Scatterbrained bullshit thoughts to sum up a horseass night...
1. EJ Henderson will be missed more than people realize. He's come a long way; he was horrendous his first two years under Mike Tice. He was overmatched, every single game - my dad in particular constantly bitched about him. "EJ is always, always WAY out of position."
Then something happened that caught everyone completely off guard: he got better. A LOT better. A combination of a competent defensive coaching staff and the acquisition of Pat Williams freed up EJ to live up to his 2nd round pick potential. Still, he was never recognized nationally, never went to a Pro Bowl. He was ours alone, like the underground indie band you discovered that nobody else knew about and never caught on mainstream. I really hope he plays again. Doesn't even have to be with the Vikings. Just get back on the field somehow.
The Williams Wall gets a lot of credit for sustaining such a vaunted run-stopping defense over the years, but EJ deserves just as much.
2. National Football Post's Mike Lombardi had a great article (that I can't find now) where he detailed how and why Dome-field advantage is so critical, and how Dome teams struggle without those advantages on the road. In summary, he said the biggest advantage was the crowd noise that forces the opponent's snap count to be at least slightly telegraphed, giving the pass rush a big advantage. I think we saw proof of that last night. I don't care how many Pro-Bowlers you have on your D-line. Lethargy + road game = 0 sacks
3. Does anyone on the Vikings remember if Adrian Peterson is still on the team? Anyone? ANYONE?
13 carries for the best running back in football is pretty ridiculous. He did have six catches for 19 total touches, but where's the ball control offense? Why is Favre dropping back 87 times every game now? Don't panic when you fall behind, the Vikes have too much talent for that for chrissakes.
4. Me, however? I'm not panicking. Gotta think big picture. If you had told me before the season that the Vikings would be 10-2 with both losses on the road to the two defending conference champs, I would have happily taken that. Does it suck that the Vikings miserably failed their first test in five weeks? Yes, of course. But Arizona would have beaten 31 out of 32 teams last night the way they played. When Warner is that accurate and their D plays that physical, they are really good.
Seriously, last night sucked, and it tells you all you need to know about Vikings fans that we have to remind ourselves not to panic after every loss. But like in every relationship, it's good to drop the gloves sometimes. It can be good to get knocked down a peg once in a while. That invincible feeling is gone, but I'd rather have that happen now than in January.
(Although I'd feel a lot better if Baltimore beats the shit out of the Packers tonight.)
Monday, December 7, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Peaks and Valleys
I won't make a needlessly grandiose statement about the importance of something unquantifiable like momentum, but I'll be damned if we haven't seen some seismic changes over the past 10 weeks this NFL season. That M-word certainly comes to mind as a reason. Two teams have peaked (maybe three) and we're seeing two teams that bottomed out quickly on their way back.
-It's looking more and more like Denver's entire season was that New England game. Huge win for sure, but you couldn't help but feel like that was their Super Bowl, and since it's been mostly downhill since, it sure seems that way.
-After Week 3, the New York Giants and Baltimore were considered by many to be the clear-cut front-runners in their respective conferences. Eli looked fantastic, the Giants were pounding the ball and making stars out of their new receivers, Flacco looked to have made The Leap, and the Baltimore D was making huge plays, as witnessed by Ray Lewis' tackle-for-loss on Darren Sproles on a 4th and 2 to end a close one against San Diego in Week 2. Both teams looked to be going at all cylinders.
That's meaningless in today's NFL. They've gone a combined 2-6 since Week 5. The Giants have lost 4 straight, and Baltimore is coming off a 1-4 stretch. Both look old and defeated, and I can't help but see that both have peaked.
-I have to take a stun gun to my inner Kool-Aid Drinker Vikings Fan when I say this, but the Saints look eminently beatable. The Rams (the fucking RAMS) took it to them - they got to the quarterback, they moved the ball at will propping up Marc Bulger's exhumed corpse, and Steven Jackson (who is not better than All Day) lit them up with 176 total yards and a TD. Their defense is banged up, but damned if they didn't look average yesterday. I think they've... *gulp*... peaked. Maybe.
-Carolina and Tennessee are the opposite. Both could not possibly have looked worse over the first several weeks, and now suddenly Delhomme has gone 3 weeks without a pick, Steve Smith took back his name from the Giants' Steve Smith, Chris Johnson looks like the Madden '11 coverboy, and Vince Young Just Wins Football Games*.
*I wonder if this carries over to his everyday life too. Every time he plays Xbox 360 or checkers or rock paper scissors, he loses. "I just win football games."
