2008 NFC North Division Champions.
I'm not sure why this seems so damn satisfying to me. I didn't take a single snap, or record a single carry, or catch a single pass or make a single tackle. But as a fan, for some reason, I can't remember the last time I had this level of satisfaction and downright peacefulness as a Viking fan. Maybe because I spent a good five minutes or so laughing at this quote I read from a guy from the Chicago Tribune that was highlighted in the NFC North Blog on ESPN the day before the game.
"You just know the Vikings are going to lose. I can't stress that enough. It is what the Vikings do. Question is, can the Bears get and hold a lead -- emphasis on the "and hold" part -- before it gets dire?"
Yeah. . . good call, sparky. I guess even I wrote the "letter" because after last weekend I was convinced this was going to end the same as it always does for our Beloved Purple. Glad I was proven wrong, that's for sure!
But most importantly, I think my sense of satisfaction comes from the fact that when the Vikings HAD to win a game, they did so. . . for the first time in a long time. And you know something? I don't care who the Giants had on the field at the end of the game. Tom Coughlin had the right to play whoever he wanted at that point. The Vikings had also earned the right to play what was a meaningful game for them against an opponent that had nothing to play for. I'm sure lots of Bear fans were ecstatic that we were playing the defending Super Bowl champions in Week 17 while they "only" had to worry about the Houston Texans.
The bottom line is that, despite what anybody will want to say to dispute it, the Vikings did not "back in" to the post-season. Nobody said that Green Bay "backed in" back in 2003 when the Broncos played their JV team at Lambeau Field, even though that's a far better example of "backing in" to the post-season than what Minnesota did this season. The Vikings controlled their own destiny. . . they earned the right to control their own destiny based on what happened over the first fifteen games of 2008. And they fulfilled that destiny on Sunday.
And you know something? I don't give a damn about what Bear fans think about how we got into the post-season. I don't give a damn about what Giant fans think about how we got into the post-season. I don't give a damn about what fans of any other team think about how we got into the post-season.
The important thing is that next Sunday afternoon at 4:30 PM Eastern time, all of us are going to gather at Barry Dyngle's, just like we have on 16 other occasions this season, and we're going to watch Vikings' football.
Bear fans can't say that.
Packer fans can't say that.
Cowboy fans can't say that.
Buccaneer fans can't say that.
But we can!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
P.S. I Still Love You!
I have seen this movie one too many times. I know exactly how it ends. Therefore I decided to write the following letter:
Dear Playoffs,
It sure was nice of you to come so close, but I understand that you couldn't make it. As a life-long Vikings fan, I know that you're only there to tempt us. Unfortunately, I forgot about that for awhile and foolishly hoped that you would be joining us in a few weeks. I now realize the stupidity of that thinking. We Vikings fans appreciate how you made it much closer to visiting than previous years. Was this all one big trick to get us to root for our arch-nemesis, the Packers? If so, bravo, sir, bra-vo.
Regardless of your intentions, you have once again built up my hopes for a post season, only to dash them away again and again. You'd think we'd learn by now, but you know what? We just can't help but be secretly optimistic, despite our "glass-half-empty" exterior.
It sure was nice to have you close by. Maybe we'll see you next year.
But probably not.
Sincerely,
Dejected, Pessimistic, Hope-Crushed-Under-A-Bus, I've-Been-a-Minnesota-Fan-Long-Enough-To-Know-Where-This-Is-Going,
Dirty Kev
Dear Playoffs,
It sure was nice of you to come so close, but I understand that you couldn't make it. As a life-long Vikings fan, I know that you're only there to tempt us. Unfortunately, I forgot about that for awhile and foolishly hoped that you would be joining us in a few weeks. I now realize the stupidity of that thinking. We Vikings fans appreciate how you made it much closer to visiting than previous years. Was this all one big trick to get us to root for our arch-nemesis, the Packers? If so, bravo, sir, bra-vo.
Regardless of your intentions, you have once again built up my hopes for a post season, only to dash them away again and again. You'd think we'd learn by now, but you know what? We just can't help but be secretly optimistic, despite our "glass-half-empty" exterior.
It sure was nice to have you close by. Maybe we'll see you next year.
But probably not.
Sincerely,
Dejected, Pessimistic, Hope-Crushed-Under-A-Bus, I've-Been-a-Minnesota-Fan-Long-Enough-To-Know-Where-This-Is-Going,
Dirty Kev
Monday, December 22, 2008
The Morning After Pill - Week # 16
It's ironic that once again. . . in a "win and your in" situation. . . we were treated to a visit by the same. . . old. . . Vikings. Just like 2003 and 2007, the Vikings found themselves in a position where they had to simply win one football game, and they'd find themselves in the post-season. Heck, they're STILL in a position where they have to simply win one football game, and they'll find themselves in the post-season. Yes, they went into yesterday's game without the services of big Pat Williams in the middle of the defensive line, which was bad going into a game against the league's top rush offense.
But you know something? Despite all of that. . .
Michael Turner didn't kill the Minnesota Vikings today.
Matt Ryan didn't kill the Minnesota Vikings today.
Roddy White didn't kill the Minnesota Vikings today.
No, ladies and gentlemen, the people who killed the Minnesota Vikings today were, as usual, the Minnesota Vikings.
The Vikings outgained the Falcons by a margin of 350-222. Minnesota was only penalized 3 times for 15 yards. Tarvaris Jackson played an insanely good game, given the circumstances. Visanthe Shiancoe had the first 100-yard receiving game for a Vikings' TE since. . . damn, I don't even know when. Probably back in the Steve Jordan days, if he even had a 100-yard game in his heyday. In the second half, Matt Ryan only completed 2 out of 6 passes for 24 yards and the Falcons were 1 for 5 on third down.
But you simply can not expect to win a game where you fumble the ball SEVEN times, losing four. I love Adrian Peterson. . . all Viking fans love Adrian Peterson, and why wouldn't we? The guy does things that no other RB in the league is capable of doing, and was getting mention in the NFL's MVP race going into yesterday's game. But Adrian Peterson isn't going to be the NFL MVP, nor should he be. In your team's biggest game of the year, you can't put the ball on the ground three times. (Yes, the official scorebook only gives him two, but the fumbled exchange between Tarvaris Jackson and AP that was credited to Jackson was all on Peterson, in my opinion.)
We had Bernard Berrian fumbling a punt return on what should have been a three-and-out on the Falcons' second drive (on a ball that he should have fair caught anyway, since he wasn't going anywhere after the catch even if he had held on). We had Matt Birk snapping the ball over Tarvaris Jackson's head on a third down in Minnesota territory. We had Jackson getting sacked and having the ball take a Madden game-like 20+ yard bounce the other direction when the Vikings were closing in on the Falcons' red zone. For crying out loud, Chris Kluwe punted ONE TIME. Had you told me prior to the game that Chris Kluwe was only going to punt one time against the Falcons and we'd still end up losing by a touchdown, I would have thought you were insane.
That's not to say that there weren't some good things about the game. I can't say enough about what we saw from Tarvaris Jackson. He's a completely different quarterback from the guy we saw in the first two games of 2008, and has pretty well established that the Vikings should NOT be looking to draft a QB early in the 2009 Draft. In the 10 quarters of play since he took over for Gus Frerotte, he's completed 65% of his passes, put up a TD/INT ratio of 7/0 (with only one total turnover) and posted a quarterback rating of an amazing 126.5 (as opposed to the 64.8 rating he posted in the first two games of the year). That doesn't even include the 76 yards rushing he picked up today (tying him with Peterson for the team lead) and his ability to get out of plays that probably would have had us carting Gus Frerotte off of the field.
And we all knew that Visanthe Shiancoe was king-sized. . . but today he was king-sized ON the field. Seven catches for 136 yards and two touchdowns is amazing. It's not every day that you see a TE average almost 20 yards a catch. And they weren't all easy catches, either. . . the guy took some shots this afternoon. But he really, truly showed us today what the Vikings saw when they gave him that lengthy huge contract they gave him before the 2007 season.
As I said before, the Vikings technically control their own destiny for the NFC North division title. . . and that's the only way they're getting in, as they can't get the other wild card spot (Atlanta clinched one of those spots with a win today). If the Vikings beat the Giants next weekend, they're in. Also, if the Bears lose to either Green Bay tonight or at Houston next week, we can get in that way, too. Since I have a feeling that the Packers have pretty well folded up the tents for the season, it's probably going to come down to the season's final week.
Oh well, guess tonight I'll be chanting "Do do do..do do do do...GO PACK GO"
But you know something? Despite all of that. . .
Michael Turner didn't kill the Minnesota Vikings today.
Matt Ryan didn't kill the Minnesota Vikings today.
Roddy White didn't kill the Minnesota Vikings today.
No, ladies and gentlemen, the people who killed the Minnesota Vikings today were, as usual, the Minnesota Vikings.
The Vikings outgained the Falcons by a margin of 350-222. Minnesota was only penalized 3 times for 15 yards. Tarvaris Jackson played an insanely good game, given the circumstances. Visanthe Shiancoe had the first 100-yard receiving game for a Vikings' TE since. . . damn, I don't even know when. Probably back in the Steve Jordan days, if he even had a 100-yard game in his heyday. In the second half, Matt Ryan only completed 2 out of 6 passes for 24 yards and the Falcons were 1 for 5 on third down.
But you simply can not expect to win a game where you fumble the ball SEVEN times, losing four. I love Adrian Peterson. . . all Viking fans love Adrian Peterson, and why wouldn't we? The guy does things that no other RB in the league is capable of doing, and was getting mention in the NFL's MVP race going into yesterday's game. But Adrian Peterson isn't going to be the NFL MVP, nor should he be. In your team's biggest game of the year, you can't put the ball on the ground three times. (Yes, the official scorebook only gives him two, but the fumbled exchange between Tarvaris Jackson and AP that was credited to Jackson was all on Peterson, in my opinion.)
We had Bernard Berrian fumbling a punt return on what should have been a three-and-out on the Falcons' second drive (on a ball that he should have fair caught anyway, since he wasn't going anywhere after the catch even if he had held on). We had Matt Birk snapping the ball over Tarvaris Jackson's head on a third down in Minnesota territory. We had Jackson getting sacked and having the ball take a Madden game-like 20+ yard bounce the other direction when the Vikings were closing in on the Falcons' red zone. For crying out loud, Chris Kluwe punted ONE TIME. Had you told me prior to the game that Chris Kluwe was only going to punt one time against the Falcons and we'd still end up losing by a touchdown, I would have thought you were insane.
That's not to say that there weren't some good things about the game. I can't say enough about what we saw from Tarvaris Jackson. He's a completely different quarterback from the guy we saw in the first two games of 2008, and has pretty well established that the Vikings should NOT be looking to draft a QB early in the 2009 Draft. In the 10 quarters of play since he took over for Gus Frerotte, he's completed 65% of his passes, put up a TD/INT ratio of 7/0 (with only one total turnover) and posted a quarterback rating of an amazing 126.5 (as opposed to the 64.8 rating he posted in the first two games of the year). That doesn't even include the 76 yards rushing he picked up today (tying him with Peterson for the team lead) and his ability to get out of plays that probably would have had us carting Gus Frerotte off of the field.
And we all knew that Visanthe Shiancoe was king-sized. . . but today he was king-sized ON the field. Seven catches for 136 yards and two touchdowns is amazing. It's not every day that you see a TE average almost 20 yards a catch. And they weren't all easy catches, either. . . the guy took some shots this afternoon. But he really, truly showed us today what the Vikings saw when they gave him that lengthy huge contract they gave him before the 2007 season.
As I said before, the Vikings technically control their own destiny for the NFC North division title. . . and that's the only way they're getting in, as they can't get the other wild card spot (Atlanta clinched one of those spots with a win today). If the Vikings beat the Giants next weekend, they're in. Also, if the Bears lose to either Green Bay tonight or at Houston next week, we can get in that way, too. Since I have a feeling that the Packers have pretty well folded up the tents for the season, it's probably going to come down to the season's final week.
Oh well, guess tonight I'll be chanting "Do do do..do do do do...GO PACK GO"
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The Morning After Pill - Week # 15
First off, I'm sorry it's taken until Wednesday to finally post this week's "Pill", but I have had too much going on. Between Christmas, buying a house, getting married, and of course work, there just isn't enough hours in the day. Anyway, no sense in really recapping the beatdown the Vikes gave the Arizona Cardinals last Sunday, so how about we just recap the aftermath of the game.
Just read this morning that Tarvaris Jackson was named NFC offensive player of the week, not bad for a guy that was benched after two games this season. Hard to argue with his 11 for 17 performance including the first 4 TD Pass performance in FOUR years for the Vikings. Chilly hasn't officially announced a starter for the Falcons game but I think T Jack deserves the nod.
How about a quick shout out to Adrian Peterson too. He broke the franchise single season rushing record with his 165 yard performance against the Cardinals. By Tuesday he was announced as a starter for the NFC Pro Bowl team for the second straight year. The Vikings tied the New York Football Giants with the most players from an NFC team (The Jets led the league with 7 players). Not bad when you consider all the people probably voting in the New York market. Joining AP in Hawai'i are Jared Allen, Antoine Winfield (I can hear Viking Jim now...OH.....IO), Steve Hutchinson, and of course Kevin and Pat Williams.
Speaking of Big Pat, looks like the Vikes will have to wrap up the division and maybe start the playoffs without a huge part of the run stopping Wall. Pat injured his shoulder in the Cardinals game and is expected to be out 2-6 weeks. Not great timing considering the Vikes are playing the #1 and #2 rush offenses in the entire league the next two weeks (Falcons and Giants).
Finally, the best news of all! The Vikings' magic number is one. As in ONE Vikings win or ONE Bears loss wraps up the NFC North for the Beloved Purple. Aside from that the Vikings still have a shot at the #2 seed in the NFC. Here's the scenario:
The battle that will be going on at Giants Stadium this weekend between the Giants and the Carolina Panthers will go a long way in determining the seeding. Both teams own records of 11-3, two games better than the Vikings' current mark of 9-5. A win by Minnesota on Sunday will raise their mark to 10-5, and one of the teams in the Giants/Panthers matchup will fall to 11-4. The winner will go to 12-3 and be locked into the #1 seed in the NFC.
Should the Panthers be victorious in that matchup, the game between the Vikings and Giants in Week 17 will be for the NFC's #2 seed. If the Vikings won that game, they and the Giants would both be 11-5, but Minnesota would get the higher seeding due to that head-to-head victory.
If the Giants win next week, it would get a little more complicated.
In that scenario, not only would the Vikings have to beat New York in the season finale. . . and they might be resting players, given that they'd be locked into home field throughout the NFC playoffs. . . but we'd also have to hope that the New Orleans Saints would be able to muster up a victory over the Panthers that afternoon, too. In that scenario, both the Vikings and Panthers would be 11-5, and Minnesota's 20-10 victory back in Week 3 would give them the advantage.
Oh, and a victory over the Giants would give the Vikings a victory over the three other NFC division champions this season. So that would be a nice little thing to hang our collective hats on, too.
Getting that first-round bye would be even more huge in light of the injury to big #94. Can the Vikings pull it off? Well, they have to wrap up the North, first, but hopefully that part of the equation will be solved by supper time next Sunday.
Just read this morning that Tarvaris Jackson was named NFC offensive player of the week, not bad for a guy that was benched after two games this season. Hard to argue with his 11 for 17 performance including the first 4 TD Pass performance in FOUR years for the Vikings. Chilly hasn't officially announced a starter for the Falcons game but I think T Jack deserves the nod.
How about a quick shout out to Adrian Peterson too. He broke the franchise single season rushing record with his 165 yard performance against the Cardinals. By Tuesday he was announced as a starter for the NFC Pro Bowl team for the second straight year. The Vikings tied the New York Football Giants with the most players from an NFC team (The Jets led the league with 7 players). Not bad when you consider all the people probably voting in the New York market. Joining AP in Hawai'i are Jared Allen, Antoine Winfield (I can hear Viking Jim now...OH.....IO), Steve Hutchinson, and of course Kevin and Pat Williams.
Speaking of Big Pat, looks like the Vikes will have to wrap up the division and maybe start the playoffs without a huge part of the run stopping Wall. Pat injured his shoulder in the Cardinals game and is expected to be out 2-6 weeks. Not great timing considering the Vikes are playing the #1 and #2 rush offenses in the entire league the next two weeks (Falcons and Giants).
Finally, the best news of all! The Vikings' magic number is one. As in ONE Vikings win or ONE Bears loss wraps up the NFC North for the Beloved Purple. Aside from that the Vikings still have a shot at the #2 seed in the NFC. Here's the scenario:
The battle that will be going on at Giants Stadium this weekend between the Giants and the Carolina Panthers will go a long way in determining the seeding. Both teams own records of 11-3, two games better than the Vikings' current mark of 9-5. A win by Minnesota on Sunday will raise their mark to 10-5, and one of the teams in the Giants/Panthers matchup will fall to 11-4. The winner will go to 12-3 and be locked into the #1 seed in the NFC.
Should the Panthers be victorious in that matchup, the game between the Vikings and Giants in Week 17 will be for the NFC's #2 seed. If the Vikings won that game, they and the Giants would both be 11-5, but Minnesota would get the higher seeding due to that head-to-head victory.
If the Giants win next week, it would get a little more complicated.
In that scenario, not only would the Vikings have to beat New York in the season finale. . . and they might be resting players, given that they'd be locked into home field throughout the NFC playoffs. . . but we'd also have to hope that the New Orleans Saints would be able to muster up a victory over the Panthers that afternoon, too. In that scenario, both the Vikings and Panthers would be 11-5, and Minnesota's 20-10 victory back in Week 3 would give them the advantage.
Oh, and a victory over the Giants would give the Vikings a victory over the three other NFC division champions this season. So that would be a nice little thing to hang our collective hats on, too.
Getting that first-round bye would be even more huge in light of the injury to big #94. Can the Vikings pull it off? Well, they have to wrap up the North, first, but hopefully that part of the equation will be solved by supper time next Sunday.
Monday, December 8, 2008
The Morning After Pill - Week # 14
Okay, so today's "Pill" won't be so much about the game (sorry, I was in Brookville for the in-laws Christmas party). For the most part it doesn't seem like there was a whole lot to talk about except for maybe the cheap shot delivered to Jared Allen or the fact that Tarvaris came in for the 2nd half to replace the injured Gus Frerotte. All and all it looks as though it wasn't pretty. Hell, for the first half, it looked like it wasn't even remotely fun to watch. But when the smoke cleared, the number on Minnesota's side of the scoreboard was bigger than the number on Detroit's side of the scoreboard.
And, since they don't give style points in the National Football League, that's really the only thing that matters. Fans of other teams will talk. . . believe me, it's coming. . . about how the Vikings "only" beat the Lions by four points and all sorts of other crap.
Let them.
