Vikings Come Up Short Against Pack, Killa Cam Awaits in Week 8

The best QB in the NFL. *Wipes Eye*

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.

Bird Season: Vikes crush Cards, get 1st 'W' of the Year

   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. 


Eye Catchers and Stink Eyes, after the jump.

Sorry 4 The Wait: Preseason Game 3

Hey everyone! Man, feels like ages since I've written anything. For that, I apologize to my two followers. You've surely been agonizing over my absence. I didn't get to write Saturday before last about our second preseason game, mainly because it was freshman move-in day at my college, so naturally I was out at the bars by 10 A.M. where it was certain that no freshmen would be. I also finally got a new job out at a golf course and worked Saturday, Sunday and Monday so I've been slacking a bit on my blogging responsibilities. Again, sincerest of apologies. HOWEVAH, I only had to work 'til 6 on Saturday so I totally got to see the whole game. I must say, I am more than slightly pleased by the progress the team has been making. Let's break it down a bit further....


Things I Liked:


Quarterback Play. -  Saturday's game was the closest we are going to get a regular season game. Joe Webb, while still struggling as a pocket passer, managed a 23 yard pass and a 44 yarder on the same drive (with help of a phenomenal catch by Manny Arceneux). He then capped off the drive with a 10 yard scramble. He also hit a big 36 yard scramble which looked a lot like a counter play if it were run out of the Wildcat formation. This man is dangerous as a runner and we need to find a place for him in our offense. CP7 didn't get many reps, but he got the ball with 62 seconds left in the game and no timeouts on the 19 yard line and got us about 60 yards down the field before time ran out on us. Gives me some optimism, though I still want to see more out of him in throws from the pocket. On our second pass play of the game, Donovan McNabb almost underthrew bombed a perfect pass to Bernard Berrian over the safety's outstretched arms to for a 49 yard TD.  I thought the interception he threw was poor judgement, and he also underthrew what looked like another potential Berrian touchdown. Overall, he finished 12/18 for 164 yards, 1TD and 1 INT. I think McNabb is really going to surprise a lot of people this season. He looks comfortable in our offense and is really getting all of our receivers involved, especially...

Bernard Berrian. - This part-time magician took a break from his 2-year long disappearing act to do a little route-running and ball-catching on Saturday, and I was glad to see him back. He still has the speed to get behind the defense as he showed on the 49-yard TD he caught on our first drive, and also had the corner beat on another long pass that was underthrown by Donny Mac. Our receiver play may have been helped by the fact that our starters were going up against the Cowboys' #3 and #4 CB's, but it's clear that Donovan McNabb has been trying to get BB back into the flow of our offense. He still is our best vertical threat in my opinion, as Percy is best in the slot. He could be the best slot receiver in the NFL very, very soon I think. No one has his speed and open field running ability. Speaking of running ability...

Adrian Peterson. - Yep, he's still the best RB in the game. We haven't gotten to see much of Purple Jesus so far this preseason, so 14 carries for 81 yards was a welcome sight for most Vikings fans. I'm not sure if any of us were worried about him losing a step, but just in case anyone was ... I think that debate is put to rest. What a beast. 'Nuff said. He did get a little help from ...

The O-Line. - These guys were opening up some big holes for AD to run through on Saturday, and that was real fun to watch. I was enjoying our 3 TE sets as well. That will be a nightmare for defenses to go up against. If anyone remembers the Packers back when Ahman Green was tearing up the turf, you might remember their formation with 2 TE and an extra OT that was a pitch play every time. And every time it gained like 10 yards. Well, with K-Sauce being basically a glorified OT with ball skills, I think we can have similar success. Herrera was back in the lineup and mugging people all over ( I LOVED seeing him pancake a guy about 2 seconds past the whistle), and Hutch had one beautiful pull to the outside that almost sprung AD if it weren't for an ankle tackle. Overall, great improvement since game 1.

Marcus Sherels. - What a story this guy is. He might be the biggest standout of the preseason for the Vikings, and if Asher Allen ends up on the streets he will have this man to thank for it. He had a great breakup on a slant in the second quarter, which isn't a sight most Vikings fans are used to. He is quick, aggressive, and clearly a hard worker. Very happy to see the former Gopher getting extended playing time.

