Purple Pride Ponderings

Purple Pride Ponderings 9/19/2011

2011-09-19T11:45:00.004-05:00

Purple Pride Ponderings 9/19/2011

Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Minnesota Vikings
Vikings - 20
Buccaneers - 24

Finish what you started. Something we learn at a very young age, something the 2011 Vikings need to learn now. The Vikings could easily be 2-0 right now, tied with the Packers and Lions for the Division lead, if they could only figure out how to finish. One play here, one play there. One decision here, one decision there. That makes all the difference in the league and I hope Frazier finds a way to change the fortunes of this team when it comes to the second half.

A Tail of Two Halves

Yes, I do know the difference between Tail and Tale. In the first two games of the season, the Vikings have come out of the locker room with their proverbial tails tucked between their legs. They played an almost flawless first half of football against the Bucs. I'm not going to discredit the coaching staff of the Buccaneers and ignore the amazing adjustments they made during halftime, but the Vikings did everything possible to lose this game in the second half. No defense in the NFL can sustain the type of great play the Vikings D had in the 1st half when the offense is barely on the field in the 2nd half.

Take a Timeout!

Was I the only one that noticed the Buccaneers methodically taking their time once they got inside the 10 during the game winning drive? After giving up a critical first down when it was 3rd down and 4 to go, the Vikings had a chance to stop the clock with a timeout. There was 1:12 on the clock at this point and the Vikings had all three timeouts. The Bucs just marched down the field once again and the defense was gassed. Stop the clock! Take a timeout, regroup, and hope for a stop. If not, at least you leave yourself with more time on the clock to attempt a game winning drive. Instead, the clock continued to tick at this point and the Bucs knew what they were doing, taking their time before running the next play. Result of said play, a touchdown with only 31 seconds left. Frazier simply got out coached by the youngest coach in the league.

Stud and Goat of the Week

Stud: Adrian Peterson - Showing he's worth every cent of his new deal (unlike another star RB in Tennessee), Peterson's 120 yard, 2 TD effort unfortunately goes to waste in this game.

Goat: Vikings Coaching Staff - Perfect game plan in the first half, completely out coached in the second half. This staff needs to find a way to keep the offense on the field in the second half of games.

What's on Tap

The once laughable Motor City kitties are now looking like a team that's ready to shock the football world. Since getting rid of Matt Millen, the Lions have been capitalizing on their usual draft position. Their front four is looking set to send shudders throughout the NFC North for years to come and a healthy Stafford appears to be the real deal. Going back to the 2010 season, the Lions have now rattled off six straight wins. Yes my friends, "the roar has been restored" is a saying the Lions fans can actually say with conviction instead of sarcasm.

Final Thoughts

The Vikings can't start this season 0-3, going 0-2 at home. They have a daunting task ahead of them with the new look Lions coming in but they need to dig down deep and win this game. With the Metrodome lease coming to an end and the constant fight for a new Stadium, this team has to win on the field. The Wilf's are doing what it takes by keeping fan favorite players like Peterson and Greenway, but that won't be enough should this team continue its losing ways.

Quick Hits from Around the League

- Fitzpatrick tosses three more TD's while leading the Bills to their second straight victory in comeback fashion.
- The Chiefs second straight blowout loss came with a hefty price as they lost All-Pro RB Jamaal Charles for the season.
- The Saints "Brees" to an easy victory over Da Bears in their home opener.
- Peyton scores two TD's in the Browns/Colts game. Sorry Colts fans, that would be Peyton Hillis who led the Browns to their first victory.
- The Champs keep their cool after being down early against the Panthers and pull off the victory. Cam Newton throws for over 400 yards again!
- Pittsburgh bounces back after last weeks embarrassing loss to the Ravens, shutting out the Seahawks who look to be embarrassing all season long.
- Titans get an impressive win over the Ravens with yet another mediocre day by CJ.
- The Redskins narrowly beat the Cards in the final minutes. Grossman 2-0, McNabb 0-2, ouch.
- The Jets made it look easy against the Jags. Perhaps Jacksonville jumped the gun a bit letting Garrard go?
- Romo redeems himself leading the Boys to a hard fought OT win in Frisco.
- Former Gopher Eric Decker had a big game for the Broncos as they squeak out a win against the Bengals.
- Brady cools down this week throwing for only 423 yards as the Pats win yet another home opener in Foxboro.
- Miami drops to 0-2 as the Texans win again while only getting only a little from Foster.
- Vick's return to Georgia didn't go as planned as the so called "Dream Team" loses already in week two.

Who I like on Monday Night
As banged up as the Giants are on defense, I think they are more healthy where it counts compared to the Rams. I'll take the Giants.

Till Next Week,
SKOL Vikings!

Purple Pride Ponderings 9/11/2011

2011-09-11T22:01:00.000-05:00

10 Years since the fall of the Twin Towers in New York. A day Americans will never forget and today is a day we spent remembering those that lost their lives on that fateful day. I don't care what your views are on how or why it happened. Today is not for those of you that wish to express your ideas of conspiracies just as much as it's not for those that wish to oppose such ideology, Today was reserved for remembrance - to remember the innocent lives lost that just when about their day as well as the heroic members of the FDNY and First Responders that we lost while doing anything possible to save as many lives as possible. I'm proud to be an American after watching the events at ground zero this morning and viewing the emotional start to every NFL game today.

Purple Pride Ponderings 9/11/2011
Minnesota Vikings @ San Diego Chargers
Vikings - 17
Chargers - 24

As you may notice, it has been since last October that I wrote one of these. There's no excuse for it and I admit that last season's Vikings futility led to my lack of production around here. As the Vikings look to right the ship in 2011 and beyond, I as well vow to suck it up and write about the Purple through the good and the bad. Now on to week one, which unfortunately already tests my resolve to write through the bad.

Predictably Conservative
187 yards of total offense. That's a disgusting number. Percy Harvin's opening kickoff alone went for more than 100 yards (103 to be exact). Take that explosive play out of the mix and the Vikings offense scored a meager 10 points of total offense, with none of that coming in the second half. There was a lot of talk about how the Chargers took Adrian Peterson out of the game, but I beg to differ. He averaged 6.2 yards on only 16 carries. I've said this before and I'll say it again, there is no excuse for Peterson to have less than 25 carries in a given game, period. I know McNabb is still learning his way into this offense, but 7 for 15 for 39 yards!!?? He completed passes to three total targets and not a single one of those was to a tight end. What happened to new Offensive Coordinator Bill Musgrave's plan to utilize a strong running game along with a solid double tight end set? I know Frazier brings that old-school mentality when it comes to his game plan - establish a good running game and solid defense; but that's not how today's NFL is molded (see Green Bay). Run on first down, run on second down, third and long = one long season.

Defense works Overtime
This game is one that's incredibly hard to judge exactly how the defense played thanks to the anemic offense. Going into the half it was 17-7 Vikings with the only Chargers score coming off a tipped ball interception by McNabb inside the 10. The Defense gave up large amounts of yards and 17 unanswered points in the second half mainly because they were on the field far too much. A few procedural calls also cost the Vikings. Frazier kept his cool on the sidelines during those calls, but I have a feeling the locker room carried a completely different vibe. I'm not trying to make excuses for the defense, but in the 4th quarter alone, the Vikings offense had the ball for a total of six plays.

We had some individual highs and lows from the defense in this game. Jarred Allen's interception was a thing of beauty and appeared to confuse the hell out of Rivers. Allen dropped back into coverage several times this game with great results. On the low side, EJ Henderson and Chad Greenway both bit on Rivers' fake attempt to run . One of them should have stayed put and covered Tolbert.

Tough Sailing in the Norris
After one week, the Vikings already find themselves in last place. The Packers, Bears, and Lions all won today proving just how tough this division is going to be all season long. I had the Bears losing and picked the Lions as an upset pick, but I honestly didn't expect either to look as sharp as they did. Along with the Packers looking like they are in mid-season form, I foresee rough currents for our beloved Purple.

Stud and Goat of the Week
Stud: Mike Tolbert - This rumbling, bumbling mass torched the Vikes for all three of San Diego's touchdowns. Unfortunately for him, he may be out for a while now.

Stud Honorable Mention: Mike Scifres - I don't normally do this, but how can you over look the job by Punter Mike Scifres? When Nate Kaeding left the game after the opening kickoff, I thought for sure the Vikings would be able to capitalize. Instead, Scifres comes in and nails a 40 yard field goal and goes 3-for-3 on extra point attempts. I'm not sure if Chris "Warcraft" Kluwe could muster that given the same situation.

Goat: Leslie Frazier - I'm a huge fan of making Frazier the Head Coach but his offensive game plan strategies need a complete over haul after week one.

What's on Tap
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers come to Mall of America Field after suffering a home opener loss to the Lions. This team was 10-6 last year and is still one of the youngest teams in the league. They have a lot of raw talent that might pose several different matchup issues for the Vikings on both sides of the ball. Hopefully the Vikings can survive one final game without Kevin Williams and squeak out a close victory at home.

Final Thoughts
Congrats to Chad Greenway and Adrian Peterson on their new contracts. They are two players on both sides of the ball that this team could not afford to lose. I had no worries about Peterson getting a deal done and was pleasantly surprised to see Greenway possibly stay a Viking for life. The Wilfs have constantly shown that they will do what it takes monetarily to keep the Vikings competitive and it should help in their quest for a new stadium - or so one would think.

Quick Hits from around the League
- The Rams lost more than a game to the Eagles, they lost half their offense.
- Never saw the Bills destruction of the Chiefs in Arrow Head coming. Most of the fans cleared out early to make sure they didn't see all of it.
- In the battle of number one seeds from last year, the Bears took out the Falcons with ease.
- The Lions carry on their Preseason momentum with a big opening day win on the road against the Bucs.
- The Jags dump their starting QB after preseason and win. Perhaps CJ would have been more effective with a preseason under his belt while his agent dealt with the number$$.
- Bengals win the Battle of Ohio, didn't see that one coming.
- In a game that normally totals less than 15 points, the Ravens made a clear statement by punching the Steelers in the mouth.
- The Texans humiliated the Manning-less Colts. Get used it to Colts fans.
- Skins beat the Giants and look better with Grossman than they did with McNabb? Take a deep breath Vikings fans, it's week one.
- The Cards survived Cam's phenomenal debut - 422 yards for the rook!
- 49ers nearly double up TJack and the Seahawks. Wonder how long Pete Carroll will continue to think the Vikings didn't give Jackson a fair chance?
- Rodgers and Brees put on a opening night show last Thursday. Too bad it was decided on the final play at the hands of a rookie.

Who I like on Monday Night
In the opening Monday Night double header I like the Pats easily over the Fins and Broncos barely over the Raiders.

Till Next Week,
SKOL Vikings!

Purple Pride Ponderings 10/14/2010

2010-10-14T14:45:00.001-05:00

Purple Pride Ponderings 10/14/2010
Minnesota Vikings @ New York Jets
Vikings - 20
Jets - 29

At a time when Minnesota sports fans needed a boost, the prodigal son, Randy Moss came back home. The Yankees finished off the (mostly) yearly post season drubbing of the Twins, the Wild lost their first two games, and the Wolves....well, they continue to be the Wolves.

So here comes #84 to save the day and hopefully, save the season. One would think that leading up to a big game against the Jets, the buzz would be centered around the return of the Super Freak in a purple jersey. But no, instead, Brett Favre finds a way to steal that thunder (notice how the game was delayed) and Moss' triumphant return is nothing more than a sidebar all week.

You can read my take on the Favre kerfuffle below in Final Thoughts, for now, let's go over the Jets game shall we.

Two Face
We've all heard the saying that it's a 60 minute game, not 30. Many coaches will spout that off as they head into the locker room at halftime after a horrendous first half. Sometimes you hear it during the post game press conference from a coach whose team just lost after having a substantial lead in the first half.

Much like the character Two Face from the Batman comics and movies, the Vikings offense was ugly and unbearable in one half, yet showed it's potential, grace, and power in the second half. Unfortunately the second half wasn't without imperfections. When you dig yourself into a hole in the first half, odds are you need to play mistake free football in the second half. While the final interception sealed the fate of this game, it was the over throw to Havin that sticks out the most. Favre claims that's a throw he normally makes in his sleep. Well Mr. Favre, sometimes you have to admit that all is not right (mentally and physically at this point) and allow your team the chance to win by pulling yourself out.

Missing Chester
There was no question that Chester Taylor would be missed. He was the perfect third down back for this team and always seemed to get the big first downs. What's missed most though was his ability to pickup the Blitz. The Vikings running backs are struggling to do this, and with Favre's mobility issues, it's a recipe for disaster. I thought Gerhart or Tahi would be able to step in, but neither are capable of getting the job done. The Gerhart pick seemed like a good idea at the time and a possible Chester Taylor replacement. Through four games though, I'm not sure if this kid can do anything good in the NFL. He looks slow, clumsy, and lost out there. Someone needs to step in and rectify this, Peterson is good, but he's not getting paid to be a blocking back.

Honorable Effort
It's hard to praise anything after a loss, but with the field position the offense consistently left the defense with, it was amazing the Vikings even had a chance to win this game late. With the offense sputtering, the defense stood to the task in the first half and kept the Jets out of the endzone. Let's not sugar coat this too much though as the Jets receivers had some early issues catching perfectly placed balls by Sanchez.

In the end, the defense has looked good enough to sustain wins should the offense find any kind of rhythm. My main concern right now is, where's the mighty pass rush? Even more glaring, where's Jarred Allen? He makes far too much money to be shut down by every team other than the Packers.

Stud and Goat of the Week
Stud: Percy Harvin - Sure he's going to benefit from Moss (Welker owners, watch your stock plummet now), but the kid can just flat out play. The play of the game was the catch in the back of the end zone. He's strong enough to avoid a push out and keep his feet inbounds while making a great catch.

Goat: Favre/Childress - Favre for putting this team in this predicament, Childress for enabling it. Scandal aside, Favre is not healthy enough to play, period.

What's on Tap
Fox's big game of the week right? The 1-3 Cowboys come into Mall of America Field ready to avenge their 2009 Playoff loss to the 1-3 Vikings. Not exactly what the network had planned, nor could any of us guessed would be the case before the season started. The Cowboys are still ticked about the Vikings running up the score in the playoffs (though they did their share of trash talk before the game to warrant it), but that has to be last on their minds as they look to avoid going 1-4. As for the Vikings, it's the Welcome home party everyone's been waiting for, the return of Randy Moss, in the Dome! That alone will energize the crowd and create a circus atmosphere, something that does not bode well for the Cowboys. There's a lot of if's in this game, mostly related to the Vikings signal caller, but I like the Vikings to make a turn to the positive in this game. Vikings win, and I see visions of Moss jumping into the crowd on two occasions during his homecoming.

Final Thoughts
Oh Favre, you tease us with your greatness only to bring us down Tiger Woods style. Say it isn't so Brett! Penisgate, donglegate, crocgate, whatever you want to call it....why Brett, why? I know it's innocent until proven guilty, but the writing's on the wall with this one. For someone so worried about his image, he's yet to deny his involvement with the Jenn Sterger case. Add a tearful apology to the team in the locker room before the game and it doesn't take a CSI expert to figure this one out.

Looking back at the off season now, there were signs pointing back to then. We all know he likes to miss camp, but I honestly believe he wasn't coming back without Childress sending his thugs down to get him (yes, I just called Longwell a thug, what the.....). He must have known then that if he came back to play, this scandal would break, especially with the Vikings playing the Jets on Monday night. Had he stayed home, this would have gone no where and his life as a grandpa would have been uninterrupted. He's yet to show that childlike emotion and passion while on the field, instead, he looks like someone that's carrying a heavy burden. Perhaps someone that's about to lose his wife and shatter is own perfect image.

He's mentally not in these games and the tendinitis in his throwing arm is starting to cost this team games. The time is now for Childress to pull the plug on Favre and attempt to electrify this team with Tavaris Jackson. Randy Moss makes QB's look good, and Jackson surely has the arm to hit him and, dare I say, Berrian deep down field. When Jackson stepped in for Frerotte in 2008, he played well enough to put the Vikings in the post season. This offense has many more proven weapons now than it did then, plus his mobility out of the pocket could pay dividends as well. Childress has a reputation to uphold and it could come with switching to Jackson, the QB he's promised for years that will be the missing link.

Till Next Week,
SKOL Vikings!

Purple Pride Ponderings 9/27/2010

2010-09-26T20:34:00.005-05:00

Purple Pride Ponderings 9/29/2010
Detroit Lions @ Minnesota Vikings
Vikings - 24
Lions - 10

The third game of a NFL season should never be considered a must win game, but that is where the Vikings found themselves on the brink of a early bye. Winning can cure a lot of things, even if that win comes against the (improved) Lions. The Defense got a bit healthier with the returns of corner backs Giffin and Cook, but the offense could use a swift break. So wipe those brows Vikings fans and sigh a collective breath of relief, at least they're not 0-3.

Penalties
12 Penalties for 100 yards cost this team from having a more explosive day. Since I'm late on this writing, and can say this - at least it wasn't 18, right Packer fans!! Seriously though, it comes down to discipline and for a mostly veteran team, this is unacceptable. They are lucky the Lions failed to capitalize on most of these mistakes or this could easily have been a "The sky is falling" segment. Clean up the mistakes and watch the scoreboard light up for the Purple.

All Day
Thank god for Adrian Peterson. With a stagnant passing game, Adrian Peterson is proving once again that he is the best running back in football. Peterson had a gaudy 7.0 yards per carry and had one of those signature runs as he busted out for his longest run ever from the line of scrimmage, 80 yards. If there was ever any question about Peterson losing a step, he proved all wrong on that run as be blew by two defenders that had a perfect angle on him. This is Adrian's team, not Favre's, and he's showing that with his play on and off the field.

Stud and Goat of the Week
Stud: Adrian Peterson - Not much more I can say than what I did above. Without Peterson in this game, the Vikings are 0-3, Favre's on his way back to Mississippi, and the Governor race no longer includes plans to fund a new Vikings Stadium.

Goat: Detroit Lions - I give the Lions this award simply because I feel they should be a better team than what their 0-3 record shows. Sure you can argue that they should have beaten the Bears on the last play of that game, but once again, given opportunity after opportunity to win, they fail in the end. The Vikings once again made enough mistakes to lose this game and the Lions failed to capitalize.

What's on Tap
I don't normally like early bye weeks, but this year, I more than welcome it especially going in on a positive note. It's time for this team to take a good look at itself and try to regain the offense swagger they had last season. It will get better once Sidney Rice returns, but he's still going to need some game speed adjusting early on. It's a good thing Adrian Peterson is playing with a chip on his shoulder, this is his team and the offense should run through him (or him run through defenses actually).

Final Thoughts
I understand the League's stance on protecting the QB, especially with all the head injury concerns. However, I am getting a bit frustrated with the ticky tacky calls against defensive players when it comes to pursuing the quarterback. There were two times in this game, one against each team, that had me shaking my head. A defensive lineman's job is to put pressure on the quarterback and knock him to the turf. So far this year, if you do that very thing, you're going to get flagged. The refs need to be taught to use common sense when enforcing the roughing the passer rules. This is a contact sport and the QB's do wear pads like everyone else. It's taking away from the game when defensive players find themselves afraid to even touch a QB, let alone deliver a game breaking hit that could result in an exciting play.

