WEEK 13 - COWBOYS AT HOME

Well hello all!

I am back. So much to talk about... but I'll keep this brief.

Firstly, relax! We are 6-5 with 5 games left. Please stop assuming that every team with one more win than us or a tie breaker on us is going to win out! We could easily finish 4-1 and other teams 2-3 and win the division or at least make the playoffs!

Should we talk about the history between these two teams?  There's too much!
Here are a few pics-  jog any memories? 😜 Some serious highs and lows. We need a high tomorrow.

I must say I'm sad AP isn't playing tonight.. He always gets up for the Boys... 3 games, 3 TDs  and about 100 yards from scrimmage per game... also this highlight!

So based on twitter I'd say people are excited for the game but trying not to get their hopes up. So I decided I would think of some positives. Here's a list of reasons to feel good about our chances.

• We are 4-1 at home
• Bradford has 0 INTs at home
• Our defense is almost back to "full" strength
• Cowboy's two rookies haven't faced a D like ours
• They're "due a loss" (longest Regular Season streak ever)
• They allow twice as many sacks on the road
• They allow twice as many passing TDs too

Here's the injury report...

I am not gonna write about the obvious... how impressive their record is, how efficient their offense is, how inconsistent ours is... I honestly think that our defense will be bringing their A game, our offense will make a few plays and that we will win this game in victory formation. (Though it will be down to the wire) Our only loss at home this year was in OT and after a series of very unfortunate events.  Maybe we will be the team that makes Ezekiel or Dak look pedestrian. We shall see!

Stay optimistic ok? Don't start freaking out after the first three and out or if we are down early #Faith

We got stomped by Seattle! (8-4)

Well, that happened.  After crap losses I usually am too emotional to write anything.  This is just a quick look back to clear my guilty conscious for not writing anything for over a week. 

How we all felt!

That game was enough to make even the die hardest fans question our team.  Sure, there were a lot of missing starters, but still... we got owned on offense and defense.  Let's take a look at my "hopes" for the game and see how we did...

• Can ALL DAY not fumble on the turf at home? (all 6 at home) HE DIDN'T. YAY
• Will the Vikings get 120 yards rushing? NOPE
• Can we punish Rawls and not the other way around? NOPE
• Can we get in his head? force some mistakes? Hit him hard? WE FORCED 1 FUMBLE BUT HE GOT 100+ NOPE
• Can we keep their avg, undrafted, WRs in check? LOL NO
• Who's getting Sherman? Can we parade all three of our speedsters at 1 and run 'em deep every snap? NO-OOORV
• I anticipate 5 WRs dressed and of 'em all getting snaps! PSSH
• Can Walsh make all his kicks? I THINK HE DID
• Can Teddy keep his stat sheet clean of INTs? NO SIR
• Which O Line shows up? The Awful one? AWFUL
• Their best DE has 2 sacks on the road- can we keep it at 2? NO

Well as you can see, we didn't accomplish anything important. Lost the turnover battle, time of possession, allowed big plays, minimally harassed WILSON. SIGH. 

This was the lone bright spot. At least he's consistent... Go Flash! While we're here, I was OK with him celebrating it. He was excited.  It didn't bug me that much. Let's hope he does it again when it matters though! I mean the fans celebrated too, the cheerleaders, the crowd got to sing SKOL Vikings at least!

SKOL!

Week 13 - Seattle! (home)

Seattle is a weird team to face, a new rivalry of sorts.  Partially because they seem to always take our misfit toys from us, kinda because of the the "poison pill," a little because they're a mirror image of our team, but mostly because we wished we were the them the last two times they crushed us.  There's a motivational video linked  if you wanna see the most recent game.  Lynch beasted for 3 TDs against a pathetic Vikings team led by the Kindergarten Teacher.

Thankfully we've got a few more pieces on defense and won't give up 30+ points again?

We're coming off a solid victory in Atlanta and an annoying win for the Pack in Detroit.  They're coming off an ugly road win in Pittsburgh.  We're at home, they're beat up, Vegas is calling it a "pick 'em."

My take on that Pack win, hat tip for great Hail Mary, but the refs need to get consistent with the calls / no calls before our Pack rematch! I am tired of A Rod getting the Kobe treatment and Teddy getting screwed. 

Gee I wonder who got the call and who didn't!

Here is what the Seattle beat writers think about the game.

Here's another take from Seattle writer Terence Q Johnson at SB.

On paper, in traditional terms, these teams match up well. Seattle boasts the 8th-highest scoring offense in the NFL in terms of points but has only the 8th best defense; Minnesota is just 24th best in offense but shows 2nd in defense. The Seahawks have a +45 point differential, the Vikes a +37.

Both teams have around 1600 yards on 330-ish rushing attempts; they both throw the ball about as often as they run; and they both average starting drives with the ball about 3 yards farther downfield than their opposition. In terms of efficiency, both teams manage a new set of downs or a touchdown 68% of the time, sitting at 12th and 13th in the league.*

By DVOA, though, Seattle projects as the better team, with a 4th-ranked offense going up against Minnesota's 14th-ranked defense.

