Every sports fan hates their local newspaper columnists - it's practically written into law. That said, I don't usually hate Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press... when he writes about anything but the Vikings. He turns into Dan Shaughnessy when the Vikings lose and it is annoying as hell.
One of the first lines in Powers' column today for the Pioneer Press is, "To panic or not to panic?" I deeply resent the notion. Panic? Like we're some kind of amateurs?
Vikings fans are trained animals, but we're old dogs, not monkeys. When our owner yells at us, we know whats up - we skulk away and shut the hell up. We don't sit there and whine and bark louder and piss all over the floor.
No panic, just the swift removal of any expectations. We've clearly seen the best and worst of this team this year. Hell, we just saw it all in one game just last night. And I'm not gonna wet my pants like some amateur - spare me, I'm not a Saints fan. This is the Vikings we're talking about.
I don't care about a bye anymore. I still think they beat the Packers at home. If you have any more expectations after that, you get what you deserve. Besides, if you're a football fan and you're NOT rooting for Vikings/Packers Round 3, something is wrong with you. And if they lose, Childress is that closer to being fired. (Sure, whine about the extension he just signed, as if contracts to pro and college coaches' contracts are worth more than the paper they're written on.)
Enough with this panic garbage, we've seen this before. Want an example? This is the same team as the 2000 Vikings. Look at the parallels:
- New quarterback that starts out hot until the rest of the league gets him on film catches up
2000: Daunte Culpepper
2009: Brett Favre
- Fast start when it doesn't matter
2000: 7-0
2009: 6-0
- Shitty coaching bogging down an enormous talent advantage
2000: Denny Green with Moss, Carter, Robert Smith, Randle, Stringer, Birk, etc.
2009: Brad Childress with Peterson, Rice, Harvin, Allen, Williams Wall, etc.
- Worthless on the road
2000: 4-4
2009: 4-4
- Taking a Chipotle-induced diarrhea dump all over the field in December
2000: lost three in a row to end the season, still backed into a 1st round bye and finished 11-5
2009: lost three out of four in December, still may back into a 1st round bye
They have 5 sacks in their last 4 games. Their safeties are not fast and cannot cover anyone. Special teams would give up at least 9 touchdowns to DeSean Jackson. And Reggie Bush for that matter. Most alarmingly, Antoine Winfield is either still not healthy or he is finished as a cornerback. He has zero speed and zero quickness, especially to keep up with the world-renowned wideout Devin Aruon... Aero.... Aromasheedoo? Would it be possible to just keep him in on running plays like they do Pat Williams?
So there it is. Panic? Go Twins!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
Andy Reid 2.0
I didn't sleep well last night for a myriad of reasons, so this is going to be a completely unfocused, rambling, incoherent piece. Anything more or less than that wouldn't be fair to describe the team that showed up last night.
Two road games, two gigantic eggs. The Arizona game could be logically explained to an extent - the Cardinals are a Jekyll and Hyde team that's very dangerous when they put it together. Carolina however is 5-8, for a reason. Cut and dried, they suck. Sizing them up wasn't exactly rocket surgery. There were three very obvious common sense things you could expect from the Vikings in this game:
1. Double-team Steve Smith at all times
2. Blitz the everloving shit out of Matt Moore on every obvious passing down
3. Give the ball to your best player at least 20 times
How many of those things happened? Exactly zero. Brad Childress, aka Andy Reid 2.0*, made sure they wouldn't. I'm thinking I was wrong about a couple weeks ago - the writing IS on the wall. Maybe they peaked in Week 8 in Green Bay, only we couldn't really see it at the time because the next four weeks were a bye and 3 easy home games against teams whose records are now a combined 12-30. If you expect the Vikes to beat Arizona, Philly or Dallas ANYwhere, you are delusional or have brain damage, or both.
*By 2.0, I mean to imply "next version" as well as "decidedly worse version", kind of like how Windows somehow gets worse with each version.