See you in two weeks and enjoy the bye.
SKOL VIKINGS!

Purple Pride Ponderings 9/23/2010

2010-09-21T11:01:00.005-05:00

Miami Dolphins @ Minnesota Vikings
Vikings - 10
Dolphins - 14

0-2, who would have ever thought the Vikings and Cowboys would be sitting in this hole already? Two playoff teams that have been touted as two of the best teams in the NFC for the 2010 season. Should these teams be hitting the panic button yet? I don't think so, but going 0-3 is damn near insurmountable. Since the Super Bowl era, no team has ever reached a Championship game after starting the season 0-3. Sure the lowly Lions are next and at home, but these motor city kitties should have beaten Chicago and took the Eagles to the hilt. Plus, their defense is vastly improved and Jahvid Best is a beast and appears to be the real deal.

Favre From Mid Season Form
He's in his 20th season, why does he need to be at training camp? Heard that plenty of times over the last two years and I'm sure I've even muttered it myself. Yes last year was special, but it still took Favre a few games to really get going. Unfortunately this year, when you start with two losses, things get exposed a bit more. Favre threw three picks at home against the Dolphins (granted the one to Harvin at the goal line was not his fault) which is already one more in the Dome than he had all last season.

His timing with his receivers is completely off (minus Shiancoe) and it's concrete proof that a few more weeks with these guys would have helped. Aside from that, his body language is showing that he's feeling 40 this year. Last year he looked fresh, was smiling all time and having fun. When Brett's having fun, look out! Of course the smiles and fun factor come a bit easier when you're winning.

Something To Prove
It's no secret that all eyes are on Adrian Peterson every time he touches the ball. For Vikings fans, it's a simple hold of the breath, for all others, it's awaiting that I told you so moment. So far, Peterson is silencing his critics and running with a serious purpose. Childress finally went back to giving him the number of carries he's warranted and Peterson answered with 145 yards on the ground, 41 in the air, and a touchdown. It's just too bad the offensive line was unable to create a decent hole for him to score when it was 1st and goal in the fourth quarter or we could be talking about a victory.

Still Time To Catch On?
Since I'm so late on this edition, the Wednesday deadline for a Vincent Jackson trade has passed. Too bad for him and too bad for the Vikings. The only positive I can pull out of this is that Vikings stood their ground and did not mortgage their future for a one season rental. San Diego failed to move the disgruntled wide out and now have to live with their decision to demand far too much for Jackson.

Still though, there is clearly a issue when it comes to play makers in the passing game for Favre. I'm not sure how many more chances Berrian should be allowed. His salary indicates that he should produce for more than he does. The team even put him in as punt returner to try and get something out of him and instead, he's already muffed a couple of fair signal called punts. Camarillo has solid hands and is a good route runner, but he's not going to spread the field. Along with newly acquired Hank Baskett, Favre has a short amount of time to get his timing down with these two receivers.

The issues have even gone as far as having Favre lineup as a defensive back in practice today to get a better idea of what his receivers are doing. That's as close to hitting the panic button as ever after missing out on Vincent Jackson. One thing's clear, this team needs to get a healthy Sidney Rice back as soon as possible.

Stud and Goat of the Week
Stud: Adrian Peterson -186 All-Purpose yards and a touchdown, that's more than enough to get this reward.

Goat: Bret Favre -Three interceptions and a fumble in the end zone that lead to a Dolphins touchdown, that's more than enough to get this reward.

What's on Tap
Week three and it's safe to say this is a must win game for the Vikings. As I mentioned in the opening, teams don't fare well after starting 0-3 and right after the Bye, the Vikings have four very tough games (@Jets, DAL, @GB, @NE).

Since Matt Millen's departure in Detroit, the Lions are slowly looking like a team that's on the verge of being competitive again. They are building a defense meant to stop teams like the Vikings and Packers and have a potential super star at running back. Detroit cannot be looked at as a trap team anymore and not only do they want to avoid 0-3 as well, they know they should at least be 1-1 right now.

Final Thoughts
Much like the NFC Championship game last season, the Vikings lost a close game that they easily could have won had they not turned over the ball. Last year, the Vikings were nearly perfect at home. After playing their first game in Mall of America Field this year, many are questioning this team's ability to score and play turnover free football. It's still early enough to rebound and find some kind of offensive continuity, but it has to happen this Sunday against the Lions. The defense is playing solid enough to win, now the offense needs to join them and this will once again be a top tier team for the 2010 season.

Till Next Week,
SKOL Vikings!

Purple Pride Ponderings 9/13/2010

2010-09-13T14:05:00.007-05:00

Minnesota Vikings @ New Orleans Saints
Saints - 14
Vikings - 9

So I've had a few days to mull over another Vikings loss to the Saints in the Big Easy. It's now Monday and I enjoyed a full day of week one NFL games thanks to Direct TV's free NFL Sunday Ticket preview weekend. No, I don't work for Direct TV, but I must say, that was the most impressive TV viewing of my life. It's a no brainer for those of us that play Fantasy Football with the ability to get player notifications across the screen of the players you choose. Enough of that though, time to get back on topic here. What I was trying to get at is in week one, was saw plenty of games and teams/players that are no where near mid season form, at the Vikings were no exception to that. Overall, the Vikings and Saints game was a dud, with both teams having rather lackluster offensive performances. So without further ado, it's time to break down the first Vikings game of the 2010 NFL Season - it's good to be back!

TJack in a Favre Disguise
I'm not a Tavaris Jackson basher, I sincerely would like to see the kid succeed and have the chance to lead this team after Favre retires (yeah I know, but I really believe this is finally it for him). With that said, Favre's line after this game looked very much like a TJack line we he was getting the starts at QB. Favre didn't exactly light it up last year in game one against the Browns, but he was still figuring things out with his new team and players. Plus, all he had to do in that game was hand it off to Adrian Peterson (something we should have seen more of in this game, but more on that later).

This time around however, it was just pure rust and a clear indication that his lack of Training Camp is a detriment. Other than Shaincoe, his timing was off with the other receivers and it's clear that he misses Sidney Rice's play making abilities and size. It would be nice to see the Vikings pick up disgruntled Vincent Jackson, but I don't think it's possible due to the money involved. Had Favre not gotten any additional money to come back, maybe, but that there alone ruins the chances of getting the much needed play maker. It's too bad, imagine having Jackson, Rice, Harvin, Shaincoe, and Peterson for the second half of the season.

This loss is on Childress, again
For Vikings fans, it's no secret that the team has lost several games simply due to being out coached. That was on display for the largest nationally televised audience in over 13 years this past Thursday night. The Vikings took the crowd out of the game with a long, methodical drive going into the half. Sure it only lead to three points, but that three points put them in the lead and kept Brees and company off the field. They did this by establishing the run, and Peterson was abusing their font seven while making them look gassed. Peterson had 13 carries in the 1st half, followed by only six in the 2nd half. It does not take a football genius to figure out why the Vikings lost a close game to the Saints in week one. Everyone talks about how great Chris Johnson is because of the numbers he is posting, but he does not have a bafoon of a head coach holding him back. There is no excuse for Peterson to get under 20 carries in any game. He's a 25-30 carry back, and it's time Childress acknowledged that and let Peterson get his buck fifty and two TD's every game. For the record, I do not have Adrian on my Fantasy team.

Remarkable Return
When EJ Henderson went down last December with the horrific broken leg, every thought his career was over. Well, do you believe in miracles? Nine short months later, Henderson started in this game against the Saints and was the second leading tackler in the game. To put it into perspective, it wasn't until mid April when he was allowed to attempt walking unassisted. His desire, work ethic, and never-say-never mentality during his recovery is something I marvel at and is the way I'd like to live my life.

Stud and Goat of the Week

Stud: Leslie Frazier - After the opening drive when the Saints marched straight down the field and scored on five quick plays, I feared the worst. The Vikings only had three corner backs and I had flash backs of the Halloween game I had first row seats in the end zone against the Patriots. To refresh your memory, that was the Monday Night game were Brady slung the ball all over the place and the Patriots didn't even bother running the ball.

But, after the rush of the jacked up crowd, mostly due to the celebration of the Super Bowl banner, the Vikings defense settled down nicely. This was due to Frazier's ability to make adjustments and place players in the right spots when short handed. I've been saying for the past couple of years that he deserves to be a head coach in this league, and I'd rather see that happen as the Vikings head coach.

Goat: Brad Childress - Already addressed this above and wasted enough time on him.

What's on Tap
Home opener against the Dolphins. A good time for the Vikings to regain their confidence and find that offensive swagger. Percy Harvin appears to have found the cause of his headaches (sleep apnea) and there will be ways to control it. Favre will settle down and start finding his groove with the wide receivers and I expect a huge game out of Peterson assuming Childress is capable of allowing his best weapon to get the number of touches he deserves.

Final Thoughts
Should the Vikings pursue Vincent Jackson? Tough one to call here due to the money involved and his current suspension status. If the suspension is dropped to three games due to a team change, it seems feasible. In the end though, I think the Vikings just have too many large salaries to deal with. I fully expect them to sign another receiver this week, but I expect a low impact move like Javon Walker, not a big splash like Vincent Jackson. Hell, I hear Randy Moss is feeling unloved in New England and Favre pushed for him when he was back with Green Bay......yeah, not gonna happen.

Till Next Week,
SKOL Vikings!

Favre and Social Media

2010-08-05T10:57:00.003-05:00

After taking a couple of days to digest the start of Favrepaloza 2010, I decided it was time to rant a bit about this week's media handling of the situation. Reporting is much different now than it was 20 years ago. Long before social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook, journalists would actually spend time gathering facts on a particular story before a single finger touched a keyboard or pen (yes, people actually used to write things out first). Now someone hears a possible rumor, tweets about it like it's gospel, and before you know it, within a matter of minutes, it's spread across every media outlet in the nation.

That's exactly what happened this week when StarTribune's Judd Zulgad issued this Tweet: "Brett Favre began telling Vikings officials last night he will NOT return for a 20th season."

By the end of the hour, ESPN jumped all over this and began running non-stop Favre coverage to include Favre's top ten plays and moments and his legendary career. Why and how does this happen? Have we not all learned that when Brett's involved, it's best to wait things out and get clarification. The entire time this was going on, I didn't believe a single word of it. It's one thing if Favre had called a press conference and stated that he's done (to which we still can't believe what he says), but this was all based off some unknown players supposedly stating that Favre had texted them.

The entire debacle was uncalled for and could have easily been avoided had today's journalists done their homework first, like they were once expected to do. Favre took a lot of heat and criticism on this one and for a change, he didn't do anything wrong. That's not to say that he's off the hook however. He could have easily made a phone call to his buddy at ESPN Ed Werder and made a statement to be aired that he never said he's done playing.

As for the reports now coming out that this was a move in order for Favre to get more money from the Vikings, I don't buy that one bit. It's never been about the money for Favre and he's already poised to make 13 Million this season.

Instead, I believe it's all about covering up the fact that he's once again, not in Mankato. His latest statement is that if his ankle can handle it, he's playing. Much like the timing of his shoulder last year, this provides a built in excuse for not showing up to camp and the possible unfortunate event that he does not produce the great numbers of last season.

In the end, we should not care and take note that this was all expected to begin with. Sure Packer fans laughed and warned us all about his team hijacking ways, but in the end, who was one game (play) away from the Super Bowl last year? The Favre led Vikings, not the Packers.

Childress addresses questions since meeting with Favre, sorta

2010-07-22T23:44:00.003-05:00

Brad Childress finally fielded some questions today on KFAN since his little meeting with Favre down in Mississippi this past Monday. So what do we know now that we didn't before this thought provoking visit to KFAN? Nothing. As a matter of fact, here's some quotes from the charming head coach that pretty much sums it all up:

"I don't know if he's going to play this year and I don't know if he knows if he's going to play this year."

On the supposed 14 pound weight gain of Favre's:
"He didn't look any different to me," Childress said. "I wouldn't say he's like a puss bucket or anything like that. He said he's gained a little weight. I think what he told me was that his wife Deanna said to him, 'Well, I don't know if you're going to play football anymore or not but you need to do something because you are getting a little soft.'"

It's not a physical decision, but a mental one:
"It's just whether you have it mentally to keep going," Childress said. "Physically, I think he's in pretty good shape. ... I think he's going to do the right thing. I wouldn't want him in half-cocked. I wouldn't want him in to run down the road and back in get a paycheck. That's not the way he's wired. You're not toeing the water, you're not kind of pregnant. You're either all in or you're not all in. That's wherein the decision lies."

How about those rocky times Favre mentioned:
"Was it rocky at times?" Childress said. "I certainly knew of his skill set, but I didn't know the man probably as well as I could have known the man. Was there a recruitment period? Sure there is, and then it's a different deal when he's a strong-willed guy, I'm a strong-willed guy. But one lap around the track I know what I know about him now, watching him on the field, watching him in the building. That's what that visit was about."

As you can see, it was another slow Vikings news day filled with some of the same Favre talk that never seems to end when it comes to the off-season. The local media and ESPN eat this stuff up, but we all know the end result - Favre will be here no earlier than Mid-August, just in time for the Vikings caravan to make the final trip back up North 169 to Winter Park.

Vikings Madden 2011 Player Ratings Released

2010-07-21T00:16:00.003-05:00

I've been absent for far too long here, but the NFL season is upon us so I hope to update my thoughts and views on the Vikings from now and on through the season. Please note that I'm messing around with the different layouts to this blog so it's subject to change, hopefully for the better.

It's that time of the year again. You are either enjoying the high's of your favorite baseball team (White Sox), the up and down pitching rotation headaches (Twins), or the usual summer slump that does not seem to end (Tigers). For the rest of us, we await the start of NFL training camp. While most of the world was captivated by the Dutch's run for World Cup Glory, we; the faithful fans of the gridiron, clamored to watch even the 4th quarter of a preseason game.

Aside from training camps opening over the next couple of weekends, us NFL junkies also look forward to our annual Madden fix on the console of choice. With the recent release of the team player ratings, I thought I would point out some interesting tidbits in regards to the Vikings.

Eight players on the Vikings roster post a rating of 90 or better. Here's a quick breakdown of them:

Jarred Allen - 99 Here's hoping the recent loss of the mullet has zero affect on him.
Adrian Peterson - 98 One has to assume that if he could only hold on to the ball, he'd be a 99 as well.
Kevin Williams - 97 The other half of the Williams wall was low balled with a 88.
Steve Hutchinson - 97 Hard to argue this one, one of the best in the game at his position every year.
Brett Favre - 92 With or without the drama queen act, we all know he'll be back.
Ryan Longwell - 92 Ack! Another former Packer makes the list.
Bryant McKinnie - 90 A very optimistic rating here. He better be prepared to face Julius Peppers twice this season!
Sidney Rice - 90 Much deserved and I expect him to be even better this season.

Jarred Allen is only one of six players to attain the equivalent to Doom's God Mode - the mighty 99. As stated before Peterson could have been yet another if he'd protect the ball a bit better. The Vikings as a team are rated 88, which is one of the best team ratings in the game. Of course, to no surprise to us Vikings fans, the Vikings are the highest rated team in the NFC North.

A few other tidbits in the Vikings ratings that stick out to me include:

- Chris "Warcraft" Kluwe 75: How can one of the best gamers in the NFL be rated a lowly 75? I mean really, he's even in a real band! Kicking away from Reggie Bush might help.

- Greg Lewis 66: The man is holding a ESPY for Best Play for crying out loud! That's got to be at least a +10 buff, right?

- Defensive Backs: Not a single player in the 90's (though I feel there's a strong case for Winfield to be at least 90 - he's rated at 88). Still wondering why the Vikings have a issue defending the passing game?

Well that's it for now, hope you enjoyed it and perhaps we will meet online someday. Mark your calendars and take a day off from work, Madden 2011 hits store shelves on August 10th this year.

Skol Vikings and Game On!

Purple Pride Ponderings Playoff Edition

2010-01-19T09:25:00.002-06:00

The last time I scribed one of these was after the Bengals game. A couple of bad road losses would lead many to believe that I just didn't want to continue this when things go amiss. I can assure you that is not the case. My goal was to complete one after every game this season, no matter what, but the Holidays and work got in my way. So before we dig into the Divisional Playoff game, let's catch up with the end of the season, for my sake.

Vikings at Panthers - Another Sunday night game that ended up horribly for the purple. Bryant McKinnie had the worst game of his career as he ended up getting benched. Johnathan Stewart broke the Vikings impressive streak of holding a running back to under 100 yards. The last back to do so was Green Bay's Ryan Grant in 2007. Barely used Matt Moore made the best of his opportunity torching the Vikings for 299 yards and three touchdowns. This was also the game where a possible schism between Brett Favre and Brad Childress took place, but that was more ESPN hype than anything. Panthers went on to win 26-7 in front of a Sunday Night nationally televised crowd.

Vikings at Bears - Another game the Vikings should not have lost. Had they played even a fraction of the way they played in the second half, this game would have never went to overtime and the Vikings would have been victorious. Since the second half of this game, Brett Favre is playing at a level seldom seen by any Quarterback. The Vikings narrowly lost this one in overtime 36-30, with Peterson taking the blame for a overtime fumble.

Giants at Vikings - Sure the Giants had mailed it in before this one, but the Vikings offense was able to continue to gain the confidence they started from the second half of the Bears game. Brett Favre went mental in this one passing for 316 yards and four TD's. Vikings won handily 44-7 and regained their swagger leading into the playoffs.

That quickly brings us up to speed so now it's time to get to the meat of this Playoff Edition.

Dallas Cowboys at Minnesota Vikings
Vikings 34
Cowboys 3

Rice, Amazing On and Off the Field
Sidney Rice saw the same story last week that many of us in the Fox9 News viewing area saw. A brave little girl from Richmond, WI is battling Leukemia and has the strong support of her community. Her name is Kathryn Glor and last week, she received a call that put a huge smile on her face. That call was Sidney Rice inviting her and her family to Winter Park this past Saturday to hang out with the team. He then provided them with tickets to the game in his guest seating area, some of the best seats in the Dome.

For a little girl that has had to battle day-after-day, Sidney Rice provided her a weekend of fun and excitement and a chance to escape from her daily battle. This is a classic case of someone giving from the heart, and return, receiving something back. Sidney Rice finished the game with 141 yards (the same number of yards he had in the entire 2008 season) and three touchdowns, leading the Vikings charge to victory.

For more information on this and if you'd like to support Kathryn as well, please visit her Caring Bridge page: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kathrynglor

Pants on the Ground, Pants on the Ground
Brett Favre is a name well known around country, but he's also a web sensation thanks to You Tube. I welcome his crazy locker room antics. As everyone saw from that video, the entire team buys into his leadership and fuels off his energy.

