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Additional Minnesota Viking Commentary

Looming Large 
Last night the Pokes assisted the Giants in helping them punch their ticket to this years playoffs ... but there's a problem.  Their resume includes a two time Super Bowl champion quarterback, Beckham & a very suspect defense, especially without their all world defensive end.  Let me ask you ... Do the Giant's fit the mold of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Army beating Navy or the Chicago Cubbies, because there an incredible store of cash in the balance here?  I think not.  

There is another obvious problem for the Giants that was pointed out some time ago by John Madden in that when two teams go head to head for the 3rd time, where one team wins both prior contests during the season, that team never wins the 3rd contest.  In other words, even though the Giants beat the Cowboys twice in 2016, no one on the planet will believe that they will beat Dallas a 3rd time.  In fact, last night Dallas had to shoot themselves in the foot several times to make that Giant victory seem even realistic.  On the other hand, the prior Thursday nights contest featuring the Pokes was not a Viking victory but a very distinct cord was struck in regard to notice being given to the Cowboys.  Versus the Vikings in the playoffs ... the Poke-hands will not only be full ... they'll most certainly lose the contest even on their own turf as nothing ever stays the same.   

Now brace yourself for what could be an evolving concept.  Consider it a bit of perspective to a complete lack of control ... led by a one eyed bandit.  It is what defines this 2016 season where everything appears to be going well one minute ... followed by complete & absolute peril in the next.  Then consider the average fans perspective based upon immersing themselves into the history of the NFL, where the story is quite old and dated ... only to be ripped from your perch.  For example, one might say that the 73 Dolphin's, or the 85 Bears, or the 2,000 Ravens were the greatest Super Bowl champions of all time ... however with each utterance ... there would be argument and conjecture.  On the other hand, it is quite possible that one might be able say in the future ... 

"This is without question the worst Super Bowl Champion ... EVER!"  

That is what now lies upon your doorstep, thereby alleviating the Giants victory over the Bills for all time.  The story starts with, this happened ... followed by this ... followed by this ... and then this .........   Then .....

POPEYE LEAD's OPIE & a bunch of knuckleheads ... to the PROMISED LAND!!!  

What's looming large, of course, is the pending return of Adrian Peterson.  Say what?  If you're part of the worlds mind set, it's hard to get all worked up about 2 yards per carry but just about everyone is forgetting some very major details.  To put this all in perspective you'd have to remember back when the Vikings were enticing Brett Favre to come out of his slumber to play for the purple.  "Brett baby ... all you'll have to do is hand the ball off to Mr. World in our back field ... and make a couple plays from time to time to secure the victory".  Of course that didn't happen where Brett Favre was immediately introduced to the fallacy followed by a crash course in getting himself back up to speed in a hurry.  What resulted was Favre's greatest statistical year ever.  This paradigm shift is what the world (and the book) is hungry for ... like the return of Bo Jackson to his part-time-hobby after the baseball season ended.  The big old nasty stick is about to be chucked into the spokes of your front tire ... turning your whole world up upon its head.  Any fool could see it all in Adrian Peterson's eyes.       

In other words, what has been lost in the shuffle is the fact that Sam Bradford didn't play in Game 1 of 2016 and only had Adrian Peterson for less than 3 quarters in the 2nd game.  In other words, Sam has never really had the arsenal at his finger tips where he, like Brett Favre, was thrown into the cauldron of sink or swim football.  What is apparently missing from today's script is that Sam Bradford has had to develop his offense without not only an steady & reliable offensive line, which is well documented, he also had to do it without the greatest NFL threat in modern history less maybe Peyton Manning or Tom Brady.  Sam Bradford is running a highly tuned piece of machinery and that's without a puzzle piece that could turn the whole playoff world upon its head.  Do you think anyone might be interested in seeing this pending car wreck implode?  

Football, regardless of what you might think, is not about the New York fan base.  It's about the ultimate in entertainment that all football fans, including the New York fan base, will gobble up like so many Thanksgiving turkeys.  Said another way, no one is interested in Eli Manning pouting as his crew gets destroyed by the Cowboys even if Beckham was to catch another pass with one hand (big whoop ... Cris Carter did that all the time).  What America wants to see is America's-So-Called-Team get destroyed ... in their house ... in prime time, because we all hate the Cowboys ... Don't you know.  Adrian Peterson has a message for Jerry Jones & his crew ... and it's becoming-the-time to deliver the mail.  

So how do you know this is fact as most of the world views this pipe dream as nothing more than a grand delusion.  Hey, it's what football is all about.  It's why they play the games.  There is always a vast difference between the expected outcome versus reality.

Take for instance the evolution of this Viking offensive line.  One could say that T.J. Clemmings might be our weakest offensive lineman but that all changes when we become a running team once again as T.Js's forte is run-block-mauling.  This might help explain why the Vikings never wavered when it came to T.J. at tackle ... sort of just biding their time.  Also, the offensive line is quite a bit different than it once was.  Under Matt Kalil & Andre Smith it always appeared like they were stout until they were contorted into a nervous-system-muscular-breakdown.  One tweak in this or that particular direction or another and it would all collapse.  Now we are sporting an offensive line interspersed with youthful inexperienced knuckleheads intertwined with some very reliable stock with solid game day experience and the line has gone from consistent breakdowns to a solidified mass of crap.  Sure it might smell like a farm spread with manure on a summer day in that pocket but Sam Bradford can pitch a ball from it and still get to do it standing on his feet.  Over the entire season, what we haven't had is the same set of five dudes having the chance to coagulate ... playing together ... in the same positions (even though Fusco went down with a concussion this past week).  Zac Kerin, Nick Easton and Jeremiah Sirles ... even with all their knuckle headed mistakes ... have been nothing less than impressive.  It is clear that I was wrong thinking that Kerin would be our long term solution at center as Easton has got the smarts.  These three dunderheads just might be our long term solutions for the future of this franchise.  They certainly are hungry ... and sometimes ... hungry can be enough.  

Explanations are in order in regard to the play calling in the red zone.  We have a 1st & goal within the 5 yard line where we throw 1 failed pass attempt followed by three failed running attempts.  This is as far from Tom Brady & Green Bay's A. A. Ron as you could get.  What these two masters understand is that with three red zone pass attempts there is a much greater possibility of earning additional downs for drawing a defensive holding, a pass interference or an illegal contact call in either the end zone or the within the red zone.  Each one of these calls comes with a fresh set of downs and if it occurs, it usually demoralizes the defense into submission.  These types of calls do not occur upon running the rock.  Their is one more issue that is unexplained in that it is well documented that Sam Bradford's short ball accuracy is well above 70%.  Even though the field is condensed for the defense in the red zone ... there are all sorts of holes everywhere in the end zone to exploit.  After so many failures running the rock the odds clearly favor passing the ball in the end zone.  To go one step further, Bill Walsh, the master of the quarterback rating system heavily rewarded the quarterback & the offense for a passing touchdown where there was little reward to no reward for the quarterback for a rushing touchdown.  Why do you think that is and could it be related to securing a fresh set of downs?  Is there some reason we coveted Treadwell and might his skills be apparent in the Red Zone along with a player like Kyle Rudolph?  Too often it appears that our own mindset is used to defeat us.  


The Viking Ghost Writer
http://MyVikingBlood.org
Date: December 12, 2016


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