Green Bay is no longer relevant to the NFC North race, the playoff picture, or anything in the 2008 NFL season outside of where they'll be selecting in the 2009 NFL Draft. Honestly, they've got nothing to say, and nobody that should be interested in hearing them say it. So the Packers beat the Lions by 23 points. They're also 5-8 and scheduling tee times at a golf course near you.
The Bears remain one game behind us. Again, behind us. Essentially it's a two game lead since the Vikings now own the tie breaker. It's officially a two-team race in the NFC North, and as of now, we still control our own destiny. The Bears have a short week coming up and have to face a Saints team that's on a roll (and that we've already beaten).
But we can't worry too much about them. . . our boys have a matchup with the NFC West champion Arizona Cardinals to focus on, and what's sure to be another eventful off the field week in Minneapolis thanks to the pending suspensions of the Williams Wall.
Yes, we won ugly. . . but the only thing that matters is that we won. If opposing fans want to get into style points, they can go ahead. They can just continue doing it from the position they're currently in.
And, since they don't give style points in the National Football League, that's really the only thing that matters. Fans of other teams will talk. . . believe me, it's coming. . . about how the Vikings "only" beat the Lions by four points and all sorts of other crap.
Let them.
Green Bay is no longer relevant to the NFC North race, the playoff picture, or anything in the 2008 NFL season outside of where they'll be selecting in the 2009 NFL Draft. Honestly, they've got nothing to say, and nobody that should be interested in hearing them say it. So the Packers beat the Lions by 23 points. They're also 5-8 and scheduling tee times at a golf course near you.
The Bears remain one game behind us. Again, behind us. Essentially it's a two game lead since the Vikings now own the tie breaker. It's officially a two-team race in the NFC North, and as of now, we still control our own destiny. The Bears have a short week coming up and have to face a Saints team that's on a roll (and that we've already beaten).
But we can't worry too much about them. . . our boys have a matchup with the NFC West champion Arizona Cardinals to focus on, and what's sure to be another eventful off the field week in Minneapolis thanks to the pending suspensions of the Williams Wall.
Yes, we won ugly. . . but the only thing that matters is that we won. If opposing fans want to get into style points, they can go ahead. They can just continue doing it from the position they're currently in.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Bite Your Tounge, Bevo!
I really do believe that the Sooners rightfully deserve the chance to play in the Big 12 Championship game over Texas or Texas Tech. I know that Texas beat Oklahoma 45-35 on a neutral field and I know that Texas Tech beat Texas and Oklahoma beat Texas Tech. You can go around in circles forever about which one deserves the higher BCS ranking on the basis of these three games. However, Oklahoma is still the right choice!
The Sooners aren't more deserving because they totally annihilated Texas Tech as some people suggest but rather it's because they went out and scheduled and beat some tough non-conference teams while Texas and Texas Tech did not. In 2008 Oklahoma beat Cincinnati, the Big East champion and TCU, currently ranked 11th in the BCS.
Texas played and beat Arkansas, Rice, UTEP and Florida Atlantic while Texas Tech had the easiest schedule of any Div1-A team in the country. The Red Raiders played and beat Umass, Eastern Washington, Nevada and SMU.
There is a lesson here...If you want to be highly regarded go out and schedule some tough non-conference teams! Some will argue that Texas had to play Missouri in the regular season (the best Big 12 team that Oklahoma did not play), but that case obviously makes no sense now since OU will have the opportunity to play Mizzou on a "neutral field" this Saturday. I put quotations around the neutral field for this reason: Yes, everyone points out that Texas beat OU on a "neutral field" and I don't care that the Cotton Bowl is the same driving distance from each campus. The fact is the game was played in Texas and if anyone actually watched the game they could see that the stadium was predominately Burnt Orange colors. Also, I'm still curious to see the outcome had Ryan Reynolds (the stud linebacker from OU) doesn't get hurt and lost for the game/season with the score 21-3 Sooners.
Now Oklahoma has to play Mizzou in Kansas City, an hour and half drive from Columbia I should point out. So if OU beats down the Tigers this makes yet another more impressive win for the Sooners considering Texas played Mizzou in Austin.
Also I took the liberty in comparing the games between Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma to show everyone the point differential from those games. Also I threw in the scores from the Oklahoma State game for all three teams (I chose Oklahoma State since they are the best Big 12 team that all three played and were also the only 3 losses that Oklahoma State had this season).
Texas Tech:
Oklahoma State: 56-20 W (+36)
Texas: 39-33 W (+6)
Oklahoma: 65-21 L (-44)
Total Point Difference: - 2
Texas:
Oklahoma: 45-35 W (+10)
Oklahoma State: 28-24 W (+4)
Texas Tech: 39-33 L (- 6)
Total Point Difference: + 8
Oklahoma:
Texas: 45-35 L (-10)
Texas Tech: 65-21 W (+44)
Oklahoma State: 61-41 W (+20)
Total Point Difference: +54
There you have it....my theory on why the BCS, flawed as it can be, got it RIGHT
GO SOONERS!
The Sooners aren't more deserving because they totally annihilated Texas Tech as some people suggest but rather it's because they went out and scheduled and beat some tough non-conference teams while Texas and Texas Tech did not. In 2008 Oklahoma beat Cincinnati, the Big East champion and TCU, currently ranked 11th in the BCS.
Texas played and beat Arkansas, Rice, UTEP and Florida Atlantic while Texas Tech had the easiest schedule of any Div1-A team in the country. The Red Raiders played and beat Umass, Eastern Washington, Nevada and SMU.
There is a lesson here...If you want to be highly regarded go out and schedule some tough non-conference teams! Some will argue that Texas had to play Missouri in the regular season (the best Big 12 team that Oklahoma did not play), but that case obviously makes no sense now since OU will have the opportunity to play Mizzou on a "neutral field" this Saturday. I put quotations around the neutral field for this reason: Yes, everyone points out that Texas beat OU on a "neutral field" and I don't care that the Cotton Bowl is the same driving distance from each campus. The fact is the game was played in Texas and if anyone actually watched the game they could see that the stadium was predominately Burnt Orange colors. Also, I'm still curious to see the outcome had Ryan Reynolds (the stud linebacker from OU) doesn't get hurt and lost for the game/season with the score 21-3 Sooners.
Now Oklahoma has to play Mizzou in Kansas City, an hour and half drive from Columbia I should point out. So if OU beats down the Tigers this makes yet another more impressive win for the Sooners considering Texas played Mizzou in Austin.
Also I took the liberty in comparing the games between Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma to show everyone the point differential from those games. Also I threw in the scores from the Oklahoma State game for all three teams (I chose Oklahoma State since they are the best Big 12 team that all three played and were also the only 3 losses that Oklahoma State had this season).
Texas Tech:
Oklahoma State: 56-20 W (+36)
Texas: 39-33 W (+6)
Oklahoma: 65-21 L (-44)
Total Point Difference: - 2
Texas:
Oklahoma: 45-35 W (+10)
Oklahoma State: 28-24 W (+4)
Texas Tech: 39-33 L (- 6)
Total Point Difference: + 8
Oklahoma:
Texas: 45-35 L (-10)
Texas Tech: 65-21 W (+44)
Oklahoma State: 61-41 W (+20)
Total Point Difference: +54
There you have it....my theory on why the BCS, flawed as it can be, got it RIGHT
GO SOONERS!
The Morning After Pill - Week # 13
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, almost 36 hours after what happened at the Metrodome, the feeling is still pretty awesome. One of the more dominant games of the Brad Childress era, one of the greatest single plays in Vikings' history, and an all-around outstanding performance from the Minnesota Vikings has placed them alone atop the NFC North. . . for now.
From basically the very beginning of the game last night, the Bears had no answer for any aspect of the Minnesota defense. At the 8:15 mark of the first quarter, after Kyle Orton threw a touchdown pass to Devin Hester to give the Bears a 7-0 lead, he was 1-for-4 passing for 65 yards and a TD. For the remaining 51 minutes and 45 seconds, he was 10-for-25 for 88 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions.
Prior to the interception he threw to Darren Sharper in the third quarter, Orton hadn't thrown an interception in 207 consecutive pass attempts, a mark that established a new Bears' record. He then proceeded to throw three in his next seven pass attempts, apparently finally remembering that he is, indeed, Kyle Orton. After Sharper got his first interception of 2008, Ben Leber and Benny Sapp got in on the fun as well.
Even after Sapp committed a truly dumb penalty to negate a third-down stop and rookie Matt Forte took the ball down to the Minnesota 2-yard line, the Bears couldn't get through the Vikings' defense. Four times the Bears inexplicably tried to slam the ball home through the middle of the Minnesota defensive line. . . but with Pat Williams continuing his recent ownership of Bears' center Olin Kreutz, Kevin Williams destroying whatever gets in his path, and Jared Allen turning Bears' tackle John St. Clair into a turnstile, they failed on each and every occasion. The Vikings put together a spectacular goal-line stand, and Allen concluded it by coming all the way around from his defensive end position to stop Forte on the other side of the formation and stop the Bears on fourth down.
And then. . ."it" happened. In playground terms, they went long. Frerotte pump-faked to the right, then looked back toward Berrian. Yes, Charles Tillman left Berrian to cover Shiancoe. Suddenly, there was Berrian.... all alone.... along the sideline. The ball was in the air for what seem like 10 minutes. Once Berrian let the ball fall into his hands he was on his way to just the 11th 99 yard touchdown in NFL history.
Maybe Adewale Ogunleye should have made his cheap shot on Gus Frerotte more worth his while. (And, yes, I know that Gus flopped like Manu Ginobili after the hit. But, seriously, what's the over/under on the number of flags that would have been on the field had that hit been delivered by Jared Allen on Kyle Orton? I'd say at least three.) However, when the game came back from break after the Vikings had to settle for a Longwell field goal, Al Michaels wisely pointed out that the same referee crew had also officiated the Steelers-Seahawks Super Bowl...ahh...makes sense now. They must be fans of the Steelers AND the Bears.
All in all, the Vikings' defense racked up three sacks last night (all by Allen, to bring his season total to 11), held the Bears to 228 total offensive yards, forced the aforementioned three Orton interceptions, and showed everyone that the offensive "explosion" that we saw in Chicago earlier this year was a fluke. . .well, half a fluke, anyway.
And let's not forget that, in all the excitement of the goal line stand, the 99-yard touchdown, and the Bears' terrible second-half performance (in the second half, they had 3 interceptions and punted four times), we were treated to another flogging of the Bears' defense by the wonder known as Adrian Peterson. With his 28 carry, 131 yard performance, Peterson has now rushed for a cool 554 yards on 90 carries (6.2 yards/carry) and 8 TDs in four career starts against Chicago in his career. He now has a solid lead in the NFL's rushing race over Washington's Clinton Portis, as he's the first back in the league this season to reach the 1,300-yard mark. If the Vikings manage to make the playoffs this year and Peterson can lead the NFL in rushing. . . something that no Viking has ever done, by the way. . . then he's going to merit some serious consideration for the NFL MVP award. Granted, he won't win it or anything, but he'd merit consideration anyway.
Right now, we're a game up on the Bears, two games up on the Packers, and a victory over Detroit on Sunday afternoon would put the Vikings' in the driver's seat in the NFC North in pretty much every conceivable way. The important thing is for the Vikings to NOT overlook this Sunday's matchup. Yes, I know they're the Lions. . . yes, I know they're 0-12. . . yes, I know that they may be one of the worst football teams that any of us have ever seen. . . but with a pretty murderous final three games on the schedule and a big road trip to Arizona coming in two weeks, this Sunday's contest has all the makings of a classic "trap" game. The Vikings absolutely, positively must avoid the trap. . . a loss to the Lions would not only completely negate all the positivity and good feelings coming from Sunday's victory, but could send the Vikings spiraling in the completely opposite direction.
From basically the very beginning of the game last night, the Bears had no answer for any aspect of the Minnesota defense. At the 8:15 mark of the first quarter, after Kyle Orton threw a touchdown pass to Devin Hester to give the Bears a 7-0 lead, he was 1-for-4 passing for 65 yards and a TD. For the remaining 51 minutes and 45 seconds, he was 10-for-25 for 88 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions.
Prior to the interception he threw to Darren Sharper in the third quarter, Orton hadn't thrown an interception in 207 consecutive pass attempts, a mark that established a new Bears' record. He then proceeded to throw three in his next seven pass attempts, apparently finally remembering that he is, indeed, Kyle Orton. After Sharper got his first interception of 2008, Ben Leber and Benny Sapp got in on the fun as well.
Even after Sapp committed a truly dumb penalty to negate a third-down stop and rookie Matt Forte took the ball down to the Minnesota 2-yard line, the Bears couldn't get through the Vikings' defense. Four times the Bears inexplicably tried to slam the ball home through the middle of the Minnesota defensive line. . . but with Pat Williams continuing his recent ownership of Bears' center Olin Kreutz, Kevin Williams destroying whatever gets in his path, and Jared Allen turning Bears' tackle John St. Clair into a turnstile, they failed on each and every occasion. The Vikings put together a spectacular goal-line stand, and Allen concluded it by coming all the way around from his defensive end position to stop Forte on the other side of the formation and stop the Bears on fourth down.
And then. . ."it" happened. In playground terms, they went long. Frerotte pump-faked to the right, then looked back toward Berrian. Yes, Charles Tillman left Berrian to cover Shiancoe. Suddenly, there was Berrian.... all alone.... along the sideline. The ball was in the air for what seem like 10 minutes. Once Berrian let the ball fall into his hands he was on his way to just the 11th 99 yard touchdown in NFL history.
Maybe Adewale Ogunleye should have made his cheap shot on Gus Frerotte more worth his while. (And, yes, I know that Gus flopped like Manu Ginobili after the hit. But, seriously, what's the over/under on the number of flags that would have been on the field had that hit been delivered by Jared Allen on Kyle Orton? I'd say at least three.) However, when the game came back from break after the Vikings had to settle for a Longwell field goal, Al Michaels wisely pointed out that the same referee crew had also officiated the Steelers-Seahawks Super Bowl...ahh...makes sense now. They must be fans of the Steelers AND the Bears.
All in all, the Vikings' defense racked up three sacks last night (all by Allen, to bring his season total to 11), held the Bears to 228 total offensive yards, forced the aforementioned three Orton interceptions, and showed everyone that the offensive "explosion" that we saw in Chicago earlier this year was a fluke. . .well, half a fluke, anyway.
And let's not forget that, in all the excitement of the goal line stand, the 99-yard touchdown, and the Bears' terrible second-half performance (in the second half, they had 3 interceptions and punted four times), we were treated to another flogging of the Bears' defense by the wonder known as Adrian Peterson. With his 28 carry, 131 yard performance, Peterson has now rushed for a cool 554 yards on 90 carries (6.2 yards/carry) and 8 TDs in four career starts against Chicago in his career. He now has a solid lead in the NFL's rushing race over Washington's Clinton Portis, as he's the first back in the league this season to reach the 1,300-yard mark. If the Vikings manage to make the playoffs this year and Peterson can lead the NFL in rushing. . . something that no Viking has ever done, by the way. . . then he's going to merit some serious consideration for the NFL MVP award. Granted, he won't win it or anything, but he'd merit consideration anyway.
Right now, we're a game up on the Bears, two games up on the Packers, and a victory over Detroit on Sunday afternoon would put the Vikings' in the driver's seat in the NFC North in pretty much every conceivable way. The important thing is for the Vikings to NOT overlook this Sunday's matchup. Yes, I know they're the Lions. . . yes, I know they're 0-12. . . yes, I know that they may be one of the worst football teams that any of us have ever seen. . . but with a pretty murderous final three games on the schedule and a big road trip to Arizona coming in two weeks, this Sunday's contest has all the makings of a classic "trap" game. The Vikings absolutely, positively must avoid the trap. . . a loss to the Lions would not only completely negate all the positivity and good feelings coming from Sunday's victory, but could send the Vikings spiraling in the completely opposite direction.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The Morning After Pill - Week # 12
Just after the Vikings had scored 14 points in the game's first 95 seconds I heard people at the bar start talking about a blowout and I thought to myself. . . these are the Vikings. The Brad Childress Vikings. The Brad Childress Vikings don't "blow teams out" with any sort of regularity. The gameplan of the Brad Childress Vikings is to play teams close, slug it out until the end of the game, and hope that either a) your team makes a big play, or b) the other team commits a massive screw-up.
But on Sunday the Jaguars seemed bound and determined to get blown out, and the Vikings. . . for once . . . happily obliged.
The game started off with a play that I don't think I've seen before in my years of being a football fan. David Garrard lined up in the shotgun, called for the snap, and Jags' center Brad Meester snapped the ball. . . approximately 6 inches or so. Unfortunately for the Jaguars, Garrard was about 7 yards behind Meester at the time. The Vikings' Napoleon Harris alertly pounced on the fumble, sprinted 26 yards, and the Vikings had a 7-0 lead a whole 13 seconds into the ball game.
After a Jacksonville fumble on the ensuing kickoff, the Vikings found themselves with first and goal on a run by Chester Taylor and an end-around by Bernard Berrian. Then, Frerotte handed the ball to Taylor again, and Taylor put on the most beautiful move executed by a Vikings' running back since Adrian Peterson humiliated Kenoy Kennedy at the Metrodome last season, and the Vikings were up 14-0. As you can see by the final score, that turned out to be all the points Minnesota needed. . . but not after making things a little more interesting than they needed to be.
The Vikings were outgained by the Jaguars on Sunday by a count of 321 yards to 226, and Maurice Jones-Drew put together what has got to be the quietest 113-yard receiving performance the league has seen in a long time. I know I had to do a double-take when I looked at the box score. Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor, considered by some to be the best running back duo in the league not comprised of backs named "Adrian Peterson" and "Chester Taylor," combined for 24 yards on 9 carries. David Garrard did throw for 317 yards, but only one of those passes found the end zone, and two of them found the hands of Minnesota defenders. He was also sacked four times, a component that was missing in the Vikings' 19-13 loss to Tampa Bay.
The Vikings won despite another lackluster performance from Gus Frerotte. . . and "lackluster" is being generous. Don't get me wrong. . . I'm sure that Gus is a fine human being, he's a local boy to me (Ford City grad), and he's a very scrappy competitor and all that. But you'd think that a guy that's been in the league for as long as #12 has would know that there are times when nothing's happening that you need to take the ball and throw it into the fifth row of the stands rather than do something crazy with it. Crazy things like. . . I don't know. . . throwing across your body while rolling out and overshooting your closest target by 10 yards en route to throwing an INT. Or rolling out on 1st and goal from the 2 and losing 10 yards on a sack rather than throwing the ball away.
The latter of those two incidents is an illustration of why this team rarely blows anybody out, despite all their talent. The Vikings lined up on that series with 1st and goal at the 2-yard line. They have the best running back tandem in the league on the sidelines. They have a huge offensive line that had been getting good push on the entire series.