In a game where the Dallas Defensive line was supposed to dominate and rattle Favre, he instead lit them up for four touchdowns. That can be attributed to the way the Vikings Offensive Line stepped it up for this game, but it also comes from Favre's leadership. It's no secret that McKinnie struggled mightily against Carolina's Julius Peppers and because of that, many thought DeMarcus Ware would do much of the same. Favre let McKinnie know all week long that he believes in him, trusts him, and knows he's up to the challenge and more than capable of shutting down Ware. That's exactly what McKinnie did and with a QB like Favre, if you protect him, he will shred an opposing defense apart.

A True Defensive Leader
While many players made play-after-play on Sunday, sometimes you need to acknowledge the commander that provides the battle plan. Leslie Frazier's scheme for this game was pure brilliance. His decision to challenge Ray Edwards paid dividends and is something that should not be overlooked. With Jarred Allen getting double-teamed on every snap, Edwards is normally in a position where he gets the one-on-one matchups. Frazier picked the perfect time to fire up Edwards as he finished the game with five tackles, three sacks (for a total loss of 23 yards), and a forced fumble.

The entire front four put constant pressure on Romo and set the tone for this game. After hearing all week about how the Dallas front four was going to dominate the game and get to Favre, it was nice to see Frazier tweak his game plan and turn the tables on the Cowboys. Frazier is highly deserving of a head coaching spot and I hope he gets his chance soon. Until then, he's needed here to conjure up a plan to stop the Saints offense.

Momentum vs. Rest
The Vikings, Saints, and Colts all proved that a well rested team is far more dangerous than a Wild Card team with momentum. The Jets are the only team to dispel that this year, but they defeated a team with the most momentum in the NFL.

The Cowboys were red-hot coming into this game, but their last two games were played at home, both times against the Eagles. They flat-out had the Eagles number this year and they played their hearts out in the final two contests while Brad Childress gave the entire team a week off. If you put yourself in a position to play come this time of the year, getting the much needed week of rest is pivotal and there's no denying that it helped the Vikings.

Classless? How about Out Classed
Keith Brooking's little tyraid after the Vikings scored late in the fourth on a 4th and 3 play is rather comical. These are grown men playing in the NFL. Not touchy little kids playing on a Saturday morning. The NFL game is played for 60 minutes, and if you're on defense, you better be ready to make a play no matter what the scoreboard reads. This is the Playoffs, there's no such thing as running up the score when you are on a quest to play in the Super Bowl. At the time of the play, the Cowboys were burning time outs to stop the clock. If they deemed the game out of reach, why bother calling the time outs? The last thing the Vikings defense wanted was to go back out on the field and give up a garbage touchdown. This team dealt all week with talk about how the Cowboys would dominate on both sides of the ball, and I'm sure they were tired of it. The Vikings made a statement with that last touchdown, but not necessarily to the Cowboys. Instead they made a statement to themselves, knowing that they will need to play inspired and flawless football to beat the Saints in New Orleans.

Classless you say Brooking? Not in the least, your team was just simply out classed on this particular Sunday.

Stud and Goat of the Week
Since it's the playoffs, I thought I'd make a little change here and list the top performers on both sides of the ball.

Stud Offensive Player: Sidney Rice - 141 yards and three touchdowns......and a heart of gold to boot.

Stud Defensive Player: Ray Edwards - Stepped up to the plate following Leslie Frazier's challenge, and delivered.

Goat: Keith Brooking - You're not playing Pop Warner Football anymore Keith. You are in the NFL, shut your mouth and make a play. The last time I checked, the NFL is still 40 for 60.

What's on Tap
Instead of the Saints marching in, it's the Vikings marching into New Orleans. This is the NFC match up the NFL has been clamoring for, and now we've got it. The best way to quiet the Super Dome is to get off to a fast start on offense and apply the pressure on Brees on Defense. As long as the Vikings win the turn-over battle, they should have a serious chance to defeat the Saints at home and make their way to Miami. It's been 10 years since the Vikings were in the NFC Championship game and Brett does not have much left to offer after this year so the time is now.
As John Randle would say: Regulators, Mount Up!

Final Thoughts
Reggie Bush provided a bit of Bulletin Board material today stating that he would propose to Kim
Kardashian at the Super Bowl. Sounds like Mr. Bush is overlooking the Vikings in this game. I'm fine with that, the Vikings overlooked the Falcons in '98 and had to suffer watching them go to Miami that year instead.

Either way, this should be a great game and it sure is nice to have another Sunday to look forward to at this time of the year.

Till Next Week,
SKOL VIKINGS!

Purple Pride Ponderings 12/15/2009

2009-12-15T20:40:00.003-06:00

Cincinnati Bengals at Minnesota Vikings
Vikings 30
Bengals 10

Bounce back. Two words used often in sports. Two words that sum up the Vikings efforts against the Bengals. A quick search on the meaning of Bounce back returns this: To recover quickly, as from a setback. Calling the game in Arizona the week before a setback would be a nice way of putting it. After getting physically beat down in ever facet of the game in the desert, the Vikings needed a true bounce back effort and had to show the ability to establish dominance on the offensive and defensive lines. That is exactly the kind of effort the Vikings gave this past Sunday against the Bengals.

Welcome Back Tempo Setter
Antoine Winfield made his presence known right away in this game during the opening drive when he up ended a Bengal wide out sending him into a shot down helicopter plunge to the turf. He led the team in tackles with nine, forced a fumble, and nearly had a pick (which he punished himself for with push-ups). Not bad for a guy that missed the past six weeks. What's even more important is the energy he brings seems to be contagious. Madieu Williams and Cedric Griffin appeared to have a lot more pop in their hits, just ask Chad Ochocinco. He may not be 100% healthy until the off season, but his pure art of tackling and inspiration for the rest of the secondary are much needed for the push into the Playoffs and beyond.

Oh no you don't Ocho
Chad Ochocinco (I still can't believe we actually call him this) did his usual trash talking leading up to this game. It's well documented that he was going to go for Ragnar's horn and possibly even his bike. After scoring on a well designed play that fooled even Antoine Winfield, all cameras and eyes were on number 85 in anticipation of his theatrics. Instead, Chad made his way to the sidelines where Coach Lewis said something into his ear, and moments later, he was on the bench catching a breather. After all the speculation and hype, that was it. Good call by Chad (or perhaps it was Marvin Lewis telling him to just take a seat) in this case because the Bengals were still down and it would be the last touchdown the Bengals scored the rest of the game. I know a lot of people get ticked off about these planed celebrations in the NFL, but when it comes to Chad, I don't have a problem with it. He still plays the game hard on every down (which is more than a certain receiver in Boston can say) and enjoys being a entertainer. His acts are usually classy and clearly just meant to be fun. While he didn't get a chance to steal Ragnar's horn, he was presented with a Vikings horn of his own, autographed by Ragnar himself.

Speaking of Bounce Back
I know I already mentioned that the team in general had a bounce back game, but there's a few individual efforts to point out in this area. Favre, Peterson, and the Secondary. All three had their worst games last week and followed that up with solid performances against the Bengals. Favre's number may not have been as great as they've been through most of the season, but he took command of this game and his experience and leadership showed in the final drives, keeping the ball away from Carson Palmer and company. Peterson; who appears to be having a rather off year even though he's third in the NFL with 1200 yards, ran with passion and finished with 137 all-purpose yards and a touchdown. Without Winfield last week, the secondary got torched for almost 300 yards and three touchdowns against the Cardinals. This week, with Winfield back, they terrorized Palmer as they held him to under 100 yards. Also to be noted here is that the secondaries job is a bit easier when the front four are applying pressure, something they did very well this week.

Whew, that was close!
Sure streaks are meant to be broken and in the end, who really cares unless you are talking about Super Bowls, but come on, 36 games now with out a 100 yard rusher, that's something to pound your chest about. Ok, so maybe something for the Williams Wall to pound their chest about, but it feels good on the fan side of things as well. Cedric Benson did all he could to end this streak coming just four yards shy of the elusive triple digit. 42 yards of it did come on one run and thankfully, due to the large lead the Vikings had, the Bengals were forced to abandon the run in the final few drives. The next true shot for a back to stop this streak is this coming Sunday against the Panthers. Despite the Panthers record and issues this season, DeAngelo Williams is still having a nice season and is over 1100 yards after 13 games.

Stud and Goat of the Week
Stud: Antoine Winfield - He might only be 5'9", but you won't find a more pure, hard hitting corner in the league. After missing six weeks, Winfield looked like he's still in Pro Bowl form and ready to lead a talented Vikings Defense into the Playoffs. EJ Henderson will be missed, but Winfield's return is huge.

Goat: Carson Palmer - With many Fantasy Football Leagues in the 1st week of their playoffs (I've got the Bye in all three of mine, thank you very much), how many owners got burned by the horrible performance from Carson Palmer?

What's on Tap
Back-to-back road games under the lights coming up, first stop, Carolina. Here's hoping the Panthers don't play the role of a wounded animal and sneak up and bite the Vikings. The Vikings are a much better team and should be able to take care of business in this one. The QB situation in Carolina is in disarray and the Panthers have been giving up a ton of yards and points this season.

Final Thoughts
Feels good to know the Vikings have a Playoff spot locked up after 13 games, but let's not stop there. The Saints should have no problem locking up the number one seed so the Vikings have take care of business here and lockup the number two seed. I don't like looking ahead too much, but a Vikings/Saints showdown sure does look mighty tasty. Out of all the other teams that appear to be headed for January play, the Eagles worry me the most. There's just something about Childress going up against Andy Reid again. Plus, the Eagles appear to be hitting their stride and DeSean Jackson has turned out to be exactly what Devin Hester wishes he were.

Till Next Week,
SKOL Vikings!

Purple Pride Ponderings 12/8/2009

2009-12-07T20:59:00.002-06:00

Minnesota Vikings at Arizona Cardinals
Cardinals 30
Vikings 17

One thing that's been needed for this blog is some kind of original graphic to signify it. As you can see above (or on the news reel at Sports Rumor Mill), I've finally got one. I'd like to extend a big thanks out to Saltn4Dollars - the graphic designer guru at Sports Rumor Mill. While at the Mill, I happened to toss a shout out to him about getting such a graphic. The very next day, there it was. The pictures, the film reels, the pen, the coffee, and the X's and O's all sum this up perfectly. So thanks again Saltn, your work is very much appreciated. Now on to a more somber topic, the game in the desert.

It Starts up Front
Leading up to this game, the talk was about how the Vikings front four on defense and entire offensive line would/should dominate the Cardinals. Instead, the Cardinals line's on both sides of the ball not only dictated the pace of the game, they were the dominant force. Adrian Peterson and the Vikings running game in general, never got on track. Favre didn't have anywhere near the time to pass as he's had the past few weeks and suffered three sacks. Defensively, Jarred Allen was held in check and the Williams wall was busted up for 113 rushing yards (though the single back held under 100 yards streak is still alive).

Run First Offense?
Remember when this was a run first offense? Remember when Brett Favre was signed, that it was still going to be a run first offense? Favre's "pitch count" has been getting a little to high as far as I'm concerned and we are seeing more passes on 1st and 2nd down than expected. While this particular game seemed to get out of hand, it was still way too early to get pass happy. I don't care if Peterson appears to be getting bottled up, you still have to pound it with him. 13 carries is half of what he should get in any game. He's a game breaker and will wear down a defense. While Favre has been playing well this year, he simply cannot continue to have 35 - 50 attempts per game.

Calm Down
This game was bad, no other way to spin it. Let's not get too carried away with the panic button though. This is not the start of a Favre downward spiral like last season with the Jets. He is not playing hurt, he just had a off game for the first time all season. That is attributed to failure in coaching by abandoning the run too early. Favre was far from being the only reason for this loss and I addressed that above when talking about the line play.

This was the perfect time to have a meltdown game like this. Now they've gotten it out of their system and know what needs to be worked on as they strive to hold on to the number two seed in the Conference. Last year's Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers lost in week 16 to the Titans 31-14. That was at a critical time when the Ravens were right behind them in the standings fighting for the division and more importantly, they were on the heels of taking over the number one seed in the AFC from the Titans.. I fully expect this team to bounce back at home against the Bengals and once again show that they are one of the league's more dominant teams. You simply can't take away anything from the Cardinals in this one though. They came into this game with their backs against the wall and something to prove in the National spotlight while playing at home.

Tough Break
That was one of the most unfortunate injuries for EJ Henderson to suffer. The femur is the largest bone in the human body and one of the most painful bones to break. EJ was just starting to show the return of his Pro Bowl form after missing most of last year due to a foot injury. He's become the General on the field for the defense and will be missed dearly. Early word is that this could be a career threatening injury, but don't count him out just yet. Former Wild defenseman Kurtis Foster suffered the same injury last March, and is now on the ice again for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Here's hoping Henderson finds himself back on the field and Godspeed to him and his recovery.

Stud and Goat of the Week
Stud: Kurt Warner - What a game after sitting out last week for concussion precautions (I don't care what anyone says, when dealing with the head, he made the right move last week). Warner has been unstoppable in his last four games. His ball placement and accuracy in this game was something to behold.

Goat: Brad Childress - Brad finally makes his way here because of his reluctance to pound the ball with Adrian Peterson. Not sure if it's his way of punishing him for the fumbles last week or the 109mph speeding ticket he got in Edina on 62 last Saturday. Either way, you simply can't abandon the run, it's a major part of what makes this offense tick and become unstoppable at times.

What's on Tap
At the beginning of the season the Bengal game looked like a easy win. A 9-3 record and all but locked up AFC North leading Bengal team later, it's not looking so easy now. Look for the Bengals to do what Childress didn't do against the Cardinals, pound it out with Benson, even against the vaunted Vikings rush defense. The Vikings need to feed off the energy in the Dome get back on track in this one and I have a feeling they will.

Final Thoughts
"I feel the need, the need for Speed!" Adrian Peterson and Bernard Berrian pulled their best Maverick and Goose impersonations last week getting speeding tickets in the Twin Cites at speeds over 100mph. Stupid? Yes. But I'll take it over the infamous Bang Boat and running over a traffic cop incidents. Perhaps Peterson's upset that every one's talking about how fast Chris Johnson is these days. As for Berrian, he's supposed to be the speedy deep threat guy and every one's nearly forgotten his name thanks to Rice and Harvin. Since both will potentially be losing their licence for up to six months, I'm hear to say that I'll quit my job and drive either around for what I'm getting paid now. Tough time of the year for that kind of ticket, think the state will let them pay it off in installments?

Till Next Week,
SKOL Vikings!

Purple Pride Ponderings 12/1/2009

2009-12-01T21:02:00.003-06:00

Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings
Vikings 36
Bears 10

You might say that I took a chance on last week's What's on Tap segment, but I had a feeling and I went with it. The Bears are clearly no threat and as a franchise, they should be disgusted with themselves for giving up all the much needed future draft picks and money for Jay Cutler. Sure he doesn't have the weapons that Brett Favre and Drew Brees have - I get that and I'm tired of hearing it from the Bear apologists out there. That is not the problem with Cutler, he had all those weapons in Denver, yet still forced himself out of there. The guy is a not a leader, he has no passion and that's in plain sight for everyone to see. So in the end, the Vikings got the better of the off season QB sweepstakes, at least for this season.

M-V-P
What more can you do Brett Favre? The thing to watch now is, can he sustain this level of play in the final five games to capture his fourth MVP title. It will be tough and it will be close. Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are playing out their collective minds as well and it's no secret as to why the top three teams in the NFL are the Saints, Colts, and Vikings. Favre chucked it up 48 times for 392 yards, 3 TD's, and once again, no interceptions. He went the entire month of November without throwing a pick. Brett Favre, a full month without a pick! If Marty McFly came to my house in his Delorean earlier in this decade and told me he would do this in 2009, I would have lost my breath laughing. Come to think of it, I would have died laughing after he told me he did it wearing Purple.

Purple People Eaters
Everyone is trying to coin a new phrase for the fearsome front four. I say forget it. After watching them play in those lovely throw back uni's, we have to keep the Purple People Eaters moniker. Aside from one drive where Cutler threw short little dump off passes all the way down the field (and to give credit when credit is due, that was a beautiful pass for the touchdown), the Vikings defense completely dominated the Bears. Of the 169 total yards the Bears gained, only 12 of them came in the second half. The Vikings got four sacks (two by Allen), two picks, and held the Bears to only eight first downs in the entire game. Just a dominating performance by this unit and one that seems to be hitting its stride. Not bad considering the fact that Antoine Winfield was able to rest yet another game.

Offensive Explosion
While the defense kept the Bears offense off the field, the Vikings offense enjoyed clocking a little overtime. The gaudy numbers speak for themselves: 40+ minutes of time of possession, 537 yards of offense and 83 total offensive plays ran in this game. I heard Childress say that anything over 60 plays in the NFL is ridiculous, so how do you label 83? Call it what you want, I call it amazing. Those are the kind of numbers I'd like the Vikings to have should they ever match up against the Saints in the Playoffs. I'm not sure what's getting into this team in the 2nd quarter, but in the past two games, they have scored 45 points before the half after starting a bit slow, going scoreless in the 1st quarter. Of course the opening drive of the game was looking to be a touchdown drive before Peterson put the ball on the carpet, which I'm getting to right about......now.

All Day Fumbles Away
As great as he is, as great as he still can be, it's hard to watch him fumble the ball. It's gotten to the point that when he gets piled up, I start praying that he holds on to the ball. I understand the notion that he fumbles so much because he touches the ball a lot and tries to extend plays too much (tries to hard is another way of saying it), but when it comes down to it, he just has to protect the damn ball. On his first fumble for example, he made his way towards the sideline and instead of switching the ball to the sideline side (away from the defenders), he kept it in his right arm where it was still exposed. Not only does this allow defenders to punch it out, it also provides for a high probability of keeping the ball inbounds for a defensive recovery.

While it's maddening to witness, I still say keep feeding him the rock. He's too much of a threat and Favre is having a MVP-like season because teams are still scared to death of what Peterson can do and still continue to stack the line.

ROTY
While Brett Favre has some work left thanks to the competition, I think Percy Harvin is clearly the leader for Rookie of the Year right now. I don't see anything stopping him from getting it. He's an amazing talent and it's scary to think of how good he can become. I know Favre had him study film of Wes Welker and his hours of study sessions are paying off. Like Sidney Rice, he's another young player that shows what can be when you become of student of the game.

Stud and Goat of the Week
Stud: Brett Favre - It was tough this week, and I hate giving this out to the same player in consecutive weeks, but it's not my fault he's playing out of his mind right now. The Bears were on a mission to stop Adrian Peterson, and for the most part they did. Because of that, Favre was able to pick the secondary apart and had perhaps the most quiet 392 yards I've ever seen. Mostly because of the way he spreads the ball around hitting Harvin, Rice, Shiancoe, Berrian, Taylor, and Peterson. He spreads the ball effectively, much like Drew Brees does in New Orleans.

Goat: Lovie Smith - Coach Smith gets the Goat for coming into this game with the game plan to stop Peterson and not worry about Favre. Has he been paying attention to Vikings this year? Has he watched enough film and realized that this is not the same Vikings of the past couple of seasons. Then again, I guess he'd rather see a 40 year old QB take them out instead of getting torched once again by Peterson. Also, in a game he called a must win for the Bears, where was the halftime adjustment? To come out and only muster 12 yards of offense is a disgrace. I know players have to make plays, but something that glaring is clearly a coaches responsibility.

