Posts tagged: minnesota vikings

Week 13: It’s Bear in the Cupboards for the Purple People Eaters

November 29, 2013, by 10 comments

 The Vikings are set to tangle with the division rival Chicago Bears this weekend at the Metrodome. It’s a game that usually has me buzzing all week most seasons… not so much this year.

 The Vikings match up pretty well with the Bears this time around and actually have a solid chance to win this game. Adrian Peterson and Toby Gerhart are coming off a combined season high 239 yards rushing on 40 carries last week at Lambeau Field and you can expect to see more of the same again this week.

The Bears are giving up 4.9 yards per carry and currently ranked 32nd in the NFL in rushing defense allowing 145.2 yards per game. Last week the Bears’ defense let the Rams run the ball 29 times for 258 yards. That’s a whopping 8.9 yards per carry! Ouch.

 So, why am I not trash and smack talking to all the Bears fans I work with? I guess because maybe it’s a meaningless game. Or, maybe I’ve just thrown in the towel on this disheartening season? In any case, my psychologist told me that I just need to forget about wins and losses, draft positions, coaching fixes, injuries and arrests… and just focus on enjoying a good football game.

The last Vikings game I really got fired up to enjoy was way back in week two. I was seated one row from the top at Soldier Field during a rainy contest that unfortunately saw the Vikings fall short to the Bears in the final seconds of an exciting 30-31 ballgame. Yes, I know first hand that when these two teams get together it will usually result in an entertaining affair.

I’m counting on another engaging contest between the Vikings and the Bears this Sunday. A week 13 win just seems fitting. Wins have been few and far between lately… so why not enjoy this one? Punching the Bears in the mouth would be the highlight of the year for me.  Wouldn’t it be nice to see the Metrodome really rocking one last time? And, I think the Vikings can win one more game and still land a quality, gritty, big-armed senior QB like Fresno State’s Derek Carr or LSU’s Zach Mettenberger come draft time.

 Go Vikings! My pulse still beats for the purple.

 

The Man in the Middle

November 2, 2013, by 23 comments

Erin Henderson watched Blair Walsh kick a 36 yard field goal to tie the game at 10 all against the Greenbay Packers on Monday night. With 5:09 left in the 2nd quarter, Henderson trotted out on the field to direct the defense in a critical junction of the game. Greenbay started the drive on their own 20 yard line. On 1st and 10 Eddy Lacy took the hand off from Aaron Rodgers and was tackled for a 2 yard loss on a great play by Henderson. Rodgers then dumped the ball off to Lacy on 2nd and 12 as Henderson fought through a block from guard Josh Sitton and held the play to a short gain. It was 3rd and long when Greenbay broke the game wide-open. The Vikings were in a nickle formation, which they had used for most of the game, Henderson and Marcus Sherels both blitzed while Everson Griffen dropped back into coverage from his DT position. Rodgers read it perfectly and hit Jordy Nelsen with a quick pass over the middle just outside of Chad Greenway’s coverage. Greenway, Everson Griffen and Andrew Sendejo all struggled to make the tackle as Nelson raced 76 yards for the score.

On the previous defensive series, Henderson, the Vikings leading tackler, had nice stops on 2nd and short and also on 3rd and short. Henderson finished the game with 7 tackles and 7 assists to lead the way for the Vikings.

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My Optimistic View Is Getting A Bit Dark And Blurry

October 16, 2013, by 25 comments
Kyle Rudolph TD Carolina

Photo provided courtesy of Vikings.com

Finding a positive word to write after the Vikings were embarrassed by the Carolina Panthers on Sunday is a daunting task, even for an optimist like me.

My mother taught me; if you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all.

Well, I can’t just leave this blog blank, can I? No, I need to find a ray of light in this dark Vikings’ cellar I am stuck in. It’s a deep, damp hole for sure, but I do see a glimmer of light shining down on the Vikings’ 6-foot-6 TE, Kyle Rudolph.

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Opportunity for Matt Cassel to Start

September 27, 2013, by 16 comments

 A fractured rib will sideline Christian Ponder on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers in London. Matt Cassel will get his first start for the 0-3 Minnesota Vikings as he takes on his former head coach Todd Haley who is now an assistant with the Steelers.

 Cassel is still considered the “backup” to Ponder… but a good performance could land him an extended opportunity to lead the Vikings after next week’s bye week.