Why on earth, then, would you call a designed rollout for a guy with very limited mobility in that situation? Why would you just not slam Peterson and/or Taylor into the line anywhere between 1 and 4 times, take your touchdown, and be happy that you've put the game away?
At times like this, Childress reminds me of a guy that's playing video games with his little cousin. You know that if you're playing your little cousin and you start winning by too many, he's going to start whining and crying and throwing things. . . so you start calling plays and doing dumb things to try to let him at least get close again. He doesn't have any killer instinct at all. He gets his foot on a team's throat, and is content to let them back up again. At some point, this really needs to change. This team has too much talent to try to go the distance in a slugfest every week. It would be nice for the Vikings to not just knock a team down early, but then jump on them and continue pounding away until their opponents just lose their desire to fight back.
Other than those two minor quibbles, there's not a lot to be sad or angry about with Sunday's game, and there's never any need to apologize for a win. The Vikings are 6-5, and will spend this week in no worse than a first-place tie in the NFC North. They also have a HUGE, Jarvis Redwine type game coming up in prime time on Sunday night against the team they're currently tied with, the Chicago Bears. Every week for the last few weeks has been the biggest game of the year for the Beloved Purple, and Sunday night's matchup is no different.
But on Sunday the Jaguars seemed bound and determined to get blown out, and the Vikings. . . for once . . . happily obliged.
The game started off with a play that I don't think I've seen before in my years of being a football fan. David Garrard lined up in the shotgun, called for the snap, and Jags' center Brad Meester snapped the ball. . . approximately 6 inches or so. Unfortunately for the Jaguars, Garrard was about 7 yards behind Meester at the time. The Vikings' Napoleon Harris alertly pounced on the fumble, sprinted 26 yards, and the Vikings had a 7-0 lead a whole 13 seconds into the ball game.
After a Jacksonville fumble on the ensuing kickoff, the Vikings found themselves with first and goal on a run by Chester Taylor and an end-around by Bernard Berrian. Then, Frerotte handed the ball to Taylor again, and Taylor put on the most beautiful move executed by a Vikings' running back since Adrian Peterson humiliated Kenoy Kennedy at the Metrodome last season, and the Vikings were up 14-0. As you can see by the final score, that turned out to be all the points Minnesota needed. . . but not after making things a little more interesting than they needed to be.
The Vikings were outgained by the Jaguars on Sunday by a count of 321 yards to 226, and Maurice Jones-Drew put together what has got to be the quietest 113-yard receiving performance the league has seen in a long time. I know I had to do a double-take when I looked at the box score. Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor, considered by some to be the best running back duo in the league not comprised of backs named "Adrian Peterson" and "Chester Taylor," combined for 24 yards on 9 carries. David Garrard did throw for 317 yards, but only one of those passes found the end zone, and two of them found the hands of Minnesota defenders. He was also sacked four times, a component that was missing in the Vikings' 19-13 loss to Tampa Bay.
The Vikings won despite another lackluster performance from Gus Frerotte. . . and "lackluster" is being generous. Don't get me wrong. . . I'm sure that Gus is a fine human being, he's a local boy to me (Ford City grad), and he's a very scrappy competitor and all that. But you'd think that a guy that's been in the league for as long as #12 has would know that there are times when nothing's happening that you need to take the ball and throw it into the fifth row of the stands rather than do something crazy with it. Crazy things like. . . I don't know. . . throwing across your body while rolling out and overshooting your closest target by 10 yards en route to throwing an INT. Or rolling out on 1st and goal from the 2 and losing 10 yards on a sack rather than throwing the ball away.
The latter of those two incidents is an illustration of why this team rarely blows anybody out, despite all their talent. The Vikings lined up on that series with 1st and goal at the 2-yard line. They have the best running back tandem in the league on the sidelines. They have a huge offensive line that had been getting good push on the entire series.
Why on earth, then, would you call a designed rollout for a guy with very limited mobility in that situation? Why would you just not slam Peterson and/or Taylor into the line anywhere between 1 and 4 times, take your touchdown, and be happy that you've put the game away?
At times like this, Childress reminds me of a guy that's playing video games with his little cousin. You know that if you're playing your little cousin and you start winning by too many, he's going to start whining and crying and throwing things. . . so you start calling plays and doing dumb things to try to let him at least get close again. He doesn't have any killer instinct at all. He gets his foot on a team's throat, and is content to let them back up again. At some point, this really needs to change. This team has too much talent to try to go the distance in a slugfest every week. It would be nice for the Vikings to not just knock a team down early, but then jump on them and continue pounding away until their opponents just lose their desire to fight back.
Other than those two minor quibbles, there's not a lot to be sad or angry about with Sunday's game, and there's never any need to apologize for a win. The Vikings are 6-5, and will spend this week in no worse than a first-place tie in the NFC North. They also have a HUGE, Jarvis Redwine type game coming up in prime time on Sunday night against the team they're currently tied with, the Chicago Bears. Every week for the last few weeks has been the biggest game of the year for the Beloved Purple, and Sunday night's matchup is no different.
Monday, November 17, 2008
The Morning After Pill - Week # 11
At halftime of yesterday's game I was pretty happy with the way things were progressing. The Vikings had compiled a 13-6 lead, they had scored the game's lone touchdown on a 4-yard flip to Bobby Wade that capped a 76-yard scoring drive, and Adrian Peterson had carried the ball 13 times for 71 yards. Even though Jeff Garcia kept running around and avoiding Viking defenders and the Buccaneers had actually outgained the Vikings yardage-wise, the momentum seemed to be in the corner of the Vikings.
Then they had to stop the game for this crazy "halftime" thing and everything changed.
Jeff Garcia kept running around all over the place and avoiding Viking defenders until the Bucs got down to the Vikings' 17-yard line and found themselves with 2nd and 10.
Then they committed a holding penalty to make it 2nd and 20.
Then they committed another holding penalty to make it 2nd and 30. And at this point, I was crazy enough to start thinking to myself, "You know, we can hold them to another field goal here, keep the lead, keep the momentum. . ."
Then, after a Minnesota offsides penalty, Garcia stepped up and lofted a ball down the middle of the field that found its way into the hands of Jerramy Stevens. The play got the Bucs down to the Minnesota 1-yard line, and even though the B.J. Askew TD run on the ensuing play merely tied the score at 13, I have watched the Vikings long enough to know that the game was effectively over at that point. Teams don't convert 2nd and 25 and lose. . . and teams don't allow other teams to convert 2nd and 25 and win.
The offense was fairly horrific in the second half. There was a drive that had some promise and concluded with an incomplete pass to Adrian Peterson on a 4th and 1 play (where Peterson may or may not have been interfered with. . . since I'm not a Steeler fan, I won't sit here and whine about it), and that was really the last time the Vikings would threaten on the afternoon.
I said throughout the whole game that in order to win, the Vikings needed to contain Jeff Garcia. It's safe to say that they did not. Garcia completed nearly 80% of his passes for 255 yards, and just basically ran around any pressure that the Vikings got on him all day long. The stats say that he was sacked once, but for the life of me, I don't remember that happening. The Vikings were getting pressure on Garcia, but they just couldn't drag the old veteran down when they needed to.
I really don't know why the Vikings' offense basically went to sleep in the second half, and in particular in the fourth quarter. You know those 13 carries for 71 yards that AD had in the first half? He ended the game with 19 carries for 85 yards. . . and he touched the ball ONCE in the fourth quarter. ONCE, people. And that was on a kickoff return. That is incredibly unacceptable, and I'm starting to think that the wheels didn't come off of the "Fire Brad Childress" bandwagon.
By this point in his coaching tenure, Brad Childress HAS to know that Adrian Peterson is the best running back in the world, and possibly the best player in the National Football League. It blows my mind that such a player can go an entire quarter, and in particular a fourth quarter of a tied game, without touching the ball on offense. San Diego doesn't do that crap with LaDanian Tomlinson, Washington doesn't do that crap with Clinton Portis, and the Vikings certainly shouldn't be doing that crap with Adrian Peterson.
Really, there's not a whole lot else that needs to be said about the game. It was pretty much the same as most of the games we've seen in the Brad Childress era. It was the 8th of Minnesota's 10 games this year that was decided by 7 points or less. In addition, the Vikings entered the fourth quarter still very much in the football game. As most of the guys said at Barry Dyngle's these are the Brad Childress era Vikings. Be conservative, play it close, get down to the end of the game, and hope that either a) your team makes a big play or b) the other team screws up. Neither of those things happened today, and as a result the Vikings are part of a three-way tie atop the NFC North instead of sitting in sole possession of first place.
Then they had to stop the game for this crazy "halftime" thing and everything changed.
Jeff Garcia kept running around all over the place and avoiding Viking defenders until the Bucs got down to the Vikings' 17-yard line and found themselves with 2nd and 10.
Then they committed a holding penalty to make it 2nd and 20.
Then they committed another holding penalty to make it 2nd and 30. And at this point, I was crazy enough to start thinking to myself, "You know, we can hold them to another field goal here, keep the lead, keep the momentum. . ."
Then, after a Minnesota offsides penalty, Garcia stepped up and lofted a ball down the middle of the field that found its way into the hands of Jerramy Stevens. The play got the Bucs down to the Minnesota 1-yard line, and even though the B.J. Askew TD run on the ensuing play merely tied the score at 13, I have watched the Vikings long enough to know that the game was effectively over at that point. Teams don't convert 2nd and 25 and lose. . . and teams don't allow other teams to convert 2nd and 25 and win.
The offense was fairly horrific in the second half. There was a drive that had some promise and concluded with an incomplete pass to Adrian Peterson on a 4th and 1 play (where Peterson may or may not have been interfered with. . . since I'm not a Steeler fan, I won't sit here and whine about it), and that was really the last time the Vikings would threaten on the afternoon.
I said throughout the whole game that in order to win, the Vikings needed to contain Jeff Garcia. It's safe to say that they did not. Garcia completed nearly 80% of his passes for 255 yards, and just basically ran around any pressure that the Vikings got on him all day long. The stats say that he was sacked once, but for the life of me, I don't remember that happening. The Vikings were getting pressure on Garcia, but they just couldn't drag the old veteran down when they needed to.
I really don't know why the Vikings' offense basically went to sleep in the second half, and in particular in the fourth quarter. You know those 13 carries for 71 yards that AD had in the first half? He ended the game with 19 carries for 85 yards. . . and he touched the ball ONCE in the fourth quarter. ONCE, people. And that was on a kickoff return. That is incredibly unacceptable, and I'm starting to think that the wheels didn't come off of the "Fire Brad Childress" bandwagon.
By this point in his coaching tenure, Brad Childress HAS to know that Adrian Peterson is the best running back in the world, and possibly the best player in the National Football League. It blows my mind that such a player can go an entire quarter, and in particular a fourth quarter of a tied game, without touching the ball on offense. San Diego doesn't do that crap with LaDanian Tomlinson, Washington doesn't do that crap with Clinton Portis, and the Vikings certainly shouldn't be doing that crap with Adrian Peterson.
Really, there's not a whole lot else that needs to be said about the game. It was pretty much the same as most of the games we've seen in the Brad Childress era. It was the 8th of Minnesota's 10 games this year that was decided by 7 points or less. In addition, the Vikings entered the fourth quarter still very much in the football game. As most of the guys said at Barry Dyngle's these are the Brad Childress era Vikings. Be conservative, play it close, get down to the end of the game, and hope that either a) your team makes a big play or b) the other team screws up. Neither of those things happened today, and as a result the Vikings are part of a three-way tie atop the NFC North instead of sitting in sole possession of first place.
Monday, November 10, 2008
The Morning After Pill - Week # 10
We don't win games like this.
We never win games like this.
Other teams are the teams that win games like this.
I'll admit it. . . when Adrian Peterson got in for that last touchdown, the first thing I did was look at the clock and realize that there were still two minutes and change remaining. I remembered that Brad Childress was 0-5 against the Packers going into today's game. I remembered that the Vikings' special teams, who had been great in kick coverage all afternoon (not on punt coverage, but on kickoff coverage) was due to give up a decent return. And they did.
And when a pass that had been tipped by Ellis Wyms landed in the hands of Donald Driver for a 19-yard gain, I knew that the game was going to come down to a last-second field goal attempt for the Packers. And it did.
And I was prepared for Brad Childress' record against the Packers to go to 0-6 and for our playoff chances to, effectively, be circling the bowl.
And it. . . did. . .NOT!
Mason Crosby pushed his 52-yard field goal attempt wide to the right, and the Vikings held on for a 28-27 victory in a game that, by all rights, shouldn't have been anywhere near that close.
The Vikings were the better team on the football field for the majority of the game, and anyone that watched the game from start to finish would readily admit as much. 17 of the Packers' 27 points were basically gifted to them by Gus Frerotte. Their longest drive of the day. . . the drive where they scored their only offensive touchdown after Frerotte's first interception. . . netted them 48 yards. The Packers had 184 yards of total offense as a team. . . Adrian Peterson had 225 all by himself. The Vikings held the ball for just over 36 minutes to just a shade under 24 for Green Bay.
Defensively, Jared Allen was using his one healthy arm to beat Chad Clifton like a drum all afternoon long. The Vikings as a team racked up five sacks, including two that resulted in safeties. Aaron Rodgers ran scared all afternoon, and the Vikings' defense played like the all-world unit we knew all along they were capable of being, despite not having E.J. Henderson available.
But at the end, we were locked in a dogfight because. . .well, Gus doth giveth, and Gus doth taketh away. Actually for most of the afternoon, Gus gaveth away. . . and he damn near gaveth the Packers the football game. When it counted the most, however, the Vikings knew what they had to do to get themselves a victory. Everyone on the Green Bay sidelines knew. Everyone in the stands knew. Everyone watching on TV knew.
And it simply didn't matter.
69 yards on the final drive of the game. 64 of them accounted for by Adrian Peterson, including a 29-yard run to tie the game for Minnesota.
Yesterday's game affirmed a few things for me. First off, nobody runs the ball like we do. For the second season in a row, Adrian Peterson is the first back in the NFL to reach the 1,000 yard mark, and currently leads the NFL with 1,015 yards, 20 more than Washington's Clinton Portis. (Nobody else in the NFL is over 900 yet.)
Second, when our defensive line is on, there are very few (if any) defensive lines that can hang with them, and even fewer offensive lines that can actively handle them.
Third, that Chester Taylor guy is a pretty damn good football player, and needs to see more touches. Oh, and has anybody found Desmond Bishop's jock strap? He lost it when #29 faked him out of it on his 47-yard TD catch.
Fourth, the Packers are not a better team than we are. They're certainly not more talented and...it's going to be weird to say this. . . they're not better coached than Minnesota is, either.
Fifth. . . if you're going to go on NFL Network to run your mouth on how the Vikings' secondary can be exploited. . . it would be nice of you to go out on Sunday afternoon and do better than 3 catches for 37 yards. Yes, Greg Jennings, I'm looking at you.
So now we're 5-4. . . but four of the next five games are on the road, including two trips to Florida in the next two weeks to face off with the Buccaneers and the Jaguars. For now though I can leave you with the following words:
The Vikings beat the Packers.
How sweet it is.
We never win games like this.
Other teams are the teams that win games like this.
I'll admit it. . . when Adrian Peterson got in for that last touchdown, the first thing I did was look at the clock and realize that there were still two minutes and change remaining. I remembered that Brad Childress was 0-5 against the Packers going into today's game. I remembered that the Vikings' special teams, who had been great in kick coverage all afternoon (not on punt coverage, but on kickoff coverage) was due to give up a decent return. And they did.
And when a pass that had been tipped by Ellis Wyms landed in the hands of Donald Driver for a 19-yard gain, I knew that the game was going to come down to a last-second field goal attempt for the Packers. And it did.
And I was prepared for Brad Childress' record against the Packers to go to 0-6 and for our playoff chances to, effectively, be circling the bowl.
And it. . . did. . .NOT!
Mason Crosby pushed his 52-yard field goal attempt wide to the right, and the Vikings held on for a 28-27 victory in a game that, by all rights, shouldn't have been anywhere near that close.
The Vikings were the better team on the football field for the majority of the game, and anyone that watched the game from start to finish would readily admit as much. 17 of the Packers' 27 points were basically gifted to them by Gus Frerotte. Their longest drive of the day. . . the drive where they scored their only offensive touchdown after Frerotte's first interception. . . netted them 48 yards. The Packers had 184 yards of total offense as a team. . . Adrian Peterson had 225 all by himself. The Vikings held the ball for just over 36 minutes to just a shade under 24 for Green Bay.
Defensively, Jared Allen was using his one healthy arm to beat Chad Clifton like a drum all afternoon long. The Vikings as a team racked up five sacks, including two that resulted in safeties. Aaron Rodgers ran scared all afternoon, and the Vikings' defense played like the all-world unit we knew all along they were capable of being, despite not having E.J. Henderson available.
But at the end, we were locked in a dogfight because. . .well, Gus doth giveth, and Gus doth taketh away. Actually for most of the afternoon, Gus gaveth away. . . and he damn near gaveth the Packers the football game. When it counted the most, however, the Vikings knew what they had to do to get themselves a victory. Everyone on the Green Bay sidelines knew. Everyone in the stands knew. Everyone watching on TV knew.
And it simply didn't matter.
69 yards on the final drive of the game. 64 of them accounted for by Adrian Peterson, including a 29-yard run to tie the game for Minnesota.
Yesterday's game affirmed a few things for me. First off, nobody runs the ball like we do. For the second season in a row, Adrian Peterson is the first back in the NFL to reach the 1,000 yard mark, and currently leads the NFL with 1,015 yards, 20 more than Washington's Clinton Portis. (Nobody else in the NFL is over 900 yet.)
Second, when our defensive line is on, there are very few (if any) defensive lines that can hang with them, and even fewer offensive lines that can actively handle them.
Third, that Chester Taylor guy is a pretty damn good football player, and needs to see more touches. Oh, and has anybody found Desmond Bishop's jock strap? He lost it when #29 faked him out of it on his 47-yard TD catch.
Fourth, the Packers are not a better team than we are. They're certainly not more talented and...it's going to be weird to say this. . . they're not better coached than Minnesota is, either.
Fifth. . . if you're going to go on NFL Network to run your mouth on how the Vikings' secondary can be exploited. . . it would be nice of you to go out on Sunday afternoon and do better than 3 catches for 37 yards. Yes, Greg Jennings, I'm looking at you.
So now we're 5-4. . . but four of the next five games are on the road, including two trips to Florida in the next two weeks to face off with the Buccaneers and the Jaguars. For now though I can leave you with the following words:
The Vikings beat the Packers.
How sweet it is.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Time to Retool the Chase...