Things I Didn't Like:


Special Teams. - Right as our first FG attempt was happening, I was just saying to the person next to me  how well our kicking game had been doing so far. Then Gerald Sensabaugh leapfrogged our line, helped block the kick, and some 50+ yards later Alan Ball was jogging into the end zone. We also missed a 52-yarder. Hopefully these were both aberrations and not something we see normally. The Sensabaugh play I will chalk up to perfect timing, so sucks for him that he made that play during the preseason, because it was nice. Cord Parks' return towards the end of the 1st half was a great one, good to see some young unknowns making noise when they get the opportunity.

Pass Coverage. - Tony Romo completed 75% of his passes in this game. That percentage is too high for a team that expects to win the game, unless we plan on the other 25% to be interceptions. Ced Griffin was getting abused by Dez Bryant for the majority of the post-interception drive, but his tackling was sure. Which is a silver lining, I guess. Keep in mind that Miles Austin didn't play in this game. Asher Allen didn't play, and that man is going to need to make an impression in game 4 if he plans on making this team. Chris Cook had a hamstring and 'Toine had that stinger that scared the bajeezus out of most of us, but he seemed to be alright. Our second team DB's weren't doing much either.

Dez Bryant. -  I just don't like him in this game because this man is a BEAST! I'll be the first to say that Dez is probably a certifiable tard, but man he looked dominant out there. I do not look forward to playing the Cowboys as long as Dez Bryant is on the field. He looks like a young T.O. out there. Put Miles Austin across from him with Jason Witten working the intermediate routes and the middle, that's a solid receiving core.



All in all, I was happy to drink the Vikings' Kool-Aid on Saturday. The team looks like it is coming together, especially on offense. Hopefully we can see our offensive line playing the way it did consistently. If we eliminate mistakes like getting field goals blocked, dropping passes on critical downs (Sorry, Percy) and giving up long third downs, we will be a team to worry about this season.
Glad to be back, thanks for reading! Sorry 4 The Wait!!

Preseason Game 1: Afterthoughts

Alright alright, so how about those Vikings? (Looks at box score, sees 248 total yards)
Alright, so maybe not. Let's be happy that we are 1/4 of the way finished with the preseason and that much closer to real football that matters. I understand the value of the preseason, and especially with a lockout-shortened offseason it is definitely needed, but man is it boring. The Vikings came up short in this matchup with the Titans by a final of 14-3, for those of you who haven't seen that anywhere else yet. These games really are not about who wins, obviously, but getting the team in rhythm and figuring out the depth chart. I saw some things that were impressive tonight and also some areas which are definitely in need of improvement, as well as some players that stood out for both good and reasons. If you want to see a summary, go here. I just want to talk about some of the positives and negatives of the performance.


Things I liked:


Erin Henderson. This guy seemed to be all over the field tonight. He ended up with 10 tackles, 7 solo and 2 for loss. The next most tackles tonight was 3. I don't think he played that much more than any of the other defensive players on first string, so 10 tackles in the box score is pretty beastly. He got in the backfield a couple times and made stops out on the perimeter as well. I look forward to seeing more of what he can do as one of our starting linebackers. Also, I think it is pretty awesome that we have brothers starting at linebacker for us.

Lorenzo Booker. Booker saw extended playing time tonight. He was out there for a good 2-3 quarters of action as our halfback, and I came away impressed. He lost a fumble on what was a very nice strip-recovery by Jurrell Casey, and if ball security continues to be an issue he probably will not be on this list many more times. For now, I'll chalk that mistake up to it being the first preseason game (which 3 other fumbles occured in) and a nice play being made on defense.  Outside of that, he was making the first tackler miss frequently, broke some good runs and overall looked very capable for a 3rd string back.

Donovan McNabb. He ended up 6-11 for 40 yards, but he started out 4 for 5 and had several good passes dropped afterward. It made me excited to see more from him. He looked in rhythm and accurate, and the fact that he can actually MOVE outside of the pocket is a welcome change from the past few years of old Vikings quarterbacks. Our offensive line was not looking so great in this first game and I think that if it continues to be a weakness, his mobility will be a huge asset. Christian Ponder also looked alright as well. I'd like to see him play behind a line that actually protects him, but he made some nice throws on the move and good mobility as well. He also made a couple throws that were not between the numbers, but didn't look like he shouldn't be on the field or anything.

Brandon Burton. The rookie cornerback out of Utah showed some promise in this first game. He broke up a couple passes, made one nice tackle at the line of scrimmage and was solid in coverage in his first NFL action. With the secondary being potentially the weakest part of this team, it's good to see a corner show some skills.