What's on Tap
Time for another December trip to the desert. I'm sure the 35-14 drubbing the Vikings put on the Cardinals last year is still in the back of their minds, but let's not go too far with that. This is a different season and the Cardinals are after all, the defending NFC Champions. One thing that's not certain right now is if Kurt Warner will be playing. Without him I feel the Vikings win without question. With him, I still like the Vikings chances but you never know cause when Warner gets hot with the weapons he has, things can change in a flash. It will be interesting to see if Winfield gets some action this week. He will be needed because Larry Fitzgerald is one of the better game breakers out there.

Final Thoughts
I have a proud Daddy moment to share that involves the Purple. My two-year old daughter (turns three next month) has learned the Skol Vikings song almost word-for-word. Now I know you all think I'm forcing this on her, but I'm not. She's become interested from time-to-time when I'm watching Vikings games. She claims that she wants to be a football player when she grows up, just like the Vikings. She originally picked up the song from hearing the crowd on the TV (and let's face it, that song has been sung a ton this year thanks to Favre and Peterson). What I did was pull it up on the internet so she could hear it better and now she asks me to play the Skol Vikings song on the puter (that's how she would say it). What can I say, I'm doing something right, my daughter is already a Vikings fanatic before turning three. We can't lose this team to LA now, it's part of my relationship with my daughter!

Till next week,
SKOL VIKINGS!

Purple Pride Ponderings 11/25/2009

2009-11-25T10:28:00.004-06:00

Seattle Seahawks at Minnesota Vikings
Vikings 35
Seahawks 9

There's just something about being at the game that makes a magical season seem more magical. Normally when the 4th quarter hits and the home team is up by as much as the Vikings were, a stadium clears out. That was not the case this past Sunday. Sure a couple thousand made a run for the gates to avoid the traffic, but most of us stayed till the end, savoring another victory for a Purple team that's looking for its first trip back to the Super Bowl since the 1976 season. Just in case this season turns into one out of a Disney Fairy Tale, I'll be holding on to the ticket and program from the only game I've had a chance to attend. Speaking of seats, a special thanks to Mike Sandahl for taking me this week. Those family season tickets are fantastic (Section 108, row 22 on the 35 yard-line)!

Almost Perfect
Brett Favre continues to amaze everyone with his level of play at the age of 40. He's one of the leading candidates for League MVP and rightfully so. Sunday against the Seahawks Favre went 22 of 25 with four touchdowns, and once again, no picks. He also broke yet another NFL record, passing Dan Marino for most games with four or more touchdowns. He shared the wealth hitting four different receivers on all of his touchdown strikes. Like the Dome crowd did for Joe Mauer, the deafening chants of M-V-P have already started and Favre could become the 1st 40+ year old player to achieve the award.

Most Complete Game
The Vikings are now 9-1 and for the most part, have handily won most of their contests. Before the Seahawks game though, most of these wins were marred with an overabundance of penalties, slow starts until the second half, and never shutting down inferior opponents before the 4th quarter. This game was over midway through the 3rd quarter and Brett Favre was replaced by Tarvaris Jackson before the 4th quarter even began. The only touchdown the Seahawks got came during mop-up time in the 4th when most of the defensive starters were on the bench taking it easy. As it stands right now, the Vikings appear to be clicking on all cylinders and are doing so while still resting Antoine Winfield.

Balanced Attack
As stated already, Favre's four TD's went to four different receivers. When looking at the stats, you can see just how balanced this "kick ass" offense has become. Rice, Harvin, and Shiancoe each got more than half a dozen balls (ok Harvin had five receptions, get over it), at least one TD, and right around or over 80 yards. On the rushing side of the ball, Peterson (82 yards) and Taylor (73 yards) shared the load rather effectively . Peterson was just over the 1,000 yard mark before getting hit for a loss. He ended the game with 999 yards on the season. Anyone care to bet against him not going over 1,000 yards this coming Sunday against the Bears? I didn't think so.

As the season progresses and moves towards the playoffs, the chemistry with Favre is starting to show and teams are being forced to play pick-your-poison when going up against the Purple offense. Stack the box and Favre will pick you a part, defend the pass and, well, we all know what will happen ALL DAY in that scenario.

Minnesota Moving Company
Kudos to the offensive line, without them, none of this would be possible. Before the season started, the biggest question mark was how the right side of the line would pan out by starting the rookie Phil Loadholt and replacing Pro Bowl Center Matt Birk with John Sullivan. Both have done a phenomenal job this season and as a unit, the offensive line has surprised everyone with how well of a pass blocking group they have become. Brett Favre isn't as nimble as he once was (and let's face it, he was never a Aaron Rodgers in that regard to begin with), but he's been able to sit in the pocket progress through his reads at will lately. The first few games of the season were a bit shaky, and I feared Favre wouldn't make it through the season, but this line has really blossomed and should not be overlooked.

Stud and Goat of the Week
Stud: Brett Favre - Had one of the best games of his career and is showing no signs of wearing down. How many younger QB's can pass for four TD's, complete 88% of their passes, have a near perfect QB rating, and take more than entire quarter off?

Goat: The drunk lady with the Viking Horn behind me - I know you have to deal with the drunks when attending a NFL game, and I get that. But shouldn't there be some kind of law when it comes to operating a Viking horn while intoxicated? This lady made the well known Viking horn sound like a hound dog in heat. When she wasn't blowing in the horn, she was yelling at Childress for running the ball instead of throwing it - late in the fourth quarter!

What's on Tap
Here comes the mighty Bears, led by Jay Cutler. Remember when Cutler was the Chicago Savior? Remember when all the experts claimed that Cutler was by far, the best QB in the NFC North? Remember when the Bears and Packers would be giving the Vikings fits when it came to winning the Division? Well it's Week 11, take care of the Bears at home this week and the Division is a early Christmas gift sitting under the tree.

Final Thoughts
Just wanted give some congratulations to Brad Childress for his contract extension. I'm just as mixed as everyone about the timing of this, but numbers do not lie. He's made this team better each season since taking over and is directly responsible for bringing Brett Favre and Percy Harvin on board.

Lastly, it's nice to see that the Vikings at Cardinals game on December 6th got moved to the Sunday Night game. I didn't that it was possible to bump the Patriots out of the prime time spotlight, but it happened. This should be a great game though and the Vikings now play three of their final six games in the evening slot.

Happy Thanksgiving and don't forget to give if you can. There's a lot of folks out there that could use a little Holiday cheer.

Till next Sunday,
SKOL VIKINGS!

Purple Pride Ponderings 11/19/2009

2009-11-19T11:20:00.005-06:00

Detroit Lions at Minnesota Vikings
Vikings 27
Lions 10

I'm a bit late on this one, but there is a theme, or method to this madness. After watching the Vikings slog through the game on Sunday, I found myself starting slow this week as well. Not sure what it is with the Vikings this year when it comes to playing inferior teams. It's not that they play down to their level, it just seems to take them longer to get into the game and finish off teams like the Lions. While I was unable to attend the game live, I should be there for the Seattle game so perhaps I'll have some pictures to share as well.

Since it's mid week already and it was just the Lions, I'm going to make this a bit shorter than normal.

Lack of morning Caffeine?
At halftime the score was 10-3. This after piling up over 300 yards of offense in the half. For the second time this season against the Lions, the Vikings waited until the 4th quarter to put them away. Turnovers (thankfully it's the Lions so they don't end up being costly turnovers) and penalties (13 - unacceptable) slowed the Vikings down. Not exactly the way you want to perform out of the bye. Adrian Peterson is doing some soul searching after turning the ball over twice. One of which included a questionable horse collar that may have led to the fumble. But that play also tossed up a sign for me. Peterson normally never gets run down from behind once he's beyond the secondary. In the end however, Peterson finished the day with 133 yards on only 18 carries and two more touchdowns.

Showtime!
That's Adrian Peterson's nickname for Sidney Rice and a rather fitting one. No one has benefited from Favre's addition as much as Rice. He had another monster game pulling in seven balls for 201 yards. It's a shame that his only drop cost himself the team single-game record, set by Sammy White with 210 yards against the Lions in 1976. He took that drop out on himself by doing a couple dozen fist push-ups on the sideline. What makes players great is hard work, something Rice is no stranger to. During the off season he took part in Larry Fitzgerald's receiver camp at the University of Minnesota. Fitz brought in the likes of Jerry Rice and Cris Carter to help several rising NFL stars to include Brandon Marshall, Lee Evans, Greg Jennings, Michael Clayton, Brian Robiskie, and of course Larry and Sidney. Favre helps, but it's the extra time and effort that Rice puts into the game that's starting to pay off.

Second Half Collapse Watch
Favre had a phenomenal first half, but Jets fans warned that the second half would be different. I disagreed with that due to the fact that he's not playing hurt as he was last season. In the first game in the second half, Favre threw for 344 yards, a touchdown, and once again, no picks. After nine games Brett Favre has only three interceptions and leads the league in QB Rating (107.5). Of course this will continue to be watched, other than suffering a major injury again, I don't see Favre heading towards any kind of downward spiral any time soon.

Stud and Goat of the Week
Stud: Sidney Rice - As mentioned above, Rice had a monster game going over 200 yards and earned the NFC Player of the Week award. He currently leads the NFC with 768 receiving yards.

Goat: Team Discipline - I don't care if it's against the Lions or the defending champs. You cannot come out of the bye as sluggish as this team did. 13 penalties is enough to drive any coach nuts and I hope Childress added a bit more to the team's workouts this week. The upcoming games get tougher again with a trip to Arizona and the Bengals here in the coming weeks.

What's on Tap
The Seattle Seahawks come to Mall of America Field ready to play inspired football with the news of their owner Paul Allen being diagnosed with non- Hodgkin's lymphoma this week. Other story lines include how T.J. Houshmandzadeh is handling picking the Seahawks over the Vikings during the off season. He claims that had he known that Brett Favre would be the QB in Minny, that he may very well be wearing Purple today. Instead, he finds himself on a 3-6 club that's shown they are capable of scoring in bunches. Which team will show up this week? Hopefully with a possible return of Winfield, our defense will be able to dictate that.

Until Next Week,
SKOL VIKINGS!

Purple Pride Ponderings 11/2/2009

2009-11-02T20:38:00.002-06:00

Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers
Vikings 38
Packers 26

The biggest spectacle in the NFL aside from the Super Bowl is finally over and Vikings fans are left grinning while Packer fans hang their heads low, still wondering what hit them. So now that this game is over with, the rest of the NFL world can concentrate on the second half of the season (that includes you, ESPN). First things first though, a little PPP following Favre Bowl II as Purple Moses continued his dominance against his former squad.

Been there, Done That
Since the season began, Packer fans have wasted all of their energy trying to come up with ways to stick it to Favre once he came running onto the field in Vikings white and purple. All they could come up with was a chorus of boo's and wasted plane fuel pulling a banner no one paid any attention to. Meanwhile, Favre did what he was used to doing in Lambeau Field, dominate. Four touchdowns, no interceptions, and a ton more class than anyone in Green Bay has later, Favre left there with another win and more importantly, a commanding lead in the Division. The only thing that was missing was one final Lambeau Leap, but with the bamboozled state of mind the fans were in, it was better left undone. Many say that Favre wanted to stick it to the Pack, Ted Thompson in general. In the two games, Favre not only got two important wins, he also had 7 td's and no interceptions. Whether he did or not, he stuck it to the Pack just based off his play.

Second Half Defense
After holding the Packers to 47 yards of total offense in the 1st half, the Vikings defense once again gave up huge numbers in the second half (300+ yards), giving the Packers a glimmer of hope to beat their once beloved Favre. Not sure what's going on with this unit. Are they running out of gas in the second half, or just losing interest? One thing's for sure, this trend cannot continue, especially come playoff time. Hopefully in the coming bye week they can all do a little soul searching and fix the issue. Getting Winfield back will also be key.

Rookie of the Year?
Percy Harvin is making big case for Rookie of the Year. Not only is he a dynamic kick returner, he's also displaying skills as a wide-out that normally take three plus years to develop at the Pro level. It's amazing how fast he and Favre have come together. On his receiving touchdown he displayed some unreal body control and desire to make the catch. He's not afraid to go across the middle and he's as tough as an Ox, something I've mentioned a couple of times in this young season. The Vikings are proving once again that sometimes, you just have to take a chance on someone as talented as him.

Goat and Stud of the Week
Stud: Percy Harvin - Yeah I know, it's easy to place Favre in this slot this week, too easy. The reason I'm going with Harvin is because of the field position he provide the Vikings offense all game long. While the Packers tried bringing back a washed up Ahman Green for kick returns, Harvin lit up the Packers with a 35 yard average getting 175 yards on five returns. Toss in another five receptions for 84 yards and a touchdown, and it's not too hard to argue with this choice.

Goat: Packer Fans - All the build up to this game, all the schemes to dis Favre, make him feel hated, un-wanted, exiled. For what? He's a future Hall of Fame QB that resurrected your franchise back in 1992. That's right, resurrected. Before Favre, who were the Packers? Oh sure you dub yourselves title town and we're happy for all those titles you had before there was even a NFL. Yeah you won the first two Super Bowls, back when most of the Nation didn't even know what a Super Bowl was. And guess what, that was the 60's. From that time on till Favre stepped on your hallowed grounds, the Packers were along the same lines as the 80's Buccaneers or today's Lions. So seriously, enough with the "We don't need ya" act. He brought your franchise back into the limelight, he loved his time there, and he will always love you, the fans, even though you treat him like minced meat all because he felt he wasn't done playing yet. From what I've seen so far, he wasn't done, and he's still not done.

What's on tap
A much deserved bye week. Time to rest weary bones, clear the mind and recharge for that second half push into the playoffs. I said a few weeks ago that if the Vikings could go 2-1 in the final three games before the Bye, that they are legit Super Bowl contenders. They did just that and are sitting on top of the NFC North at 7-1. Enjoy the week off, spend it with family and I'll see you back here again after the Lions game at home where I'll have a live take on that one from the 30-yard line, lower level.

SKOL Vikings!!

Purple Pride Ponderings 10/26/2009

2009-10-25T20:26:00.003-05:00

Minnesota Vikings at Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers 27
Vikings 17

It had to come to an end sometime. It's very difficult to string six wins in a row in the NFL and losing your first in the seventh game to the World Champions is nothing be overly depressed about. I think in the beginning if you told Vikings fans that Favre would lead this team to a 6-1 start, they would be more than satisfied and surprised if that actually happened. So let's shake this one off and break it down real quick for next week is the one we've been waiting for.

Costly Mistakes
So how do you hold the Steelers - in Pittsburgh, to only 13 points of offense and lose? Simple, turn the ball over, something the Vikings did twice and both were housed allowing the Steelers Defense to out score their own offense. The Vikings also killed themselves in the penalty department, an area they've been leading the league in a positive way. 11 penalties equated to 78 costly yards and made life more difficult in an already difficult venue to play in. The Vikings marched up and down the field at will in this game but the combination of turnovers that turned directly into scores and undisciplined penalties led to their first loss.

Calm Down Already
Cut Chester Taylor? Ban the Officiating crew from the NFL? Fire Childress? This is the kind of crap I heard spewed from callers on KFAN throughout the day today (Monday). It was a horrible time for Chester Taylor to mess up. He's a Pro and he should have made that catch (I don't want to hear about how Favre threw it too hard). But wanting his head is no way to pay back a player that's done what it takes to be a team player. He's still a pivotal player on key third downs and is a solid back when Peterson needs a breather. In regards to the officiating crew, get over it! Yeah they made some horrible calls, most notably the tripping call on Dugan that clearly was NOT tripping, but that's part of the game. We as couch-bound warriors do not see the action from the field at full speed. We see multiple angles at a slower, frame-by-frame rate. As a fan, I was upset, but that's not the reason why they lost in the end. Lastly, on firing Childress. No coach in the NFL is ever going to get fired while 6-1, period.

Put them together
It's time for this team to put a full game together on both sides of the ball. Last week the Vikings nearly lost due to a complete meltdown by the defense. This week they lost due to two costly turnovers by the offense. Get both sides of the ball to play a complete game and this is not just a good team, it's a scary good team. Going against the best passing team in the NFL, the Vikings defense only gave up 13 points to the Steelers and held them to under 260 yards of total offense. Other than the final drive in the first half, they contained the Steelers rather well. Offensively, Favre had his way with the Steelers defense as he shred them for over 300 yards. Unfortunately his costly fumble and interception (clearly on Taylor) were the difference in being 6-1 instead of 7-0.

Mercy Mercy Percy
Is Percy Harvin electrifying or what? What's even more impressive though is his toughness and willingness to get out there on the field. Another player that many teams passed on in the draft and the Vikings took a chance at - credit to Childress, he did his home work and got to know Harvin before the draft. He's not afraid to go across the middle and he's got a little bit of Adrian Peterson in him when it comes to finishing off a play.

A Star is Born
Sidney Rice was expected to be that tall, down the field option that this team was expecting big things from. In his first couple of years he had some health issues, but he also had another issue - incompetence at the QB position. Favre and his receivers did not have a training camp together to build the much needed chemistry, but less than half way into the season, it's clear that Rice is his go to guy. The catch he made on the sidelines told me a lot of what we can expect from him. It was a vintage Cris Carter reception and I swear after seeing it in slow motion, his feet actually moved backwards right at the last second. Great players make other players great, and right now, Favre is making Rice great and they should give fits to secondaries the rest of this season.

Goat and Stud of the Game
This is a new section I'm starting this week and plan on including it from here on out. As you will notice this week, it's not always a Viking, just observations from the game in its entirety.

Stud: Steelers Defense - How do you pick up an offense that's having issues getting into the end zone on your home turf? Take two timely turnovers to the end zone. Very impressive the way this defense is able to score.

Goat: Santonio Holmes - Holmes is a great player and I thoroughly enjoy his game, but his fascination with flexing his arm is asinine. I can understand if you blow someone up (ala Adrian Peterson late in the 4th quarter) or when scoring a touchdown, but this tool seems to do it after every reception.....you got a first down, we're happy for you!

What's on Tap
Packer Week with the Favre-in-Purple caveat, round two. I think there will be a ton of build up with Favre's return to Green Bay. Packer fans will be going through their usual love-hate routine while in the end stating: "We don't need ya" because Rodgers has proven he's a legit QB in this league. But bigger than Favre's return is this impact this game has on the Division. A loss finds the Vikings and Packers tied, a win gives the Vikings a nice two game cushion going into the bye and an impressive 7-1 record.

Until Next Sunday,
SKOL Vikings!

Purple Pride Ponderings 10/19/2009

2009-10-18T19:46:00.002-05:00

Baltimore Ravens at Minnesota Vikings
Vikings 33
Ravens 31

Last week ESPN's Kevin Seifert wrote a rather interesting article comparing this year's Vikings to the 1998 team. Since we were only five games in at that time, obviously it was based on potential. After watching the game today, I think it's clear that Seifert was on to something. Starting the game on fire, looking un stoppable having a nice 14-0 lead, Childress and Bevel went all Dennis Green and Brian Billick on it. Favre was having his way, the play calling was brilliant, and all of a sudden it turned to a conservative style of play. Childress decided to take the kick-ass out of his own kick-ass offense. As for the Defense, the 4th quarter collapse was vintage '98 Vikings as well. If there's anything this team could learn from the '98 Vikings, it's that the Prevent defense is no way to finish off a team. The Vikings need to figure out how to put teams away in the 4th quarter if they are going to continue to have success this year.