Unless Jimmie Johnson suffers a collapse of historic proportions, the final two races of the 2008 Sprint Cup season will just be a high-speed victory tour for the # 48 team. The defending two-time champ has a 106 point lead over Carl Edwards despite back to back wins from Edwards. So, for the fourth time in the last five years the season finale at Homestead is likely to lack the one thing the Chase was designed to create - drama!
So, what can NASCAR do to inject some excitement into the Chase? Well I have a few ideas:
1.) Create a separate points system for the Chase drivers- Back on Oct. 11th, Edwards' engine stalled at Charlotte which led to a 33rd place finish that resulted in a 96 point difference between him and Johnson in that race. Johnson finished 6th in that race and of the 27 drivers who finished between Johnson and Edwards, 21 of them were non-chase drivers. So here's my theory:
The highest finisher among the 12 Chase qualifiers in each race would earn 12 points; second would get 11; third 10; and so on down to one point for 12th. If a Chase driver won the race, he would receive a three-point bonus, and if he EARNS (not thanks to rain canceling qualifying) the pole, he would get a one-point bonus. I did the math and research- under this scenario, Johnson's edge over Edwards would be just 19 points, and eight drivers would still be in the hunt.
2.) Add new tracks to the Chase- In the regular season 27% of the races are held on 1.5 mile tracks, but in the Chase 50% of the races are run on those tracks. Shouldn't the Chase reflect conditions in the overall season? I propose taking away two of the 1.5 mile tracks and replace them with one road course and maybe Bristol. Not only would this provide a variety of tracks, but would also reward for all-around driving, not just specializing on 1.5 mile tracks.
3.) End the Chase a month sooner- The deeper the season goes just means the NFL season is further along. Once the NFL season is heating up, Sprint Cup usually has it's champion emerging with still races on the calender. This causes less and less people to become interested and not just television viewers. Each week I'm noticing more and more empty seats at racetracks.
Overall the Chase concept is good, but NASCAR needs to keep guys from running away with it. The Chase is broken, so get under the hood and make the tweaks.
So, what can NASCAR do to inject some excitement into the Chase? Well I have a few ideas:
1.) Create a separate points system for the Chase drivers- Back on Oct. 11th, Edwards' engine stalled at Charlotte which led to a 33rd place finish that resulted in a 96 point difference between him and Johnson in that race. Johnson finished 6th in that race and of the 27 drivers who finished between Johnson and Edwards, 21 of them were non-chase drivers. So here's my theory:
The highest finisher among the 12 Chase qualifiers in each race would earn 12 points; second would get 11; third 10; and so on down to one point for 12th. If a Chase driver won the race, he would receive a three-point bonus, and if he EARNS (not thanks to rain canceling qualifying) the pole, he would get a one-point bonus. I did the math and research- under this scenario, Johnson's edge over Edwards would be just 19 points, and eight drivers would still be in the hunt.
2.) Add new tracks to the Chase- In the regular season 27% of the races are held on 1.5 mile tracks, but in the Chase 50% of the races are run on those tracks. Shouldn't the Chase reflect conditions in the overall season? I propose taking away two of the 1.5 mile tracks and replace them with one road course and maybe Bristol. Not only would this provide a variety of tracks, but would also reward for all-around driving, not just specializing on 1.5 mile tracks.
3.) End the Chase a month sooner- The deeper the season goes just means the NFL season is further along. Once the NFL season is heating up, Sprint Cup usually has it's champion emerging with still races on the calender. This causes less and less people to become interested and not just television viewers. Each week I'm noticing more and more empty seats at racetracks.
Overall the Chase concept is good, but NASCAR needs to keep guys from running away with it. The Chase is broken, so get under the hood and make the tweaks.
Monday, November 3, 2008
The Morning After Pill - Week # 9
The Vikings are back to .500, and back into a tie for second place in the NFC North. The first half looked like the Beloved Purple might turn this game into a blowout, but the Texans, to their credit, gave them a run after subbing in a new quarterback and figuring out how to get the ball to guys not named Andre Johnson.
Like I said in the last blog. . . Bernard Berrian is officially worth the money. He now has 621 receiving yards, four touchdowns, and is averaging over 20 yards a catch. At one point in the first half, Gus Frerotte had 143 passing yards. . . Berrian had been on the receiving end of 104 of them, with his 55-yard grab to open the game and his TD catch with the Madden '09-esque spin move that covered 49 yards.
Speaking of free agent acquisitions showing up. . . Madieu Williams looks like he might have been worth the wait. He led the Vikings with 8 tackles, had a very athletic interception in the end zone, and played a very solid football game all-in-all. Since I think this is Darren Sharper's last year in Minnesota, it will be interesting to see the tandem of Williams and Tyrell Johnson at safety in the near future.
Oh, and that Jared Allen guy is still pretty good, too. He was credited with two sacks today (although I thought he had three. . . doesn't a forced fumble on the QB count as a sack?), which gives him 7 on the season. He led a defensive line that was getting outstanding pressure on the Houston quarterbacks for most of the day. Speaking of which, Ray Edwards is now only 21 sacks away from breaking Michael Strahan's regular-season record. Way to go, Ray! (Note: Ray Edwards said in a preseason interview that he wanted to break the sack record this year....hmm?)
Then there's Adrian Peterson. The best running back in football had 14 carries for 35 yards in the first half. He wound up with 25 for 139. Seriously, teams will eventually learn that it's rare to keep this guy down all game long. They just haven't learned it yet, that's all. Some of the runs he put together today were breathtaking.
Now, the bad stuff. . . does any team get lit up by backup quarterbacks more horribly and more frequently than the Minnesota Vikings? After doing a decent job against Matt Schaub in the first half, the Texans turned to Sage Rosenfels, and he proceeded to shred the Vikings for 224 yards and two touchdowns (to go along with the aforementioned Madieu Williams INT) in one half of football. That's unacceptable. At no thyme should Sage do that to anybody. Ha ha...I just made a funny.
Also, as we've seen on numerous occasions over the past few years, the Vikings can't cover tight ends to save their souls, as Owen Daniels went off for 11 catches and 133 yards.
I don't know how much of this is due to the loss of E.J. Henderson, because Napoleon Harris looks like as much of a stiff in coverage as he ever was, but at some point the Vikings' defensive schemes have to take that position into account. It's been a LONG time since we had a truly great coverage linebacker in Minnesota. I love our LB corps, but the tight end is playing a bigger role in this league, and the Vikings need to realize that.
Other than that, there weren't a lot of things to complain about. Enjoyable game all around, particularly for we fans of the Beloved Purple. Now it's on to the game I've looked forward to since Week 1 - the rematch against the Packers!!
Like I said in the last blog. . . Bernard Berrian is officially worth the money. He now has 621 receiving yards, four touchdowns, and is averaging over 20 yards a catch. At one point in the first half, Gus Frerotte had 143 passing yards. . . Berrian had been on the receiving end of 104 of them, with his 55-yard grab to open the game and his TD catch with the Madden '09-esque spin move that covered 49 yards.
Speaking of free agent acquisitions showing up. . . Madieu Williams looks like he might have been worth the wait. He led the Vikings with 8 tackles, had a very athletic interception in the end zone, and played a very solid football game all-in-all. Since I think this is Darren Sharper's last year in Minnesota, it will be interesting to see the tandem of Williams and Tyrell Johnson at safety in the near future.
Oh, and that Jared Allen guy is still pretty good, too. He was credited with two sacks today (although I thought he had three. . . doesn't a forced fumble on the QB count as a sack?), which gives him 7 on the season. He led a defensive line that was getting outstanding pressure on the Houston quarterbacks for most of the day. Speaking of which, Ray Edwards is now only 21 sacks away from breaking Michael Strahan's regular-season record. Way to go, Ray! (Note: Ray Edwards said in a preseason interview that he wanted to break the sack record this year....hmm?)
Then there's Adrian Peterson. The best running back in football had 14 carries for 35 yards in the first half. He wound up with 25 for 139. Seriously, teams will eventually learn that it's rare to keep this guy down all game long. They just haven't learned it yet, that's all. Some of the runs he put together today were breathtaking.
Now, the bad stuff. . . does any team get lit up by backup quarterbacks more horribly and more frequently than the Minnesota Vikings? After doing a decent job against Matt Schaub in the first half, the Texans turned to Sage Rosenfels, and he proceeded to shred the Vikings for 224 yards and two touchdowns (to go along with the aforementioned Madieu Williams INT) in one half of football. That's unacceptable. At no thyme should Sage do that to anybody. Ha ha...I just made a funny.
Also, as we've seen on numerous occasions over the past few years, the Vikings can't cover tight ends to save their souls, as Owen Daniels went off for 11 catches and 133 yards.
I don't know how much of this is due to the loss of E.J. Henderson, because Napoleon Harris looks like as much of a stiff in coverage as he ever was, but at some point the Vikings' defensive schemes have to take that position into account. It's been a LONG time since we had a truly great coverage linebacker in Minnesota. I love our LB corps, but the tight end is playing a bigger role in this league, and the Vikings need to realize that.
Other than that, there weren't a lot of things to complain about. Enjoyable game all around, particularly for we fans of the Beloved Purple. Now it's on to the game I've looked forward to since Week 1 - the rematch against the Packers!!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
When it rains...it pours...
I am a baseball fan through and through. I attend a lot of sporting events and I enjoy them, but there's nothing I love more than a live baseball game . I'll defend the strategy, the precision and the beauty of the sport to the end of the universe. Last night though, as a baseball fan, I was disgusted by what happened on the field in Philadelphia during Game 5 of the World Series.
Around the fourth inning, the rain started to fall on Citizens Bank Park. With the Phillies leading 2-1, I immediately thought to myself, "This game could end in a rain delay if they let the Rays bat in the top of the fifth and the Phillies could win the World Series in a 4 1/2 inning game." Of all of the embarrassing things that Bud Selig has done in his time as commissioner of Major League Baseball, ending the World Series in a shortened game would've been the trump card.
Of course, Selig now claims that if it came down to it, he could've acted to call an extended "rain delay" and resumed the game on Tuesday night, no matter what the score of the game or what the actual rulebook says. That would obviously be the right thing to do in a 2-1 game after five innings given the situation, so why, exactly, did these two teams play through a freezing downpour for an inning and a half, only to have the game almost immediately suspended at the first point that the rulebook allowed for it. Sure, the Rays tied the game. But they only did it after B.J. Upton reached when Jimmy Rollins flubbed a very fieldable grounder, then ran around the basepaths to score the tying run while the Phillies attempted to throw him out with an incredibly slippery baseball. If Selig and the baseball officials had the power to suspend the game until tomorrow, even though the rules don't technically allow for it, and they were meaning to do it, why hadn't it been done at that point? With all due respect to the Rays, the tying run in this game was scored by the weather, not them. What happened last night also solidifies my point that baseball should begin in May (to avoid the debacle with the "snow days" like we had in Cleveland) and conclude at the end of September to avoid 30 degree baseball games.
Maybe Selig thought he had the power to go around the rules and suspend a game that wasn't tied. But the fact is he didn't, and he allowed the most important game of the season, to this point, to press on in conditions that were unfit for baseball. This is the exact kind of gutlessness that has ruined Selig's term as commissioner, be it turning a blind eye to steroids or allowing the All-Star Game to end in a tie. The man is simply unable to make a difficult decision. He can say what he likes about what he would or wouldn't have done had the Rays not tied the game up, but it certainly seemed to me that the Rays scoring provided an easy out for him and prevented the debacle that he allowed to to take place in the first place from going on any longer.
Yes, it’s inconvenient to reschedule games, which would be necessary if the Series were delayed until Wednesday. But you have to have some respect for the game that you keep telling us is the greatest game ever invented. You have to be willing to be inconvenienced if that’s the price of deciding your championship under conditions that are fair to the players, the game and the fans.
Oh yeah...Go Rays!
Around the fourth inning, the rain started to fall on Citizens Bank Park. With the Phillies leading 2-1, I immediately thought to myself, "This game could end in a rain delay if they let the Rays bat in the top of the fifth and the Phillies could win the World Series in a 4 1/2 inning game." Of all of the embarrassing things that Bud Selig has done in his time as commissioner of Major League Baseball, ending the World Series in a shortened game would've been the trump card.
Of course, Selig now claims that if it came down to it, he could've acted to call an extended "rain delay" and resumed the game on Tuesday night, no matter what the score of the game or what the actual rulebook says. That would obviously be the right thing to do in a 2-1 game after five innings given the situation, so why, exactly, did these two teams play through a freezing downpour for an inning and a half, only to have the game almost immediately suspended at the first point that the rulebook allowed for it. Sure, the Rays tied the game. But they only did it after B.J. Upton reached when Jimmy Rollins flubbed a very fieldable grounder, then ran around the basepaths to score the tying run while the Phillies attempted to throw him out with an incredibly slippery baseball. If Selig and the baseball officials had the power to suspend the game until tomorrow, even though the rules don't technically allow for it, and they were meaning to do it, why hadn't it been done at that point? With all due respect to the Rays, the tying run in this game was scored by the weather, not them. What happened last night also solidifies my point that baseball should begin in May (to avoid the debacle with the "snow days" like we had in Cleveland) and conclude at the end of September to avoid 30 degree baseball games.
Maybe Selig thought he had the power to go around the rules and suspend a game that wasn't tied. But the fact is he didn't, and he allowed the most important game of the season, to this point, to press on in conditions that were unfit for baseball. This is the exact kind of gutlessness that has ruined Selig's term as commissioner, be it turning a blind eye to steroids or allowing the All-Star Game to end in a tie. The man is simply unable to make a difficult decision. He can say what he likes about what he would or wouldn't have done had the Rays not tied the game up, but it certainly seemed to me that the Rays scoring provided an easy out for him and prevented the debacle that he allowed to to take place in the first place from going on any longer.
Yes, it’s inconvenient to reschedule games, which would be necessary if the Series were delayed until Wednesday. But you have to have some respect for the game that you keep telling us is the greatest game ever invented. You have to be willing to be inconvenienced if that’s the price of deciding your championship under conditions that are fair to the players, the game and the fans.
Oh yeah...Go Rays!
Monday, October 20, 2008
The Morning After Pill - Week # 7-Plus Bye Week
So for the third consecutive week, the Minnesota Vikings took their fans on a roller coaster ride. Ups and downs, twists and turns, agony and ecstacy. . . all jammed into the space of about three hours or so. The only thing I wanna say from yesterday's game... QUIT GIVING AWAY TOUCHDOWNS!!. I almost threw up all over Tonya and my Dyngle Burger after the Vikes gave away not one, but TWO touchdowns on special teams blunders. We dominated the football game yet still found a way to lose it. If you would have told me the Vikings would score 41 points I would have bet you everything I owned that we would win.
Okay, enough about the game. The Vikings head into the bye this week so let's look at the season thus far.
Adrian Peterson? Still Really, Really Good
With his performance yesterday against the Bears, Adrian Peterson again sits atop the league in rushing yardage with 684 yards through the first 7 games. That puts him on pace for over 1500 yards and 11 touchdowns. He's still, for my money, the best running back in the National Football League, and he puts more distance between himself and the rest of the field every time he touches the football. He's still the biggest threat on the Vikings' offense, by far, and teams are still keying on him every single week. Despite that, he can still put up the numbers he has.
No matter how dark things get in Minnesota, we can take some solace in the fact that we still have this guy on our roster.
Bernard Berrian? Worth the Money
People snickered when the Vikings gave Bernard Berrian a contract that made him one of the five highest-paid receivers in the National Football League. After watching him work over the course of the last 3-4 weeks, the only people that should be laughing are Minnesota fans, because Berrian's contract is going to look like a bargain in a season or two.
Since the Vikings made the quarterback switch to Gus Frerotte, Berrian hasn't had less than 78 receiving yards in a game, and has gone over 100 yards twice. He has a touchdown catch in three consecutive games, and his 18.5 yard/catch average has him in a tie for third place in that category among receivers with at least 20 catches (trailing only Buffalo's Lee Evans and Detroit's Calvin Johnson). He's on pace to set personal bests for yardage (on pace for around 1,200 yards, which would be his first season ever above 1,000 yards) and touchdowns. He's got three scoring catches already, and he's never had more than six in a season prior to this year.
The guy's doing what we brought him in here to do. He's stretching the field, he's making big catches, and he's establishing himself as a threat. Yeah, he's had some drops and yeah, he basically did nothing for the first two games of the year, but he appears to be the receiver we've seen over the past five weeks rather than the guy we saw over the first two.
Kevin Williams? Still the Best Defensive Tackle In Football
Keep your Tommie "Can't Stay Healthy" Harris. Keep your Albert "Gutless Face Stomper" Haynesworth. When you make a list of the best all-around defensive tackles in the National Football League, the name Kevin Williams should be on the top of the list, because there's nobody that's better than he is.
Not only is he a part of the Vikings having the best run defense in the National Football League (sure, they're only #4 in that category right now, but we all know they'll be at #1 when the season ends), but with the added attention that Jared Allen has been getting at defensive end, #93 has re-discovered his pass rush skills as well, as he leads the Vikings with six sacks.
I don't know how much longer we'll have the "Williams Wall" in Minnesota, but with Williams and Allen signed for the long-term, we certainly know that we have two spots that are take care of for at least the next 5-6 years.
Brad Childress? Likely Gone After This Year
Yep. Can't emphasize that enough.
The Vikings' Season? Not Over Yet
Yep, they currently sit at 3-4, and have a 1-2 record in the division. Those two losses came on the road, in close games, by a touchdown or less. We get this bye week, and then what should be a winnable game against the Houston Texans at home before the rematch with the Packers. After the Vikings win that game, they'll be at 5-4, and things will be looking up.
The NFC's Super Bowl Representative? Not Coming from the NFC North.
Not from Chicago, not from Green Bay, and not from Minnesota. As of now, Chicago's the best team in this division, and they'll be a beast when they get completely healthy, but it's quite likely that whoever wins this division will be one-and-out in the post-season.
Most importantly, in the end, I'll still be a Viking fan, which makes me the greatest damn fan in the National Football League. And if anyone disagrees with that assessment. . . well, screw them. Because they're wrong, and they're probably stupid.
Okay, enough about the game. The Vikings head into the bye this week so let's look at the season thus far.
Adrian Peterson? Still Really, Really Good
With his performance yesterday against the Bears, Adrian Peterson again sits atop the league in rushing yardage with 684 yards through the first 7 games. That puts him on pace for over 1500 yards and 11 touchdowns. He's still, for my money, the best running back in the National Football League, and he puts more distance between himself and the rest of the field every time he touches the football. He's still the biggest threat on the Vikings' offense, by far, and teams are still keying on him every single week. Despite that, he can still put up the numbers he has.
No matter how dark things get in Minnesota, we can take some solace in the fact that we still have this guy on our roster.
Bernard Berrian? Worth the Money
People snickered when the Vikings gave Bernard Berrian a contract that made him one of the five highest-paid receivers in the National Football League. After watching him work over the course of the last 3-4 weeks, the only people that should be laughing are Minnesota fans, because Berrian's contract is going to look like a bargain in a season or two.