In spite of their similarities, don't expect Sunday's game to be a mirror image on both sides of the ball, as the teams will spend the first quarter probing weaknesses in the opposition before, presumably, attempting to exploit them.

You guys know me, I don't like to do predictions.  I just make a list of what can happen... of my hopes if you will!  But before that, here is a Screenshot of the injury report.  I agree that this game is a scratch IF the Beast and Graham are playing, but without?  I am not so sure. I also find it odd how we can "shut down" the Megatron and Julio Jones types but always seem to get killed by guys who come out of nowhere. (See GB game) So that worries me,  given this Seattle team of people I've never heard of. (I don't play fantasy)

OK, here is my list of hopes.  If we get most 

of these we should win the game!

• Can AP not fumble on the turf at home? (all 6 at home)
• Will the Vikings get 120 yards rushing? #Undefeated
• Can we punish Rawls and not the other way around?
• Can we get in his head? force mistakes? Hit him hard?
• Can we keep their avg, undrafted, meh WRs in check?
• Who's getting Sherman? Can we parade all three of our speedsters at 1 and run 'em deep every snap? (lol)
• I anticipate 5 WRs dressed and of 'em all getting snaps!
• Can Walsh make all his kicks?
• Can Teddy keep his stat sheet clean of INTs?
• Which O Line shows up? The great one of the Awful one?
• Their best DE has 2 sacks on the road- can we keep it at 2?

I think if you combine the Viking fan's doubts with the Seattle fan's overconfidence you get a draw.  I honestly think we have more playmakers on offense than they do, and an equal amount on defense too.  I am not sure if Linval J is a scratch yet, but Harry the Hitman is playing, Barr too. Hendricks!  I'll take it!  Seattle will obviously be bringing their A game and a sense of urgency so I hope we do too.  We've lacked that at home all year.  Honestly I think if we can get a fast start we'll win "comfortably." 

SKOL


We need a little of this Sunday!

I LOVE BEATING THE DIRTY BIRDS (8-3)

WOOT WOOT!

Solid win. Once again our defense held a good quarterback to a mediocre game, we won the turnover/ possession battle, and we had success running the ball!  Any win on the road in the NFL is something to be proud of.  Here are some "prime stats" from the game.

Click Here

AP dagger put us all to ease!

Game MVP? Anthony Barr with 2 forced fumbles

WELL, THAT SUCKED ( 7-3 )

THAT WAS THE OPPOSITE OF "SKOL VIKINGS"

FOR GAME STATS AND ARCHIVES GO HERE

PACKER WEEK!

 SOOOO much to talk bout.

We won 5 in a row

They lost 3 in a row

We're at home

AP has found his groove

Adrian OWNS the Packers

Their WRs are slow 

Our defense is fast

LET'S JUMP RIGHT INTO MY HYPE REEL!

REMEMBER THIS?

DISHMAN BETRAYS US AGAINST THE PACK!

"RANDY MOSS IS THE BEST YOUNG RECEIVER THAT I HAVE SEEN EVER"

JOHN RANDLE CHASING FAVRE

FAVRE RETURNS TO LAMBEAU

I'LL NEVER FORGET THIS
AP PUT US ON HIS BACK


RANDY MOONS. JOE COMPLAINS. MAN SWEARS

HERES A PREVIEW OF VIKES-PACK


JOHN RANDLE AGAIN!

Oak-Town Beat Down (7-2)

For a game recap, go here. 

This game was exactly how 

I thought it should be. 

I am pleased. 

ALSO THIS

Four in a Row, for the SKOL! (6-2)

How did I do with my pre-game hopes? 

• Patterson gives us short fields    LOLOLs NO
• Legatron makes at least 92% of his kicks  YES
• Gurley is bottled up early  AND LATE! YES!
• Hekker's leg gets tired 8 PUNTS. YES
• We get a two score lead YES (but too early)
• They have to pass second half NO
• We win the Turnover and T.O.P battles NO
• We Win the game! YES!

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!

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY

Game Day! (week 9 - Rams)

My hopes for the game

• Patterson gives us short fields
• Legatron makes 92% of his kicks
• Gurley is bottled up early 
• Hekker's leg gets tired
• We get a two score lead
• They have to pass second half
• We win the Turnover and T.O.P battles
• We Win the game!

SKOL!

Don't be afraid (week 9 - Rams - preview)

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"

SKOL!

YASSSS! (5-2)

"Snap, Good. 

Hold, Good. 

Walsh's kick is up...

and it's GOOOOOD!"

YASSS!!!!!!!!

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 

it comes to making plays, you gotta make them."

Here are a few of my favorite pics from game day. 

The trip home is always nice after win,

SKOL!