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