night. I only get to leave at 3 because my excuse is I am a student, while the rest of the shift generally is not going to be done for another hour or two yet.
There is also more involvement in school required... as much as I hate to do that, I did just get my graduation application accepted, so I better make sure to pass these classes so I can get the hell outta here when the time comes! Needless to say, with my now 40+ hour work weeks and school to boot, things have become more complicated as sleep is also necessary during my free time. It's really uncanny how easily I fall asleep these days actually. I've never really been a nap person; I always thought that if I take one I'll just sleep all night. That isn't all completely false, because I definitely have been taking naps lately and they have definitely lasted four hours at times. This is what my weekends consist of lately. I know, I'm cool.
Let's get back where I left off: predicting a 27-24 victory over the Panthers going into the bye week, saying that if we limited Steve Smith, Ponder didn't turn it over, and we fed AP the ball we would win. Lo and behold, those three things happened and we won by a score of 24-21. Not a bad prediction, if I do say so myself. Jared Allen had another sack and a fumble recovery, and CP7 was clutch on third down. It was a competitive game, but not an overly exciting one. Coming up on this Monday (which I may call into work just to watch) we have the Packers again, who are just coming off a close victory against the Chargers in which Aaron Rodgers dropped another 4 TD, 5 incompletion, monster game.
Here the Vikings stand in the middle of their year, at 2-6. My regular season predictions have not been too accurate, as I kind of went into rube mode on them and gave an optimistic outlook. If you refer back, I had us at 4-4 at mid-season, and finishing 6-2 for a 10-6 final record. I was wrong. Very wrong. However, I will say that I also mentioned in that entry that we were far more likely to start 2-6 than 6-2, so I wasn't completely blinded by my homerism. It hasn't been pretty, losing our first 3 games by blowing increasingly larger halftime leads. Donovan McNabb was benched in the 4th quarter of a beatdown on national TV by the Bears and hasn't been seen since, and Christian Ponder has given fans hope that we may have a franchise quarterback in the making. One characteristic of Ponder that is already garnering a lot of attention is his poise under pressure and proficiency on third downs. I got to thinking for a second about that, and recalled something one Trent Dilfer of ESPN had to say about him briefly following the draft. It went something like...
"His drop, his arm speed, everything about him ... it's one tempo," Dilfer said. "He has to play at the 7-on-7 tempo. The drop has to be rhythmical. The receivers have to be open. The ball goes one speed. The pocket has to be nice. Any time he's asked to quicken that up or there's people around him, his accuracy is awful. ...
"The great quarterbacks are as accurate going to [options] two, three and four as they are when you go to one. ... Christian Ponder, as soon as you get to two or three, the ball is dirting. It's high. It's all over the place. OK?. He plays with a lot of anxiety. Do you want your quarterback in the NFL to play with a lot of anxiety?
"Christian Ponder tests off the charts. He's in shorts and a t-shirt. He goes to his pro workout, he's in shorts and a t-shirt. His big pecs are hanging out. He's got big guns. He looks great. He's a good-looking young man and he spins that ball around the football field in a perfect environment and people go 'wow he can really play'."
Yeah, about that, Mr. Dilfer... I think you may have been a bit off about his anxiety. He's been as cool as a cucumber on the other side of the pillow thus far on the most important downs, in the most important quarter.. From what the Minnesotan ladies are saying, you're spot on about him looking great. Ponder has not been afforded the luxury of anything even close to resembling nice pockets, or really very many open receivers for that matter. Despite that, he has looked pretty damn good for a rookie in his first two starts. Sure, he was picked off twice in his first, but it was against the Packers. The same Packers who just handed the Great King Laserface his first ever 3-interception game of his career this past Sunday.
"Ya better ask somebodayy how to not turn the ball ovaa!"
Okay, now that I'm done hashing that out, here are my grades for mid-season Vikings foosball.
Quarterback: I - I'm giving us an incomplete on this one. McNabb looked terrible. NO ONE DENIES THIS! But as I stated above, Christian Ponder has all given us hope. He looks unrattled by pressure, doesn't lose a lot of yardage on sacks, and hits open receivers. In the three fourth quarters that Christian Ponder has played, the Vikings are 10 of 16 (62.5%) converting on third down. In the five fourth quarters that Donovan McNabb played, the Vikings were 4 of 17 (23.5%) converting on third downs. He has thrown a couple picks, and there have been other throws he has almost had picked as well. These things happen to every quarterback. He has also been phenomenal on 3rd down conversions and nearly led a comeback against the world champs. There is hope.
