Monthly archive: October, 2012

Chris Cook Placed On IR, Likely Done For Regular Season

October 26, 2012, by 4 comments

As if last night’s beating wasn’t enough, Chris Cook, who seemed to finally be over that injury bug and a major contributor to the Vikings defense, has been placed on IR after breaking his wrist against the Buccaneers. Though Cook was tagged ‘designated to return’, the earliest he would be back is likely the season finale against Green Bay.

This more than likely means we will not see Chris Cook again this season unless the Vikings manage to make the postseason.

The Vikings will have to work hard over the next week and a half before their next game at Seattle to try and fill his role somehow. After Chris Cook left the game against Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers immediately took advantage of his absence. I couldn’t believe my ears when, away from the game for a few seconds to grab a drink, I heard the commentators announce Marcus Sherels got burned by Vincent Jackson on a quick out route. (Marcus Sherels covering Vincent Jackson!)

Cornerbacks Josh Robinson and A.J. Jefferson’s role on defense was increased significantly the rest of the game.

Chris Cook was a large part of why the Vikings secondary was surprising many this year. Hopefully the team can find a way to make things happen without him.

Buccaneers Plunder Vikings, Angry Brett Re-emerges

October 25, 2012, by 20 comments

I didn’t understand it. How could the Vikings be getting absolutely demolished at home against a 2-4 Buccaneers team? This isn’t possible. This just cannot be happening.

And then it happened. It hit me hard – harder than Chris Kluwe pu… Nevermind…

But I just didn’t understand it until NFL Network shared this wonderful stat with us: The Buccaneers broke their 10 road game losing streak with a win over, our beloved purple, the Minnesota Vikings.

Why didn’t anyone mention the Buccaneers hadn’t won an away game in 640 minutes of football. This thing could have been much easier to endure.

Nevertheless, here we are. The Vikings are 5-3. We got decimated at home by a 2-4 team. The sky is falling. I’m on the ledge. Take your positivity elsewhere. Angry Brett has arrived.

This venting session brought to you courtesy of Angry Brett

Where to begin?

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Live Chat Week 8 – Buccaneers at Vikings

October 25, 2012, by 2 comments

Vikings & Bucs Inactives

October 25, 2012, by 1 comment

As the Vikings and the Bucs prepare for some Thursday Night Football, we have now learned which players will be active and inactive for tonight’s game.  Here are the inactives:

VIKINGS:  QB Bethel-Thompson, WR Wright, CB Burton, S M. Raymond, LB Cole, OL Asper, and TE Carlson.

BUCS:  CB Lewis, RB Smith, DB Tandy, LB Goode, G Wallace, WR Owusu, and TE Noble.

The most notable move of the night took place a couple of hours ago when the Bucs, who have struggled in getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks, activated defensive end Da’Quan Bowers from the PUP list.  This provides a little bit of last-minute mystery to the Bucs defense, and I officially give the Bucs a “Sneaky Bastards” award for this week.

Tight end John Carlson suffered a concussion last week and it was evident all week that he would not be playing, and otherwise the Vikings have announced nothing that is really surprising.

Links Of The Week: Tampa Bay Coming Up

October 24, 2012, by 7 comments

I don’t like this short week stuff.  The Vikings only get one practice to prepare for their next opponent, and hack bloggers only get three days to speculate about the outcome.  Then, after tomorrow night’s game, it will feel like forever before we get to see our Vikes play again.

Hey, by the way, lets plan on meeting right here at kickoff for a game time Live Chat!

Okay, onto this week’s links:

WEEK EIGHT PREVIEW: Thursday Against The Bucs

October 23, 2012, by 6 comments

The Vikings (5-2) are headed to prime time on Thursday night, as the will play host to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-4), a division rival from days long passed.

The Bucs are coming off of a devastating last-second loss to New Orleans, while the Vikings continue to overcome adversity and turn heads during a supposed “rebuilding” year.

Just as a loss would cause lost hope in Tampa, a win here would really get Minnesota’s fan base buzzing about the possibility of a postseason appearance.  Let’s take a look at what all might end up deciding the outcome of this Thursday Night showdown.

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Frazier’s Vikings Aim To Please

October 22, 2012, by 23 comments

Before the 2012 season got underway, Percy Harvin expressed great displeasure with his role within the Vikings offense and requested a trade at one point.  Instead of trading him, Leslie Frazier talked with Harvin about his concerns and apparently Harvin was happy with what he heard.  If wasn’t completely happy at that point, he has to be now because he is in the middle of an MVP-type season.

After a pitiful loss to the Indianapolis Colts, veteran defensive linemen Kevin Williams and Jared Allen appealed to the coaching staff to let them simplify the defense and simply allow the front four to do their thing.  The result has been games like we saw this last weekend, where the defense amassed seven sacks despite the fact that they blitzed on exactly zero snaps.

This coaching staff is seemingly willing to listen to their productive players, but they also seem willing to listen to their fan base.  When the Vikings had red zone struggles in the red zone against Washington, the coaching staff didn’t get defensive and chippy about the matter like we might expect from the rex Ryans and Pete Carrolls of the world.

Instead, the Vikings coaching staff admitted that they weren’t proud of their decisions and vowed to fix the problem.  And, really, they succeeded.  The Vikings made two trips to the red zone on Sunday, and they scored touchdowns on each of them.

The coaching staff had to know they were going to hear about their lack of passing production on Sunday.  At one point, Christian Ponder was sarcastically cheered by the home crowd when he opted to throw away a football when he was under pressure, as earlier he had chucked picks under similar pressure.  If that wasn’t enough, the home crowd was so disinterested in the yawn-inducing game that they collectively jeered the referees for a call against the Cardinals because they weren’t paying close enough attention to realize the call had actually gone in the Vikings favor.

Everybody involved with Christian Ponder’s dismal day (35.5 passer rating) seemed to acknowledge that improvement was needed if their winning ways are to continue.

“A lot of it had to do with what they were doing defensively,” Frazier said of his offense’s struggles against the Cardinals. “Some of the things they were able to take away from what we wanted to get accomplished in the passing game.”

Frazier went on to vow that Ponder will continue to improve as an NFL passer.

So far this season, when the Vikings coaching staff says something is going to improve, it has come to fruition pretty quickly.  We may have our reasons to doubt Ponder’s abilities in the immediate future, but his first chance to prove us wrong will come very quickly.

In three short days, the Vikings will take on Tampa Bay… who have the second-worst pass defense in the NFL.