Another walk off FG for Walsh. I guess I can't call him Legatron anymore? Seems the RAMs kicker has been given the monicker for now.
Everyone has been talking about FISHERs remarks and JOYNERs hit on TEDDY. You've probably seen my take on twitter I compared it to two brothers playing against each other. Sure I've taken some cheap shots but only to be a jerk or out of competitiveness, I never meant to hurt my brother, or friend or whomever. (I never hurt anyone I knew playing sports. People I didn't know? That's a different story.) So I definitely think JOYNER meant to take a cheap shot but not necessarily give TEDDY a concussion so I don't know if that makes JOYNER stupid or naive or what. Either way I hope the league comes down on him with more than the minimum 23K fine. You have to send a message to the players, you can't endorse "recklessness." Here's a list of league fines.
The good news is that all the money from fines goes to help former NFL players through the two main NFLPA charities. Now I know why players throw the balls into the stands, they make a fan happy and help out those men who paved the way before them.
Moving right along... I did a poll after the game, the results are pretty conclusive.
Do you agree with the results? I am going to assume that BARR and TEDDY will be good to go against Oakland. I think this game will be a very good test for our Defensive coaches. Their O line seems really good! They've only given up 8 sacks in 8 games. Also CARRs numbers are quite impressive.
Here's our updated defensive stats. Something has to give. The question will be if our defense can find a way around their lineman. I have a hunch that they will have problems with us. Half of the sacks CARR has taken were against the Broncos. He also threw a pick 6 under pressure in that low scoring affair. Hopefully we can mirror DENVERs success keeping them in check.
Against a regular team this is how OAKLAND looks passing.
Pic taken from Cian Fahey - follow him @Cianaf - his analytics are great
Hopefully we won't struggle to get to him, if we do, it will be a long day! Oakland is actually pretty god against the rush statistically but I think that's just because it is so easy to throw against them. (Dead last in pass defense) I am very curious to see how we will scheme for them. I anticipate a lot of ADRIAN based play action passes and some shotgun formations... maybe even some hurry up. This could be a big day for TEDDY, perhaps his 2nd career 300+ day.
Last week everyone was scared of GURLEY. Though he did well, he certainly didnt abuse us. Overall we did a solid job on him. The nervous Vikings fans this week are wondering if CARR will light us up for 400 yards and 3 TDs. What do you think? I posted a poll up top! I personally am not worried. I think we will force some turnovers and if we can handle their away crowd, we will be in good shape. I just hope all three phases of the game perform to their best. If everyone does their jobs, we might have a comfortable win. This will be a real benchmark game for our secondary, they did ok against PEYTON and STAFFORD, lets see how they do against CARR.
I saw this on twitter today, for some reason it makes me happy!
I think he'll get closer to 1800 yards than 1500. We'll see!
Hey y'all. Why so scared? Friday the 13th isn't even until next week! I've never seen so many people panic on twitter over an injury report... about a rookie... because of another rookie.
"Oh, Jeez!"
This is the man putting fear into my fellow Viking fans!?
Umm, Hey B Rob I think his fav Disney Princess is Ariel.
Can you please confirm when you put him on the turf?
I guess he's a defenseless pirate? She's dressed as Audie Cole! Tackling his ass!
I understand that Hendrick's has played spirited and hard football, I too will miss him. But it's not like he's Ray Lewis or LT. He's still a rookie who can make gap and coverage mistakes, let's be real here. Also, Audie Cole is no slouch, he's had some great games as a starter including that awesome one against the Pack where he had 13 tackles. Including this one.
Audiesel is practicing his discount double check
Realistically this game will be won or lost in the trenches. While their O-Line has been formidable and opening up huge holes for him he isn't even top three amongst rookies in broken tackles or yards after first contact. His elusiveness rating is high but it's due to poor angles from un-prepared corners. No different than AP running past Tillman back in the day. "Fool me once.... fool me twice..." My assumption is that we'll make them beat us in the air and we'll give them the old "AP Treatment." Stack the box. I think the fact that our D goes up against AP every day in practice will bode well on Sunday! Also this kid is a rookie! Call me a homer but I think our defense, though not fielding our best talent, will be the biggest challenge for him and his line this year. Also-visca versa! Here is an Xs and Os video on how AP has to attack the Rams.
Either way it's gonna be fun as hell to watch! I am hoping that AP shows GURLEY how it's done, and that we can bottle him up with gang tackling and gap discipline. Remember last time? They held AP to like 2 yards a carry until... finally... BAM! Sadly I couldn't find it on youtube. Lame.
Look, obviously this GURLEY kid has a huge future but I do not think Sunday will be the day that the torch is passed. At least I hope not. Just my take. I think, like you and me, Gurley will be at home in January watching AP do what AP does in the playoffs and taking notes. To quote the great Paul Allen, "He'll never get a HE'S LOOSE from me. Not gonna happen"
I am going to keep my promise. When Chicago went up on that Cutler TD dive into Harry the Hitman I was equally impressed, (ballsy) outraged, (Cutler scored!?) doubtful, (Here we go again!) and optimistic. (Well, it's the Bears) I knew we were only down one score and there was over 4 minutes left. Let's see what happens. During their scoring drive, these were my tweets.
So, no complaining! A win is a win
1000 words
I must say, 5-2 feels a lot better than 4-3. I think my tweets above speak for themselves. For 55 minutes we played some serious 4 and 3 football (on offense at least) but that last 5 minutes or so? We fought this for the W! We played up to the level of expectation and made all the downs count. We finished strong and earned that win, we didn't "steal" it.
Those of you who know me know I am not big on recaps, you can find those anywhere and I don't want to be redundant. I just like to share my thoughts and takes, hopefully with some humor. With that said, my favorite play of the game was this.
"Bam!"
Sadly I wasn't able to find a GIF of it, nor of Diggs winking, which was my second favorite part of this game. Let's revisit my "hopes" for the contest and see how we, err, I, did.
I hope that...
we win. YES!
that Blair Walsh makes 96% of his kicks YES!
that no one (on Vikes) gets hurt IDK!
that AP has 18 carries for for 108yards ALMOST!
that Rudolph catches a fade in the end zone NO
its a blowout and someone is mic'd for sound talking about post game deep dish pizza NO
Flash busts one NOPE BUT SHERELS DID!
AP busts one NOT QUITE
Harry Hitman busts someone HELL YES!
I was 3.5 for 9. Not bad if it's baseball! I'm sure, like most of you, I went from really disgruntled and frustrated to just plain proud. Proud of Teddy for taking those hits, slinging those passes and staying calm. Proud of DIGGS and C.J. for making those catches. Proud of our D for getting that 3 and out. I don't care if it was a drop or not, fact is that our pass rush forced a pass behind the guy making it harder to catch, and he dropped it. That's good D in my book! SKOL! I put a new poll at the top of the page. Please take it! There are a couple things I Want to share tonight, one is these cool pics from the Vikings team photographer. The other is the pro-bowl hype video for our Hitman Harry. Please check it out if you haven't already.
"You've got the best of the best every Sunday and when
