Thursday, December 06, 2012

Packers, Ponder, Percy and other Purple Problems (6-6)

ACK!

So much has happened in the last few days, the PACK game, Charch's "I'm pissed"rant, Ponder's engagement and now Harvin on IR. You guys know I don't like to recap games, anyone can do that.  I might use a play to make a point etc. but I hate reading the same old stuff over and over.   I hate this too. (5 wins in a row WTF?!)

"You're a mean one... Mr Grinch"


Man, that Packer game.  

Classic VIKING fan flow- emotional low, emotional high, low, high, low, lower.   I never look for silver linings or moral victories but by the same token I never JUST judge on wins. For some reason this loss didn't sting as much as they usually do.  Prolly because of this guy. (Highlights Here)


Im calling the plays now. We're gonna do a play action w/me, then I am gonna run a fly route. 


My thoughts on the game.
  • Ponder let me down, a lot.
  • Loved seeing Harrison Smith pick off that flea flicker of sorts. Way to stay home!
  • That offsides that led to a free play- a TD over our corner with good coverage was so so annoying! SMDH!
  • Overall our defense played good considering.
  • Not enough sacks and why let A-Rod roll out to the right EVERY time?  He killed us rolling out. 
  • Adrian Peterson is the only reason I don't hate the NFL world right now. He owned them enough to keep my Packer friends humble. 

Don't get me wrong. I was real mad that we lost and how we lost.  Mad at PONDER's red zone INTs, mad at the coaches inability to adapt during the game, mad at not being able to get of the field on 3rd down. An 11 minute PACK drive spanning the 3rd and 4th quarter down by just 6?  ACK! Torture.  Ponder, WTF?

Here's my take on Ponder.  

First off, I am the patient "wait and see" kind of fan.  I don't always take stock in drafting college stars, nor follow the crowd when it comes to bringing in some help right away with FAs. (Right now people want Vick haha. Remember when we all wanted Derek Anderson from CLEVELAND - he got 26 million over 3 years.  Where is he know?)  Either way its usually a desperate move towards some hyped over valued player.  Very rarely do people live up to it.  I didn't hear anyone begging us to draft Seattle or Cinci's quarterbacks. 


I think Ponder should have been pulled in the 2nd half of the CHI game AND the GB game.  I don't know why he wasn't.  I know the stupid cliche argument is that it would upset his poor ego but I think that's pure BS.  Getting benched isn't the same as losing your job.  I know some people want to throw in the towel with this kid but I'm still on the fence.  

I hope you didn't go on twitter after the game, bro

I saw PONDER make the worst throw of his career, at the worst time, this last Sunday.  That INT was horrible.  I'm not blind and I am not a homer I just know this shit happens. It sucks but it happens.  You wish and hope it won't, at such a clutch time, but it does.  Then you start to "lose faith."  I am... shit.  I HOPE I am wrong about this kid.  I just figure we may as well play him some more and see what happens. (But PULL him if he isn't effective or throws badly)  We can make changes after the season.  That's my only point really- may as well wait until the off season.  Is he gonna rebound and make plays these last 4 games or be in a perpetual T Jack?  Hopefully he recreates the first 4 games of the season. Remember this?



One funny/scary thing I heard today on The Common Man show was that PONDER's career stats- total starts, yardage, TDs, INTs, rating and completion percentage is almost identical to T Jack's.  That made me shudder.  (because T JAck is a back up not franchise grade) Another parallel with T JACK is that he has no one to throw too, especially recently losing HARVIN.  All the other young QBs have one if not two legit targets.  He has only Rudolph.  That has to account for something when you evaluate him.  I'm not making excuses for him I'm just trying to be fair.   In summary, if you play him and he plays bad, pull him, and if you don't pull him, well that's the rope you hang yourselves with, Vikings brass.  I agree with Charch on all his points except two.  

  1. The season is NOT lost.  I don't assume we'll play as bad and everyone else will play as good as we all have been. Still 4 games left.  Let's not call it yet.  I could care less about how hard our schedule is... we have two home games where we are 5-1 and no team is "unbeatable" this year.  Period.  
  2. There's no point making coach/staffing changes right now and you know why?

Purple Problems

Do we have one assistant you'd even wanna promote at this point? They were all given jobs above their heads by our boy, Mr Interim, FRAZIER.  We all know that was a cheap hire for the Wilfs, because they still had to pay CHILLY some money.  What's up for next year?  We're off the hook for CHILLY? Can we get a real coach and staff in?  I know these guys are nice but week in and out they get beat by the same stuff.  What's worse is they offer no explanations or logic beyond cliches in the locker room and press conferences.  Yeah, FRAZIER, we know you can't have "turnovers on the road and expect to win ball games" but why do you phrase it like that, instead of saying "Ponder's two interceptions in the red zone really killed us..."  That would be obvious too but at least you'd be showing us that you're not a cliche robot.  I've said this before but I think Frazier is better suited to teach kindergarten. "Hey, no children died today.  I did my job."  

I think they're in over their heads.  You can't keep blaming it on "making plays" and  "turning over the ball."  We know why you lost, but why aren't you making the plays? Who isn't making plays? What have you done to change that? I mean you inherited a team with AP!  (Again, see CHARCHIAN's rant.. It'll be posted at the bottom)

Does anyone have any of Percy's migraine meds?

PERCY HARVIN

Well... now what the F_CK?  Is he "hurt hurt" or is he laying low because he doesn't want to rush back and hurt himself even worse seeing as his contract is up?  Time will tell.  It looked like a bad injury when it happened so I am not surprised if it's legit, maybe he needs surgery.  Maybe this is a Joe Mauer situation and they kept it under wraps to sell tickets or keep opponents guessing, who knows?  It's real stupid that they couldn't just give us the medical diagnosis.  Did he consult Culpepper on this one?  MRIs and X-rays maybe never happened?  Maybe Percy was avoiding them who knows? (is that even possible?)  



EDIT - this was released this morning, via Tom Pelissero


"It certainly is disappointing that I was not able to finish out this season with my teammates," Harvin said in the statement. "As a competitor I definitely wanted to get back out there on the field but my injury has just not allowed me to progress to the point where I can help our team. I appreciate the efforts of our medical staff and the support of our fans in helping me through this process and look forward to coming back stronger and better than ever."
All I know for sure regarding Percy is that I wish they would have extended his contract PRIOR to the season.  I don't know why they didn't. SO STUPID!

Speaking of stupid...


Is this the last thing PONDER will get cheered for?

Oh, yeah... Ponder got engaged.  I so don't care.  Not like he can play any worse right now.  For those of you that care this is semi-cute.  Semi.  

"...the Vikings QB reportedly popped the question with Christmas lights that read "Marry Me" and one giant sparkler"

I don't know,  I believe in love but... 3 months?  Is this another bad decision by PONDER?  Why make it public in mid-season?  It's just fuel for the haters, bro.  Hire some PR.  I guess I do care. ACK!  

Good lord I hope the 3 players who blew the game for us on Sunday win it for us next sunday.  Here's Charch's rant for those of you too lazy to click the link. 




And now some memes in case you missed them, 
from our boys at MN Vikings Memes.









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