Off-The-Field Issues

Links Of The Week: Hanging By A Thread

December 4, 2012, by 3 comments

A season that is all but suffocated.  A star receiver on the mend.  A quarterback under immense pressure to perform.  A group of coaches whose seats have to feel a bit toasty.  A linebacker calling for more drunks to attend games.  A divisional home game fast approaching.

The drama has reached heights we have yet to see in 2012, which means there are plenty of great articles floating around the internet, and I am here to bring them all your way:

Weekend Answers To Your Questions

November 30, 2012, by 2 comments

Once again, I solicited questions from you guys and spent some time thinking about the answers.  Here are the results:

Adam, to what degree do you think poor offensive line play and a weak receiving corps are having on the performance of Christian Ponder?

Football is a team sport, no doubt about it.  The thing is, however, that football is a unique team sport in that one position is far and away more important than all of the rest.  Argue all you want, but quarterbacks make and break football teams in the modern day NFL.

Now, I’m not making excuses for the receivers dropping the football or for failings in pass protection, but Christian Ponder has to embrace the leadership role he is lucky enough to have before he flat out loses it.  He has to gather the troops, make clear his expectations, lead by example and demand more of himself with every lesson learned.

I think, especially with Harvin sidelined, Ponder has indeed drawn the short straw when it comes to receiver talent.  However, that offensive line is better than people are giving credit for, and if he stopped imagining non-existent pressure causing him to flee the pocket (and, thus, creating pressure by changing directions) I think the line holds up better than most realize.

Also, apologists can make all of the excuses they want for Ponder, but he has the best running back in football right now making life a heck of a lot easier on him than it could be.

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Links Of The Week: Packer Week #1

November 27, 2012, by 7 comments

The Vikings have officially entered survival mode (which they prefer to call “controlling their own destiny”) and will travel from one daunting task directly to another as they endevour to take down the Packers in their own house.

Let’s take a look around the web at some of the best articles regarding last week’s loss to Chicago, and the upcoming matchup in Green Bay:

  • It could be that the clock is ticking on the Leslie Frazier era in Minnesota already.
  • The Giants may have laid out a blue print for the Vikings to use against Green Bay this week.
  • Jarius Wright has been able to take advantage of his two games on the active roster in ways that the other receivers have not.
  • Christian Ponder was 0 for 10 (including an interception) on passes that went 10 yards or further down the field on Sunday.  More interesting notes right here.
  • Plain and simple:  Jerome Simpson isn’t getting it done.
  • A gallery of photos from Sunday’s loss to the Bears.
  • Perhaps dropped passes are simply the latest excuse for Christian Ponder supporters to point to.
  • Adrian Peterson’s hold on the NFL’s rushing title is now 172 yards strong.  His hold on the football, however…
  • As if the Packers needed more talent, they really struck gold with cornerback Casey Heyward, who should be avoided if at all possible.
  • The Vikings replaced Jordan Todman with undrafted running back Joe Banyard on the practice squad.
  • Toby Gerhart hasn’t been given much opportunity on the field, but that is keeping him from making a difference off of it.
  • Don’t be surprised if Greg Jennings’ return means the Packers use an empty backfield, with four receivers and a tight end, to neutralize the Vikings pass rush on Sunday.
  • The Vikings have an extensive injury report to keep an eye on this week.
  • Jerome Felton’s success has resulted in a fullback lining up in Bill Musgrave’s offense 20% more often than last season.
  • A former Vikings linebacker is running for office in Illinois, hoping to replace the recently resigned Jesse Jackson Jr.
  • Leslie Frazier describes all of Sunday’s drops as “really unacceptable.”  So there’s that.
  • In the last five games Adrian Peterson is averaging 7.4 yards per carry.  So, tell me again why he didn’t get the ball on third and short… or fourth and short.

Links Of The Bye Week

November 15, 2012, by 12 comments

Coming off of a big win, the Vikings bye week has not been completely quiet, and I have plenty of great reads to share with you:

Peterson’s Arrest Charges Dropped In A Bye Week Victory

November 13, 2012, by 3 comments

A headline that utilizes both the word “bye” and the word “arrest” isn’t usually a good thing for our Vikings, but on Tuesday Adrian Peterson left a Houston court room victorious.  Charges stemming from his offseason arrest for resisting arrest have been dismissed by a grand jury.

The best account of the proceedings can be read right here at PFT, for those interested in the details, and it is actually pretty interesting.

Not only does the settling of this legal matter make life easier for the NFL’s leading rusher, but it should also serve as a reminder to all of the other players on the roster during their off time to keep their wits about them and stay out of trouble.

We don’t want those words to appear in any more headlines this week.

A Vikings And Lions Rivalry?

November 12, 2012, by 5 comments

For most of my life I have treated the Detroit Lions kind of like the stray three-legged kitten with no tail that roams the neighborhood.  For the longest time, I quietly cheered for the Lions out of pity, but that time appears to be up.

With Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson leading the charge, Detroit is no longer the laughing stock of the NFL, and have proven to be a dangerous team.  The term “dangerous” has double meaning to it as they can score from anywhere on the field, but they also have become synonymous with dirty hits.

Following their second loss of the season to the Vikings, the Lions were plenty concerned with the level of integrity that the Vikings showed (or perhaps didn’t show) on the field.

Lions cornerback Chris Houston took to the media to express his displeasure with a Vikings lineman on Adrian Peterson’s 61 yard touchdown run that will forever be added to his highlight reel.