Favre
This spot has been all about Brett Favre so far this season, and this week is no exception. Favre has been nothing short of sensational, and if it weren't for him, this team would be at best, 4-2. Favre had another solid outing going 21 for 29 for 278 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions. He's got 12 touchdowns and only two interceptions on the season so far and his arm looks as good as it did the year he won the Super Bowl. After losing the lead, the Vikings needed a leader to calm things down and march down the field for the go ahead score. Favre did just that, including a huge pass play to his favorite target, Sidney Rice (more on Rice later). His poise, experience, and professionalism is what gave the Vikings a chance to win a game they should have lost.

Double Rice, please
I'm a sucker for Hibachi grills. I'm sure most of you around the country are familiar with Benihana if you're not sure what kind of place I'm talking about. When I'm there, I love the fried rice and always ask for a double dose of it (and please don't forget to pour that lovely seafood sauce on top) and a double dose of Rice is what we got in this game. The Raven's rookie sensation Ray Rice had an exceptional game and was a catalyst for the monster 4th quarter the Ravens had. He finished the game with 77 yards rushing with two touchdowns and 10 receptions for 117 yards. The Vikings have a Rice of their own and he's become Brett Favre's go to guy. Sidney Rice had the best game of his short career catching six balls for 176 yards. He's finally 100% healthy and becoming the receiver the Vikings and fans hoped he would be.

Defensive Collapse
I had a serious case of deja vu watching this game. One of the things that hampered the Dennis Green era of Vikings football was poor defensive play to finish the big games. The Ravens scored 21 points in the 4th quarter......21! Joe Flacco tossed for almost 200 yards and Ray Rice busted off a couple of runs this defense normally never gives up. Most of it was attributed to poor tackling even in the passing defense as there were far too many yards after the catch. Does one man missing make that much of difference? Ask the Pittsburgh Steelers how much Troy Polamalu as missed. Antoine Windfield left the game in the second quarter (something CBS NEVER mentioned during the broadcast). Karl Paymah filled in and was exposed several times, including the touchdown pass to Mason in which Paymah's back was to the ball. That's still no excuse to give up the type of yardage and scores this defense allowed in one quarter, and certainly not at home. This is a team game and from what I saw, this was a defense that either ran out of gas, or failed to finish with any kind of killer instinct. This needs to be addressed now or the Vikings will surely be handed their first loss in Pittsburgh.

Learn from the Best
The best team in the NFC is without a doubt, the New Orleans Saints. Their shellacking of the New York football Giants yesterday put any doubters to rest. What the Vikings can learn from them is to put your foot down on your opponents throats. They do not get a lead and then play conservatively. The Vikings have the offensive fire power to do exactly what the Saints are doing, yet Childress seems to enjoy giving teams a chance to crawl back into games. Sure losing Winfield and Sapp didn't help, but the offense is good enough to continue putting up points and keep teams at bay.

What's on Tap
The Vikings find themselves limping into Pittsburgh next Sunday. Winfield may be out for several weeks, Sapp's status is unknown at this time, Peterson tweaked is ankle, and Harvin's shoulder is a concern. With that said, this team still has the depth and talent to win this game, but if the defense continues to allow the yardage they been allowing thus far, it's going to be a very long day for the Purple. They cannot not afford to play conservatively on the offensive side of the ball in this one either. The Steelers will not back down, especially at home so it's imperative that the Vikings play a solid game all around.

6-0 is nothing to complain about. You have to make plays at the right times to put yourself in position to win games and the Vikings have done that. The concern right now is a trend on both sides of the ball that needs to stop if they truly want to be there come next February. I said last week that they need to go 2-1 during this tough stretch to be considered a legit contender. While the Ravens did indeed lose the game for the Vikings, they are still 1-0 and need to pull off one more win before the bye to set themselves up nicely for second half playoff push.

Till Next Sunday,
SKOL Vikings!

Purple Pride Ponderings 10/12/2009

2009-10-11T20:20:00.004-05:00

Minnesota Vikings at St. Louis Rams
Vikings 38
Rams 10

For years, Vikings fans have dealt with witnessing their favorite football squad play down to the level of competition. When the Vikings appear to have a solid team that can step it up and win big, emotional games (such as the Monday nighter against the Pack), they normally follow it up with a dud to a team that's not even in the same stratosphere. Thankfully, that trend appears to have stopped as the Vikings took control early in St. Louis going up 14-0 before the first half of the first quarter was even over. The Vikings won their 400th game as a franchise, have not given up a rushing TD this year or a 100 yard rusher in 28 straight games now.

Lordy Lordy, you sure he's 40?
Brett Favre is officially an old man as he celebrated his 40th birthday on Saturday. This is the first time in his illustrious career that he's been 5-0 and he claims that this is by far the best all around team he's played on. He's taking care of himself and appears to be 100% dedicated to ending his career like John Elway, riding off into the sunset. As long as the offensive line continues to protect him as they've done the last couple of games, he should get through this season just fine. It's always a good sign to see Tarvaris Jackson come in the 4th quarter and take care of the clean up time. After five games, Favre has a passer rating of 104.1, only behind the Manning brothers and Drew Brees - and is third in completion percentage (69.1).

Good win, still room for improvement
The Vikings are 5-0 and starting to reach near the top of most Power Rankings. 5-0 is great, but there's only been one truly decent team (Packers) and another questionable one (49ers) during this stretch. In the end, the Vikings put the hammer down and took care of bad teams (Brown, Lions, Rams) like they should, but even then we've seen far to many yards amassed on this defense. After seeing the Falcons dismantle the 49ers yesterday, one has to wonder about the Vikings secondary and how they allowed Shaun Hill to look like Steve Young. This is something that will either be exposed or shored up in the next three weeks, that's for sure. Thanks to fumbles at key times and an opportunistic defense, the Vikings were able to make this game appear as a no contest affair. Truth be told though, the Rams marched up and down the field several times.

Silence of the Rams
What in the world happened to this team? How did this team become so bad, so fast? It's got to be tough going out there each week, finding another way to stall a drive, cause a penalty, or be completely unprepared and un-matched. I feel for guys like Steve Jackson, it's one heck of a tough gig right now.

What's on Tap
Time to see what this team is really made of. The easy part of the schedule is over and the Vikings find themselves at 5-0, in control of the NFC North and a front-runner in the Conference. This three game stretch followed by the bye is what I've been waiting for. It starts with a pissed off Ravens team coming to the Dome - err sorry, Mall of America Field - and does not get any easier from there (at Pittsburgh, at Green Bay). Favre must get protection and the real Adrian Peterson (the one that went for 180 yards in Cleveland) needs to lace them up and bust out some big runs again. That should come in due time now that Favre has established himself on this team and proven that he can, and will beat you with his arm still. Vikings need to come out of this stretch going 2-1 at least, if they want to be viewed as a serious Super Bowl contender.

Till next Sunday,
SKOL Vikings!

Purple Pride Ponderings 10/6/2009

2009-10-06T09:18:00.001-05:00

Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings
Vikings 30
Packers 23

The Twin Cities sports scene has been buzzing since Friday night. Thanks to the fall of the Detroit Tigers and the never-say-never Minnesota Twins, a final push for extended October baseball in the Metrodome is more than possible - it's here, in the form a 163rd game tonight. Toss in a border battle at the new TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday between the Gophers and Badgers for Paul Bunyan's Axe (which ended as a heart breaker for the Gophers) and the return of regular season Wild hockey and you've got a nice sports vibe going on here. Somewhere in between all that action though, was a little game on Monday Night Football - ok, so one billed as a game for the ages. As large a number as Brett Favre's age is about to hit this Saturday, this game lived up to its large billing.

Vintage Favre
On a night when the Packers did all they could to stop Adrian Peterson (and stop him they did), Brett Favre picked them apart for three touchdowns. Since his surgery, Favre says his arm feels great, and from what we saw last night, I don't think anyone can doubt that now. His passes had the same zip he's been known for during his MVP years and his accuracy was spot on. The touchdown pass his tossed to Berrian was classic, freezing Harris with the quick pump followed by a perfect arcing pass for the score. This may be Adrian's team, but defenses will be forced to pay attention to number 4 behind center and his bevy of play making receivers. Kudos to the Offensive Line, they protected Favre incredibly well as be basically went untouched in this game. If he continues to get protection like that, he could be poised for another MVP-like season, amazing for a 40 year-old.

About, Face!
Time to give credit where credit is due. Over the first few games, I've ripped Berrian, the pass protection, and the team in general for penalties. All three of these areas were damn near perfect in this game. Berrian stepped it up and made all the catches this time. He and Favre might finally be building some chemistry after a slow start due to Berrian's injury during training camp. Can't say enough about the pass protection. This was something that needed to change or there would be no way that Favre makes it through an entire season. The offensive line was amazing and gave Favre all the time in the world to survey the field and pick Packers D apart. On the penalty side of things, the team only had two for 10 yards, a huge improvement. Nice to see the discipline there and know that the coaching staff is taking the right steps to improve as the season moves on.

The Beast
What more can be said about Jarred Allen that hasn't been said already? The guy has an amazing motor from start to finish. Sure the Packers O-line is in complete disarray, but you still need the stamina and poise to make the endless plays that Allen did Monday Night. It's guys like him that rub off and inspire an entire team, reminds me of the way John Randle used to play. One of the best off season pickups for the Vikings, ever.

Jump Ball Expert
There just isn't enough game balls to go around in a game like this. While Sidney Rice did have a solid game as a receiver, it's the two plays during the on sides kicks that will go un-noticed in the stat sheets. Mason Crosby had two on sides kicks that were picture perfect (all kickers should learn from him), but Sidney Rice skied high and snatched the ball out of the air both times. If Kevin Garnett happened to be watching this game, I'm sure he'd be proud of the way Rice wanted the ball more than anyone on the field during those critical kicks.

Rodgers is the Real Deal
Much like I did for Favre when he was a Packer, I'm starting to respect Aaron Rodger's game. I honestly didn't think he would cut it or turn out to be as good as he appears to be right now. The game he had, the numbers he put up, with the second worst offensive line in the NFL (ahem, St. Louis - Allen is licking his chops already) - is nothing short of amazing. He's got a quick release and throws on the run with the best of the QB's in this league. The Green Bay Packers made the right decision to move on without Brett, but they are doing a poor job of protecting their new franchise quarterback. It would be scary to see what Rodgers could do with a good offensive line and solid running game, down right scary.

What's On Tap
I don't want to get into calling Sunday's game against the Rams in St. Louis a trap game because they are just plain bad. But, the Vikings need to stay focused and not over look this one. That's something that could easily happen when you take a look at the three games after this one - Ravens at home, Steelers in Pittsburgh, and Packers in Green Bay. That's a daunting stretch of games before the Bye and a stretch that will let us all know exactly where this team stands. So with those games just around the corner, it's important to first focus on the Rams, take care of business, and then prepare to protect our house against Ray Lewis and the Ravens.

Till Sunday,
SKOL VIKINGS!

Purple Pride Ponderings 9/28/2009

2009-09-28T15:03:00.003-05:00

San Francisco 49ers at Minnesota Vikings
Vikings 27
49ers 24

Here in the Twin Cities, Fall officially blew into town yesterday, literally. For a football fan, it's easily the best time of the year. Having spent nine years in Georgia and Florida from 1991-2000, Fall just never had the same majestic aura that we have here in the Upper Midwest. You should be watching Saturday College Football and Sunday NFL Football with the windows open and a nice cool breeze blowing in. Jeans and Sweatshirts should be required, and some kind of warm meal in the Croc pot stewing in anticipation for kickoff. That's the fall magic of football, and magic is what Favre provided in the Dome, this time for the Vikings.

The Reason He's Here
By now we all know the drama centered around Favre's arrival in Minnesota. Plenty of controversy surround said topic and many still feel he does not have what it takes anymore to lead the 2009 Vikings. His last second heroics at the Dome against the 49ers yesterday might have some of the nay-sayers doubting themselves, whether they openly admit it or not. Was he perfect, or even consistent (as I labeled him after week one and two) in this game? Absolutely not.Is he still a gamer when it's on the line and you need next to a miracle to win? Without a doubt, yes.

So on a day when Favre finally throws more than just check-downs, he now gets blasted for several incompletions (and let's face it, his over all passing yardage would have been considerably higher just off of Berrian's drops alone). The numbers that stand out to me though, are those in the 4th quarter where Favre went 16-27 for 192 yards and a touchdown. The final drive alone was 80 yards in under two minutes with no time-outs. That right there is the reason you take a chance on bringing him here. Besides, he's the 1st Viking QB to toss for over 300 yards since Daunte Culpepper and no Viking QB has ever provided a instant NFL Films game winning touchdown like the one he threw to Greg Lewis.

Three for Three
Percy Harvin is making a early case for NFL Rookie of the Year. He's had a touchdown in each of his first three games as a pro and his 101 yard kick-off return yesterday was nothing short of spectacular.Harvin was not even touched on the play, remarkable when you really think about it. The red flags that went up during the week because he missed practice - once again due to illness, momentarily got erased from everyone's mind. I know the wild-cat formation is getting old for some in the NFL, but I'd like to see more exotic offensive packages that get Harvin the ball in open space.

Still haven't played anybody?
Another negative remark I hear in regards to the Vikings are that they've played three crappy teams so far. Personally, I think Mike Singletary and the 49ers deserve more credit than that. He's quickly changing the dynamic and level of play in San Francisco and has them playing harder than they have in years. They are still the only team to truly contain Adrian Peterson and frustrate him to no end. Then there's the first two games, which were road games. While neither game started out the way one would hope, they both ended with strong second half performances and this team now finds itself sitting at 3-0. So I don't really want to hear that they haven't beaten anybody. Not in a league where the defending champs, a team many have picked to repeat, just lost to the Bengals and now sits at 1-2. And definitely not in a league where the Detroit Lions have already won a game this season!

Mistakes a plenty
The game on Sunday for the Vikings overall was sloppy. They are lucky they had Brett Favre's miracle throw to help them pull this win out. With a myriad of penalties, missed blocks/containment (see blocked field goal returned for a touchdown), and dropped passes (one of which lead to Favre's only INT thus far), they were very fortunate to win this game. Favre does not get a free pass in this area either. On a day where Peterson was contained, he slid back into the old gunslinger mentality and made a few questionable throws, one of which should have been intercepted. This team started off hot in the first quarter and then lost its swagger along the way. With a big game against the Packers on Monday night coming up, they need to find some chemistry that enables them to play four quarters of solid football. Looking ahead to the near future finds the Vikings playing the Ravens at home followed by the Steelers on the road and I guarantee that's three games in particular where these mistakes and lulls in play will equate to losses.

What's on Tap
It's Packer week, just another game, right!!?? Let's break this down a bit and see just how big this game truly is:
- Game against your hated Division rival....check
- Nationally televised on Monday Night Football....check
- 1st place in the Division on the line.....check
- Brett Favre playing against the team he led for 16 seasons....check

Yeah, I think this could be considered a pretty big game for both teams. I'm not even going to break this one down, we'll let the drama unfold next Monday night.

SKOL VIKINGS!

Purple Pride Ponderings 9/21/2009

2009-09-21T20:14:00.003-05:00

Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions
Vikings 27
Lions 13

Normally I'd like to have this done the evening of a day game, but my two and a half year old daughter's fever had other ideas. Let's just say that it lead to a sleepless night and a call in to work this morning as I stayed home to take care of her. You gotta love being a father in these moments, right? I wouldn't have it any other way when it comes to her. No on to some Purple Pride Ponderings.

Consistency at QB
Something I and many other Vikings fans have been clamoring for since Adrian Peterson and a stout defense arrived is consistency at quarterback. After two games, it's clear that Favre fits that must needed mold to a tee. No, he's not going down field and hitting the big bombs, but instead is hitting the quick slants, check downs, and taking sacks rather than trying to force something. As his numbers show, he's managing the game with efficiency and has no issue taking a backseat on Peterson's team. Since most of us are men, and we are known to be visual, look at these numbers and see for yourself what consistency at the qb position for the Vikings looks like:

Week 1 - 14 for 21 | 110 yards | 1 TD | 0 INT | 66.7% | 95.3 QB Rating
Week 2 - 23 for 27 | 155 yards | 2 TD | 0 INT | 82.5% | 115.3 QB Rating
Season - 37 for 48 | 265 yards | 3 TD | 0 INT | 77.1% | 110.2 QB Rating

EJ's biggest fan
There's one guy in particular that missed EJ Henderson's presence more than anyone, Chad Greenway. Chad had a huge game with two interceptions, a fumble recovery, three tackles, and a recovered on-sides kick. He showcased how great his hands are with the picks and the fact that he's on the "hands team" for on-sides kicks. What's even more impressive is how humble he was when asked about his big game mentioning that EJ's return to middle linebacker allows him to make these plays.

Starting slow won't always be the way to go
2-0 looks good, but the reality is that it's been against the Browns and Lions, and in both games, the Vikings trailed in the first half. As the quality of opponents increases, digging out of a early hole could prove to be more of a challenge. The Vikings need to find some rhythm in first half and start setting the tone early if they truly want to be a Super Bowl contender. Is there something positive to take out of this in the first two games? Well sure, they were both road games to start the season with a quarterback that's only been with the team for one month and is still trying to establish a connection with his receivers. So in the end, this is an area I expect to become a non-issue as the season progresses.

Special Teams
Last week I ripped the special teams for giving up another touchdown even though they played solid aside from that mishap. Against the Lions, the special teams were solid and the return of specialist Heath Farwell was more than apparent. I'll be keeping a close eye on this unit all season. So far I have them at 1-1.

What's on tap
Next week the Vikings are finally at home against the 49ers. While I feel the 49ers are a much improved team and have a legit chance at making a run for the NFC West division, I think the Vikings offense will open it up a bit more. This could be the game where we see Favre toss a few deep balls and start making teams think about stacking the box to stop the run - which still doesn't work when you've got AD in the backfield. I expect the Vikings to win this one and go 3-0 to start the season.

Purple Pride Ponderings 9/13/2009

2009-09-13T21:15:00.005-05:00

Minnesota Vikings at Cleveland Browns
Vikings 34
Browns 20

What a weekend of football for the State of Hockey - Minnesota. Before I get going with the Purple, I have to express my joy for the return of outdoor football to the University of Minnesota. It's been 28 long years that the Golden Gophers have been stuck playing inside the Metrodome, which is located a few miles away from the campus - directly in downtown Minneapolis. The Gophers won their home opener against Air Force in the new, beautiful TCF Bank Stadium and it was wonderful to see a true collegiate atmosphere on campus again. Enough about the Gophers, let's talk some Purple now.