Since the Vikings made the quarterback switch to Gus Frerotte, Berrian hasn't had less than 78 receiving yards in a game, and has gone over 100 yards twice. He has a touchdown catch in three consecutive games, and his 18.5 yard/catch average has him in a tie for third place in that category among receivers with at least 20 catches (trailing only Buffalo's Lee Evans and Detroit's Calvin Johnson). He's on pace to set personal bests for yardage (on pace for around 1,200 yards, which would be his first season ever above 1,000 yards) and touchdowns. He's got three scoring catches already, and he's never had more than six in a season prior to this year.
The guy's doing what we brought him in here to do. He's stretching the field, he's making big catches, and he's establishing himself as a threat. Yeah, he's had some drops and yeah, he basically did nothing for the first two games of the year, but he appears to be the receiver we've seen over the past five weeks rather than the guy we saw over the first two.
Kevin Williams? Still the Best Defensive Tackle In Football
Keep your Tommie "Can't Stay Healthy" Harris. Keep your Albert "Gutless Face Stomper" Haynesworth. When you make a list of the best all-around defensive tackles in the National Football League, the name Kevin Williams should be on the top of the list, because there's nobody that's better than he is.
Not only is he a part of the Vikings having the best run defense in the National Football League (sure, they're only #4 in that category right now, but we all know they'll be at #1 when the season ends), but with the added attention that Jared Allen has been getting at defensive end, #93 has re-discovered his pass rush skills as well, as he leads the Vikings with six sacks.
I don't know how much longer we'll have the "Williams Wall" in Minnesota, but with Williams and Allen signed for the long-term, we certainly know that we have two spots that are take care of for at least the next 5-6 years.
Brad Childress? Likely Gone After This Year
Yep. Can't emphasize that enough.
The Vikings' Season? Not Over Yet
Yep, they currently sit at 3-4, and have a 1-2 record in the division. Those two losses came on the road, in close games, by a touchdown or less. We get this bye week, and then what should be a winnable game against the Houston Texans at home before the rematch with the Packers. After the Vikings win that game, they'll be at 5-4, and things will be looking up.
The NFC's Super Bowl Representative? Not Coming from the NFC North.
Not from Chicago, not from Green Bay, and not from Minnesota. As of now, Chicago's the best team in this division, and they'll be a beast when they get completely healthy, but it's quite likely that whoever wins this division will be one-and-out in the post-season.
Most importantly, in the end, I'll still be a Viking fan, which makes me the greatest damn fan in the National Football League. And if anyone disagrees with that assessment. . . well, screw them. Because they're wrong, and they're probably stupid.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Who needs all 10 fingers??
When I think of amputees, I usually think of brave soldiers who lost their limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan or innocent victims of cancer and freak accidents. But now, college football gives us an example of a man who has a far more "courageous" reason to lose his limbs. An example of a future American rocket scientist/brain surgeon: Trevor Wikre.
You see, Trevor Wikre had a choice: Lose his pinkie finger or lose his football season.
He told doctors to cut it off. He took no time to ponder. He said it wasn't a hard choice
Wikre, 21, is a guard for Mesa State College, a Division II school in Grand Junction, Colo. He had told teammates a couple of weeks earlier how much he loved them as brothers.
He told them that he would take a bullet for them and he looked at this injury as that bullet. Trevor Wikre: Genius Who Amputated Pinky to Avoid Sitting Out Season
The trauma came Sept. 30 when Wikre's right little finger shattered at practice. He pulled off a glove, saw bone jutting out and asked trainers to tape it up. They declined and got him to the hospital, where doctors advised him that he needed season-ending surgery.
He reminded doctors that he was a senior and that losing his senior season wasn't an option. Doctors tried to talk him out of it by explaining the troubles he would have later in life...didn't matter to this guy apparently. Eventually the doctors gave in....
Wikre missed one game. He played last week with a rubber cast.
Did he find any difference in how he played? "Just one less finger to hold with," he said, laughing softly.
How about differences in life?
"I can't hit the P on the keyboard very well," he said. "I have to train my ring finger to get over there. It takes time." Yeah...well good luck ever trying to receive change from a grocery store clerk because the coins will slip right through your fingers moron. Because the pinky is the plug that closes a clenched palm.
With good sense like this, I wouldn't bet that this idiot would make the same sacrifice for his country . . . but for his Division II college football team, that's the ticket.
Giving up your finger to avoid sitting out a season of D II college football. I think we've just found this year's Darwin Awards Winner.
You see, Trevor Wikre had a choice: Lose his pinkie finger or lose his football season.
He told doctors to cut it off. He took no time to ponder. He said it wasn't a hard choice
Wikre, 21, is a guard for Mesa State College, a Division II school in Grand Junction, Colo. He had told teammates a couple of weeks earlier how much he loved them as brothers.
He told them that he would take a bullet for them and he looked at this injury as that bullet. Trevor Wikre: Genius Who Amputated Pinky to Avoid Sitting Out Season
The trauma came Sept. 30 when Wikre's right little finger shattered at practice. He pulled off a glove, saw bone jutting out and asked trainers to tape it up. They declined and got him to the hospital, where doctors advised him that he needed season-ending surgery.
He reminded doctors that he was a senior and that losing his senior season wasn't an option. Doctors tried to talk him out of it by explaining the troubles he would have later in life...didn't matter to this guy apparently. Eventually the doctors gave in....
Wikre missed one game. He played last week with a rubber cast.
Did he find any difference in how he played? "Just one less finger to hold with," he said, laughing softly.
How about differences in life?
"I can't hit the P on the keyboard very well," he said. "I have to train my ring finger to get over there. It takes time." Yeah...well good luck ever trying to receive change from a grocery store clerk because the coins will slip right through your fingers moron. Because the pinky is the plug that closes a clenched palm.
With good sense like this, I wouldn't bet that this idiot would make the same sacrifice for his country . . . but for his Division II college football team, that's the ticket.
Giving up your finger to avoid sitting out a season of D II college football. I think we've just found this year's Darwin Awards Winner.
Monday, October 13, 2008
The Morning After Pill - Week # 6
I'll admit that after watching yesterday's game between the Vikings and the Detroit Lions, my immediate reaction was a bit of embarrassment. . . almost guilt. . . over the fact that the Vikings, for the second week in a row, had "won ugly." Don't get me wrong. . . statistically, the Vikings were the superior team. But, for some reason, it just didn't feel right to me that the Vikings came out on top.
At first.
But the more I thought about it on my ride home on my motorcycle, I decided that there was absolutely no reason for me to feel bad about the fact that my favorite team had somehow managed to get themselves back to .500. Yes, they were supposed to destroy the Detroit Lions. Yes, it was an ugly victory. Yes, the Lions are a bad football team that was playing a second or third-string quarterback that was making his first ever NFL start. Yes, the Vikings got the benefit of some pretty horrendous officiating calls. Yes, this means that Brad Childress more than likely won't be fired this week.
But the reality of the situation is that, as it stands now, we're part of a three-way tie for first place in the NFC North. And, yes, it was because of an "ugly win." Hell, do you think our division rivals in Chicago would have been happy with an "ugly win" today? Yet, with 11 seconds to go, the Bears had a 1-point lead and appeared to have a victory in hand. Minutes later, Jason Elam was hitting a 48-yard field goal and the Bears were leaving town with a 22-20 loss heading into next week's game.
Color me crazy, but I think Chicago fans would have been quite happy to "win ugly" today. If they had, they'd have first place in the division all to themselves. But as it stands now, like I said earlier, there's a three-way tie at the top of the NFC North.
And as far as the officiating goes? We're Viking fans. . .we forfeited the need to apologize for actually getting calls from the referees about five seconds after Drew Pearson pushed off. Yeah, we got some calls. If we get every big call for two decades straight to go our way like some teams *cough*.. Packers...*cough*, then maybe I'll feel compelled to apologize.
But what were some of the positive things we can take from the game?
Well, for starters, how about that Bernard Berrian fellow, huh? Not only was he part of the second-longest pass play in Minnesota Viking history today with his 86-yard pitch-and-catch with Gus Frerotte, but over the course of the past couple of weeks, it looks like he's finally starting to justify that paycheck he's been getting since March. In his last two games, Berrian has 11 catches for 241 yards and two touchdowns. That's an average of a cool 21.9 yards per catch. He was brought in to stretch the field, and to this point, that's finally what he's doing. If he can continue doing that, this offense should improve. . .well, if the play calling gets any better, that is.
Speaking of guys living up to their billing, where has Kevin Williams been for the past couple of seasons? The best all-around defensive tackle in football was credited with four of the Vikings' six sacks of Dan Orlovsky this afternoon, including one on the final play of the game when the Lions were attempting to get a last-second Hail Mary accomplished. Williams now has six sacks total on the season. . .which is twice as many as he had in all of 2007 and almost as many as he had in '06 and '07 combined.
Adrian Peterson got back on track this week after a couple of, by his standards, down weeks. He averaged five yards a carry and went over 100 yards after a couple of weeks below the century mark. However, he really, REALLY needs to work on that whole "holding on to the football" thing. AP might be the greatest back in the league, but losing two fumbles in one game deep in opposing territory is unacceptable.
And congratulations to Gus Frerotte, who became a member of the 20,000 passing yard club this week. He needed 174 yards going into today's game, and he passed that during Berrian's big TD catch-and-run. Surprisingly, Frerotte almost broke the Vikings dry spell of games without a 300-yard passer, and in the fourth quarter had actually gotten to 301 yards passing.
Then, in typical "kick ass offense" fashion, Frerotte threw a swing pass to Adrian Peterson. . .that lost five yards. That loss put Frerotte at 296 yards for the afternoon, and he never got back above 300. So, as it stands now, the Vikings' last 300-yard passing performance still belongs to Daunte Culpepper..... THREE years ago!!
At first.
But the more I thought about it on my ride home on my motorcycle, I decided that there was absolutely no reason for me to feel bad about the fact that my favorite team had somehow managed to get themselves back to .500. Yes, they were supposed to destroy the Detroit Lions. Yes, it was an ugly victory. Yes, the Lions are a bad football team that was playing a second or third-string quarterback that was making his first ever NFL start. Yes, the Vikings got the benefit of some pretty horrendous officiating calls. Yes, this means that Brad Childress more than likely won't be fired this week.
But the reality of the situation is that, as it stands now, we're part of a three-way tie for first place in the NFC North. And, yes, it was because of an "ugly win." Hell, do you think our division rivals in Chicago would have been happy with an "ugly win" today? Yet, with 11 seconds to go, the Bears had a 1-point lead and appeared to have a victory in hand. Minutes later, Jason Elam was hitting a 48-yard field goal and the Bears were leaving town with a 22-20 loss heading into next week's game.
Color me crazy, but I think Chicago fans would have been quite happy to "win ugly" today. If they had, they'd have first place in the division all to themselves. But as it stands now, like I said earlier, there's a three-way tie at the top of the NFC North.
And as far as the officiating goes? We're Viking fans. . .we forfeited the need to apologize for actually getting calls from the referees about five seconds after Drew Pearson pushed off. Yeah, we got some calls. If we get every big call for two decades straight to go our way like some teams *cough*.. Packers...*cough*, then maybe I'll feel compelled to apologize.
But what were some of the positive things we can take from the game?
Well, for starters, how about that Bernard Berrian fellow, huh? Not only was he part of the second-longest pass play in Minnesota Viking history today with his 86-yard pitch-and-catch with Gus Frerotte, but over the course of the past couple of weeks, it looks like he's finally starting to justify that paycheck he's been getting since March. In his last two games, Berrian has 11 catches for 241 yards and two touchdowns. That's an average of a cool 21.9 yards per catch. He was brought in to stretch the field, and to this point, that's finally what he's doing. If he can continue doing that, this offense should improve. . .well, if the play calling gets any better, that is.
Speaking of guys living up to their billing, where has Kevin Williams been for the past couple of seasons? The best all-around defensive tackle in football was credited with four of the Vikings' six sacks of Dan Orlovsky this afternoon, including one on the final play of the game when the Lions were attempting to get a last-second Hail Mary accomplished. Williams now has six sacks total on the season. . .which is twice as many as he had in all of 2007 and almost as many as he had in '06 and '07 combined.
Adrian Peterson got back on track this week after a couple of, by his standards, down weeks. He averaged five yards a carry and went over 100 yards after a couple of weeks below the century mark. However, he really, REALLY needs to work on that whole "holding on to the football" thing. AP might be the greatest back in the league, but losing two fumbles in one game deep in opposing territory is unacceptable.
And congratulations to Gus Frerotte, who became a member of the 20,000 passing yard club this week. He needed 174 yards going into today's game, and he passed that during Berrian's big TD catch-and-run. Surprisingly, Frerotte almost broke the Vikings dry spell of games without a 300-yard passer, and in the fourth quarter had actually gotten to 301 yards passing.
Then, in typical "kick ass offense" fashion, Frerotte threw a swing pass to Adrian Peterson. . .that lost five yards. That loss put Frerotte at 296 yards for the afternoon, and he never got back above 300. So, as it stands now, the Vikings' last 300-yard passing performance still belongs to Daunte Culpepper..... THREE years ago!!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
The Morning After Pill - Week # 5
Monday night's game between the Saints and the Vikings was nothing short of an emotional roller coaster from start to finish. It started with Drew Brees shredding the Vikings' defense on the Saints' first drive, followed by the first blocked field goal returned for a touchdown in Vikings' regular season history (the Vikings had accomplished the feat once in the post-season).
Then Antoine Winfield destroyed Drew Brees in almost exactly the same way he crushed Jake Delhomme in Week 3, followed by what I like to call a "morning after" touchdown pass from Chester Taylor to Visanthe Shiancoe. . . it was beautiful at the time, but after some time to look back... damn... it was ugly.
Then, the Vikings seemed determined to turn the second half into the Reggie Bush show, and they succeeded for a time, letting Mr. Kim Kardashian return two punts for touchdowns to give the Saints the lead, and I got that same feeling in my stomach that I know all too well. That feeling of "we've played pretty well thus far, and now we're at the point where everything comes apart at the seams." It seemed like 1-4 was inevitable.
And, then. . . something weird happened.
Just a few snaps after having to sit out for a play after Saints' DE Will Smith decided to get a little too jiggy with him, Gus Frerotte dropped back to pass on 3rd and 16 from the New Orleans 33. He stood in the pocket, waited, and lofted one down the center of the field for Aundrae Allison.
Or was it for Bernard Berrian?
As the ball hung up in the air for what seemed like minutes rather than seconds, #84 and #87 were streaking toward each other, with Berrian coming from the left side of the formation and Allison from the right. The ball came closer to Earth. . .Berrian ran into Allison. . .both Vikings fell to the ground. . .and when the field turf settled, Berrian was holding onto the ball in the end zone, and the Vikings were a Ryan Longwell extra point away from tying the ball game.
But there was more.
Drew Brees brought the Saints back out onto the field and, thanks in large part to a 41-yard pass to Billy Miller that ended with a hit that's going to make Cedric Griffin's wallet a little lighter, had driven New Orleans to the Minnesota 28-yard line, where they brought in Martin Gramatica to attempt to take the lead back. Gramatica had made two previous field goals, and had the kick that was blocked by Fred Evans and returned for a score by Antoine Winfield. Gramatica couldn't miss from there, could he?
But miss it, he did.
And the Vikings took over with 1:59 left on the clock. The Saints then thought they'd do the Vikings one more favor, because on a 3rd and 3, Saints safety Kevin Kaesviharn thought it would be a good idea to tackle Bernard Berrian on a deep pass attempt by Frerotte. Of course, he made that decision while the ball was still traveling in Berrian's direction, which is pass interference, and the 42-yard penalty gave the Vikings the ball on the New Orleans 14-yard line. Ryan Longwell tacked on the game winning field goal, a desperation heave by Brees was intercepted by Tyrell Johnson, and the Vikings escaped from New Orleans with a season-saving victory.
Strangely, when I got home from work the next day I turned on my "Daily Bread" (aka ESPN's Pardon the Interruption), and one of the topics was, and I quote, "Did the Vikings Win or Did the Saints Lose?"
Yes, apparently the Saints "lost" a game that they trailed 20-10 at halftime and 20-17 after three quarters. Weird how that happens. They were, apparently, somehow more deserving of a win than Minnesota. I fail to comprehend this.
I understand that the guys in the ESPN booth were totally in love with Reggie Bush, and granted, he gave them good reason to be. But the Saints are one of the top offenses in football and the Vikings held them to one offensive TD.
As the Vikings have learned incredibly well over the course of the Brad Childress era. . .more often than not, one offensive touchdown isn't going to get the job done. And turning the ball over four times, a couple of which were deep inside Vikings' territory, sure as hell isn't going to get it done, either.
Now, as you've no doubt heard, some people have had a bit to say about the officiating, and in particular the play where Reggie Bush fumbled the ball away and halted a Saints drive that had reached Vikings territory.
I'm going to say this as a fan of the team that's gotten bent over the proverbial table by the referees of the NFL on a regular basis ever since Drew Pearson pushed off. Yeah, the Saints got screwed on that call. But no...I'm not apologizing for it....the face mask had nothing to do with the fact Mr. Bush couldn't hang on to the football.
The New Orleans Saints didn't "give away" last night's game. . .the Minnesota Vikings took it from them. And they did it by showing more heart and more guts than they have in any other game of the Brad Childress era. If I would have told you on Monday afternoon that Adrian Peterson was going to get 32 yards rushing on 21 carries and the Vikings would win anyway, you would have thought I was completely insane. But that's what happened.
Most importantly, the Vikes got to take the season off of life support. They currently sit just one game behind the Bears in the division, and tied with the Packers (who, contrary to what many of their fans seem to believe, did NOT clinch the NFC North with their lucky victory in Week 1). They get to host the Lions this week, and then a matchup with Da Bears going into the bye week. Hopefully they can get into the bye at 4-3 and still in the thick of the division race, if not outright leading it. With the strength of the NFC East, there aren't going to be any wild card teams coming from this division, so it's NFC North championship or bust.
Then Antoine Winfield destroyed Drew Brees in almost exactly the same way he crushed Jake Delhomme in Week 3, followed by what I like to call a "morning after" touchdown pass from Chester Taylor to Visanthe Shiancoe. . . it was beautiful at the time, but after some time to look back... damn... it was ugly.
Then, the Vikings seemed determined to turn the second half into the Reggie Bush show, and they succeeded for a time, letting Mr. Kim Kardashian return two punts for touchdowns to give the Saints the lead, and I got that same feeling in my stomach that I know all too well. That feeling of "we've played pretty well thus far, and now we're at the point where everything comes apart at the seams." It seemed like 1-4 was inevitable.
And, then. . . something weird happened.
