Viking DT Fred Evans has been suspended for two games for actions committed before he joined the team (Access Vikings).
The Viking game could be blacked out on Sunday, for real (Pioneer Press). If I hadn't bought season tickets, these constant reports of imminent blackouts would cause a nervous breakdown. Instead, I know I'll be watching the Vikes and Lions from my happy seat in front of the Coke ad.
More on the Viking blitz strategy (Star Tribune).
Cold Hard Football Facts has long pointed out that it is silly to rank pass defenses by yards allowed, since that is dependent largely on attempts allowed (which is not entirely dependent on the quality of the pass defense). To show pass defense efficiency, they give defensive passer rating (the passer rating of all opposing quarterbacks against that defense). The Vikings have certainly struggled against the pass this season, but after Sunday's impressive domination of Eli Manning, the Viking pass defense ranks a mediocre 15th on passer rating, better than the awful 32nd in ranks in yards allowed.
The Bleacher Bums talks about Carl Pohlad's big scam (via MN Gameday). If you're a Twins fan, how do you get excited? You should be excited when the team has one of the best pitchers in baseball--but then the Twins will get rid of him once he costs them significant money. So you have to hope they get these young talented players to gel, then win a championship in the four or five year window before they get rid of these young talented players. And this after giving taxpayer funds for a stadium.
Pro-football-reference.com gives some historical comparisons to analyze Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn.
For some reason, the Vikings are noted in the headline of Dr. Z's power rankings, but get very brief mention in the actual ranks.
The Minnesota reference in the headline for Dr. Z's power rankings column is probably the web editor's call. I'm sure Dr. Z files his story, perhaps with a suggested headline, but once the web editor gets his/her hands on it, he gets no more say in it. Nor would he be bothered to try.
ReplyDeleteThe web editor was probably struggling for something catchy to put in there, saw the Vikings had jumped to 13 from 24 in the rankings (which seems a bit too much by Dr. Z) and then came up with the headline mentioning the Vikings.
Or maybe the web editor is just a Vikings fan.
The reason they are mentioned is because he had the saints listed twice and one was in the 13th spot where the Vikings should have been.
ReplyDeleteThat is the whole reason.
PV - what do you think about this bit from the Football Outsiders FOX rundown?
ReplyDeleteBrad Childress doesn't have many admirers in Minnesota. Bloggers across the Internet started calling for his head after the team fell to 1-3. There's even a Fire Childress Web site, though it seems to get as much traffic as an Alaska road in January. Childress deserves criticism for putting all his eggs in Tarvaris Jackson's basket and for the pass-heavy game plans he devised early in the year. But the Vikings are on a little winning streak, and they've surprised the Chargers and Giants in the past month. They're winning without superstar rookie Adrian Peterson. A quick look at the upcoming schedule (the Niners, Bears, and Redskins follow the Lions) suggests that the Vikings might finish 8-8, maybe higher. That's not bad for a team so committed to a long-range plan that they refused to load their roster with costly veteran role players. Childress deserves some props.
I sort of agree. It looks like the Vikings are playing pretty well for a team with a relatively shaky secondary and no playmakers, or even semi-competent receivers, on offense other than AD. TJ looks like he is improving to the level of competency, and if Minnesota gets their hands on a legitimate receiver or two during the offseason, I could see this being a 11-5 team with another year of experience.