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wtfvikesfan (449)The inactives are in for today’s matchup in Green Bay:
VIKINGS: WR Harvin, QB Bethel-Thompson, CB Burton, LB Cole, OL Asper, TE Reisner, and DE Reed.
THE OTHER TEAM: LB Matthews, S Woodson, CB Shields, DE Wilson, RB White, WR Driver, LB Manning
There are not any surprises for those that have been paying attention during the week, and while the Vikings will miss Percy Harvin once again, it is notable that the other team is dealing with an awful lot of injuries to some of their best players.
It never fails.
I spend all day pouring over the Vikings game day media guide, hitting the “sort” button on some statistics page 508 different ways, and spend a couple of hours typing a preview.
Then, like clockwork, the comments from guys like “B. Grant” and “Tomb” end up being far more entertaining (and possibly more informative) than the article they were commenting on. I recently decided to cut out the middle man, invite B. Grant and Tomb to contribute to VT on an official basis, and to my utter surprise they agreed.
So, when a topic worthy of some salty debate comes up, I am looking forward to seeing these two go back and forth.
Without further ado, I present to you the first installment of “Garbage Time” which features two of VT’s many great readers (and, now, writers).
Enjoy!
Tomb: Christian Ponder. You probably couldn’t find a more topical debate subject for the Viking faithful in light of recent performance(s). This subject clearly requires the rigorous application of statistics, feelings, instinct, history, visceral emotion etc. It’s something that could really use a technical and measured preface to get things rolling; requires a bit of a football nerd, if you will. Luckily, Coach, ‘nerd’ is right up your alley, so I yield the floor to you. We can pretend I’m doing it as a respectful gesture to a treasured elder of VT, if it feels better. I’m happy to play along!
B. Grant: Let’s go with the “treasured elder”, shall we? I wouldn’t want to take any of the glory of the full fledged nerd role that you will bring to these discussions.
Yes, Christian Ponder. I actually understand most of what you said there, Tomb, which in and of itself is out of the ordinary. And surprisingly enough (insert sarcastic tone) I fail to agree with much of it. The selection of a QB is not a statistical process, as numbers are a great source of being misled when it comes to evaluating a QB. No position in football is more complex than this one, and no position is more dependent on the performance of others, which is why I tend to withhold my judgment of Ponder at this time. Of greater disappointment to me this season is the offensive line, upon which all QB’s trust their very existence. I thought we would see more protection for him this year, thus giving us a better read on his potential, but alas, that has not been the case. Yes, he may be exiting the pocket a bit early at times, but that is like telling the passengers on the Titanic to wait it out, this thing will level itself off. He’s just trying to save the play in most cases. There is plenty of blame to go around for offensive (both literal and figurative) performances like this past Sunday.
I know I’ve made this difficult for you, Tomb. For any credibility in your response, a position other than “you’re absolutely right, Coach” will be a hard one to take. Do your best, Wordmaster.
Clear your calendars VT’ers!
Tomorrow the Vikings are going to march into Lambeau Field without Percy Harvin available to them, and attempt to shock everybody in the football loving world.
Join us for all of the action right here at VT where yours truly will be hosting a live chat throughout the entire game.
[Editor’s Note: While I will certainly be hosting the live chat, I would like to point out that I am officially listed as “questionable” on the VT injury report. See, my son loves dinosaurs, and sees them everywhere. Shadows on the wall. Chip clips. Everything is a dinosaur to him… and this morning, that included my wife’s hot curling iron. That “dino” decided to “eat” my hand as I was getting ready this morning. I might not be 100% healthy, and may not make my cuts to the spacebar as quickly as normal, but I will be here.]
Talk about a squandered opportunity… Last week, I laid out the best case scenario for a Vikings effortless stroll into the postseason. There were eight games that had potential playoff implications for the Vikings. I outlined the eight teams that we needed to lose. Those eight teams lost. Every single last one of them… But of course, the most important one, our game, was a big, steaming pile of horse excrement. I know I don’t need to remind you, but I will anyway – had the Vikings won last Sunday against the Chicago Bears, we would sit atop the NFC North looking down amongst our division rivals. We would have been #1!
Oh well, can’t live in the past. Onwards to week 13 where the Vikings have another difficult road game against the Green Bay Packers. By the way, isn’t it just our luck that the Packers our coming off an absolutely embarrassing defeat to the defending champions on prime time? Just wonderful. Now we’ll get to suffer the wrath of a ticked off team two weeks in a row.
This is a big weekend for the Vikings. They could take either a humongous step forward in the conference standings or fall further backwards while our competition moves up. Let’s cut right to the chase and first take a look at what teams would represent the NFC in the playoffs if the season ended today.
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