Gunslinger to Game Manager
Brett Favre has always been known for his gunslinger mentality, something this Vikings team actually does not need, and something Favre showed in week one that he can steer away from. Many questioned whether Favre's ego would allow him to become just a game manager and after week one, it's clear that he understands his role. One play in particular showcased this where Favre just sucked it up and took a sack - a scenario where he would normally try forcing a play. Because Adrian Peterson had the day he did, Favre was not expected to do much but he still seemed more in control of this team than Tarvaris Jackson ever did.

All Day Destined to be All-Time Greatest
I grew up watching a couple of the greatest running backs ever, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders. I'm more than aware of Jim Brown's illustrious career. With that said, I've never watched a running back possess an entire package as Adrian Peterson does. Speed, Power, Elusive, Smart, Strength, he's got it all and his 64 yard touchdown run in the 4th quarter showcased it all. We are witnessing something special in Adrian Peterson, to put it in PGA or NBA terms, think Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan. Peterson will take the pressure off the now aging Favre and has a great chance of achieving his personal goal of 2,000 yards this season.

Let's not get too carried away
It was a good win, a road win, but it was the Browns. No disrespect to the Browns organization, but they are expected to be one of the bottom teams in the NFL this season. Aside from that, this segment is for those that think Favre is no better than Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels. Favre has been with the team for about a month now and this is the first full game he's played with these players. Give him a few games to get into a rythm with his new receivers and I think you'll be changing your tune. One thing's for sure, he's already on page with Percy Harvin, a rookie that I think will be putting up big numbers as the year goes on.

Special Teams still not so Special
The Vikings gave up seven touchdowns on Special Teams last year, an area they clearly wanted to improve on this year. Well, first game into the season and they've given one up already. Forget worrying about Favre's arm or Childress' not-so-kick-ass offense, this glaring bruise of a unit needs to rectified immediately. It's these kinds of plays that can either take you out of a game or allow a team like the Browns to breathe some new life and gain confidence.

Garbage TD
This is not something I'm proud to complain about, but come on! Why do the Vikings have to be the team that gives up the Browns' first offensive touchdown since last November? I know it was during "garbage" time, but it's still a touchdown in the books. What's next, the Vikings provide the Lions their first win in a couple of years? God I hope not, and I highly doubt it.

Well that's all I've got for tonight, like the Vikings, I'm still in early season form and hope to make that game one to game two improvement. Next week the Vikings are in Detroit, can't sleep on them, and surely can't lose to them, right!!??

SKOL VIKINGS!

Williams Wall Stands Tall, All Season Long

2009-09-11T13:21:00.003-05:00

A day after the Wade release negativity, the Vikings got some of the best news of the season. The Williams Wall have won their case and will be playing the entire season. The Bears and Packers offensive line and backs did a collective shudder today.

Not the case in the Big Easy however, due to state regulations that differ from Minnesota, the four game suspensions will be handed out this year.

Bobby Wade Released, Greg Lewis Added

2009-09-10T14:23:00.001-05:00

The Vikings released WR Bobby Wade today, just a week or so after he offered to restructure his contract for this season, cutting his salary from 3M to 1.5. After the release they added WR Greg Lewis......yep, you guessed it, another former Eagle (and Pat of late).

I don't understand this move at all. Wade was a class act on and off the field. He was a solid leader on offense and led the team in receptions the past two years. I realize that Harvin is going to be the slot guy, but surely there was room for Wade (as they picked up Lewis), a guy Harvin could learn from and perhaps look up to.

The Vikings have made some awesome moves the past two years, but this one is asinine.

Back from Europe, Kick Off Sunday coming soon!

2009-09-09T11:44:00.003-05:00

So I spent two weeks in the Netherlands for work, and I'm glad to be home. Don't get my wrong, the country was nice, but it's football season here!

The 1st official Purple Pride Ponderings will be up sometime after the game on Sunday. Here's hoping its got a positive vibe to it. For now, here's a couple of quick hits:

- Looks like the Quinn will be the starter for the Browns. Oh they are so sneaky - it's the Browns, don't care who's at QB.
- The Williams Wall will be playing this Sunday for sure.
- Adrian Peterson is The Sporting News' third ranked player in the NFL. Seven Vikings made the top 100.
-Former Viking QB Daunte Culpepper shows some refreshing class upon being dubbed the backup in Detroilet.
- I did not win the Star Tribune's Fan Blogger for this season. Oh well, their loss, I still have this - and no one reads it!!! Sigh.....
- Brett Favre is a Viking.......lol, just kidding.

Check back and I'll post anything of interest leading up to the game, and perhaps a game preview if I'm up to it.

Favre is a Viking, get on board or get over it!

2009-08-18T21:35:00.006-05:00

The circus, the inevitable circus, is officially in town. I got a chance to see first hand what the scene was like at Winter Park on my way home from work today. Living in Shakopee, I go right by there off 494 and what I saw was a media frenzy. Keep in mind that none of the National media was able to make it here yet as this entire thing got dropped on everyone just before lunch time. Fear not though, the National media circus will indeed be here and more than likely set camp between Bloomington and Eden Prairie. I guess Jay Glazer is getting a nice laugh today. I even blasted his "opinionated" article from yesterday while discussing the matter with some buddies of mine.

Now that I've had an evening to soak this all in, I'm starting to change my tune on some initial thoughts about this wacky marriage. While watching the press conference, I noticed a few things. Zigy Wilf looked like a rich guy that just bought a new sports car and can't wait to drive it. In a sense, that's exactly what happened here. Instead of thinking about this as a desperation move, I'm now looking at this as a "why the hell not" move. What do the Vikings truly have to lose? SI's Peter Kings claims that this is a huge mistake for both parties. Again, why?

The Vikings are a better team with Brett Favre. Nobody was too excited about Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson leading this team. Excitement is what Favre has brought to the Twin Cities, a metropolitan area that deserves some limelight after watching the Twins collapse, Timberwolves rebuild, and Wild try to re-establish themselves. The PGA Championship at Hazeltine set the stage, but Favre to the Vikings, that's one for the ages and it's got the interest of this entire country. Within a few hours of WCCO's Mark Rosen breaking this story wide open this morning, more than 2,000 season ticket holders jumped back in the ship for the 2009 season and 6,000+ single season tickets were sold.

There's a lot of talk about what this will do to the persona's of Sage and TJack. They are grown men making a ton of money, they can and will, deal with it. Sage has been a career backup and there's a reason for it. TJack is erratic and has more stability issues than your typical reality tv marriage. If Favre is unable to get the job done for whatever reason, one of these two will need to step up and prove themselves. They must continue to practice hard, perfect their craft, and perhaps learn a bit watching a future Hall of Famer.

Like it or not, this team is now poised for a legit Super Bowl run with Favre at the helm. This is one of the most complete teams in the NFC and Favre is not coming in expecting to be the gunslinger of old and I truly believe he understands that after hearing him talk at the press conference today. Adrian Peterson's quest for 2,000 yards just became a serious possibility. Favre still has enough zip and QB savy to make teams pay should they continue to stack the box to stop the dynamic runner. Berrian and Rice are legitimate play making wideouts, Shaincoe has blossomed into the best pass catching tight end the Vikings have had since Steve Jordan, and Percy Harvin will keep defenisve coordinators up all night trying to figure out how to plan for him.

Say what you will about the team's credibility and Favre's for that matter. To me it's simple. There's nothing to lose, it's a once in a lifetime chance for both, why not give it a shot. As Favre said, he's not worried about tarnishing his leagacy, he knows what he's accomplished. When this thing plays out, good or bad, Brett Favre will still go down as one of the greatest Quarterbacks to play the game. A QB that terrorized the Vikings for years. If there's a chance he could help lead the Vikings to their first Super Bowl victory, I'm jumping on the ship and am going to enjoy the ride.

Skol Vikings!

Divisional Team Fantasy Rankings Part 2

2009-08-10T22:48:00.003-05:00

Slacking on Vikings camp news I know, but I've been working on my four part piece with fantasysharks and entered the Star Tribune's Vikings blogger contest. I'll catch up what's been going on at camp tomorrow so for now, take a look at my latest article up on on fantasysharks.com: Divisional Team Fantasy Rankings Part 2.

SKOL Vikings!

Camp Day 3 Recap

2009-08-02T23:54:00.002-05:00

No TJack as camp resumed today, but there was a light of positivity shining over Mankato as Percy Harvin signed a five year deal and showed up to camp for the second practice of the day. Let's move right on to the nuggets of the day.

- Percy Havin electrified the crowd in Mankato today emassing cheers for everything thown his way. His following so far is on a Adrian Peterson level. He looks pumped and ready to go and I'm sure he's loving the fanfare thus far.
- Brad Childress mentioned that Tarvaris Jackson may be ready to take the field tomorrow. I find that rather hard to believe since he was seen with a knee brace on today.
- Harvin was hardly sitting on his duff while waiting for his agent to get the deal sealed. He was working out with Tim Tebow the past few days and caught a very early am flight from Florida to Minnesota to ensure he made the 1pm meetings and 3pm practice.
- A Ben Leber and Benny Sapp collision today has Childress losing even more hair. It's camp, it's football, it's going to happen.
- Coach Frazier and the defensive players feel they've got what it takes to be a number one defense this year. I happen to agree with that. Getting EJ Henderson back alone makes this already very good defense even better. All four Pro Bowlers from last year have returned and should still be able to attain a Pro Bowl level of play.

That's it for tonight, it's late and I have to get up for work after having a week off. I plan on submitting for the Strib Vikings Blogger contest and hope to win it.

Camp Day 2 Recap

2009-08-01T23:41:00.005-05:00

After a rather unseasonably chilly start this morning, camp resumed and the morning session appeared to take a turn for the worst, or so Bernard Berrian would have us believe. About that chilly start, I find it funny how the "journalists" covering the Vikings made such a big deal about it. I highly doubt the players complained one bit. Upper 50's to low 60's at 7am is perfect for football and sure as hell beats the usual 90+ degree days with max humidity we normally have around here during training camp. Those pansy little thumb pressing, pencil toting musers of the gridiron need to man up a little. Now on to Day two's quick hits.

- It appears that Tarvaris Jackson is more fragile than former Atlanta Falcons QB Chris Chandler (aka: Crystal Chandelier). Bernard Berrian had more fun with his Twitter account by posting that Jackson was out for the season. Much like his Percy Harvin sighting tweet, he posted again later that he was just kidding. I don't think I'll ever believe another thing I see through Berrian's Twitter page.
- Before Jackson went down, Sage was booed while running drills with the 1st team offense. Not only that, a large gathering of fans started chanting Jackson. Sage has a loooooong way to go learning this offense.
- Our local journalists just can't get enough of the Favre Man Love.....tsk tsk Souhan!
- Those of you in PPR Fantasy Leagues, listen up. A big focus for Adrian Peterson this camp is working on becoming a better receiver out of the backfield. He's working solo with running back coach Eric Bieniemy on this very issue.
- Here's a nice piece on Randall McDaniel, who will be inducted into the Football Hall of Fame next Saturday. A great football player, but an even better person. Plus, he still resides in beautiful Excelsior Minnesota.

That's it for tonight, not much going on the first couple days besides the fragility of TJack.

Camp Day 1 Recap

2009-07-31T22:01:00.004-05:00

No, I'm not in Mankato, yet anyway. What I like to do is gather up all the information I've read, seen, and heard and do a quick little recap, sometimes with my take on it. So let's look at a list after day one.

- Percy Harvin a no show: While many will drive the Favre story into the ground, I happen to think one of the bigger stories is Harvin not in camp right now. It's not time to hit the panic button, but he needs a deal signed and soon. A couple of days is not that big of a deal, but if reaches a week or longer, Harvin will miss more than a rookie of his stature should.
- I think the media needs to drop the Favre questions with the other players and drop them now. The media whore has gotten more than enough air time and guys like Sage Rosenfels are sick of the talk and ready to focus on the season ahead.
- No worries about Adrian Peterson's quest to gain weight in the off season. He looks the same as last year and has by no means, lost a step.
- The Wilf's are in Mankato and made two things very clear. One, the Favre pursuit is over, even if he changed his mind, he won't be a Viking. Two, there's no plans to extend Childress' contract at this time - that's a good thing to me, he's got a ton to prove this year.
- Pat Williams: Always a Viking.
- Bobby Wade: Ready to move on after Urlacher comment, but still provided spice to an otherwise dull day.
- Here's a break down on how the Vikings QB situation is a 50-50 afair. Personally, I think Jackson has the upper hand because he knows the system. It can take a QB up to three years to learn an entirely new system, which is what Sage is going through, and so far it shows.
- Listening to KFAN this afternoon while Henry Lake was filling in for the common man and Lake was talking about how athletic Sidney Rice is. He stated that Larry Fitzgerald commented on how athletic he is. Fitz claimed that he played some ball with Rice over the offseason and that Rice was by far a lot more athletic than himself. I've always thought that if Rice could just stay healthy, he could make a huge impact in the NFL. Here's hoping that happens this year.

That's all I've got for tonight, check back tomorrow night for my day two recap.

Training Camp 2009, now in Session

2009-07-31T12:47:00.001-05:00

It's official, the 2009 Minnesota Vikings Training camp has started and I'm back for another full season of coverage. Now that the Favre kerfuffle is over, we can move forward and see who's going to win the QB battle for the Purple. Hopefully I never have to mention Favre again, he can move on, the Vikings and fans can move on, and the Packers and their fans can move on. I hope to make the trip down to Mankato in the next week or two and provide some true insight, but as always, I'll provide my own colorful take and what's going during camp and the preseason.

Check back soon, I'll banter about the first full day late tonight.

Five QB's with new homes and their Fantasy impact

2009-07-07T01:34:00.009-05:00

Free agency plays a significant role in Fantasy Football. The simple change of a quarterback from one team to another can have a major impact on fantasy value. Here’s a list of five quarterbacks you should be aware of – good and bad – as I break down the QB carousel for 2009.

· Matt Cassel |Patriots to Chiefs | 2008 Stats: 3,639 yards 21 TD 11 INT

Cassel was a serviceable quarterback for many Fantasy owners in 2008. Let’s not look too far into this one though. When you have the electrifying Randy Moss that makes QB’s look good (See Daunte Culpepper during their Vikings years) and Wes Welker that catches everything thrown his way, it’s not too hard to be serviceable. The Kansas City Chiefs wide outs are far from household names and they still lack a threatening running back to open up the passing game. Compared to the success Cassel had in taking over Tom Brady’s team, I expect him to struggle mightily in his first year with the Chiefs. Namesake alone, Matt Cassel is going to draw some attention during your drafts, but you would be best to stay away especially in the early rounds.

· Jay Cutler | Broncos to Bears | 2008 Stats: 4,526 yards 25 TD 18 INT

This is an interesting one here and one that could make a big impact on the NFC North Division. Jay Cutler completely changes the dynamic of the QB position in Chicago, but unless Brandon Marshall gets his way in Denver (which would be a shame after letting Cutler get his way), there’s no way he puts up 4,500+ yards this year. Devin Hester is a dynamic speed threat, but in the NFL you need to be able to run good routes, something he currently lacks in his game. Marshall is a great route runner and there isn’t anyone near his pedigree on the Bears roster. What will potentially work are the makings of a good offensive line with the new addition of Orlando Pace. Toss in a couple of good TE’s in Clark and Olsen, add an above average back in Matt Forte and you have the makings of a well balanced offense. Cutler should still be a hot commodity when drafting QB’s.

· Kyle Orton | Bears to Broncos | 2008 Stats: 2,972 yards 18 TD 12 INT

Since we have a scenario where one QB got traded for the other, it’s natural to view the impact of both in their collective new homes. Kyle Orton is no Jay Cutler, which is why the Bears were willing to pay such a steep price for Cutler. Denver wanted to avoid any further drama and gave Cutler his wish – something they are surely regretting now that Marshall is taking the same approach. Aside from his horrendous beard and boozing life style that gets plastered on Facebook, Orton had very few moments that would intrigue most fantasy owners. He entered OTA’s and minicamps fighting for the starting spot with Chris Simms only to be dubbed the starter right away. The Broncos were first in pass protection last year and with weapons like Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal one would think that Orton would still be able to post some really good fantasy numbers. That will not be the case however. Things are getting ugly with Brandon Marshall and even if he’s still on the roster come training camp, you can count on him holding out. The running back position is also an area where Denver is suffering. Picking up Correll Buckhalter as their potential number one back speaks volumes. Due to this, defenses will be able to plan for a pass heavy offense, limiting an already limited QB.

· Jeff Garcia | Buccaneers to Raiders | 2008 Stats: 2,712 yards 12 TD 6 INT

Jeff Garcia!!?? You say. He’s with the Raiders now and they have like 10 QB’s on their roster now right? Exactly, this is why I am including him here. JaMarcus Russell didn’t exactly come in lighting the league on fire like the Raiders had hoped he would. Last year was his first full year at the helm and he was a bit under whelming to say the least. He should start this season and deserves to do just that, but expect a short leash and expect Garcia to jump right in and utilize a much improved offensive line and three running backs waiting to bust out on the scene and become “the guy”. Who am I kidding, just stay away from any QB on the Raiders roster, stay far away.

· Brett Favre | Jets to Vikings | 2008 Stats: 3,472 yards 22 TD 22 INT

Ah, the final one and the one filled with more if’s and but’s than the candy and nuts we give away at Christmas. One if that should be taken off the board is if Favre plays for the Vikings. The writing is on the wall with this one and as of this writing, Favre was reported to have put down 80k on a Condo in Edina Minnesota. The other big if to watch now is if his arm holds up. After starting the first half of the season hotter than a TMZ camera guy on Lindsay Lohan, Favre fizzled down the stretch and cost the Jets a Playoff berth. If he joins the Vikings with regenerated strength in his throwing arm and could play to the level of his 2007 season (though that didn’t end on a high note), the NFC in general could get a bit more interesting. Since taking over as head coach of the Vikings, Childress has claimed to have a “kick ass” offense. This could be the first year we actually see that and bringing in Favre would be a career saving kind of move and the end of the Tarvaris Jackson experiment. Everyone knows the Vikings are a QB away from becoming a legit Super Bowl contender, the question is which Favre would they be getting? The one that put up MVP like numbers in the regular season of his last Packer expedition, or the aging loser tossing up pick after pick in the NFC Championship game of the same season? One thing’s for sure, we can pretend the year with the Jets never happened. Thanks to the Packers little poison pill, that was just a side-step on his way to playing in Purple.

So what can we make of all this in the end? Who on this list should we consider and who should we stay the hell away from? Jay Cutler should still be on your radar, Favre and Cassel are two that your could roll the dice on with Favre having more Fantasy – are your ready for this……upside. Garcia and Orton are two that you should never even consider this year unless you are in need of a backup filler.

Favre report confirmed, Jersey already ordered

2009-06-23T22:27:00.005-05:00

WCCO's Mark Rosen has reported that the reports of Brett Favre's signing from the weekend are all but confirmed. He states that the Vikings equipment manager has already ordered #4 purple jersey's with his name on it. You can now order a Favre Vikings jersey on Ebay as well.

So I guess Favre has already had a little talk with John David Booty who had the #4 jersey originally. Then again, this is Favre so he may not have had the talk and it will just be assumed that he's getting his number. Something tells me Booty wouldn't have a choice in the matter. It's clear now that the Tarvaris Jackson experiement is finally coming to a close. After trading for Sage, there's no way the Vikings let him go and he will be a nice backup if something goes amiss with Favre. Booty is a nice young arm that can learn a lot in a year from watching Favre and Sage. These are just my thoughts on how this will pan out, but I think they are rather legit.