The Childress-Reid comparison goes beyond the obvious. As I've written previously, the Vikings are built a lot like Reid's Eagles, particularly when Childress was there as the o-coordinator. The X-factor is Favre - he makes everyone better, especially the wideouts. What happens when Favre is expected to do too much? They look a lot like the 2006 Vikings - painfully predictable and zero creativity on both offense and defense. A whole lot of "we just have to out-execute the other team" stuff, hard to do when 1, you abandon the run after the first half, and 2, you can't get any pressure on the quarterback. The Vikes haven't put themselves in any kind of position to "out-execute" anyone.
Going back to Favre, the difference between Favre and Tarvaris Jackson (or even Gus Frerotte) last night was marginal. In fact, there were several instances where they could have really used Tarvaris's legs to get the hell away from Julius Peppers. The apparent issue with Favre is that he is audibling out of runs far too often. Works great in Weeks 1-11. Then teams get you on film. Honeymoon's over. I wouldn't be shocked if Carolina's plan all along was to goad Favre into making those reads.
Andy Reid 2.0 has his most important decision coming up against the Bears. If Favre is screwing things up by giving up on the run too quickly, does he sit? Will Favre pull a Scottie Pippen and bench himself like a whiny bitch out of protest? Should Tarvaris come in on occasion regardless, like the Eagles use Mike Vick and the Dolphins use Pat White? Will the Vikes lay another egg on the road against an inferior team?
Two road games, two gigantic eggs. The Arizona game could be logically explained to an extent - the Cardinals are a Jekyll and Hyde team that's very dangerous when they put it together. Carolina however is 5-8, for a reason. Cut and dried, they suck. Sizing them up wasn't exactly rocket surgery. There were three very obvious common sense things you could expect from the Vikings in this game:
1. Double-team Steve Smith at all times
2. Blitz the everloving shit out of Matt Moore on every obvious passing down
3. Give the ball to your best player at least 20 times
How many of those things happened? Exactly zero. Brad Childress, aka Andy Reid 2.0*, made sure they wouldn't. I'm thinking I was wrong about a couple weeks ago - the writing IS on the wall. Maybe they peaked in Week 8 in Green Bay, only we couldn't really see it at the time because the next four weeks were a bye and 3 easy home games against teams whose records are now a combined 12-30. If you expect the Vikes to beat Arizona, Philly or Dallas ANYwhere, you are delusional or have brain damage, or both.
*By 2.0, I mean to imply "next version" as well as "decidedly worse version", kind of like how Windows somehow gets worse with each version.
The Childress-Reid comparison goes beyond the obvious. As I've written previously, the Vikings are built a lot like Reid's Eagles, particularly when Childress was there as the o-coordinator. The X-factor is Favre - he makes everyone better, especially the wideouts. What happens when Favre is expected to do too much? They look a lot like the 2006 Vikings - painfully predictable and zero creativity on both offense and defense. A whole lot of "we just have to out-execute the other team" stuff, hard to do when 1, you abandon the run after the first half, and 2, you can't get any pressure on the quarterback. The Vikes haven't put themselves in any kind of position to "out-execute" anyone.
Going back to Favre, the difference between Favre and Tarvaris Jackson (or even Gus Frerotte) last night was marginal. In fact, there were several instances where they could have really used Tarvaris's legs to get the hell away from Julius Peppers. The apparent issue with Favre is that he is audibling out of runs far too often. Works great in Weeks 1-11. Then teams get you on film. Honeymoon's over. I wouldn't be shocked if Carolina's plan all along was to goad Favre into making those reads.
Andy Reid 2.0 has his most important decision coming up against the Bears. If Favre is screwing things up by giving up on the run too quickly, does he sit? Will Favre pull a Scottie Pippen and bench himself like a whiny bitch out of protest? Should Tarvaris come in on occasion regardless, like the Eagles use Mike Vick and the Dolphins use Pat White? Will the Vikes lay another egg on the road against an inferior team?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