Running Backs: A - Adrian Peterson has looked really good this year. He has looked different than other years for some reason, maybe it is just in my mind, but he has been an especially tough runner so far this year and leads the league in yards after contact. That is a testament both to the terrible play of our line as well as the awesomeness that is Purple Jesus. Toby Gerhart has looked good spelling him, and Booker hasn't had to do much, but has been solid in special teams.
Receivers/Tight Ends: C+ - Michael Jenkins has been a reliable possession receiver. He makes the catch when it's thrown on target to him, but he does not have a lot of ability to get separation and is best suited as probably a 3rd or 4th receiver on a very good team. I would be satisfied if we had a game-breaker at the 1WR position, Jenkins at 2WR and Percy in the slot, where he does the most damage. Speaking of Percy, he has had a good year but not the breakout year as a receiver I envisioned for him. He is a phenomenal athlete and we have found ways to get him the ball, despite him not being on the field nearly as much as our top 2 WRs. I just have this fear of his talent being wasted as being barely more than a gimmick. I do not want Reggie Bush, Jr. on our team. I think Percy has the ability to be Wes Welker or even a Steve Smith. Are my thoughts baseless and inaccurate? Perhaps more on the Smith comparison than the Welker, but I still want to see more out of him. He has been our best wideout for what it's worth, and now that Ponder has taken the reigns, perhaps he will show me a bit more of what I've been looking for. Kyle Rudolph has looked good in limited action. He has made some amazing catches for a TE, but looks a little less fleet of foot than some of the elite tight ends in the league. Then again, he probably has around the same speed as Jason Witten. I would settle for having Jason Witten. Shiancoe has looked better since Ponder started playing, and is his favorite target on 3rd downs so far. He has been very reliable in getting those conversions. Bernard Berrian was awful and probably never should have made the team, letting him stick around for 5 weeks is what drags the group down, which has achieved what should be expected of them, relative to their abilities.
Offensive Line:C- -This is most definitely one of the areas of the team that needs to be addressed in the early rounds of this year's draft. Like, the first round (unless we can get Justin Blackmon and Matt Kalil is gone). We are 9th in the league in sacks allowed, but surprisingly in the bottom third of the league in QB hits. Our line has the best pound-for-pound running back in the league running behind them, and he is near the league lead and has been leading the league in rushing despite them. We lead the league in negative rushes up the middle with 11. I think the word that could describe this unit best is inconsistent. We see a lot of negative rushes, and quite a few big gainers. Charlie Johnson gets beaten like a red-headed stepchild regularly on pass rushes, John Sullivan is not anything special, and Phil Loadholt is penalty-prone. Hutch is not going to be here forever, and who knows who is even starting at RG anymore. We have a lot of work to do in this area.
Defensive Backs: D - Our defensive backfield has been awful for years and years and years. Can anyone name a great cornerback that is not named Winfield, who has played for us over the past ten years? Jimmy Hitchcock? Orlando Thomas? Wasswa Serwanga? Whatever. This is just about this year. We've been injury prone and felony prone as well. Chris Cook, who I was especially hard on in the preseason, looked like he was really developing into a solid starter. Then, he went and choked his girlfiend. He is still on the roster, which points to the possibility that we may be keeping him around and giving him another chance. I support that. He isn't Pacman Jones choking out strippers and having his posse shoot bouncers. He was probably drunk and made a mistake. If he does it again, he should be gone, but I am in favor of giving him this chance first. Asher Allen hasn't looked as terrible as he has in the past, but overall this is as big of a mess, if not bigger than the O-Line. The fact that Tyrell Johnson is still seeing playing time is an indicator of just how terrible the situation is. He almost lost us the game last week by taking a terrible angle at the receiver on 4th down and let him get about 20 yards more than he should have. He does not belong in a starting role on this team, or probably any team for that matter. We have always had a solid rush defense, which makes people say that our statistics against the pass are inflated by the fact that people pass more because they can't run against us. This is not the case in my mind. Teams pass against us because it is a sure thing.