TE Depth. Looks like the Vikings have somewhat of an embarrassment of riches at the tight end position after this first game. Visanthe Shiancoe was scratched with a hamstring, but rookie Kyle Rudolph made a catch and had a good run afterward, Kleinsasser was himself, and though he dropped a big 4th down throw, Allen Reisner looked like a capable receiver as well.

Things I didn't like:


The offensive line play. The offensive line play in this game was for the most part, well, offensive. Christian Ponder was sacked 3 times in about a quarter and a half of play. There were 4 sacks total and 5 tackles for loss for the Titans and there were many other times that our quarterbacks were forced to scramble or throw while being hit. As I mentioned before, the mobility of our quarterbacks might be a very important asset to have if these problems persist. I also worry about the run game as Toby Gerhart doesn't seem to be able to gain yards unless a hole is opened for him. He doesn't seem very adept at making cuts.

Chris Cook. He got beat for a 45 yard touchdown pass pretty badly, and I saw him miss multiple tackles. For a guy whose strength was supposed to be his tackling, he was not showing much in this first game. He needs to step it up if the Vikings plan to keep him as the nickel corner.

Joe Webb. Yes, he did have a few good scrambles this evening, but as a passer he looked pretty bad. He completed 4 of 8 passes for 45 yards and an interception, and most of his yards were gained after the catch. The announcers got on him for running instead of throwing to a wide open Kyle Rudolph on a naked boot, which I agree he should've thrown. But overall, he just looked like a really athletic guy who is better off running than throwing. He had Devin Aromashodu (sic) open for a touchdown and threw a terrible ball also. I am hoping for Christian Ponder to supplant him as the 2nd stringer sooner than later after tonight. However, I wouldn't mind seeing him get used in some way. Webb is a freak athlete and we should find some way to utilize that.




Overall, tonight's game was just a tease. It left me wanting to see more. I liked the plays the offense was running and I think that our passing game will be better than most people are projecting it to be. I am worried about our offensive line though and hope they start to get it together because I think that games are won in the trenches. I am worried about our defense both against the run and the pass, but then again we didn't have our Jared Allen, Antoine Winfield or Kevin Williams playing tonight, which would probably have helped. I also thought Jake Locker looked quite good but struggled with his accuracy at times as well. Next game I will be looking forward to seeing more of Donovan McNabb running our offense, hoping to see Christian Ponder not running for his life half of the time and also for players like Chris Cook and the the guys on the O-Line to step their games up. So that's that. Enjoy.

NFL Power Rankings: Preseason

ESPN Preseason Power Rankings

Ladies and Gentlemen, the great spirit in the sky that is ESPN has spoken. The first power rankings of the year have been released. I'm not sure how much stock any of you may take in what ESPN has to say, but if your answer is "a lot", you are probably pretty sad or pissed off at this first poll. The NFL writers have our Vikings sitting at 25th in the league, just above the likes of the 49ers and Broncos and just below the likes of the Dolphins, Lions, Titans, Cardinals and Seahawks. I did not put the latter in any particular order.
With the way last season unraveled for our squad, I can understand a lower-third ranking for these Vikings. They are bringing in yet another journeyman QB (albeit only one season removed from leading a team to the playoffs),  lost Sidney Rice (who, if you aren't from around here, you might think he actually PLAYED games and wasn't constantly injured, outside of the magic 2009 season) and did not greatly improve our two biggest areas of need: the O-Line and the secondary.
Howevah, I cannot help but feel slightly incensed by seeing teams like the Seahawks above us. Sure, they added Rice and Zach Miller.  But they also plan on either starting Charlie Whitehurst or, if Darrell Bevell has anything to say about it, TARVARIS JACKSON. With a team that is one year and only a handful of players removed from an NFC Championship that should have been, how did we end up below a team (6 spots below, I might add) that was not even .500 in the worst division in football (we're actually below 3 teams with this distinction)? And this team is now planning on starting T-Jack. Did these writers suddenly forget watching this man 'play'? Was the film burned as an atrocity to football fans everywhere? Outside of that one mystery of a game he played vs. the Cardinals, where the Cards secondary decided to take the day off or just challenge T-Jack to actually hit a wide-open-by-15-yards target, this man hasn't had a decent game in his life. I'm disturbed. I need not go on anymore of a tangent because any Vikings fan should find this laughable. The Dolphins are also ranked above us. Yes, the same team which let it's top two running backs go and then traded for Reggie Bush to be their top back. Also, the same team whose fans are chanting for any QB other than the one they have and whose ownership has clearly shown they do not want Chad Henne as their starter nor Tony Sparano as their HC. The Rams also come in at number 15 in these rankings. Don't get me wrong, Sam Bradford looks like a stud. But they also failed to hit a .500 record in the aforementioned worst division in football.