“Lineman just fell on my ankle on purpose. I went to cut him, and as he went down, he put both knees on my ankle on purpose. It’s part of the game,” Houston said of the play. “I was on the ground, so I didn’t get to see who it was, but as he pulled, I cut him, he was flying over the top of me, and you could feel him land on my ankle on purpose.”

I’ve watched the highlight of Peterson’s run a number of times now, and I can tell that the lineman Houston is talking about is the pulling guard Brandon Fusco.  I don’t see anything other than an excellent block by Fusco who rolls immediately back onto his feet and doesn’t seem to do anything out of the ordinary.

I can’t say for certain that Fusco did nothing wrong, but anyone that can point to the tape and claim to see a dirty play is lying to you.

Fusco isn’t the only Viking that Detroit would like slap on the wrist, however, as a number of hits to wide receiver Calvin Johnson drew some interesting remarks from quarterback Matt Stafford.

“Obviously, you never like to see anybody get hit in the head,” Stafford said. “It’s a part of our game that they’re trying to get rid of. I think it’s a good thing. Calvin’s a tough guy. He stayed in there and made some great plays for us. Obviously, had a great game, but there’s not a whole lot of place for that in this league.”

I was critical yesterday of the penalty that Jasper Brinkley drew on a helmet-to-helmet hit to Megatron, but I certainly didn’t think it was anything with malicious intent, but rather showed a lack of body control.  Johnson took a few licks on Sunday, but that is bound to happen when you 12 passes for 207 yards.  If anything, Chad Greenway’s hit on Johnson in their previous matchup would be the one to point at as dirty, but nothing in this game seemed like something worthy of such scorn.

Even Johnson admitted that he didn’t think the Vikings were targeting his head on purpose.

To throw some fuel on the fire, an unnamed NFL G.M. has had some very harsh things to say about Detroit in the media this season, and some believed that person was none other than Vikings General Manager Rick Spielman.

Spielman, however, denied those rumors this weekend.

“No, no, no – absolutely,” Spielman said on the Lions official website. “If I have something to say, I’ll put my name on it.”

Spielman’s words may or may not be enough to convince some Lions fans, but I for one am kind of excited to see these two franchises building some animosity towards each other.

Future seasons are sure to be more fun because of it.

The Kluwe Discussion Goes To Another Level

October 31, 2012, by 5 comments

Local beat writers, perhaps in the spirit of election season, couldn’t wait to pounce on Chris Kluwe and Leslie Frazier this week in an attempt to generate interesting quotes about how Kluwe’s recent struggles on the field can, or cannot, be linked to his endeavors off the field.

Kluwe and Frazier predictably answered the questions appropriately, despite the media’s best attempts to use the phrase “child’s game” in provocative fashion, and everyone seems willing to move on with the only goal being to get better production out of the punt game.

I know that gay marriage is a hot button issue in the nation right now and Kluwe’s choice to take a stance is unpopular with about 50% of the population, but I can’t help but think that the extra attention being paid to this is strictly a result of the subject matter.  It is because people oppose his cause that this is drawing so much criticism as I am confident that nobody would be saying a word if his “cause” were raising money and awareness for cancer, fighting to save the rainforests from destruction, or supporting military members and their families.

We have a defensive end that trained to be an Olympian.  We have another that holds a golf tournament, published his own cook book, hunts whenever he gets the chance, appeared on MTV’s “Cribs,” and was willing to campaign on behalf of the Vikings controversial stadium efforts.  Our star running back filmed an episode of “Entourage,” has missed part of a training camp due to Adrian Peterson Day in Texas, and just yesterday visited a classroom of school children.  Christian Ponder and Chad Greenway have been spokesman for a program regarding financial literacy.

NFL players are people with lives, families, hobbies, beliefs, passions, and flaws.  Just like the rest of us, their personal lives probably do spill into their professional output but it is quite the stretch, in my opinion, to conclude that Kluwe’s recent activism has resulted in poor punting.  Unlike the rest of us, they have crazy schedules including TV appearances, endorsement deals, photo shoots, and so on and so on.

Did Peyton Manning’s recent purchasing of a piece of the pizza pie impact his production?  How about Matt Birk’s taping of an ad speaking out against gay marriage?  The list goes on and on and I won’t bore you by going through them all, but I will say this:

I have already talked with one person that swears up and down that Kluwe is distracted.  That very same person argued emphatically with me a couple of years back that there was no way, no how that Brett Favre could have possibly been distracted by the alleged claims of sexual harassment and sexting scandal.  Double standard much?

So, the point I am trying (and failing miserably) to get to is that Chris Kluwe needs to punt better.  I know it.  You know it.  He knows it.  The coaches know it.  However, trying to proclaim his personal time is the reason for his professional struggles, without any sort of proof, is just an oddly lazy route to take, whether it is by the media or the fans.

The bigger issue here is whether or not his punting is just experiencing a bad run, or if this will become a trend.  Kluwe is in the second-to-last year of his seven year contract and is set to make $1.3 million this season and $1.4 million next season, both of which are very high for a punter.

If his production doesn’t match his pay pretty soon he may not even reside in Minnesota any longer, let alone impact the political landscape.  He may have to figure out how to attend band practice via Skype, and he probably won’t be employed by the local radio station very long.

Football is far more likely to impact his personal life, rather than the other way around.