Linebackers: C+ - Our linebackers are decent. E.J. Henderson is the baddest MF on the planet for playing every week with a steel rod in his leg, but it doesn't help his case in pass coverage. We get hit on seam routes quite frequently and those are mostly his responsibility. His brother has been a nice surprise, and can really cover sideline to sideline. Chad Greenway got a huge contract in the offseason and has really not made any splash plays. He also gets beat in coverage quite frequently. This is not our worst unit by a stretch, but we need to be better in pass coverage. Teams have beaten us quite a bit by just throwing in the flats or hitting their tight ends in the seams.
Defensive Line: B+ - Jared Allen really brings this unit's grade up. He is on pace to break the league record for sacks in a season, has 3 forced fumbles and 3 recoveries to go with one interception. Brian Robison started the season out strong, but has leveled off in the past few weeks. Remi Ayodele has been virtually invisible. I think he has like 6 tackles this year, and I am pretty sure I'm overestimating that. Kevin Williams has been decent, but quiet. Maybe Pat Williams was more important than we thought he was, because KWill has not been playing up to his usual Pro Bowl level. I don't want to end all of these on negatives, so let me rehash that Jared Allen is the freaking man and is playing like his mullet is on fire this season. He is awesome. I was watching midseason awards on NFL Live last week for the simple fact that I thought Jared was a shoe-in for DPOY. Turns out, ESPN's fans are a bunch of bubble boys who know absolutely nothing about football, because they voted Ndamukong Suh the midseason DPOY. Suh has 3 sacks this season. I really have nothing but words that make me look like a politically incorrect jerk for the people who voted for that.
Special Teams:B+ -Chris "The Godfather" Kluwe has been very good, as usual this season. Ryan Longwell has missed a couple kicks (13-16), but also nailed a 50+ yarder last week that was integral in getting a win. The biggest surprise has been Marcus Sherels giving us a legitimate threat in the punt return game. What a pleasant surprise he has been. His only kick return of the season went for 78 yards last weekend, and he is averaging 10 yards per punt return. Percy brought the first kick of the regular season all the way back, and other than that we have been pretty average on kick returns. We also gave up a touchdown to Devin Hester on a kickoff, but other than that have been very good in coverage. Everson Griffen is relentless on kick coverage, and is a huge guy. Ipso facto, he is a beast.
Alrighty, so overall, we kinda suck this year. It's been a rough year. The one thing that is keeping the attention of anyone other than hardcore fans is Christian Ponder, and he has done a good job of it so far. With a team that is basically out of the competitive picture this year, we just have to look for positives we can build on as a team. It's encouraging that our two best players, Jared and AP, have absolutely continued to show up this season and play their best football. That shows me they are two Vikings all-timers, so hats off to those two and any of the other players that continue to work their tails off despite the fact that our season is already basically over. I think the second half will be prettier than the first, and that's really all we can hope for as fans! I'll leave with the midpoint interlude of Tha Carter II, which is the best album Lil' Wayne has put out to date. See ya next week guys. SKOL!
Welcome back to Odin's Eye ladies and gentlemen! Week 7 marked the beginning of the Christian Ponder era, and boy did it start with a bang. Michael Jenkins came inches away from being the guy with 50+ yard touchdowns on two different players' first ever NFL pass, taking a nice double-move route 72 yards. Two plays later, CP7 had his first career touchdown pass and the state of Minnesota let out a collective sigh of relief. We may have a franchise quarterback.
Speaking of franchise quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers was surgical against us as I predicted. This man is the best quarterback in the league and has been. Some folks have been keeping the Bradys and Mannings of the world above him, but you simply cannot deny it any longer. Manning and Brady have been doing it for longer and that may be why some people give them the nod over Rodgers, but let's get real. How often do you see either of those guys roll out at full speed and with a flick of the wrist, drop a ball 35 yards upfield right into their receivers' chest? The man is a beast. Rodgers finished with 335 yards, 3 touchdowns, and only 6 incompletions (Oh, and one discount double-check). He sits atop the league with a robust 125.7 passer rating. In case you are wondering, the record for passer rating in a season is 121.1, set by Peyton Manning in 2004, so he's not just playing well, he's playing record-breakingly well.