Commanding Position? A View from a Red Sox Fan

2009-06-23T13:44:00.004-05:00

I don't normally cover the Boston Red Sox here, but a good friend of mine wrote this up so I thought I would share. He makes some good points with some concrete "numbers" evidence.

Commanding Position?

Are the Red Sox poised to spread their lead in the AL East? The numbers appear to support it. Much has been made about the Red Sox this year. Be it the lofty expectation set on them by the fan base, or the media, or the high priced talent they run out there on a nightly basis. There is an expected level of production which hangs over every pitch.

Much has been documented about the struggles of the first half of this season. David Ortiz has been clawing his way through a slump ravaged start to the season. Dice-K brought another title to his motherland, but has failed to bring much more than a Zito-like, or more recently Wang-esque, drop-off. Jed Lowrie has shown more in his absence, evidenced by the cavernous difference between he and his replacements, than we expected when he got hurt.

Yet through all of this the Red Sox have posted a .609 winning percentage.

So instead of treading the ground of the ‘oh so recent’ past, let’s look at the immediate future. Currently the Red Sox sit in first place with a .609 winning percentage. Followed by: NY .551, TOR .535, and TB 514 (I will leave Baltimore out as they are 10 games out of first place, while posting a .464 winning percentage.)

The funny thing when you look at the numbers is this: We are talking about teams who have four of the five top run differentials in baseball, four of the top twelve winning percentages, and teams who average 6.5 on any of the Power Rankings. The only real disparity is this, Strength of Schedule.

When you look at the S.O.S for the four teams there is a noticeable gap. BOS .513, NY .500, TOR .495, TB .496. The Red Sox have played by far the toughest schedule in the division. This bodes well for the Red Sox between now and the mid-way point of the season.

Let’s take a look at three key factors:

The Red Sox have a S.O.S over the next six series of .435. This is key when you look at the balance of S.O.S in the division. Over the next six series for the other three teams their S.O.S: NY .513, TOR .515, TB .514.
What other team on the planet can remove a starter like Daisuke Matsuzaka, 18-3 last year, and insert John ‘friggin’ Smoltz, no resume needed.
In the month of June David Ortiz has begun to look normal. While his HR production is still low, he has amassed a .308 average with 5 HR 10 R 12 RBI and an O.P.S of 1,054.

These factors combined with the return of Jed Lowrie, in a couple of weeks, should be enough to bolster the Red Sox, not only through the soft schedule of the next nineteen games, but into the beginning of the second half where the schedule out of the break gets a bit more intimidating, but with the cushion which could be gained in that time it should be clearly manageable.

By the way, over the next couple of weeks TOR plays two series against TB, and one against NY. Someone has to loose those games.

By: Chris Laffey - chris_laffey@comcast.net

LNR: The Fall of McHale, Favre throws at High School...again

2009-06-17T20:51:00.004-05:00

Last night around midnight, anyone following Kevin Love on Twitter got the breaking news that Kevin McHale would not be returning as Head Coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves. A unique thing this Twitter is, something I use a lot. Many media outlets use it to blast out breaking news and now the everyday fan can get a break on a story directly from a player before the media hounds jump all over it.

So the story here is that after 16 years with the organization, the Ostrich is gone. Here in Minnesota, we like our local guys, but the release of McHale was over due. He was a great Golden Gopher and had a heralded NBA career with the Boston Celtics, but his front office bafoonarey was just too much. Dan Barriero of KFAN nailed when he said a few years back that McHale is the leader of the Country Club on 1st Ave, and until he's gone, this franchise is stuck in mediocrity.

A couple of years removed from the best player in franchise history being traded away, the Timberwolves now have a new General Manger and no coach. So who will they bring in? Who is capable of leading a team now full of talented young players? My vote goes to former Timberwolf Sam Mitchell. What say you? So say we all!

Sports Five
- Favre threw some passes today at Oak Grove High School, said he threw ok, but ok is not good enough for the NFL. And in case you've never seen Favre toss a football, ESPN even has video of today's exciting session.
- Shaincoe has a lot to say about Favre..... a lot.
- Former 1st round pick (loser) Ryan Leaf arrested at Canadian border.
- US Open starts tomorrow, here's the tee times.
- Steve Aschburner feels the Timberwolves are wrong in firing McHale.

Gaming Five
- Guitar Hero still reviews well, latest title sitting at 86% so far.
- Bioware announces Dragon Age system requirements. Nothing too fancy needed, good for the poor gamer.
- Developer Stardock recommends switching over to Windows 7 as soon as possible to enhance the coming PC titles. Since I'm writing this from my XPS 630 running Win 7, I'm good.
- With Father's Day coming up, IGN has put together a fun list: 10 worst gaming dads.
- Factor 5, the studio that recently filed for bankruptcy, is now getting sued by former employees.

LNR: Real Favre Dealine, Disgust over Stallworth Sentence

2009-06-16T21:57:00.006-05:00

Since I didn't get to the Brett Favre HBO interview from last night, I'll hit on that real quick. So what did we learn other than the fact that Mr. Pompous Joe Buck does not deserve a show of his own? Nothing. Joe Buck asked all the questions any of us following this story would have asked, yet he left out the most important and possibly controversial question - Are you trying to join the Vikings in an attempt to stick it to the Packers?

Where were you on that one Joe? It would have been nice to see Favre try dodging that question, but you wussed out. So it's back to knowing what we knew before this piece even aired. Favre still wants to play and will do so if his arm fully recovers from the surgery he had two and a half weeks ago. The only new bit of information he gave was that he turned down Childress' offer to appear at the OTA's in Winter Park. Not because he didn't want to, but be cause he didn't want to start the media circus only to find out that he's not going to recover as he had hoped which would lead to another media circus following that announcement.

This has been covered to death throughout the day, but this tidbit just came out tonight. The Vikings have officially given Favre a deadline - July 29th, which is when the team reports to training camp.

Enough on this for now, on to tonight's Sports Five.

Sports Five
- SI in town to do a story on Joe Mauer and he goes 4-4 tonight. Twins win 8-2 on a strong return performance from Glen Perkins.
- Disgusting story of the day: Donte Stallworth pleads guilty, only gets 30 days in jail. 30 days! Killed a man while driving intoxicated and going well over the speed limit. To put this into perspective, Timberwolves guard Malik Sealy was killed in 2000 by a drunk driver and the driver served four years. Athlete preferential treatment? The ability to buy your way out of a long prison term? You be the judge of that one.
- The Brandon Marshall story is gaining traction as he posts farewell to the Denver fans in his blog.
- Tiger could have a tough time in the US Open this year. Long courses usually give him an advantage, but he's not getting the length he had before the surgery.
- Minnesota Wild no longer coachless, land Minnesota native Todd Richards who promises a open, attacking style of play. Enough for Gaborik to stay? I sure as hell hope so.

The gaming front has slowed down a bit since E3, which is to be expected. I'm still looking for my review copy of Tiger 2010 for the Xbox 360. Anyone?

Gaming Five
- Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters reviews hit everywhere, looking better than average.
- Game Consoles dominate in Web-to-TV delivery.
- Pre-order Madden 2010 at Gamestop to get your exclusive demo.
- Microsoft mum on New Xbox rumors.
- Halo 3 murderer sentenced. May you drop your soap countless times to make up for the bad gaming press you created, asshole.

Favre on HBO's Joe Buck Live tonight

2009-06-15T14:53:00.002-05:00

As the entire world has already heard, Favre will be on the debut show of Joe Buck Live tonight (how this selfish, biased tool gets his own show is beyond me). It airs on HBO at 8pm Central Time and I'll blog my thoughts on it in tonight's Late Night Recap. Here's hoping Joe Buck has the balls to ask the tough questions. Surely Favre is going to do all he can to make it sound as if he just wants to play for the love of the game, but we all know he wants to stick it to the Pack - Ted Thompson specifically. I'd be a bit more at ease with him joining the Vikings if he just admitted that.

Book Review: Stephen King's Cell

2009-06-13T23:13:00.004-05:00

I remember when Stephen King announced that once his epic journey to the Dark Tower was complete, he would stop writing. This was around 2002 if I remember correctly, and I recall thinking to myself - yeah right, it's what you do man, there's no way you can stop.

I, amongst thousands of others, was correct. Cell was released in 2006 and was the first true signature novel of Stephen King's following The Dark Tower. A guy like him is triggered by the empowering "what if" and Cell is a direct example of that. Like myself, I'm sure Mr. King watches all the "phone crazies" around him - in their car, filling their buggies at the super market, in the elevator, on the plane, on the bus, and on and on. So surely Cell was a direct representation of his people watching.

Cell opens up by paying homage to the king of zombie flicks, George Romero. The pacing of this book in the first third is fast and feels much like a zombie film. As the story progresses however, you come to find that this is no zombie tale at all. I really enjoyed the first third of this book, the character development was fast - which is unusual for King, and his signature imagery was sprinkled throughout.

The story does slow down a bit about half way through as it becomes centered around the main character and his quest to find his son. King did his homework on the technical aspects of this novel and as a IT Professional, I can appreciate that.

This is a fine, enjoyable read for his first true novel following the rigors of The Dark Tower. For King, it's more of what I like to call a popcorn read. I can see this one as being written for the screen and believe it would make for a fine summer movie. I've been a fan of Stephen King since I was kid and he's a writer I look up to and sometimes find trying to emulate in my own fiction. If you're a fan of King's other horror novels, I recommend this one.

PPP Rating: 7.5 out of 10

LNR: StarCraft 2 Beta Update, Childress does more Favre dodging

2009-06-11T21:43:00.005-05:00

So it's been a bit too long since the last LNR. My apologies on that, but things happen and unless something changes and I actually start getting paid for this, that's just the way it goes sometimes. But, as you can see, I'm still plugging away and will continue to do so (work and family permitting). I come to you from my hotel room in Chicago tonight where it took me almost five hours to get here thanks to delays at the lovely O'hare aiport. I'm catching up with the stories and here's what's caught my eye in a short time.

Gaming Five
- Blizzard handing out StarCraft 2 beta keys tomorrow? This post says it's 100% confirmed, so where's my key, Blizzard!!??
- Remember Duke Nukem Forever? The game that was supposed to be released before Y2K? Yeah, well here's some new footage, even though I thought 3D Realms mailed it in recently.
- Hey iPhone users, want an addicting game to pull you away from Facebook? Peggle is now 80% off, only costs $1. One dollar! You can't even get a 20 oz. Dew for that price.
- Gears of War 2 PC rumors, according to IGN. Rumors, really? Why? The first one is available on the PC, with an additional act that never hit the 360.
- Overlord II demo has been released for the PC and PS3. It's so fun being evil, isn't it!!??

Sports Five
- Childress dodges more Favre questions..............blah blah blah.
- Crimson Tide Football put on probation, stripped of 21 wins. Ouch.
- Phil Mickleson is hitting 'em well, post wife cancer announcement.
- Red Sox continue domination over the Yankees, improve to 8-0 against them.
- Twins road woes continue, lose 3-0 lead late in the game against Oakland, lose 4-3.

That's it for tonight, here's hoping my trip back the Twin Cities tomorrow goes better than the trip here.

Childress denies Favre dealine, wants him if healthy

2009-06-10T12:50:00.002-05:00

If there's a team in the NFL that can turn the sport into a tennis match during the off season, it's the Minnesota Vikings. Brad Childress finally jumped on KFAN this morning to publicly address the situation. You can get the podcast from this mornings Powertrip Morning show here: Childress on Favre

I'm glad to see that he's putting this on hold and giving Favre enough time to recover from last month's surgery. He addressed a question about how Sage and TJack are handling the situation stating, "I'm not worried about their reaction." A pretty bold statement, but he did follow up with this:

"I've talked with Sage and Tarvaris," Childress said. "They're competitors. Do they like any of the conversation? Absolutely not. But they know this: I'm charged with adding and subtracting players from this team to make us better. Every day when I walk into this office, there's not a day that I don't try to look and see if we can't get better at some position. If this is going to make us better down the road, and if this has got a chance to happen, I'm going to take care of the Minnesota Vikings."

It's nice to finally hear him admit that if healthy, he wants Favre. So now we are back to waiting, but at least we now know where the coach and team stand. It's all up to how Favre's recovery goes now.

Childress gives Favre a Deadline, really....why?

2009-06-08T22:44:00.003-05:00

As we all know, ESPN reported last night that Brett Favre had surgery on his arm last month. An indication that he's a bit more serious about a return and more than likely to the Vikings than previously thought. Today the Vikings imposed a deadline on Favre, giving him till the end of the week to make a decision. Favre still needs to time to heal to see if this is even going to be possible, so why the deadline now? This is clearly a power move by the Vikings, trying to get Favre to cave in now and possibly sign a one year deal at a lower price. But really, isn't Favre still the one that has the Vikings by the balls? If he calls the Vikings in July and says "Hey guys, my arm feels better now than it has in years, you ready to sign me?" Do you actually think they will turn him down? If they did all Favre would have to say is "Really, who is your starting quarterback right now? You guys really think a TJack/Sage combo is going to get it done in this league?"

Seriously, this deadline is a joke. They are obviously serious about pursuing Favre so it's in their best interest to let him fully recover, bring him in for some throwing tests, and make a decision then. If they are attempting to ease the fragile minds of Sage and Jackson, they screwed the pooch on that one the second they entertained bringing Favre to Minnesota......for the second year in a row.

LNR: The E3 Madness has begun

2009-06-01T21:14:00.008-05:00

E3 2009 has officially kicked off with the Microsoft, EA, and Ubisoft conferences all completed and the web a complete buzz over it. Tomorrow will be the Nintendo and Sony Press Conferences followed by the three day mayhem of non-stop game previews from the show room floors. Late Night Recap will be a bit more gaming centered all week due to E3 so the usual five stories will be a bit expounded on. Here's what caught my eye so far.

- Assassin's Creed 2 Cinematic Trailer.
- Mass Effect 2 Impressions and Screenshots.
- Madden NFL 10 Online Franchise details.
- Left 4 Dead 2 announced and dated.
- Facebook and Twitter to invade Xbox 360, life will never be the same for some.
- Red Steel 2 looks more than promising and will be bundled with Wii MotionPlus.
- Metal Gear Solid: Rising announced for the Xbox 360. Conflicting reports state that it may also be coming to the PS3 and PC.
- Star Wars: The Old Republic Cinematic trailer........wow!
- Modern Warfare 2 Demo footage.
- Halo Reach announced, multiplayer beta to be included with the upcoming Halo 3: ODST.
- The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition announced. Second title to follow and here's hoping all the great point and click adventures from back in the day many of us came to love get a nice rework like this.
- Lego Harry Potter 1-4 announced and why not, everything else is getting Legoized these days.
- Guitar Hero 5 band list revealed. More Megadeth and Iron Maiden, ftw!

That's enough for tonight and there's plenty of other action to follow on all the gaming sites out there these days. I'll have more links tomorrow so check back and I'll try to include a Vikings update, but there just isn't much going on right now other than the Wildcat formation.

Review: Guitar Hero Metallica

2009-05-31T23:29:00.004-05:00

Guitar Hero Metallica
Developer: Neversoft
Publisher: Activision Blizzard
Release Date: March 29, 2009
Platform Reviewed: Xbox 360

Sure this one has been out for a while now, but I'm not fortunate enough to receive free review copies like I once was. I'll do reviews like this from time-to-time and I'm sure many others out there do not have the ability to purchase every title under the sun on its release date.

If there was ever a perfect marriage for a band to Guitar Hero game it's Guitar Hero Metallica. The masters of Metal/Rock compliment the series rather well and unlike Prince, they made the right decision to take part in full with the experience. What Prince fails to see is that Guitar Hero has driven a interest for many to pick up and learn a real guitar. Guitar Hero is a game and not meant to emulate real guitar play. Instead it's an enjoyable rhythm based experience bringing Rock and Roll back into the lime light and drawing interest from our youth along the way.

GH Metallica brings the experience of a live Metallica show directly into your living room. I've been to several shows dating back to the Masters of Puppets tour and I can say that the only thing missing is Cliff Burton. The full motion capture of the band is a great touch and the stage layouts are perfect. Metallica has always been known as a power band and that's brought right to the screen at times. During Sad but True, hard-hitting explosive breaks have James Hefield coming right at the screen with a timely strum of his rhythm guitar. That's just one example of the care and feel put into this title.

Metallica has a huge library of songs and the set list chosen for this is top notch. For all my fellow old school metal heads out there, you'll find plenty tracks from Kill em All, Masters of Puppets, and Ride the Lightning. Songs like Whiplash and Hit the Lights prove be the most challenging especially while on the hard and expert settings. The 20 guest bands are a nice mix, but I personally found the song choices in this department overall to be rather weak. A few stand out like Slayer's War Ensemble and System of a Down's Toxicity, but many of the others will have you scratching your head. Since this is supposed to be bands that influenced Metallica and bands that they enjoy, where's the Misfits, Black Flag, or hell, a shout out to Dave Mustain by including a set from Megadeth?

Since this released after Guitar Hero Wold Tour you are able to piece together an entire band. A new level of difficulty has been added to the drums called Expert + which allows you to use the new double base add-on and have you playing drums damn near note-for-note with Lars Ulrich - no easy task, that's for sure. You also have the ability to record your own music like World Tour and can battle online in the Battle of the Bands mode (4 on 4). What's missing here though is DLC (download content). What you see is what you get, nothing more to add except for the Death Magnetic album. It would have been nice to have the ability to build the entire Metallica collection. This makes the $60 price point tough for many to swallow, but I was fortunate enough to pick this up at Target for $37 during one of their one week only sales.

If you are a die hard Metallica fan and a fan of Guitar Hero, this is a no brainer. I've been enjoying Metallica since Kill em All and I absolutely love this title. The only true down side to me is the lack of DLC. I like the direction Neversoft is taking with the game centered around one band, especially if they continue to have a production value as good as this one.

PPP Rating: 8.5 out of 10

StarCraft 2 to be released by the end of this year

2009-05-31T23:12:00.003-05:00

Earlier tonight Shacknews reported that StarCraft 2 will be released this year. This was announced today (Sunday) by Blizzard President Mike Morhaime during a Activision Blizzard Pre-E3 conference call. As always with Blizzard, no concrete release date has been set only that it will be released when it's ready.

I signed up a while back for the closed Beta and that's set to start this summer. Here's hoping I get chosen so I can write up some early preview action. Now we just need a beta sign up announcement for Diabl0 3 and a hint at its release.

Late Night Recap for Thursday, May 28, 2009

2009-05-28T21:44:00.004-05:00

Things were rather quiet in sports and gaming today. I spent the day at the Minneapolis Convention Center for a VMware forum. Pretty informative for those of the IT ilk. I must say, after attending E3 at the LA Convention Center a couple of times and now finally seeing the Minneapolis Convention center, we could easily host E3 here. I'm sure the staff over at Game Informer would love that.