Just a few snaps after having to sit out for a play after Saints' DE Will Smith decided to get a little too jiggy with him, Gus Frerotte dropped back to pass on 3rd and 16 from the New Orleans 33. He stood in the pocket, waited, and lofted one down the center of the field for Aundrae Allison.
Or was it for Bernard Berrian?
As the ball hung up in the air for what seemed like minutes rather than seconds, #84 and #87 were streaking toward each other, with Berrian coming from the left side of the formation and Allison from the right. The ball came closer to Earth. . .Berrian ran into Allison. . .both Vikings fell to the ground. . .and when the field turf settled, Berrian was holding onto the ball in the end zone, and the Vikings were a Ryan Longwell extra point away from tying the ball game.
But there was more.
Drew Brees brought the Saints back out onto the field and, thanks in large part to a 41-yard pass to Billy Miller that ended with a hit that's going to make Cedric Griffin's wallet a little lighter, had driven New Orleans to the Minnesota 28-yard line, where they brought in Martin Gramatica to attempt to take the lead back. Gramatica had made two previous field goals, and had the kick that was blocked by Fred Evans and returned for a score by Antoine Winfield. Gramatica couldn't miss from there, could he?
But miss it, he did.
And the Vikings took over with 1:59 left on the clock. The Saints then thought they'd do the Vikings one more favor, because on a 3rd and 3, Saints safety Kevin Kaesviharn thought it would be a good idea to tackle Bernard Berrian on a deep pass attempt by Frerotte. Of course, he made that decision while the ball was still traveling in Berrian's direction, which is pass interference, and the 42-yard penalty gave the Vikings the ball on the New Orleans 14-yard line. Ryan Longwell tacked on the game winning field goal, a desperation heave by Brees was intercepted by Tyrell Johnson, and the Vikings escaped from New Orleans with a season-saving victory.
Strangely, when I got home from work the next day I turned on my "Daily Bread" (aka ESPN's Pardon the Interruption), and one of the topics was, and I quote, "Did the Vikings Win or Did the Saints Lose?"
Yes, apparently the Saints "lost" a game that they trailed 20-10 at halftime and 20-17 after three quarters. Weird how that happens. They were, apparently, somehow more deserving of a win than Minnesota. I fail to comprehend this.
I understand that the guys in the ESPN booth were totally in love with Reggie Bush, and granted, he gave them good reason to be. But the Saints are one of the top offenses in football and the Vikings held them to one offensive TD.
As the Vikings have learned incredibly well over the course of the Brad Childress era. . .more often than not, one offensive touchdown isn't going to get the job done. And turning the ball over four times, a couple of which were deep inside Vikings' territory, sure as hell isn't going to get it done, either.
Now, as you've no doubt heard, some people have had a bit to say about the officiating, and in particular the play where Reggie Bush fumbled the ball away and halted a Saints drive that had reached Vikings territory.
I'm going to say this as a fan of the team that's gotten bent over the proverbial table by the referees of the NFL on a regular basis ever since Drew Pearson pushed off. Yeah, the Saints got screwed on that call. But no...I'm not apologizing for it....the face mask had nothing to do with the fact Mr. Bush couldn't hang on to the football.
The New Orleans Saints didn't "give away" last night's game. . .the Minnesota Vikings took it from them. And they did it by showing more heart and more guts than they have in any other game of the Brad Childress era. If I would have told you on Monday afternoon that Adrian Peterson was going to get 32 yards rushing on 21 carries and the Vikings would win anyway, you would have thought I was completely insane. But that's what happened.
Most importantly, the Vikes got to take the season off of life support. They currently sit just one game behind the Bears in the division, and tied with the Packers (who, contrary to what many of their fans seem to believe, did NOT clinch the NFC North with their lucky victory in Week 1). They get to host the Lions this week, and then a matchup with Da Bears going into the bye week. Hopefully they can get into the bye at 4-3 and still in the thick of the division race, if not outright leading it. With the strength of the NFC East, there aren't going to be any wild card teams coming from this division, so it's NFC North championship or bust.
Monday, October 6, 2008
The Cubs are cursed??
Maybe I should stop this whole prediction thing. First I pick the Patriots to win it all in football...then Tom Brady can't even play a whole quarter before he's out for the year and now the Cubs have been swept out of the postseason again after I pick them to win the World Series. You can't really blame me though, this October was supposed to be different. It turned out to be different only in the sense that this year expectations were higher, so the disappointment will be even deeper for Cubs fans.
The Cubs scored six runs in three Division Series games against the Dodgers, the lowest output coming in the 3-1 loss on Saturday night that sealed their exit.
They had a terrible pitching performance in Game 1 and a brutal fielding performance in Game 2. They didn't produce timely hitting throughout. Add it up; 0-3 was all that could be expected.
This was a club with 97 regular-season victories, the National League's best record. That record was supposed to be a springboard to postseason triumph. Instead, the postseason performance was agonizingly short of the regular-season record.
The Cubs, though, added a new element to the possible range of postseason blunders. The Cubs' mistakes started early in this Division Series, even before Game 1 started. The Cubs' mistakes started with an attempt to undo a curse.
Manager Lou Piniella has spent two seasons trying to convince his players that the past counts for nothing, that the only thing that matters is the baseball that is played now. And then the chairman of the Cubs gets a Greek Orthodox priest to perform an exorcism of sorts, in order to counteract an alleged 63-year-old billy goat curse on the club.
Cubs management should be criticized for missing the entire point of what might be wrong with its baseball team.
A TBS camera recorded the priest spreading holy water around the Cubs dugout, which is how the Cubs players and the rest of the civilized world learned of it.
At the very moment the Cubs were trying to break the 100-year championship drought, by just playing baseball, the focus on the curse moved the Cubs backward into the past and into superstition.
There is no curse of the billy goat unless you believe that there is. And believing in that is like believing in this:
"Step on a crack, break your mother's back."
The Cubs are not losing games because a guy's goat was denied admission to the 1945 World Series. But they might be losing games because a lot of people keep distracting them from the task at hand by asking them about junk like the curse on a daily basis, annoyingly planting the seed that they have the weight of history on their shoulders, and/or that they are playing for a hopeless cause.
The blessing of the Cubs' dugout did not exactly transform the team's fortunes. The Cubs' play was tense, tight, and stretched to the breaking point by 100 years' worth of expectations. That's their real curse.
The story of the billy goat and the curse is a funny story. When you take it any further than that, you sink into the depths of superstition.
But by bringing in the priest and the holy water, the organizational position of the Chicago Cubs is that there is a curse. And if the Cubs really believe that they are cursed, there doesn't seem to be much point in playing the 162-game schedule, not to mention the postseason. Then you're just playing the games because of all the money there is to be made. By the way, if somebody really cursed the Cubs, wouldn't he make sure that they were, you know, broke?
Not winning a World Series in 100 years puts a load on a team. It isn't fair, but it's there. The Cubs had a golden opportunity to make some history and break some history here. They blew it. But it wasn't because they were cursed. The single bad thing about a curse would be believing in it. And when the management of your team actually tries to counteract a curse...well...you get swept right out of the playoffs.
The Cubs scored six runs in three Division Series games against the Dodgers, the lowest output coming in the 3-1 loss on Saturday night that sealed their exit.
They had a terrible pitching performance in Game 1 and a brutal fielding performance in Game 2. They didn't produce timely hitting throughout. Add it up; 0-3 was all that could be expected.
This was a club with 97 regular-season victories, the National League's best record. That record was supposed to be a springboard to postseason triumph. Instead, the postseason performance was agonizingly short of the regular-season record.
The Cubs, though, added a new element to the possible range of postseason blunders. The Cubs' mistakes started early in this Division Series, even before Game 1 started. The Cubs' mistakes started with an attempt to undo a curse.
Manager Lou Piniella has spent two seasons trying to convince his players that the past counts for nothing, that the only thing that matters is the baseball that is played now. And then the chairman of the Cubs gets a Greek Orthodox priest to perform an exorcism of sorts, in order to counteract an alleged 63-year-old billy goat curse on the club.
Cubs management should be criticized for missing the entire point of what might be wrong with its baseball team.
A TBS camera recorded the priest spreading holy water around the Cubs dugout, which is how the Cubs players and the rest of the civilized world learned of it.
At the very moment the Cubs were trying to break the 100-year championship drought, by just playing baseball, the focus on the curse moved the Cubs backward into the past and into superstition.
There is no curse of the billy goat unless you believe that there is. And believing in that is like believing in this:
"Step on a crack, break your mother's back."
The Cubs are not losing games because a guy's goat was denied admission to the 1945 World Series. But they might be losing games because a lot of people keep distracting them from the task at hand by asking them about junk like the curse on a daily basis, annoyingly planting the seed that they have the weight of history on their shoulders, and/or that they are playing for a hopeless cause.
The blessing of the Cubs' dugout did not exactly transform the team's fortunes. The Cubs' play was tense, tight, and stretched to the breaking point by 100 years' worth of expectations. That's their real curse.
The story of the billy goat and the curse is a funny story. When you take it any further than that, you sink into the depths of superstition.
But by bringing in the priest and the holy water, the organizational position of the Chicago Cubs is that there is a curse. And if the Cubs really believe that they are cursed, there doesn't seem to be much point in playing the 162-game schedule, not to mention the postseason. Then you're just playing the games because of all the money there is to be made. By the way, if somebody really cursed the Cubs, wouldn't he make sure that they were, you know, broke?
Not winning a World Series in 100 years puts a load on a team. It isn't fair, but it's there. The Cubs had a golden opportunity to make some history and break some history here. They blew it. But it wasn't because they were cursed. The single bad thing about a curse would be believing in it. And when the management of your team actually tries to counteract a curse...well...you get swept right out of the playoffs.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
100 years of waiting....
After waiting for the one game playoff last night between the Twins and the White Sox it is now time for my baseball playoff preview. First I just wanna pat myself on the back for defending the firing of Ned Yost. Even though the Brewers didn't exactly end the season like the Rockies last year, they did just enough to squeak by the choking New York Mets. So, it looks like the coaching change turned out alright for them. Now, it's time to see who I like for the World Series, though judging by the title of my blog, you could probably narrow it down.
The American League, as usual, is the better league. Tampa Bay is for real. The pitching, led by an incredible bullpen, combined with just enough offense will keep the Rays in the race. Their inexperience will be a factor, won't it? Not necessarily. In fact, it may work out to the Rays advantage. Home games in front of crowds that have never seen playoff baseball will lead to an atmosphere that will be hard to beat. In addition, with half the players never being in the playoffs before, the pressure will not be understood, and they will just go out there and play.The Angels did it in 2002, the Marlins did it in 2003, and the Cardinals, even though some veterans did lead that team, along with manager Tony La Russa as well, did it in 2006.
Will the Rays win the World Series though? Not this year. While it would be a great story, they would have to beat two out of three teams from the likes of the Red Sox, the Angels, and the White Sox.The Red Sox have too much experience, the Angels too much heart, and the White Sox too much power, with just enough of everything else as well. The Rays may win one playoff series, but two will not happen this year. If it does, then crown them World Series champions now!
Looking now into the NL a little deeper, as usual, it is a mess. The Brewers and Mets both struggled down the stretch as the Mets managed to choke just a little bit more than the Brewers. Thanks to the acquisition of Manny Ramirez the Dodgers were able to outlast the Diamondbacks. The Phillies took advantage of the Mets 2nd straight collapse to win the division. Finally, the Chicago Cubs. Oh, how we love those Cubbies!! Could this be the year? I've seen article after article in my Sports Illustrated talking about "It's Gonna Happen". Well, normally I would be screaming up and down "SI JINX SI JINX". But you know what? Something funny is happening here. The White Sox and Cubs are in the playoffs for the first time since...well...since the last time the Cubs won the World Series. So now the real question is:
How will it all play out in the end?
The Cubs and Dodgers will have a classic series due to the fact that the Cubs have to always make things interesting, but the Cubs will end up beating them in the last game of the series to move onto the NLCS.
The Phillies will also get past the Brewers because of the sheer fact that the Brewers do not have enough pitching to slow down the incredible Phillies lineup. CC Sabathia can't pitch every game of the series.
The Phillies though will be beaten by the Cubs in another classic seven game series due to better pitching from the Cubs with their bullpen leading the way.What’s next, stigmata? The Cubs in the World Series? As of right now, yes.
Looking now at the AL, the Angels will beat the Red Sox and the Rays will beat the White Sox due to holding their offenses in check.
This leaves us with an Angels-Rays ALCS. The Rays will give the Angels a fight, but the Angels will win the series in six games because of the fact that they have been in the big game situations in the past.
That leaves the World Series as the Angels against the Cubs. Who will win this series? Somehow, someway, the Cubs will end up winning the series in six close games because of their better power numbers against the Angels, and because of clutch bullpen pitching that does not put any runners on base regularly, something that Francisco Rodriquez can never claim he does, along with most of the rest of the Angels bullpen at this point.
The Cubs will knock in more of these runners on base with their big bats throughout their lineup, and will beat the Angels in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field in the sixth and final game of the series, leaving the Chicago Cubs as the 2008 World Series champions, which will officially break one of the longest championship droughts in sports history and let the Billy Goat, the Black Cat, and Steve Bartman off the hook!!
The American League, as usual, is the better league. Tampa Bay is for real. The pitching, led by an incredible bullpen, combined with just enough offense will keep the Rays in the race. Their inexperience will be a factor, won't it? Not necessarily. In fact, it may work out to the Rays advantage. Home games in front of crowds that have never seen playoff baseball will lead to an atmosphere that will be hard to beat. In addition, with half the players never being in the playoffs before, the pressure will not be understood, and they will just go out there and play.The Angels did it in 2002, the Marlins did it in 2003, and the Cardinals, even though some veterans did lead that team, along with manager Tony La Russa as well, did it in 2006.
Will the Rays win the World Series though? Not this year. While it would be a great story, they would have to beat two out of three teams from the likes of the Red Sox, the Angels, and the White Sox.The Red Sox have too much experience, the Angels too much heart, and the White Sox too much power, with just enough of everything else as well. The Rays may win one playoff series, but two will not happen this year. If it does, then crown them World Series champions now!
Looking now into the NL a little deeper, as usual, it is a mess. The Brewers and Mets both struggled down the stretch as the Mets managed to choke just a little bit more than the Brewers. Thanks to the acquisition of Manny Ramirez the Dodgers were able to outlast the Diamondbacks. The Phillies took advantage of the Mets 2nd straight collapse to win the division. Finally, the Chicago Cubs. Oh, how we love those Cubbies!! Could this be the year? I've seen article after article in my Sports Illustrated talking about "It's Gonna Happen". Well, normally I would be screaming up and down "SI JINX SI JINX". But you know what? Something funny is happening here. The White Sox and Cubs are in the playoffs for the first time since...well...since the last time the Cubs won the World Series. So now the real question is:
How will it all play out in the end?
The Cubs and Dodgers will have a classic series due to the fact that the Cubs have to always make things interesting, but the Cubs will end up beating them in the last game of the series to move onto the NLCS.
The Phillies will also get past the Brewers because of the sheer fact that the Brewers do not have enough pitching to slow down the incredible Phillies lineup. CC Sabathia can't pitch every game of the series.
The Phillies though will be beaten by the Cubs in another classic seven game series due to better pitching from the Cubs with their bullpen leading the way.What’s next, stigmata? The Cubs in the World Series? As of right now, yes.
Looking now at the AL, the Angels will beat the Red Sox and the Rays will beat the White Sox due to holding their offenses in check.
This leaves us with an Angels-Rays ALCS. The Rays will give the Angels a fight, but the Angels will win the series in six games because of the fact that they have been in the big game situations in the past.
That leaves the World Series as the Angels against the Cubs. Who will win this series? Somehow, someway, the Cubs will end up winning the series in six close games because of their better power numbers against the Angels, and because of clutch bullpen pitching that does not put any runners on base regularly, something that Francisco Rodriquez can never claim he does, along with most of the rest of the Angels bullpen at this point.
The Cubs will knock in more of these runners on base with their big bats throughout their lineup, and will beat the Angels in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field in the sixth and final game of the series, leaving the Chicago Cubs as the 2008 World Series champions, which will officially break one of the longest championship droughts in sports history and let the Billy Goat, the Black Cat, and Steve Bartman off the hook!!
Monday, September 29, 2008
The Morning After Pill - Week # 4
Two minutes left in the ball game.
No time outs.
Down by two scores.
And you punt the football away.
Rewind back to last week. The Vikings were playing a Carolina Panther team that was in much the same situation that Minnesota was in yesterday. They had no time outs left, they were down by two scores (20-10), and with 2:46 left on the clock, they faced a 3rd and 39 from their own 6-yard line. They managed to turn that into a 4th and 27 at their own 18.
Did John Fox kick the football away and basically tell his team, "You know, I realize that our chances to win are pretty much zero at this point, but I don't feel as though you guys even deserve the opportunity to try?"
Hell, no, he didn't. . .he had his guys line up and run a play to at least try to convert that 4th and 27. Granted, the Panthers didn't convert and the Vikings pretty much just ran out the clock, but at least John Fox didn't give up on his team.
Now, back to yesterday. The Vikings are down 30-17, no time outs left, right around two minutes left in the game, facing a 4th and 13 from their own 18-yard line. The starting quarterback had just gone out of the game with an injury, and the backup QB was taking the snaps.
And rather than line it up and attempt to run another offensive play, Brad Childress sent his punt team out on to the field and gave the ball back to the Tennessee Titans, knowing full well that there was absolutely, positively zero chance that they would get the ball back.
What Brad Childress did today was an act of full-blown cowardice, compared to such NFL events as Brett Favre taking a dive for Michael Strahan to allow him to set the single-season sack record. . .with Denny Green taking a knee and settling for overtime in the 1998 NFC Championship Game. Take any spineless, gutless act that you can think of that's ever been perpetuated on an NFL field, and what Brad Childress did today was exactly the same thing.
Brad Childress gave up on his football team yesterday. I was pissed off when Randy Moss "quit" in the game against Washington in 2004 when there was a playoff berth on the line, but this is worse on so many levels. This guy is the head coach. The "leader" of this football team. Who in that locker room is going to buy into Brad Childress' message of playing hard and giving it all you've got for 60 minutes and all that other inspirational stuff from a guy that thought it would be best to curl up into the fetal position rather than going down swinging?
No, Brad Childress isn't the sole reason that we lost this football game today. (I'm guessing four turnovers, numerous penalties and a bogus spot of the ball on a 4th down when the Titans were on the two yard line had something to do with it). But he's the source of the problem. He's the biggest problem. This team will never, ever see any meaningful success under his watch. He needs to be removed, and he needs to be removed sooner rather than later.
No time outs.
Down by two scores.
And you punt the football away.
Rewind back to last week. The Vikings were playing a Carolina Panther team that was in much the same situation that Minnesota was in yesterday. They had no time outs left, they were down by two scores (20-10), and with 2:46 left on the clock, they faced a 3rd and 39 from their own 6-yard line. They managed to turn that into a 4th and 27 at their own 18.