What I did not predict however, was Christian Ponder pumping some life into what was an absolutely stagnant offense only a week ago. Sure, he went 13-32 and threw two pretty bad picks to Charles Woodson, who was quoted as saying he thought he should have had four (He did have 4 decent opportunities, but the 2 he converted were especially easy). These are areas he will need to improve on, as one was just a forced throw on an out to Shiancoe and the other he simply needed to get more loft on and the route was undercut by Woodson. HOWEVAH, he did something that Donovan McNabb had failed to do for six games and that was consistently convert third downs (9-16) and hit receivers between the numbers while doing it. Ponder showed some great improvisational skills and was at his best on rollouts, and I was very impressed with his ability to bounce back after completing ZERO passes in the 3rd quarter and throwing 2 interceptions within a three-throw span. He led us on a great drive to bring the score within 6, but fell just short on the next after being faced with a 98-yard field. The defense couldn't stop James Starks after we punted with little over 2 minutes left and 3 timeouts, and that was that. Eye-Catchers and Stink Eyes as well as a Week 8 preview, after the jump.
Hello again, all. I apologize for the super late post this week, I have been a bit busy. I had an exam on Thursday and started a new job later the same day, which I worked until 3AM Friday morning. My beautiful saint of a mother also had a surprise 60th birthday party thrown for her earlier tonight, so I was doing some things for that as well. It went swimmingly, if you're wondering.
So remember last week, when I predicted a Vikings win if our pass rush was good, we stopped Devin Hester and Matt Forte? Well, none of those things happened and we consequently got straight D-Bo'd by the Bears.
It hurt to watch. I knew after the bomb to Hester followed by a second dropped 3rd down conversion that the game was going to get ugly. Then McNabb just took a dive in the end zone, and oh the pain I do not want to relive, you Chunky soup guzzling skidmark of a quarterback. The only silver lining was a strip-sack-recovery by Jared Allen (who is still on pace to break the single-season sack record) and Donovan McNabb finally getting benched for Christian Ponder, who will start tomorrow today against the Packers.
Ponder went 9-17 for 99 yards in his debut last week, while running for his life nearly every single play as the Bears suddenly got blitz-happy at the end of an already decided game. The man is quite mobile, which he will need to be as the Vikings will be without 2 of their starters tomorrow on an already putrid offensive line. He made his way through his progressions in a way that McNabb had not through 5.5 games. Sure, he will experience "growing pains" (which is just a stupid name for interceptions thrown by a rookie) against a team as good as the Packers, but I see it as better to throw this man into the fray and see what he can do than baby him. Some pundits talk about it being risky to start a rookie quarterback against such a tough squad, but that is a bunch of mularkey. We need to find out what we have as soon as possible, and if he can make plays against the world champs, we will know he can do it any other time.
I am especially afraid this game could also get ugly. Sadly, before the season started I actually predicted the Packers to repeat as champs. Blasphemy, I know, but they are the lone unbeaten team left in the league and are leading the NFL in scoring at 32 points a contest. Aaron Rodgers is surgically good and it's been obvious since the first game he ever played against us. The Pack went 6-10 that season, but those contests were close and I can still remember him making throws on the run that made me (rightfully) nervous for our future against him. My worry in this game is that our pass rush will again be stymied, either by Rodgers' ridiculously quick release or the Packers using the same techniques the Bears did last week and keeping 6-7 blockers in for pass protection. Our defensive backs got exposed last week and just to add insult to injury, Chris Cook got arrested last night and is being held without bail on felony domestic battery/strangulation charges. Odds are this guy is probably not going to be a Viking in 2012 if not sooner than that. What a shame, he was just looking comfortable on the field and I thought we had a solid future starter in him. Who knows what will become of him now. Just a waste of talent. The Vikings now have the most player arrests of any NFL team since 2000. So much for Minnesota nice.
