2014 DRAFT!

Overall I am happy!  No matter which QB we got I would be nervous, and I am really glad we finally drafted an athletic LB.

Welcome to the team Teddy and Anthony!

 UCLA Bruin, Anthony Barr

Louisville QB, Teddy Bridgewater

More in the A.M. I am going out to celebrate,

SKOL

ALLOW ME TO RE-INTRODUCE MYSELF...

Hello! 

It's been a while.  A quick scroll back my blog and it seems my last post was Week 5 of last season.  Sheesh.  I guess the combination of my moving to NYC, putting up with "Coach" and his cronies every week and having just One win to show for it all really sapped the life out of me.  

Self Portrait - Week 6

We went on to do a whole lot of nothing after our dismal 1-4 start.   I'm not a fair weather fan at all by the way,  I watched every game!  I just had nothing new to say and didn't want to be a broken record.  Progress wouldn't be made under the old regime.

Some quick positives about 2013, well, one positive. FLASH!  Other than him, almost every player from the kickers to the linemen regressed a little... I blamed the "culture of mediocrity."

Coradelle Patterson doing his thing!

We showed some competitiveness and had some decent games but overall what a season to forget...  QB carousel, coaches befuddled &  "looking at the film," all those "correctables" - on repeat.  Meh.

 Moving on! Goodbye old Regime! Goodbye Metrodome!

Mortenson Construction used some simultaneous explosions to bring down the Dome

"For every win Someone must fail But there comes a point when When we exhale. Shoop Shoop shoop shoo be doop shoop shoop"*Exhales

Zim Zimma, he got the keys to a winna! 

Zimmer addresses his soldiers

Great hire!  Defense, discipline, toughness, "there's no I in team" etc.  Then he brings in Norv Turner as OC, I like that too!  I anticipate he'll get RUDOLPH to reach his potential, get  JENNINGS more touches, AP more catches and third downs too! (Regardless of who our QB is)  

For the record I like the safe re-signing of MATT CASSELL, we definitely need a vet on the team who supports prostate awareness. Have you had yours checked lately? 

^ If John Schneider and Jared Leto had a baby !^

In the FA market we signed a run stuffing go getter nose tackle from the Giants, LINVAL JOSEPH, a legit starting CB from the NFL leading Panther's defense, CAPTAIN MUNNERLYN and re-signed DE EVERSON GRIFFEN amongst a couple other nice back ups and versatile players. 

 Say hello to Linval Joseph.

EVERYONE SALUTE OUR NEW CAPTAIN!
He's a hard hitting play making pain in the ass! 

Everson Griffen - He's like a hybrid of Randle and Doleman (on paper) Lets get 15 sacks on grass!

So far the powers that be have been doing a "solid job" of showing the fans, the Wilfs, and the current players that they're focused and looking for success now, not down the road.  As with our 2011 to 2012 seasons, a big turnaround in wins isn't uncommon in this league.  How many games did we lose last year in the last two minutes?  SMH. Take those away, make the defense better, give the offense more opportunity and who knows how many games swing in our favor. This division is up for grabs.  I'm not a homer, but I am also not a jaded pessimistic Viking's fan either.  We can do this! Anyways... Hmmm what else to talk about?

DRAFT DAY IS TOMORROW! I AM STOKED!

SKOL !

Now those of you who know me know that I never watch college football. Ever. I can name four players right now.  LITERALLY.  I even make it a point not to read about the draft too much or read mock drafts etc because it just sets you up for disappointment or ruins the nice surprises.  I don't know about your families but we were only allowed to open one small gift Christmas Eve, we had to wait until Christmas Morning to open the rest. That's how I approach the draft.  Maybe we trade up, maybe we trade down, maybe we take a defender or maybe Johnny falls!  All I know for sure is that the draft is on a THURSDAY!

The kid LOVES football, I'll give him that. It IS his religion, unlike Tebow.

My takes are as follows-

• If we do take Johnny Manziel? I won't be mad.  I see the upsides. I know the knocks are size and that "he'll get hurt" but honestly this guy is such a competitor and so crazy I think he has the drive to succeed.  I think he'll be a legit NFL quarterback but I also know what a crap shoot drafting one is.  Even Heisman winners bust, we had one on our team. Can you name him? (leave it in the comments below,  so I know you were here! =)

• WILL WE EVER DRAFT A DOMINATING LB? That's my main beef. We haven't had one since Matt Blair. (80's)  Why can't we have an LT or Ray Lewis or Mike Singletary or Pat Swilling or Patrick Willis or Brian Cushing or even, GASP, Clay Matthews?  Tackle stats are cute but where are the forced turnovers, the INTs and the intimidation?  I've noticed the best defenses in the NFL have blue chip talent on the line, in the LBs and in the secondary. (We have possibly 2 of 3 this coming season)  FYI CLOWNEY is one of the 4 college players I can name.  I am JEALOUS of whoever gets him! 

• AS far as the other QBs?  I loved the fact that Bridgewater has a cannon, that his whole highlight reel is in the pocket and that he's huge.  I know he had a crap pro day and that might make his stock drop.  Every other QB has  pros and cons too!  We won't know until we know! Even when the QBs are all signed and with their new teams, after we hear all the GMs say "this is the guy we wanted from the start" and all the players say "I'm just excited to get going and contribute and work hard and coach ____ is a great coach and yada yada" we won't know.  Not until they play will we know, that's why I am not gonna be mad if we just trade away our pick, move down and sign some quality players that can contribute right away. Especially on defense!

That's all I have to say, I will say A LOT tomorrow AFTER the draft and post all the links to stats and highlights of our new players!  See you then and SKOL to all my new twitter friends! 

DISCLAIMER-  You will grow tired of my rants.  I famously wasn't stoked about CHILLY getting fired (mid-season, I preferred after) I was anti giving FRASIER the permanent job, I was pro signing McNabb (ooops) and I even defended Ponder's right to work out the kinks up until week four of last year . So I am not perfect but I am not a homer but nor do I believe in the magic pill and that's EXACTLY why I am stoked about hiring Zimmer!

A lot of crappy videos to sort through -  wow youtube is frustrating.

 This is pretty recent and thorough.

OH! I am sad to see Jared Allen leave.  I even preferred risking him starting over re-signing Everson Griffen.  Probably not a good football decision on my end but... I am sad.  This seems to be a trend here though, fan favorites always get cut early for money reasons. Chris Doleman, John Randle to name a couple and now Allen.  They always let them go one or two seasons too early. Jared will have a lot of success in Chicago- just hopefully not against us!

Allen at the Bears minicamp with his new linemates

PLEASE PEEP THE NEW POLL - TOP RIGHT - WHO DO YOU WANT TO DRAFT?

SKOL!

(PS Bye dome! Thanks for the World Series Wins)