As a wannabe sportswriter columnist for a predominantly Vikings based blog (despite the tacky name), this is important to me because the Vikings haven't peaked yet. They haven't reached their tipping point, the defining moment of their season. We saw New England's last night as Belichick made one of the all-time great shocking calls in recent NFL history. (On a 0 to Michaels-Throwing-Jannetty-Through-a-Window scale of shock, I was a 9. I love Bill Belichick.)
What I mean by defining moment is probably better described as a "writing-on-the-wall" moment. Belichick obviously had zero faith in his defense stopping Peyton Manning. Denver used up all its power-ups against New England and have been flat since. The Giants' secondary has been roasted Wasswa Serwanga-style. The Saints can't stop the run and when they're not able to get Pierre Thomas going, their offense can sputter. The writing is on the wall for all those teams.
A great example of this for the Vikings was last year's Week 2 game at home against Indianapolis. They drove up and down the field against them but kept having to settle for field goals, which cost them the game. They couldn't score when it mattered. The writing on the wall said "First round playoff fodder."
The Vikings have had a few potential games like this, where they could have either outright dominated or laid an egg - a bold statement either way. Both Green Bay games come to mind. The closest they've come was Favre's miraculous winning TD to Greg Lewis against the Niners in Week 3.
What I'm trying to say is, the wall is blank. The Vikings have yet to reach their ceiling or their floor. No peaks, no valleys. The best (or worst) is yet to come.
-It's looking more and more like Denver's entire season was that New England game. Huge win for sure, but you couldn't help but feel like that was their Super Bowl, and since it's been mostly downhill since, it sure seems that way.
-After Week 3, the New York Giants and Baltimore were considered by many to be the clear-cut front-runners in their respective conferences. Eli looked fantastic, the Giants were pounding the ball and making stars out of their new receivers, Flacco looked to have made The Leap, and the Baltimore D was making huge plays, as witnessed by Ray Lewis' tackle-for-loss on Darren Sproles on a 4th and 2 to end a close one against San Diego in Week 2. Both teams looked to be going at all cylinders.
That's meaningless in today's NFL. They've gone a combined 2-6 since Week 5. The Giants have lost 4 straight, and Baltimore is coming off a 1-4 stretch. Both look old and defeated, and I can't help but see that both have peaked.
-I have to take a stun gun to my inner Kool-Aid Drinker Vikings Fan when I say this, but the Saints look eminently beatable. The Rams (the fucking RAMS) took it to them - they got to the quarterback, they moved the ball at will propping up Marc Bulger's exhumed corpse, and Steven Jackson (who is not better than All Day) lit them up with 176 total yards and a TD. Their defense is banged up, but damned if they didn't look average yesterday. I think they've... *gulp*... peaked. Maybe.
-Carolina and Tennessee are the opposite. Both could not possibly have looked worse over the first several weeks, and now suddenly Delhomme has gone 3 weeks without a pick, Steve Smith took back his name from the Giants' Steve Smith, Chris Johnson looks like the Madden '11 coverboy, and Vince Young Just Wins Football Games*.
*I wonder if this carries over to his everyday life too. Every time he plays Xbox 360 or checkers or rock paper scissors, he loses. "I just win football games."
As a wannabe sportswriter columnist for a predominantly Vikings based blog (despite the tacky name), this is important to me because the Vikings haven't peaked yet. They haven't reached their tipping point, the defining moment of their season. We saw New England's last night as Belichick made one of the all-time great shocking calls in recent NFL history. (On a 0 to Michaels-Throwing-Jannetty-Through-a-Window scale of shock, I was a 9. I love Bill Belichick.)
What I mean by defining moment is probably better described as a "writing-on-the-wall" moment. Belichick obviously had zero faith in his defense stopping Peyton Manning. Denver used up all its power-ups against New England and have been flat since. The Giants' secondary has been roasted Wasswa Serwanga-style. The Saints can't stop the run and when they're not able to get Pierre Thomas going, their offense can sputter. The writing is on the wall for all those teams.
A great example of this for the Vikings was last year's Week 2 game at home against Indianapolis. They drove up and down the field against them but kept having to settle for field goals, which cost them the game. They couldn't score when it mattered. The writing on the wall said "First round playoff fodder."
The Vikings have had a few potential games like this, where they could have either outright dominated or laid an egg - a bold statement either way. Both Green Bay games come to mind. The closest they've come was Favre's miraculous winning TD to Greg Lewis against the Niners in Week 3.
What I'm trying to say is, the wall is blank. The Vikings have yet to reach their ceiling or their floor. No peaks, no valleys. The best (or worst) is yet to come.
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