(Chris Cook's favorite Chappelle Show skit)
The odds of the Vikings winning this game are only slightly better than Keith Nichol's odds of catching that Hail Mary tonight against Wisconsin. With a banged up offensive line, one of the biggest priorities needs to be keeping Christian Ponder healthy. He is the future of this franchise and the Packers are going to be coming hard early and often to try to disrupt his rhythm. Green and Yellow has a backup starting at LT, which is encouraging because JA continues to be a beast this season and has always taken advantage of overmatched players. If he can continually disrupt Aaron Rodgers, there is some hope. The Pack defense has not been nearly as good as they were last year, and if Ponder can move the offense it may be able to set up Adrian Peterson for a big day.
It would be the ultimate rube move to call this game a "trap game" for the Packers, as this is not college football and I do not believe the Packers are looking past a big rival in the Vikings. In fact, I believe the Packers are going to go all out in this game and really try to embarass us. You might recall that last year we fired a certain coach after getting blown out by the Packers at home. If things are not going our way, I am looking for Leslie Frazier and his staff to do a good job of keeping this game close and not let us embarass ourselves at home against our most hated rival. If things are going our way, the Packers will probably be playing very badly. Sorry for the negativity, but last week was a big reality check and I am not here to sell hope. The two weakest parts of our team got substantially weaker over this week, and that is weak. Aaron Rodgers should shred our defense with relative ease and our offense probably will not be able to keep up the pace. Clay Mathews probably will play catch-up on sacks since his numbers are low so far this season, I am expecting him to pick up at least 2. This sucks to have to write 10x more than it does to read, but I shall perservere. I'll be back on Monday or Tuesday to try and sift through the negatives and find some things we can build on. I'll leave you fools with a song that always puts me in a better mood. Thanks for reading.
It's a beautiful fall day today, and I am just hanging out at work because nobody golfs in mid-October. I wanted to write up a preview section for this game as I am working tomorrow 1- close and may not see the game in it's entirety, though I will still be doing a follow-up on it. We have a big game tomorrow, at least as big as one can get when your division is occupied by the only two undefeated teams left in the NFL and you aren't one of them. The last time we saw these Bears, they were using the ol' Dongslinger Brett Favre's head as a basketball on that cushy TCF Bank Stadium turf, as I believe @ChrisWarcraft described it. Devin Hester also ran back a punt right past said punter, and the game was pretty much a complete bust other than being the first outdoor Vikings home game in the past 20 years.
This week, I believe there are some reasons for optimism:
The Bears have allowed the third-most sacks in the league (18).
Minnesota is tied for second in the league with 16 sacks, and all but one have come from the defensive line.
The Bears are surrendering an NFL-worst 5.7 yards per carry.*
Donovan McNabb is from the Chicago area, and is 5-1 all time against the Bears.*
Offenses are basically even, with the Bears favoring the pass and the Vikings favoring the rush more, the Vikings giving up only 75 yards a game on the ground while the Bears are giving up 135 per game.
A fourth straight victory over Minnesota would give Chicago its longest streak since a series-best six-game run Dec. 11, 1983-Oct. 5, 1986*
The Bears have benched RT Frank Omiyale for the game after he got manhandled by Cliff Avril on MNF and the line committed 9 false start penalties. They are also benching both safeties for a 2nd year player and a rookie.
Julius Peppers did not practice Friday and is listed as doubtful on the injury report. Considering he has destroyed the Vikings our past two matchups, this is great news.
Though all of the above reasons make me believe it is likely we will see a win for the Purple on Sunday Night, there are a few counterweights:
Jay Cutler, who has thrown for 13 TDs in his five games against the Vikings. Kevin Kolb could have easily had 3 TD's on us last week, one got called back after a penalty, and he sailed a line drive over a wide open Jeff King in the end zone as well. Cutler will not make those same mistakes.
*Donovan McNabb. The veteran quarterback's completion percentage (56.8) and yards per attempt (6.43) both rank 27th in the league.
*The Bears have held AP under 100 yards in their past 2 meetings.
*The Bears have beaten us in 3 straight meetings.
Antoine Winfield will be out for the game and E.J. Henderson will only see limited action.
Devin Hester always seems to have at least one big return on us. Our special teams coverage units have been outstanding thus far, but if Hester touches the ball there is always a decent chance he houses it. Since I am a huge Miami Hurricane fan, it sucks that Hester is playing for my most hated rival team. I cannot help but cheer for him though, because he is absolutely one of the most, if not the most explosive and electric player in the league. (Maybe 2nd most, behind Purple Jesus)
Prediction: Vikings 28, Bears 24.