Did John Fox kick the football away and basically tell his team, "You know, I realize that our chances to win are pretty much zero at this point, but I don't feel as though you guys even deserve the opportunity to try?"
Hell, no, he didn't. . .he had his guys line up and run a play to at least try to convert that 4th and 27. Granted, the Panthers didn't convert and the Vikings pretty much just ran out the clock, but at least John Fox didn't give up on his team.
Now, back to yesterday. The Vikings are down 30-17, no time outs left, right around two minutes left in the game, facing a 4th and 13 from their own 18-yard line. The starting quarterback had just gone out of the game with an injury, and the backup QB was taking the snaps.
And rather than line it up and attempt to run another offensive play, Brad Childress sent his punt team out on to the field and gave the ball back to the Tennessee Titans, knowing full well that there was absolutely, positively zero chance that they would get the ball back.
What Brad Childress did today was an act of full-blown cowardice, compared to such NFL events as Brett Favre taking a dive for Michael Strahan to allow him to set the single-season sack record. . .with Denny Green taking a knee and settling for overtime in the 1998 NFC Championship Game. Take any spineless, gutless act that you can think of that's ever been perpetuated on an NFL field, and what Brad Childress did today was exactly the same thing.
Brad Childress gave up on his football team yesterday. I was pissed off when Randy Moss "quit" in the game against Washington in 2004 when there was a playoff berth on the line, but this is worse on so many levels. This guy is the head coach. The "leader" of this football team. Who in that locker room is going to buy into Brad Childress' message of playing hard and giving it all you've got for 60 minutes and all that other inspirational stuff from a guy that thought it would be best to curl up into the fetal position rather than going down swinging?
No, Brad Childress isn't the sole reason that we lost this football game today. (I'm guessing four turnovers, numerous penalties and a bogus spot of the ball on a 4th down when the Titans were on the two yard line had something to do with it). But he's the source of the problem. He's the biggest problem. This team will never, ever see any meaningful success under his watch. He needs to be removed, and he needs to be removed sooner rather than later.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Smooth Criminals
So, after 85 years, Yankee Stadium has finally closed it's doors for good. Wait a minute...closing the doors in Septemember?? What about October baseball? Oh..nevermind, forgot the Tampa Rays won the division..ha ha!! Well then I guess it's now time for every New Yorker's other favorite sport - looting for profit!!
Here’s the story: over a dozen people were arrested in New York for stealing pieces of Yankee Stadium. Arrested. Is this really an offense? It hasn’t been specified what was stolen, but I can’t really see somebody walking away with anything of importance. I mean I can understand if they stole home plate or maybe some structural supports. Supposedly seats, signs, and even paint off the walls, basically Yankee fans were attacking every single thing that wasn't nailed, bolted, or welded down. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that every toilet paper holder was empty, so that some fan has roll of Yankee ass wipe on their mantle.
The Yankees organization should have been better prepared because they could have capitalized on this. "Bolt those suckers down!! They're worth $1,500 on E-bay!! " What they should have done was set up registers outside, and let people take what they want. Seat from Yankee Stadium? $500. Dirt from the field? $30. Then they could have donated the money to Steinbrenner. I hear he’s hard for cash these days.
I still think a bigger crime is being a Yankee fan. Can we start arresting people for that instead?
Here’s the story: over a dozen people were arrested in New York for stealing pieces of Yankee Stadium. Arrested. Is this really an offense? It hasn’t been specified what was stolen, but I can’t really see somebody walking away with anything of importance. I mean I can understand if they stole home plate or maybe some structural supports. Supposedly seats, signs, and even paint off the walls, basically Yankee fans were attacking every single thing that wasn't nailed, bolted, or welded down. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that every toilet paper holder was empty, so that some fan has roll of Yankee ass wipe on their mantle.
The Yankees organization should have been better prepared because they could have capitalized on this. "Bolt those suckers down!! They're worth $1,500 on E-bay!! " What they should have done was set up registers outside, and let people take what they want. Seat from Yankee Stadium? $500. Dirt from the field? $30. Then they could have donated the money to Steinbrenner. I hear he’s hard for cash these days.
I still think a bigger crime is being a Yankee fan. Can we start arresting people for that instead?
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The Morning After Pill - Week # 3
Yep. . .it's a fine Monday to be a Viking fan. Of course, every Monday is a fine Monday to be a Viking fan, just like every other day is a fine day to be a Viking fan, and to hell with anybody that says otherwise. Really, it's just a matter of whether I spend Monday being Happy Kev, which is better for all of the people in my immediate vicinity, or Angry Kev. . .which is not as good for all the people around me, but much better for this blog, since Angry Kev seems to be a much better writer than Happy Kev.
And now that I've celebrated my multiple personality disorder and referred to myself in the third person a few times, join me in taking a look back at yesterday's Viking triumph over the Carolina Panthers.
Don't get me wrong. . .I still really, really don't approve of Brad Childress' handling of the quarterback situation this past week. It's not the benching of Tarvaris Jackson that I have an issue with so much as how the matter was handled, but that's another debate for another time. What I WILL say, however, is that if this is the kind of thing that it took for Childress to actually open up the offense and try something other than "let's hand the ball to #28 until he collapses," then I'm alright with it for now.
The Vikings certainly weren't afraid to come out throwing on Sunday, as the first six offensive plays were all passes. . .in six minutes of actual game time, Gus Frerotte had thrown two fewer passes than Tarvaris Jackson had averaged in the first half of the previous two games. And Gus was making decent throws, despite one of those six passes being intercepted by Chris Gamble on a Bernard Berrian deflection (on a ball that Berrian really should have caught) and one was hauled in by Visanthe Shiancoe, only to have it knocked away by Gamble near the first down marker.
But near the end of the first half, it didn't appear as though anything was going to really change. The Vikings had driven 69 yards to the Panther 11-yard line, taking 15 plays and just over eight minutes to do so, but once again came away with nothing but a Ryan Longwell field goal to cut their deficit to 10-3. But just before halftime, CB Antoine Winfield made the play that just might have saved this season for Minnesota.
Panther QB Jake Delhomme dropped back to pass on a 3rd and 8 from the Carolina 29. Winfield, who had started out lined up on the outside receiver, came screaming in from Delhomme's right on a corner blitz. Delhomme, who appeared to be completely locked on WR Steve Smith for the entire play, never saw #26 bearing down on him. . .part of the appeal of only being 5'8", I guess. . ..and Winfield crushed him, knocking the ball loose as Delhomme went down. Winfield scooped up the ball and bounced into the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown, and the Vikings went into the locker room with a tie game and all the momentum on their side.
They carried that momentum over to the second half in a big way. Taking the second half kickoff, the Vikings stormed down the field, moving 80 yards in five plays, scoring on a 34-yard touchdown pass to. . .Visanthe Shiancoe? THAT Visanthe Shiancoe!? Yeah, nobody was more surprised than me. Well, except maybe Visanthe Shiancoe. The other big play on that drive was Frerotte hitting Bernard Berrian for a 47-yard gain on 3rd and 7 to keep the drive alive.
The Vikings defense took it from there, and the Panthers didn't mount a serious scoring threat the rest of the afternoon.
If I were to give a game ball to anybody from the defense, however, it would have to be E.J. Henderson. If the Pro Bowl rosters come out in late January or early February and E.J. Henderson isn't the starting middle linebacker for the NFC, then I'm sorry, but the system is broken. Henderson was an absolute monster against the Panthers, putting together 12 tackles (11 solo), with 3 of those tackles going for losses, a quarterback hit, and basically being everywhere on the field all the time.
Hopefully this is the start of something bigger for the Vikings. They've got a tough one coming up on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans in Nashville, followed by a trip to New Orleans for a Monday night battle in Week 5. After a slow start, it would be nice if the Vikings could get it together and turn the corner before too much longer.
And now that I've celebrated my multiple personality disorder and referred to myself in the third person a few times, join me in taking a look back at yesterday's Viking triumph over the Carolina Panthers.
Don't get me wrong. . .I still really, really don't approve of Brad Childress' handling of the quarterback situation this past week. It's not the benching of Tarvaris Jackson that I have an issue with so much as how the matter was handled, but that's another debate for another time. What I WILL say, however, is that if this is the kind of thing that it took for Childress to actually open up the offense and try something other than "let's hand the ball to #28 until he collapses," then I'm alright with it for now.
The Vikings certainly weren't afraid to come out throwing on Sunday, as the first six offensive plays were all passes. . .in six minutes of actual game time, Gus Frerotte had thrown two fewer passes than Tarvaris Jackson had averaged in the first half of the previous two games. And Gus was making decent throws, despite one of those six passes being intercepted by Chris Gamble on a Bernard Berrian deflection (on a ball that Berrian really should have caught) and one was hauled in by Visanthe Shiancoe, only to have it knocked away by Gamble near the first down marker.
But near the end of the first half, it didn't appear as though anything was going to really change. The Vikings had driven 69 yards to the Panther 11-yard line, taking 15 plays and just over eight minutes to do so, but once again came away with nothing but a Ryan Longwell field goal to cut their deficit to 10-3. But just before halftime, CB Antoine Winfield made the play that just might have saved this season for Minnesota.
Panther QB Jake Delhomme dropped back to pass on a 3rd and 8 from the Carolina 29. Winfield, who had started out lined up on the outside receiver, came screaming in from Delhomme's right on a corner blitz. Delhomme, who appeared to be completely locked on WR Steve Smith for the entire play, never saw #26 bearing down on him. . .part of the appeal of only being 5'8", I guess. . ..and Winfield crushed him, knocking the ball loose as Delhomme went down. Winfield scooped up the ball and bounced into the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown, and the Vikings went into the locker room with a tie game and all the momentum on their side.
They carried that momentum over to the second half in a big way. Taking the second half kickoff, the Vikings stormed down the field, moving 80 yards in five plays, scoring on a 34-yard touchdown pass to. . .Visanthe Shiancoe? THAT Visanthe Shiancoe!? Yeah, nobody was more surprised than me. Well, except maybe Visanthe Shiancoe. The other big play on that drive was Frerotte hitting Bernard Berrian for a 47-yard gain on 3rd and 7 to keep the drive alive.
The Vikings defense took it from there, and the Panthers didn't mount a serious scoring threat the rest of the afternoon.
If I were to give a game ball to anybody from the defense, however, it would have to be E.J. Henderson. If the Pro Bowl rosters come out in late January or early February and E.J. Henderson isn't the starting middle linebacker for the NFC, then I'm sorry, but the system is broken. Henderson was an absolute monster against the Panthers, putting together 12 tackles (11 solo), with 3 of those tackles going for losses, a quarterback hit, and basically being everywhere on the field all the time.
Hopefully this is the start of something bigger for the Vikings. They've got a tough one coming up on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans in Nashville, followed by a trip to New Orleans for a Monday night battle in Week 5. After a slow start, it would be nice if the Vikings could get it together and turn the corner before too much longer.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Just like hockey....
I was emailed a potential blog idea pertaining to the firing of Ned Yost. However, I'm probably not going in the direction that most people think I'm heading with this topic. I believe baseball is a very bizarre sport. It's a sport full of accepted norms and unwritten rules, but they're followed because, "it's how things have always been done." Imagine yourself as the CEO of a business with an inept manager running one of your branches right before a crucial stretch for the company. Would you hesitate to fire that manager? Of course not. And yet somehow, when the Brewers make a similar decision with Ned Yost it's "drastic" and "desperate". Instead of considering that nothing like this has happened in recent baseball memory, let's view this move from a different angle.
The Brewers were sinking fast, having lost a 5 1/2 game lead in 13 games. With 12 games to go, there seemed to be almost no hope of them playing a game better than the Phillies to snag the wild card. After the collapse was complete and the season over, Ned Yost would have almost certainly been fired. Why wait? If you can do something about a bad situation, don't you have to do it?
The bottom line on Yost is that he's a bad manager. His in-game decisions are questionable at best and it seems to me, from reading between the lines of quotes, that Ryan Braun has either called him out or gone right over his head in public at least twice this year. Where was he when the whole scuffle happened in the dugout? How about the collapse from last year when they blew an 8 1/2 game lead? Throw in his insane whining about the CC Sabathia one-hitter and you've got an all-out distraction for a team making a pennant run.
It seems crazy that the Brewers fired him with 12 games left, but I think it's crazier that they waited this long.
The Brewers were sinking fast, having lost a 5 1/2 game lead in 13 games. With 12 games to go, there seemed to be almost no hope of them playing a game better than the Phillies to snag the wild card. After the collapse was complete and the season over, Ned Yost would have almost certainly been fired. Why wait? If you can do something about a bad situation, don't you have to do it?
The bottom line on Yost is that he's a bad manager. His in-game decisions are questionable at best and it seems to me, from reading between the lines of quotes, that Ryan Braun has either called him out or gone right over his head in public at least twice this year. Where was he when the whole scuffle happened in the dugout? How about the collapse from last year when they blew an 8 1/2 game lead? Throw in his insane whining about the CC Sabathia one-hitter and you've got an all-out distraction for a team making a pennant run.
It seems crazy that the Brewers fired him with 12 games left, but I think it's crazier that they waited this long.
Monday, September 15, 2008
The Morning After Pill - Week # 2
At one point during yesterday's Vikings' game, a game that my beloved team lost by a final score of 18-15, I honestly thought that the mighty Peyton Manning and company were going to come into the Dome and leave with a loss. I believe it was right after Ryan Longwell hit his fifth field goal of the afternoon, one that came from 28 yards out to make the score 15-0 in favor of the Vikings.
Yes, at that point, I thought that the Vikings were going to come out victorious and avoid the dreaded 0-2 start.
And then, the folks at CBS made the mistake of showing a shot of Brad Childress on the sidelines.
It was at THAT point that I knew we were screwed.
See, prior to that point, the Vikings' defense had held Manning and Harrison and Wayne and Addai to zero points in 40+ minutes of football. It was the first time that the Colts had been shut out through the first half in almost two calendar years. He was harrassed, he was throwing interceptions, he was getting sacked, the crowd was electrified. At that point, Harrison and Wayne had a combined ONE catch for FOUR yards. Joseph Addai had NEGATIVE rushing yards.
But I knew that somehow. . .some way. . .that Brad Childress, creator of the prevent offense and master of losing close games in situations where you clearly should not, would find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. So Brad, I write a personal letter to you now:
Were you really so naive or arrogant (or both) enough to think that the Minnesota defense, as good as it is, was going to be able to stop Peyton Manning for an entire game? Did you really think that you could keep sending Ryan Longwell out there on possession after possession and have that be good enough to beat a team the caliber of the Indianapolis Colts? Did you think for one second that when you got the ball back on your own 2-yard line with less than two minutes left and Indianapolis having all three of their time outs that you could NOT EVEN MAKE AN EFFORT TO GET A FIRST DOWN and be able to just coast into overtime?
See, Mr. Childress, anyone that's watched the Vikings for any amount of time over the last 2+ years knows that these are the kind of games that you excel at losing. In this, your third season as the Vikings' head coach, you've been on the sidelines for 34 games. . .14 victories and 20 losses. Of those 20 losses, 13 of them have been by seven points or fewer (yes..I looked it up!!), and in the majority of those games, the Vikings have had an opportunity to either tie or take the lead in the closing minutes. And they have not. . because of you.
I have never, ever, in my life seen a more unimaginative and more uncreative offense than the offense that I've seen from the Minnesota Vikings over your tenure as head coach. I think that a half a dozen of my readers, armed with nothing more than a copy of Madden '09, a case of Miller Lite, and a few large pizzas, could put together a far more creative and far more coherent offensive game plan than what we've seen for the last 2+ years. Hell, Dan Dierdorf was calling the plays in the CBS booth before the ball was being snapped. . .and he was nailing it EVERY. . .SINGLE. . .TIME. If he knows what's coming, don't you think that everyone on the other sideline knows what's coming, too?
As of today, Adrian Peterson is on pace for 2,152 rushing yards. . .and 8 touchdowns. The fact that AP can do anything in THIS offense is a testament to his unbelievable ability and talent, and it frightens me to think about what the guy would be capable of in an offense that could put up points in the Big Ten Conference, never mind the National Football League.
Now, I'm sure that you're of the understanding that many people will attempt to place the blame for the offensive ineptitude at the feet of your quarterback, third-year player Tarvaris Jackson. And I'll admit that Jackson has had his struggles as a starting quarterback. He's immensely talented, but for some reason just doesn't seem to "have everything together." At least, that's how I'm sure it would look to an outsider. But how, exactly, do you expect the guy to "get it" with the way you run an offense?
In the season opener in Green Bay, the Vikings threw 7. . .SEVEN. . .passes in the first half. How in the heck is a quarterback supposed to develop any sort of rhythm when he only throws the ball seven times in one half of play? In today's game, young Jackson threw just nine passes in the first half, completing five, including two beauties at the end of the half to get the Vikings into position for. . .you guessed it. . .another field goal.
In addition to that, there is no "mid-range" passing game in this offense. At least, that's the impression I'm under. Every pass that you allow Jackson to throw is either a 3-yarder or an attempt at a 50-yarder. There's nothing in between. How on earth do you expect anyone to develop any sort of rhythm or rapport with their receivers if you're constantly expecting them to throw low percentage passes?
Most coaches tailor their offense to fit their personnel. You seem to be hell-bent on doing exactly the opposite.
And that's why I refuse to throw Tarvaris Jackson under the proverbial bus at this point in time. It's clear that Jackson has talent. . .he's mobile, he's got a strong arm, and he appears to be a relatively bright guy. All of that stuff leads me to ask myself how much better he could be if he wasn't hamstrung by one of the most inept offenses I've ever had to witness. Let the guy loose and let him make plays. We heard all off-season about his improvement and his progress. . .let him prove it on the field.
Don't get me wrong, Mr. Childress. . .I love my team. I always have. It's been a 20-year love affair with myself and the Minnesota Vikings, and even your ineptitude isn't going to be enough to change that. Therein lies the only small joy that I can derive from this. Either things will change and the team will get things turned around. . .or you'll continue to waste the immense talent that you've been surrounded with over your time in Minnesota, and you'll be standing in the unemployment line shortly after Week 17. In any event, it's a win-win situation for the Minnesota Vikings and their fans.
Mike Tice was fired by Zygi Wilf, and he accomplished far, far more with far, far less than you've been given in your time as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. At this point, I would be more than happy to welcome ol' Meathead and his pencil back to the Minnesota sidelines.
Please. . .for the sake of my sanity. . .get this together and pointed in the right direction.
Yes, at that point, I thought that the Vikings were going to come out victorious and avoid the dreaded 0-2 start.
And then, the folks at CBS made the mistake of showing a shot of Brad Childress on the sidelines.
It was at THAT point that I knew we were screwed.