Don't take these rankings to heart, my friends. Revel in how much fun it should be when the whole league is super surprised at the fact that Donovan McNabb can actually lead a team to victories that doesn't feature Ryan Torain as their best RB and Daniel Snyder as the owner. Also, how surprised ESPN NFL writers will be when the NFC West still turns out to be the NFC West.  

Finishing Strong: Predictions for the Final Five Games

Alright Kids, so with 11 games down and predicted, these Vikings are sitting at an imaginary 5-6 record. Things are not looking great, but with a big game or two against some of our tougher opponents by someone like Donovan McNabb,  Purple Jesus, Percy, the defense or any combination of the 4, we could be sitting at 7-4 or better. With an underwhelming performance or two (which we might be more accustomed to), we might be sitting at 3-8 or worse and in competition for the Andrew Luck sweepstakes (woo-hoo! right after the year we FINALLY drafted a 1st round QB!).
 The final five games of the season give us a great chance to finish strong. We have 3 opponents that finished with worse or equal records to us and two other games against teams that were only wild-cards, both of which are at home.
In our 12th game of the season we have the Denver Broncos. Outside of grabbing Von Miller in the draft at number 2 this past year, they will return Elvis Dumervil who was a sack machine in 2009 before missing the entire 2010 season due to injury as well as Jamal Williams who, though injury prone, is considered one of the better nose tackles in the league when healthy. Their secondary is aging, to put it nicely. As great as Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins have been in their careers, they've got to start dropping off someday, and last season I believe was the beginning for them both. Their receivers aren't really much to sneeze at and their best running back (Knowshon Moreno) is hardly ever healthy. This should be a W for us.
Next up, we have Detroit which has already been hit with quite a few injuries in the preseason. We will be visiting the Kitties in this game, and the Vikings have taken 15 of their past 17 in Detroit. These Lions have been a darling of the media in the off season, further strengthening their already formidable defensive line with a player in Nick Fairley who was at one point expected to go in the top 3 picks of the draft. They added a power back in Leshoure, but he is already lost for the season. Stafford has played about 1/3 of the games he's had a chance to, and Megatron has not always been a model of perfect health, either. Their secondary is also especially weak. I expect a close game and an improved Lions squad, but history should ultimately repeat itself as it tends to do. Put another W on the board.
The following week the Saints roll into town with these imaginary Vikings on a two game winning streak. Last year, we came awfully close to beating this team in the Superdome and in my opinion should have won. I think that the addition of Mark Ingram should prove to be a good one for the Saints, but I also believe that this team is aging in a lot of areas. I'm very happy to not see Reggie Bush on the roster for this game as he has always given the Vikings fits when we are matched up against him.  Percy Harvin has come into this year 15 pounds lighter and claims to be quite a bit faster (How?! Don't ask me). I look forward to seeing him burn the aging Darren Sharper ( DA haaaahdest hittin' safety in da leeeague). Breesus may pick us apart, but if our secondary is still healthy with Ced Griffin and Winfield (maybe even a half-decent performance from former early round picks Asher Allen or Chris Cook?), I think we can weather the storm enough to take this one down as well. Now we're rollin' with a three game winning streak.
In the second to last game of the season, we have our new QB coming back to his stomping ground of last year at the Washington Redskins. Unless you believe what Peter King is writing about John Beck, the 30 year old fifth-year pro from BYU (don't), we might be matching up at this point in the year with one of the worst, if not the worst team in the league. I believe this to be more than likely true, as their starting running back will either be Tim Hightower or Ryan Torain and best wideout will STILL be Santana Moss. You probably can't name another receiver on this team, and neither can I. Their offensive line will be below average, their defensive line is average at best, and outside of London Fletcher and Brian Orakpo, they don't have much more than a few overrated players on defense. If this is the case, they will more than likely have completely given up at this point in the season and we should take this game. McNabb (assuming he hasn't tanked and given the reins over to CP7) will also be coming back to the town where he got benched for Rex Grossman. That must still burn, given that Rex Grossman is basically an abortion in a jersey. This should add some extra motivation for Mr. Chunky Soup himself.  Barring a miracle, the Vikes definitely take this game convincingly.
Our final game of the season comes against the Chicago Bears and in this imaginary world I have constructed (Inception'd!) we could very well be fighting for a wild-card spot at this point. We might even be fighting for it with these very Bears. What better way to end the regular season than sending these flunkies home crying (or if you're Jay Cutler, staring indifferently) and marching into the postseason on a five game winning streak? Answer: there isn't one, unless we could somehow simultaneously knock the Packers out of contention. A lot will be at stake, which is perfect against someone as averse to being clutch as Cutlerception himself. The Thunderdome will be blaring so loudly we might register on the Richter scale, and I see the Vikes coming through in the clutch this time and sending Cutler, Hester, and Chester Taylor and his 2.9 YPC average home for the winter. If 10-6 is enough to make the playoffs, which generally speaking it is, you're looking at a wild-card berth for the 2011 Vikings IMHO.