Every time we play the Bears it is a tough contest that seems to come down to one of the last possessions, save last year's 40-14 shellacking at Soldier Field. Chicago looks a little out of sorts after Jay Cutler spent 4 quarters running for his life on MNF, and they are coming off of a short week. It will take a big game from our ends, who so far this season have been up to the task, as well as our running game. If we can limit Devin Hester in the return game, slow down Matt Forte (namely on screens, our rush D is solid), and sustain drives with some decent passing gains to keep 8 men out of the box, this should be a victory.Last week's game gives me hope that AP may go extra-beast mode and drop one of his patented 200 yard games this week on his Wheelz of Steel. Let's hope so, since he also is on my fantasy squad. Here's a little Outkast for you on my way out. Enjoy the game, and SKOL!
I was jarred from my slumber Sunday afternoon like a bear out of hibernation. My girlfriend's phone went off, as ESPN notifies her phone every time the Vikings score. The night before had been SCSU's unofficial Homecoming, since my school is currently more broke than even I am and cannot afford an official one, and I had taken part in the celebration. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and flipped on the television with urgency to find my beloved Vikings. Right as I found the game, Brian Robison was in the midst of executing a pure speed rush around Jeremy Bridges, hitting Kevin Kolb's arm in motion and causing an errant throw into the arms of Asher Allen. Was I still dreaming?
Yesterday's game was (mostly) the stuff of dreams. After three nightmare games where the Vikings had a win firmly in their grasp until the final seconds, only to have it pried from their fingers, and a terrible showing overall in Kansas City, most everything came together and it added up to a big first win for the Purple. I will say that I still think Donovan McNabb is just awful, but he doesn't turn the ball over. He is a modern-day Trent Dilfer, for all intents and purposes. In all seriousness, Trent Dilfer may be better than what we have starting at QB right now, but I digress. Adrian Peterson ran pissed off. It was awesome to see. I didn't get to see the first touchdown run, but that was his tamest of runs anyway. At the end of the second TD run, Patrick Peterson, the highly-touted rookie corner, stood between "The Cashier" and the end zone. AD seemed to accelerate another 10 MPH, gave him a shoulder that said, "stay the hell out of my way, rookie" and zipped past for the score. Apparently P-Twice didn't get that memo, however, because on the very next Viking possession he found himself in a very familiar spot...
You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.. - AP
It's a tough way to get broken into the league, Patrick, but the five yards that Adrian Peterson drove you back into the end zone for his third touchdown were character-building yards. Someday, you'll be able to tell your grandkids about the time the most freakishly athletic and talented running back to ever play the game put you on your back. On another note, Chris Cook is looking more and more like a starting defensive back. Brian Robison is making anyone who thought we should have handed Ray Edwards a big contract look silly, and on the other side of the line, Jared Allen is playing at a Defensive Player of the Year level, regardless of our awful record.
The final 3 quarters of this game were about as interesting as watching the Metrodome turf grow. After a team record-setting 28 point first, they simply chewed clock to ensure a victory. No huge collapses, no stupid penalties, and no painfully close losses here. The offense did a great job getting touchdowns and not field goals, but this was a game won by our defense. They caused two turnovers out Arizona's first three offensive possessions. Stat of the day: the Vikings' average starting field position on their first three touchdown drives was the Arizona 22.
In the previous post, there are a few points where I explain how I can't explain what is quite wrong with this year's team. They seem like they should perform better than their record indicates. Kevin Seifert is the NFC North writer for ESPN's NFL Nation Blog, and really hit the nail on the head about this year's team, IMO.
I’ve seen some bad Vikings teams over the years. Their teams in 2001, 2002 and 2006 were especially inept. The 2011 team doesn’t feel like an undermanned or incompetent team. And yet they’re one of four teams in Vikings history to start 0-4. If they don’t beat the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, the Vikings will be 0-5 for the first time since 1962.
So obviously, 0-5 is an unfamiliar territory for this team. It's comforting knowing the odds are against us dropping another one next Sunday, but at the same time, the odds have been against the Vikings dropping their first three games in the manner that they did.