See, prior to that point, the Vikings' defense had held Manning and Harrison and Wayne and Addai to zero points in 40+ minutes of football. It was the first time that the Colts had been shut out through the first half in almost two calendar years. He was harrassed, he was throwing interceptions, he was getting sacked, the crowd was electrified. At that point, Harrison and Wayne had a combined ONE catch for FOUR yards. Joseph Addai had NEGATIVE rushing yards.
But I knew that somehow. . .some way. . .that Brad Childress, creator of the prevent offense and master of losing close games in situations where you clearly should not, would find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. So Brad, I write a personal letter to you now:
Were you really so naive or arrogant (or both) enough to think that the Minnesota defense, as good as it is, was going to be able to stop Peyton Manning for an entire game? Did you really think that you could keep sending Ryan Longwell out there on possession after possession and have that be good enough to beat a team the caliber of the Indianapolis Colts? Did you think for one second that when you got the ball back on your own 2-yard line with less than two minutes left and Indianapolis having all three of their time outs that you could NOT EVEN MAKE AN EFFORT TO GET A FIRST DOWN and be able to just coast into overtime?
See, Mr. Childress, anyone that's watched the Vikings for any amount of time over the last 2+ years knows that these are the kind of games that you excel at losing. In this, your third season as the Vikings' head coach, you've been on the sidelines for 34 games. . .14 victories and 20 losses. Of those 20 losses, 13 of them have been by seven points or fewer (yes..I looked it up!!), and in the majority of those games, the Vikings have had an opportunity to either tie or take the lead in the closing minutes. And they have not. . because of you.
I have never, ever, in my life seen a more unimaginative and more uncreative offense than the offense that I've seen from the Minnesota Vikings over your tenure as head coach. I think that a half a dozen of my readers, armed with nothing more than a copy of Madden '09, a case of Miller Lite, and a few large pizzas, could put together a far more creative and far more coherent offensive game plan than what we've seen for the last 2+ years. Hell, Dan Dierdorf was calling the plays in the CBS booth before the ball was being snapped. . .and he was nailing it EVERY. . .SINGLE. . .TIME. If he knows what's coming, don't you think that everyone on the other sideline knows what's coming, too?
As of today, Adrian Peterson is on pace for 2,152 rushing yards. . .and 8 touchdowns. The fact that AP can do anything in THIS offense is a testament to his unbelievable ability and talent, and it frightens me to think about what the guy would be capable of in an offense that could put up points in the Big Ten Conference, never mind the National Football League.
Now, I'm sure that you're of the understanding that many people will attempt to place the blame for the offensive ineptitude at the feet of your quarterback, third-year player Tarvaris Jackson. And I'll admit that Jackson has had his struggles as a starting quarterback. He's immensely talented, but for some reason just doesn't seem to "have everything together." At least, that's how I'm sure it would look to an outsider. But how, exactly, do you expect the guy to "get it" with the way you run an offense?
In the season opener in Green Bay, the Vikings threw 7. . .SEVEN. . .passes in the first half. How in the heck is a quarterback supposed to develop any sort of rhythm when he only throws the ball seven times in one half of play? In today's game, young Jackson threw just nine passes in the first half, completing five, including two beauties at the end of the half to get the Vikings into position for. . .you guessed it. . .another field goal.
In addition to that, there is no "mid-range" passing game in this offense. At least, that's the impression I'm under. Every pass that you allow Jackson to throw is either a 3-yarder or an attempt at a 50-yarder. There's nothing in between. How on earth do you expect anyone to develop any sort of rhythm or rapport with their receivers if you're constantly expecting them to throw low percentage passes?
Most coaches tailor their offense to fit their personnel. You seem to be hell-bent on doing exactly the opposite.
And that's why I refuse to throw Tarvaris Jackson under the proverbial bus at this point in time. It's clear that Jackson has talent. . .he's mobile, he's got a strong arm, and he appears to be a relatively bright guy. All of that stuff leads me to ask myself how much better he could be if he wasn't hamstrung by one of the most inept offenses I've ever had to witness. Let the guy loose and let him make plays. We heard all off-season about his improvement and his progress. . .let him prove it on the field.
Don't get me wrong, Mr. Childress. . .I love my team. I always have. It's been a 20-year love affair with myself and the Minnesota Vikings, and even your ineptitude isn't going to be enough to change that. Therein lies the only small joy that I can derive from this. Either things will change and the team will get things turned around. . .or you'll continue to waste the immense talent that you've been surrounded with over your time in Minnesota, and you'll be standing in the unemployment line shortly after Week 17. In any event, it's a win-win situation for the Minnesota Vikings and their fans.
Mike Tice was fired by Zygi Wilf, and he accomplished far, far more with far, far less than you've been given in your time as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. At this point, I would be more than happy to welcome ol' Meathead and his pencil back to the Minnesota sidelines.
Please. . .for the sake of my sanity. . .get this together and pointed in the right direction.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Everybody clap your hands...
There are so many good things about sports. The spirit of competition, the great food, the trash talking, and the world class athletes just to name a few. However, I mentioned before a few things that annoy me at sporting events. After watching a few games this past week I decided to make a list to include some of the ones I haven't mentioned. Enjoy!
Signs that suck up to the network televising the event - Everyone’s seen them and groaned. Disgraceful signs taking up valuable airspace, which somehow make it on TV because they give the network some publicity. These signs must stop. They teach kids that you can get popular by selling out. Never sell out. Tell them how you really feel. Nothing would make me happier than seeing a sign stating NBC in HD Sucks Nuts (It really does by the way).
Halftime interviews with coaches - When was the last time these coaches actually said something meaningful? I’d much rather have Suzy Kolber interviewing Joe Namath a few times than ever see Bill Belicheck’s mug on TV. Joe Pa is probably the only person somewhat comical and enjoyable, but he's usually in a rush to probably go take a shit. So the leave the old man alone.
Baseball players adjusting 947 different things after each pitch - This one goes out especially to Nomar Garciaparra. Did your gloves really become totally messed up after you watched that ball go by? I mean, Nomar doesn’t even swing and all of a sudden he’s an absolute obsessive compulsive mess. Or what about David Ortiz spitting on and slapping his hands together after EVERY pitch. What happened to the rule that batter’s couldn’t leave the batters box during an at-bat? Why is that rule not in place?
Electronic cheer reminders - When you have to use a JumboTron to remind your fans to cheer, maybe those fans shouldn’t be there. I find it absolutely pathetic when sports fans don’t know when to cheer at events. It’s like going to a concert and not knowing which band is playing.
People wearing jerseys of teams that aren’t playing - This is only acceptable if your under the age of 6. Wearing an Adrian Peterson jersey to a Detroit Lions - Atlanta Falcons game should result in automatic expulsion from the stadium with a possible lifetime ban. Simply an unforgivable offense.
Suits in prime seats - That's nice that your company has some backdoor connections that allows you to sit in the bottom few rows whenever you feel like it. But could you please not wear a suit to a baseball game? There’s kids with gloves sitting in the 500 level while you chat away on your cell phones, maybe paying attention for the last inning or so. You can do that at the top of the stadium while the kids would get the thrill of their lives sitting so close to home plate and actually having a chance to catch a foul ball. Get over yourself!
Green Bay Packer fans - They’re more plentiful than mosquitoes and twice as annoying. All the cheeseheads make me want to never eat dairy again. I don’t know what the allure of that franchise is but it seems to infect people and become more toxic than The Plague.
Fans interfering with the game being played - Cubs fans associate one name and one name only with this annoyance: the dreaded Steve Bartman. One bit of fan interference can ruin an entire franchise’s hopes of glory. Mr. Bartman did this exact thing back in 2003 by interfering with Moises Alou catching a foul ball which would have allowed the Cubs to be 4 outs from the World Series. Every baseball fan knows the catastrophe that resulted from Mr. Bartman’s lack of intelligence. Jeffrey Maier, the legendary Yankee kid who snagged Derek Jeter’s non-HR out of Tony Tarasco’s glove, is another perpetrator in this category. Let the play take its course, your there to watch, not play!
Signs that suck up to the network televising the event - Everyone’s seen them and groaned. Disgraceful signs taking up valuable airspace, which somehow make it on TV because they give the network some publicity. These signs must stop. They teach kids that you can get popular by selling out. Never sell out. Tell them how you really feel. Nothing would make me happier than seeing a sign stating NBC in HD Sucks Nuts (It really does by the way).
Halftime interviews with coaches - When was the last time these coaches actually said something meaningful? I’d much rather have Suzy Kolber interviewing Joe Namath a few times than ever see Bill Belicheck’s mug on TV. Joe Pa is probably the only person somewhat comical and enjoyable, but he's usually in a rush to probably go take a shit. So the leave the old man alone.
Baseball players adjusting 947 different things after each pitch - This one goes out especially to Nomar Garciaparra. Did your gloves really become totally messed up after you watched that ball go by? I mean, Nomar doesn’t even swing and all of a sudden he’s an absolute obsessive compulsive mess. Or what about David Ortiz spitting on and slapping his hands together after EVERY pitch. What happened to the rule that batter’s couldn’t leave the batters box during an at-bat? Why is that rule not in place?
Electronic cheer reminders - When you have to use a JumboTron to remind your fans to cheer, maybe those fans shouldn’t be there. I find it absolutely pathetic when sports fans don’t know when to cheer at events. It’s like going to a concert and not knowing which band is playing.
People wearing jerseys of teams that aren’t playing - This is only acceptable if your under the age of 6. Wearing an Adrian Peterson jersey to a Detroit Lions - Atlanta Falcons game should result in automatic expulsion from the stadium with a possible lifetime ban. Simply an unforgivable offense.
Suits in prime seats - That's nice that your company has some backdoor connections that allows you to sit in the bottom few rows whenever you feel like it. But could you please not wear a suit to a baseball game? There’s kids with gloves sitting in the 500 level while you chat away on your cell phones, maybe paying attention for the last inning or so. You can do that at the top of the stadium while the kids would get the thrill of their lives sitting so close to home plate and actually having a chance to catch a foul ball. Get over yourself!
Green Bay Packer fans - They’re more plentiful than mosquitoes and twice as annoying. All the cheeseheads make me want to never eat dairy again. I don’t know what the allure of that franchise is but it seems to infect people and become more toxic than The Plague.
Fans interfering with the game being played - Cubs fans associate one name and one name only with this annoyance: the dreaded Steve Bartman. One bit of fan interference can ruin an entire franchise’s hopes of glory. Mr. Bartman did this exact thing back in 2003 by interfering with Moises Alou catching a foul ball which would have allowed the Cubs to be 4 outs from the World Series. Every baseball fan knows the catastrophe that resulted from Mr. Bartman’s lack of intelligence. Jeffrey Maier, the legendary Yankee kid who snagged Derek Jeter’s non-HR out of Tony Tarasco’s glove, is another perpetrator in this category. Let the play take its course, your there to watch, not play!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
The Morning After Pill - Week # 1
Yes, I know exactly what you're thinking, because I thought it for a while last night myself.
Nine months of preparation. . .millions of dollars spent. . .and the Vikings go out and put up a performance like THAT!?
The most important thing to keep in mind here is that this just one game. Yes, it hurts worse and sucks more because it was a loss to Green Bay. But there are still 15 more of these to go this season, and I have a feeling that things will be getting better the rest of the way. Having my theory proven true hinges on the abilities of one man.
Brad Childress.
As of this moment, I've given up trying to figure out how Brad Childress constructs his offensive game plans. The first half of last night's game was one of the single worst first halves of football I've ever seen. Tarvaris Jackson had 7. . .yes, SEVEN. . .pass attempts in the entire first half, and only completed two for 16 yards. Yes, they have Adrian Peterson at their disposal, and he was his usual God-like self last night, given the circumstances. . .but during the pre-season, I saw an improvement in Jackson's play. Brad Childress told everyone all off-season about how Jackson had improved and was going to be a big surprise this year.
And then he goes out in the first half and gives him, basically, zero opportunities to make plays. Did they run a single time to the outside last night? Was there a toss or a sweep play to be found anywhere? If there was, I don't recall it. When you have Steve Hutchinson and Matt Birk, two of the premiere players at their positions you should be running towards the edges a lot and, for some reason, the Vikings seem to be content to just keep slamming people into the middle of the line repeatedly.
The offensive game plan simply MUST be more creative from this point forward if the Vikings are to reach the potential that I know they have. Granted, the absence of Bryant McKinnie plays a big part in that, but even with Hicks or Johnson out there at the LT spot, the Vikings need to start doing some different things with Jackson and with the best RB combo in football.
And yet, despite all of that and despite Brad Childress' terrible first half playcalling, the Minnesota offense outscored Green Bay's offense. They actually outgained the Packers in net yardage, 355-317. The Vikings had more first downs than Green Bay did (21-15). Both teams were right around 40% on third-down conversions. Tarvaris Jackson and Aaron Rodgers both had 178 passing yards and 1 passing TD. (Granted, Rodgers looked far more efficient in doing so.) It was truly a tale of two halves for Minnesota. After letting the Packers win the time of possession battle in the first half, the Vikings had possession for a longer time in the third quarter than they did in the entire first half. There was a point in the second half where the Vikings had run 29 offensive plays to Green Bay's 3.
As is the case in the National Football League, one or two plays made the difference in this football game. A few examples of such plays?
How about back in the first quarter where the Packers' faced 3rd and 13 and ran a draw play to Brandon Jackson. Jackson fumbled the ball forward, and it looked like numerous Vikings had a shot at recovering the football. . .but at the end of the play, Greg Jennings recovered for Green Bay on the other side of the first-down line, and the Packers kept possession. A recovery there for Minnesota would have set them up at around the Packers' 30-yard line, and they likely could have gotten at least a field goal out of something like that.
Or how about when Bernard Berrian catches a pass down the sideline after beating the defender only to trip on his own with nothing but green grass in front of him? Alas, the Vikings only drive 20 more yards and have to settle for a field goal. As it turns out, huge 4 point swing right there.
The killer, of course, was Will Blackmon's 76-yard punt return in the third quarter. That was a combination of a bad, line drive kick by Chris Kluwe and pretty terrible overall coverage by the Vikings' special teams. Big returns will happen, of course, but usually Kluwe has significantly more hang time on his punts. Hopefully this won't become a trend over the course of the season.
Speaking of special teams, how much different could things have been had the Vikings recovered what was a perfectly acceptable onside kick by Ryan Longwell? Granted, they got the ball back anyway, but they could have set up shop in Green Bay territory (which is where they would have been, thanks to a dumb penalty on the Packers during the PAT after Adrian Peterson's TD run).
Yes, last night's loss was disappointing, to say the least. Yes, it's a game that the Vikings could have won. Yes, Brad Childress is now 0-5 against Green Bay as the Vikings' head coach (and nobody is more infuriated with that than I am). But it's only one game, and the time has come to move on and start looking forward to the home opener against Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon. Hopefully things will take a much different path than they took on Monday night.
Nine months of preparation. . .millions of dollars spent. . .and the Vikings go out and put up a performance like THAT!?
The most important thing to keep in mind here is that this just one game. Yes, it hurts worse and sucks more because it was a loss to Green Bay. But there are still 15 more of these to go this season, and I have a feeling that things will be getting better the rest of the way. Having my theory proven true hinges on the abilities of one man.
Brad Childress.
As of this moment, I've given up trying to figure out how Brad Childress constructs his offensive game plans. The first half of last night's game was one of the single worst first halves of football I've ever seen. Tarvaris Jackson had 7. . .yes, SEVEN. . .pass attempts in the entire first half, and only completed two for 16 yards. Yes, they have Adrian Peterson at their disposal, and he was his usual God-like self last night, given the circumstances. . .but during the pre-season, I saw an improvement in Jackson's play. Brad Childress told everyone all off-season about how Jackson had improved and was going to be a big surprise this year.
And then he goes out in the first half and gives him, basically, zero opportunities to make plays. Did they run a single time to the outside last night? Was there a toss or a sweep play to be found anywhere? If there was, I don't recall it. When you have Steve Hutchinson and Matt Birk, two of the premiere players at their positions you should be running towards the edges a lot and, for some reason, the Vikings seem to be content to just keep slamming people into the middle of the line repeatedly.
The offensive game plan simply MUST be more creative from this point forward if the Vikings are to reach the potential that I know they have. Granted, the absence of Bryant McKinnie plays a big part in that, but even with Hicks or Johnson out there at the LT spot, the Vikings need to start doing some different things with Jackson and with the best RB combo in football.
And yet, despite all of that and despite Brad Childress' terrible first half playcalling, the Minnesota offense outscored Green Bay's offense. They actually outgained the Packers in net yardage, 355-317. The Vikings had more first downs than Green Bay did (21-15). Both teams were right around 40% on third-down conversions. Tarvaris Jackson and Aaron Rodgers both had 178 passing yards and 1 passing TD. (Granted, Rodgers looked far more efficient in doing so.) It was truly a tale of two halves for Minnesota. After letting the Packers win the time of possession battle in the first half, the Vikings had possession for a longer time in the third quarter than they did in the entire first half. There was a point in the second half where the Vikings had run 29 offensive plays to Green Bay's 3.
As is the case in the National Football League, one or two plays made the difference in this football game. A few examples of such plays?
How about back in the first quarter where the Packers' faced 3rd and 13 and ran a draw play to Brandon Jackson. Jackson fumbled the ball forward, and it looked like numerous Vikings had a shot at recovering the football. . .but at the end of the play, Greg Jennings recovered for Green Bay on the other side of the first-down line, and the Packers kept possession. A recovery there for Minnesota would have set them up at around the Packers' 30-yard line, and they likely could have gotten at least a field goal out of something like that.
Or how about when Bernard Berrian catches a pass down the sideline after beating the defender only to trip on his own with nothing but green grass in front of him? Alas, the Vikings only drive 20 more yards and have to settle for a field goal. As it turns out, huge 4 point swing right there.
The killer, of course, was Will Blackmon's 76-yard punt return in the third quarter. That was a combination of a bad, line drive kick by Chris Kluwe and pretty terrible overall coverage by the Vikings' special teams. Big returns will happen, of course, but usually Kluwe has significantly more hang time on his punts. Hopefully this won't become a trend over the course of the season.
Speaking of special teams, how much different could things have been had the Vikings recovered what was a perfectly acceptable onside kick by Ryan Longwell? Granted, they got the ball back anyway, but they could have set up shop in Green Bay territory (which is where they would have been, thanks to a dumb penalty on the Packers during the PAT after Adrian Peterson's TD run).
Yes, last night's loss was disappointing, to say the least. Yes, it's a game that the Vikings could have won. Yes, Brad Childress is now 0-5 against Green Bay as the Vikings' head coach (and nobody is more infuriated with that than I am). But it's only one game, and the time has come to move on and start looking forward to the home opener against Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon. Hopefully things will take a much different path than they took on Monday night.
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