OK, holy shit have I done a lot of writing in the past 18 hours about these Vikings, but after getting that whole regular season outlook accomplished I feel good. All my potential readers have plenty to read here, so unless some big Vikings news goes down in the next few days, I think I've earned a little break.SKOL.

Regular Season Outlook Continued

Guess who's back... back again...

Alright folks I'm here to finish my regular season outlook for the Vikings and, with a little research, hopefully find some optimism in a year where a lot of talking heads and fans conditioned by our oft-underachieving squad are struggling to find any.
Last night I left off after our home match up against the Cardinals, which the Vikings have won the past 6 games at home against. Even the biggest pessimists should have us taking that game against an Arizona team with very few weapons outside of Larry Fitzgerald and a mostly unproven Kevin Kolb.
Our next game will be against the Bears, to whom we lost both games last year. I hate the Bears with a passion, even more so than the Packers. This may be a cardinal sin to some of you out there, but my reasoning is that the Bears never seem to be as good as they play against us or their record ends up being. They're just overachieving assholes. Last year, they won all 6 games that were decided by 5 points or less (albeit two of wins vs. the Lions were disputable to say the least and one should have DEFINITELY been a loss, but I digress...). As a big fan of the Miami Hurricanes, I can't hate on Devin Hester too much because he is a beast. He always seems to make huge plays in critical times against us. But Cutlerfucker has completed far too many passes off of his back foot falling onto his own ass for me to feel like they aren't lucky. They have added some decent but potentially over the hill talent in the off-season, have an aging but still elite defense as long as they are healthy. With the game at Soldier Field where we have struggled historically (other than the day AP decided to run for two bills and three touchdowns), I gotta hand this one to the Bears.
Next up are the defending champion Green Bay Packers and the most anticipated home game on our schedule. The Pack didn't lose much in the off-season outside of starting guard Darren Colledge, and unless there are some injuries, they should be very strong. Jermichael Finley, by all accounts, looked like a beast last year before getting knocked out for the season and he adds just another target for MVP candidate Aaron Rodgers. We usually play them pretty tough, but our secondary may be the weakest point of our team. That is not a good thing against a team that goes 4-wide more than Brad Childress liked to throw 1 yard passes to Nafahu Tahi. Advantage: Packers.
Carolina and number one pick Cam Newton will be rolling into town next to put us at the halfway point in the season, and barring a beast mode performance by Cam himself, I don't see us losing to what was the worst team in the league last year at home. We're also going into a bye week after this game and since the Denny Green era the Vikes have been very good on both ends of a bye week. With a realistic outlook, this probably puts us at 4-4 at midway through the year. It's also more likely we are sitting at 2-6 than we are 6-2, sadly.
After our bye week, we get our only Monday Night Football appearance of the season at the Packers. It's pretty tough to bet against the Super Bowl Champs still, and unless Ndamukong Suh decides to use Rodgers' head as a basketball again this year, it's not looking too promising.
Oakland at home should bring us a win as west-coast teams have struggled historically going on the road into other time zones and their main strength is their running game. They have a strong run defense with a few big men up front in Tommy Kelly and Richard Seymour, but their secondary was significantly downgraded with the loss of Nnamdi Asomugha. I think our run D can contain Run-DMC, and I also believe the currently underrated Donovan McNabb should have a good day against this below average pass D. Vikings win this one.
I'm predicting a loss at Atlanta with new OC and former Falcons QB coach Bill Musgrave's first game against his old team. With the addition of Julio Jones which the likes of Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez have been raving about, their 5th ranked scoring offense in 2010 should only prove to be that much tougher. Our linebackers can stay with Tony, but I think we have trouble with their power run game and two big, fast wideouts on the outside.