 Cassel has started three times against the Steelers in his career. He has thrown for 571 yards, two touchdowns, three picks, completed under 50% of his attempts and has a 60.5 passer rating during those games.

 Those stats look very Ponderish to me, so I guess I will just keep my optimism to myself and hope for the best. Let’s just say I have my fingers crossed that a Vikings’ wide reciever will finally catch a touchdown pass.

 Go Vikings!

Potential Vikings reunion: Antoine Winfield deferring retirement

September 11, 2013, by 8 comments

Antoine Winfield is not retiring after all.

At least not yet.

Winfield’s agent, Ashanti Webb, said the 36-year-old free agent cornerback has yet to file retirement papers. On the same note, Webb said he hasn’t “heard anything substantive from (Vikings) to bring back to Antoine.”

Before the season opener, shortly after reports came out that Seattle would release the veteran corner, Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier said that he would “welcome” a chance to reunite with the Winfield.

“You know, I have a ton of respect for Antoine,” Frazier said. “He did a lot of good things for us here, had a great career here in Minnesota and really helped me look good at times with some of the plays he made. I have a deep affection for him.

“But if he wanted to play, I’d welcome the opportunity to work with Antoine again if that’s what he wanted to do. But if he’s retired, I wish him nothing but the best. He’s been a great player, a great person, and he’s going to enjoy retirement. But he was a tremendous player for a long time in our league.”

Minnesota’s defense struggled against Detroit on Sunday. While some of the blame should be attributed to the game planning against the Lion’s potent passing attack, the team’s secondary allowed many unnecessary plays for long yards.

One would assume the Vikings would welcome Winfield back, but apparently little conversation has happened between Winfield and Minnesota since his release from the Seahawks. Familiarity with the Vikings’ defense would make it appealing for both sides, but many other teams in the NFL employ some form of the tampa-2 scheme that Winfield could smoothly transition to.

Simpson and Webb Win The Big Hit Award

August 28, 2013, by 18 comments

One of my finer pleasures in life is listening to KFAN’s Paul Allen call the play-by-play for a Minnesota Vikings football game. Sunday night’s preseason game against the 49ers was nationally televised, so I thought I would multi-task by keeping one eye on the TV, one eye on the VT live chat, and an ear on the voice of the Vikings, Mr. Paul Allen. More is better right? In this case that turned out to be true. The big hits by Jerome Simpson and Joe Webb to my knowledge were not captured by the national TV cameras, but the action didn’t go unnoticed by the Vikings’ radio coverage personalities.

 You won’t find Simpson’s tackle as part of the official game stats, but as a crazy fan was running around on the field untouched by the security guards; Simpson stepped up and knocked him to the turf. Ok, so the big hit was more like a trip or a push, but that non-play play in the closing minutes of the game was surely worth the price of admission.

 Joe Webb might be listed as a 3rd string wide receiver at the moment, but he is also trying to land a starting job on the kickoff return team. Yes, he has one NFL kickoff return for 30 yards to his credit, but this preseason he is getting reps and showing value as a front line blocker on the return unit. That’s right, Joe Webb a  front line blocker.  According to Paul Allen, Webb the QB turned WR, absolutely leveled Perrish Cox on a block during one of the Vikings first half kickoff returns.

 

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Peterson Makes Blockbuster Donation

April 5, 2012, by No comments yet

Adrian Peterson may have looked like a man disconnected from the real world when he compared NFL player to slaves in a Yahoo! Interview during the NFL Lockout, but it is hard to deny that he also comes off as one of the most genuinely nice and generous dudes in the league.

No former Oklahoma Sooner has ever donated as much back to their college as Peterson pledged on Thursday.

He is donating a whopping $1 million to the University of Oklahoma’s Athletics Department.

“This was something that I had been thinking about doing for a long time,” Peterson said in a statement. “I always hoped to be in a position to be able to donate back to the University of Oklahoma and make it an even better place; do whatever I could to help the university that did so much for me. It was something that I always wanted to do and there just came a time when I got established and comfortable enough to make it happen. It was a no-brainer to do it and I am thankful that I’m in a position to give back to OU and to show my appreciation.”

The donation will help pay for construction of a housing hall, will fund a scholarship foundation in Peterson’s name, and will see the football team’s meeting room named after him.

Many of us are still making involuntary payments to our college’s via student loans, so it refreshing to see someone like Peterson being so generous with his good fortune in an effort to help out his school and their future students.

Well done, Adrian.  Well done.