This here's the point where I think I'll break this post off and start a new one in the interest of readability. See ya again soon. 

Offseason thoughts/ Regular season outlook

So as you may know, the team has undergone a few significant changes over the offseason. Most fans that I'm aware of were happy with some, not so happy with others. The consensus of the Leslie Frazier hiring is that it was the right move to make. He's familiar with our team, players like him and he led us to have some of our best defensive years in recent memory. Bill Musgrave is another addition that I believe we should be happy with. He came into a completely broken situation in Atlanta and (with the help of some good personnel) turned them into one of the best offenses in the league, particularly in the rushing category. This should bode well with us having a pretty decent running back in that Peterson guy. Letting Sidney Rice go is a matter of contention, but with only one healthy season in 4 years, I'm just not convinced he was worth the money that the Seahawks were willing to throw at him. Combine that with the fact that he had some well-documented clashes with upper management and it was understood that we probably weren't the front runners for him anyway.
The McNabb pickup looks better and better for us as camp goes on, having traded only two 6th round picks for him and now paying him a modest five million for a year of his services. I am of the belief that anyone who goes to the Redskins and plays for Dan Snyder automatically declines in performance no matter how good they are, and if you look at some of the high-profile acquisitions the 'Skins have made in the past, oh I don't know, five years I think that belief is backed up quite strongly. He should serve as a great bridge to the Christian Ponder era and could potentially bring us into the playoffs. Perhaps I am an optimist, but I believe that with all the B.S. that was going on in the Vikings camp last year, it hampered a lot of our players' performances. With a few resurgent performances from players like Jared Allen, Phil Loadholt, Hutch, K-Will and Shiancoe along with our secondary simply choosing to show up every Sunday, I think we can challenge for a wild-card spot this year.
Looking at our schedule, we start out with the underachieving Chargers. Phil Rivers has the potential to pick us apart with our weak secondary, no doubt about it. But... if I remember correctly, the last time we played the Bolts a couple records were broken, most notably the single game rushing record. And no, it wasn't Darren Sproles breaking it.  Next up are the Bucs, a near playoff team last year that made some very solid looking additions through the draft. But the NFC South is known for teams doing great one year and then pissing themselves the next, so I think starting out 2-0 is about equally likely as is starting out 0-2. Detroit at home might be tough if you listen to the talking heads everywhere, but we simply don't lose to the kitties at home. Then comes a KC team that by all accounts overachieved last year and played potentially in the 2nd worst division in the league, followed by the Cards at home. Again, the NFL is a fickle mistress and these teams in the first 5 games, while on paper appear better than the Vikings, (other than the Cards) have not been nearly consistent enough to merit handing them victories. A 3-2 start is more likely than anything else, but 5-0 and 1-4 wouldn't surprise anyone either. Well, who am I kidding. 5-0 would surprise EVERYONE.
SO that's all I have for now as this post is getting pretty lengthy.But I think this is the start of a beautiful thing. More to come someday soon. SKOL!
-J.P.

The Maiden Voyage

Alright, so this is my first ever blog post! I'm quite sure for some time I will be talking mainly into nothingness, but everyone has to start somewhere. Welcome to Odin's Eye, what I hope will become a prominent source of Vikings news for Vikes fans everywhere. A little about myself: right around the time I got old enough to really process what was going on in sports I became a Vikings fan. I was in 4th grade, and it was Randy Moss' rookie year. Watching "The Freak" explode onto the scene and the Vikes break all sorts of offensive records that season is what truly got me hooked on the 'Queens, and I've been a fan ever since. After two of my favorite and most comprehensive Vikings blogs have slowed considerably (Grant's Tomb and Pacifist Viking), I figured I read and talk about this team enough that I might as well put it on wax, so to speak. An interesting part of my blog, I think, is that the name is actually the idea of a current Vikings player. Chris "Warcraft" Kluwe himself gave me the idea for it over Twitter and I couldn't turn down the prestige that it gives the blog. That, and I am simply not all that clever with titles. Anyway, I plan on throwing some real Vikings-related material on here soon. 'Til then, Skol!