Gaming Five
- Rock Band gets Iron Maiden DLC. Best DLC ever!
- Xbox 360 sales top 30 million. Over 20 million users on Xbox Live!
- Old school Punch-Out!! or Wii Punch-Out!! Which one wins the battle?
- Here's a behind the scenes look at E3 2009 during the setup.
- Fight Night Round 4 demo is now available on Xbox Live.

Sports Five
- Morten Andersen a first ballot Hall of Famer. But I'll always remember (and detest) you for making a field goal in January of 1998 that you never should've gotten to kick!
- ESPN Headline: Brady throws, stretches in light rain. What's next? Brady takes a leak in the urinal? Give me a break!
- What the hell happened to the Rays? They get swept by.....the Indians?
- The Broncos released JJ Arrington. What can I say, it's a slow news day.
- Four players ejected in today's Twins/Red Sox game. Dome traffic also delayed my bus ride home.

Late Night Recap for Wednesday, May 27, 2009

2009-05-27T20:34:00.002-05:00

Other than Fran Tarkenton, it's rather quiet on the sports side of things today. Not the case when it comes to gaming thanks to E3 2009 lurking just around the corner. I'll do my best to keep up with the E3 happenings as they arrive so be sure to keep checking back.

Gaming Five
- More inFamous reviews can be found here and here. This one is looking rather good.
- Guitar Hero 5 rocks the consoles on September 1st.
- Tor Books is publishing the upcoming Bioshock novel. No final word on who the author is yet though.
- New StarCraft 2 Footage. Drool.
- Check out IGN's most anticipated Games of E3 2009: PS3, 360, Wii, PC

Sports Five
- Tarkenton has some pretty harsh words for Favre.
- Antoine Winfield will attend mini camp without a new contract.
- Pat Williams calls out Tarvaris Jackson, tells him to work harder.
- The secret to Mauer Power.
- Real Scouts has rated every position in the NFL, here's a breakdown of Defensive End. You should be able to find the rest from there.

Tarkenton wants Favre to sign with Vikes "so he can fail"

2009-05-27T10:44:00.003-05:00

Fran Tarkenton is clearly not a fan of Brett Favre's. Read through this and you'll see why. Now he's got me rethinking the whole Favre in Purple bit again. The only difference is if Favre did indeed become a Viking, I would not want him to fail. I refuse to let one man change my allegiance for my team. It's a fun read regardless and there's links there so you can even listen to the interview.

LNR: Late Night Recap

2009-05-26T22:25:00.007-05:00

Welcome to the first edition of PPP's Late Night Recap (LNR). Each night I will try to post five stories of interest from the world of Gaming and Sports. It's a one stop spot to catch up on some items you may have missed throughout the day. Since this is a blog centered around the Vikings, I will try to hit the top Vikings stories, but I'll also mix in some others. So without further ado, here's the first ever list:

Gaming Five
- XBLA Deal of the week: Bionic Commando: Rearmed half off. That's just $5 folks!
- Bioshock 2 surfaces this fall, oh hells yeah.
- Another GTA IV expansion coming for $20. Bundled version with Lost and Damned for $40.
- No Final Fantasy XIII this year outside of Japan, American FF fanboys ball up and cry.
- Lot's of speculation surrounding the next Metal Gear. Is that Raiden I see?

Sports Five
- ESPN's NFL Power Rankings are out. Yes, your calendar does say May 26th. Vikes come in at number 14.
- Vikings QB's find Favre fiasco awkward. Really?
- The NFL appealed the ruling on Pat and Kevin Williams today.
- Moss feels that the Patriots offense will be more potent this year than its record breaking 2007 season.
- Tragic story, Mike Tyson's four year old daughter died today.

To wrap things up tonight, the Orlando Magic is up 3-1 in the series against the Cavs. The NBA's worst nightmare is very possible now......a Magic vs. Nuggets Final.....ouch! Also, congrats to the Pens, good luck with the Red Wings.

PPP: Life without the Williams Wall, #4 and Winfield Update

2009-05-25T23:57:00.010-05:00

First off, let's start with honoring the men and women who have lost their lives throughout the years defending this great country of our and fighting for freedom around the world. My family and I enjoyed a beautiful day at Lake Independence today and owed it all to our heroic fallen and their families.

Defensive Foundation Weakening
Now on to the Purple where things are looking a bit tougher for Pat and Kevin Williams. A couple of days ago a Federal Judge in Minnesota rejected claims from Pat and Kevin (and three players involved from the New Orleans Saints), agreeing with the NFL that players are responsible for what they put in their bodies, period. So where does this leave them now? There's still a scheduled court date next month that will dictate their fate, but this last rejection appears to be a suffering blow. So looking ahead, what could life be like for the Vikings without Pat and Kevin in the first four games of the season? Let's break down the schedule:

Week 1: At Cleveland - 26th ranked rushing offense in 2008
Week 2: At Detroit - 30th ranked rushing offense in 2008
Week 3: San Francisco - 27th ranked rushing offense in 2008
Week 4: Green Bay - 17th ranked rushing offense in 2008

If there was ever a good time for something like this to happen, it's the beginning of the 2009 season. As you can see from the above, the Vikings first four games are manageable even without Pat and Kevin. That's not to say that any of these teams have done nothing to improve, but going off that and seeing who the teams are, I don't see much of a change going into the 2009 season. Of course the QB situation is still up in the air at this point, so nothing is for certain.

Decide and decide now Favre
Brett Favre has to let the Vikings know what's going on, and he has to do it now. SI's Peter King firmly believes that Favre will make a decision this week. I'm sure I speak on behalf of Vikings Country when I say - I sure as hell hope so. According to Peter's MMQB, Favre could be looking to proceed with a minor surgery that would involve the cutting of one small tendon (the only one holding it together right now) that would require only two weeks of recovery. All indications are that this procedure would have Favre throwing like the days of old within month of rehab. Remember, it was only two years ago that Favre put up great numbers and lead the Packers to the NFC Title game. If that's the Farve we got, with many more offensive weapons and a better defense than the Packers had then, it's got my full attention. Either way, I want a decision now so that rest of the team can put this to rest and prepare for the season.

I'm starting to get a bit more open to this scenario based off what the current roster looks like. It's more than apparent that Childress' little Tarvaris Jackson experiment has failed and failed miserably. Then add Sage Rosenfeld - aka Fumble Copter - to the equation. What has he ever proven in the NFL besides that fact that he can provide rather embarrassing clips on Sports Center for your team? Favre is old, his quest for attention is old, but so is the revolving QB door of mediocrity for the Vikings.

Sharper, Birk, now Winfield?
There's a bad trend possibly continuing for the Purple when it comes to not signing key players. Last year at this time, Darren Sharper and Matt Birk were both looking for deals to stay a Minnesota Viking. A year later, both are on different teams and Birk in particular has to leave behind his home state where he also owns his own chain of restaurants.

Antoine Windfield now finds himself in the same situation. Indications are that the team is waiting to see how the Favre saga ends, but that's no way to treat a player that's been a leader on and off the field. Hopefully this one gets resolved, but the way it's being handled, it could very well be too late, and I wouldn't blame Winfield one bit.

That's all I've got for now, hopefully next time I can start covering some topics with a bit more positivity to them. One thing to point out, Harvin made it to the OTA's and from what I read and saw, he enjoyed himself and continues to say that right things. Here's hoping he pans out and helps to electrify the Dome whether it's catching a five yard swing pass and taking it to the house, or returning a kick making everyone forget about a certain someone in Chicago.

Peter King's info on the Vikes

2009-05-25T11:21:00.004-05:00

Plenty of information about the Vikings in this mornings Monday Morning Quarterback (MMQB) from Peter King. I'll share my thoughts on some of this later tonight.

Tired of conflicting Favre stories

2009-05-19T21:41:00.002-05:00

Last night I blogged about Favre reportedly looking to have surgery this week and sign with the Vikings if it were a success. That's what the Pioneer Press reported yesterday any way. This morning, ESPN's Ed Werder was quick to point out that there was no validity to that story at all and that Favre is looking to work through his arm issues without surgery.

Seriously, can this fiasco just come to an end. I'm having a hard time with this because I'm just not sold on Sage and TJack. But the never ending Favre reports just need to die. He needs to publicly state what he's doing and get it over with.

Anyway, just had to cover myself for falling into the Pioneer Press' report based off a unreliable source. And you wonder why Newspapers are going under.

Surgery and Signing for Favre - Peterson's quest to add weight

2009-05-18T21:30:00.008-05:00

It's only the middle of May but there's plenty going on with the Purple right now. Earlier today the Pioneer Press reported that Brett Favre will be meeting with noted orthopedist James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala. tomorrow about possible surgery to repair a partially torn biceps tendon in his right shoulder. If the surgery is a success, indications are that it would be a full recovery within 6-8 weeks and Favre would be signing with the Vikings. If there are any complications or Dr. Andrews feels that a more serious procedure is needed, Favre would then officially stay retired.

The Favre saga continues, mean while newly acquired QB Sage Rosenfels doesn't have much to say about the Favre fiasco. Apparently Favre's agent Bus Cook has nothing to add either as he continues to side-step the entire situation.

On to more important matters, Adrian Peterson has publicly stated that he's wanting to gain several pounds before the start of the new season. After reading this article from Sports Illustrated's Jim Trotter, I'm a bit weary of the situation. Having a full understanding of what may have been the cause of Clinton Portis' downfall, Peterson needs to pay more attention to how he handles his body. More weight equals loss in step and can lead to more injuries rather than preventing them. Here's hoping someone talks some sense into him and soon.

Last season he weighed 218 pounds and is already one of the most punishing runners since Jim Brown. Adding a few pounds is one thing, but to go from 218 to 230? That just seems like a reciepe for disaster.

Quick Review: Plants vs Zombies

2009-05-16T12:47:00.007-05:00

PopCap Games has done it again with their latest, addicting gem called Plants vs Zombies. Like most PopCap Games, this is not meant to be a deep 40-60 hour engaging game, but rather a unique pick-up and play style of game. Don't get me wrong, when you first start out playing, you could easily dump a couple of hours without noticing, but games like this do not require a major time commitment.

It starts a little slow and takes a while before it becomes a challenge, but the setup and style of the game more than make up for the early lack of challenge. For the most part, it's simlar to a Real-Time Strategy game (RTS). In order to plant the plants that will fight off the hordes of Zombies, you need sun to produce them. Sun acts like the games resource, building up enough sun points to "purchase" other important flowers. These flowers range from offensive, defensive, support, and mass destruction.

On the Zombie side of things, they start off as the usual slow knuckle draggers, but a few levels in you start to notice that they become a bit more enhanced. From wearing street cones on their heads for armor, to poll volting over plants, there's always a wide variety to keep you on your toes.

Do yourself a favor and change things up a little bit with this title that's fun for the entire family. With the low price of $9.99, this one's a no-brainer......B-R-A-I-N-S!!!......ah crap, I better go, they're coming for me! Quick, hit up Steam's site for a fast and easy digital purchase.

PPP Rating: 9 out of 10

Holmgren wants to coach, Childress feeling the heat?

2009-05-12T20:14:00.002-05:00

The Seattle Times reported today that Mike Holmgren is already wanting to coach again. The story claims that he's targeting the 2010 season, but with all the Favre talk lately, is there a possible Minnesota conspiracy brewing here? That's the take that KFAN's Dan Barriero took this evening on his Bumper to Bumper program.

So here's the take, Favre is tossing the pigskin with High School kids again (it's true, it's happening again) to test out his arm while awaiting the word from his X-rays that were sent to the Vikings. Favre knows that Holmgren wants to coach again so he contacts him and fills his head with the idea of being his Head Coach again in Minnesota. Add to that the fact that the Vikings Offensive Coordinator is Darren Bevel who was Favre's QB coach in Green Bay. Are you seeing the possibilities here now? Do they seem that far fetched when you really think about it? Think Childress is feeling the hot seat now?

All the die-hard Childress haters are screaming YES! NO! and YES! to those questions. That includes most of the Favre haters up to this point. Let's face it, Childress has not been well received in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Even after leading the team to the Playoffs last year with a grizzled veteran and the continuing Jackson Experiment, fans have been clamoring to see "The Stache" fired. When it comes down to it, here's how it looks:

Childress and Jackson

Holmgren and Favre

I'm pretty certain that most level-headed Vikings fans would jump all over the second option considering the defense the Vikings have in place right now and offense capable of prolific stature with a capable (key word here, capable) signal caller.

Will it ever happen? I highly doubt it, but it sure continues to make things interesting here in Minnesota. We are either about to become the center of the Football Universe or destined for mediocrity this season. Why not toss the proverbial wrench in the system and spice it up around here for a change.

Purple Pride Ponderings: Favre Feeling Minnesota

2009-05-05T21:59:00.004-05:00

A day after Favre apparently told Trent Dilfer NO in a text message answering "Are you going to play again?" - he is now coming to Minnesota to speak with Brad Childress. There's almost no reason to think that he doesn't want to play for the Vikings now. He could have easily waited till mid June or so, skipping mini-camps and OTA's in the process. But the fact that he's wanting to start the conversations with Childress in early May is an indication that he wants to play, and wants to get acclimated with the team by taking part in the coming mini-camps.

If this does indeed happen, it will be a media circus in Eden Prairie and even bigger in Mankato when Training Camp opens in July. It will also cause conflicting reactions by Viking and Packer fans alike. I for one am torn about this. I've always respected Favre's game, but he played 16 years for the team I detest the most in all of sports. Sure the Vikings lack a true, legit QB and look to be just that position away from being the leading candidate win the Super Bowl, but is Favre really the answer? 10 years ago, no question, but he turns 40 in October and showed signs of losing a step, if not an arm the last nine games or so for the Jets last year. More and more rumors continue to spill out about this to include one that states that Favre exaggerated the arm issue, possibly to get the Jets to release him.

So do I want him in Purple? If we get the same Favre from two years ago that the Packers should have never let go, yes, with out a doubt. I have two major issues with Favre coming to Minnesota in regards to dealing with Packer fans:

- If the Vikings went on to win the Super Bowl with Favre, Packer fans would go off about how it took a former Packer great for the Vikings to finally win the Super Bowl.

- If the Vikings failed to make it to Super Bowl, or lose the Super Bowl, Packer fans would go off about how not even Favre can help them get there.

It's the ultimate catch-22, but to me, I don't care. It's inevitable now that he's coming to speak with Childress. He will be a Viking, I will support him, and I hope he's the key to take us to the promised land. With the running game and defense the Vikings have in place right now, the window is small and Tarvaris and Sage are not the answer now or down the road. Might as well roll the dice, take the plunge now, and remind the Packer fans that no matter what happens, it was their team that kicked a future Hall of Fame QB to the curb the season after he had one of his best years for them.

Purple Pride Ponderings - Week 3

2008-09-21T21:16:00.004-05:00

A week ago today, Brad Childress stressed after a 18-15 loss to the Colts, that Tarvaris Jackson was still his guy. Up until mid-week, Jackson was his guy. By Wednesday afternoon, Childress changed his tune, one that was no doubt, orchestrated by owner Zygi Wilf. Here's a quick breakdown of what I feel may have taken place Wednesday morning as Wilf made his way to Childress' Winter Park office, closing the door behind him:

Childress: "Hey Zygi, have a seat, can I get you some coffee?"
Wilf: "No thanks, just had a Caribou, and I'll stand for this one thank you."
Childress: "Errr, ok. So what brings you in on a Wednesday?"
Wilf: "The Tarvaris Jackson experiment is over, I want Frerotte in there."
Childress: "But I'm soo close, I just need a little more ti..."
Wilf: "You've had enough time, make the change, or you'll be looking for a College Coordinator job by Friday. I've spent too much money to bring a winner here, I can't have a QB that the players and fans have no faith in. Got it?"
Childress: "Yes sir, but can I..."
Wilf: "No, Brad, he's done for the year. Announce that Gus is starting the remainder of the year."

Of course this is all just pure speculation on my part, but I'm sure I'm not alone on this one. There's no way Childress made this move on his own just days after reiterating that Jackson was still his guy.

So days after the opening of the new I-35 bridge, the Vikings offense revealed a re-build of their own starting Frerotte, hoping to bring the players and fans together again.

Calm, Cool, and Collected
For what ever reason, Jackson has lacked the confidence and leadership he showed in the first two preseason games before missing time with the knee injury. What this team needed was someone that could manage the offense and provide some offensive stability. Gus "suit case" Frerotte has been around the league for a while, but he's still got a strong arm and respect in the huddle. If Warner and Favre can still get it done, there's no reason to think that Gus can't lead the West Coast offense in it's most simplistic form. Early in the game, Berrian dropped a couple of catchable balls from Gus, and Gus shook it off and came back to him later in the game. Berrian made those catches and it was a testament to Frerotte's experience in counting on his receivers. The more they play together, the better the timing will get, and Gus has proven that he is more than capable of getting the ball down field.

The Return of the Purple People Eaters?
Before the season started, the Vikings were touted to have the best front four in the game. While the defense did a decent job holding two high-scoring offenses in check for the most part in the first two games, this unit showed what they are capable of against the Panthers. After giving up 10 points in the first half, the Vikings defense pitched a shut-out and Winfield's sack/forced fumble/fumble recovery for a touchdown kicked the entire defense into another gear. The Vikings held the Panthers to less then 70 yards in the second half while the offense chewed up plenty of time off the clock. The secondary should get a bit of a boost when Madieu Williams is available to play in the next week or two. As for that dominating front four, they showed it this week as they closed out the game in grand, sacking fashion.

Missing 100 yards or so?
Not all was rosy on Sunday. The Vikings were penalized for more than 100 yards and many of those penalties came at the most inopportune times. Granted, the same could be said for the Panthers, but to help Frerotte get up-to-speed with this offense, you can't shoot yourself in the foot and cost the team insane amounts of yardage. This team must dig deep and play better disciplined football as they hit the road the next two weeks.

All Day took a Half Day
I don't think we would be talking about a Vikings victory if Jackson played in a game where Peterson only rushed for 77 yards. Peterson was a game time decision due to a sore hamstring, and he only touched the ball 17 times. One has to wonder if Peterson should have even been out there, but I guess when your job is on the line, you let your star back decide for himself. This was another sign of offensive balance led by Frerotte. On a day where All Day was not himself, Frerotte still found a way to lead this team to victory.

Isn't it Ironic
How's this for irony, and another stab at the young, benched QB. Had Shiancoe caught the potential touchdown pass against the Colts, Frerotte may have never seen the field today. Instead, he dropped it, the Vikings lost, and Frerotte's first touchdown this year went to the very same player that cost Jackson his starting job.

I think it's safe to say that as long as Frerotte is able to continue managing this team, and make some big plays with his big arm, they still has a chance to be a heavy playoff contender. With this defense, that's all it takes and it's a formula that has won the Super Bowl many times over. Next up is a road trip to the South where the Vikings will take on the undefeated Tennessee Titans. Time to see if Frerotte's experience and calmness can lead to the first road win of the season against a very solid defense.

Players of the Game
Defense: EJ Henderson - What a beast Henderson has become. From flying Superman backfield tackles to non-stop pursuit, Henderson is turning into one of the best Linebackers in the game today.

Offense: Gus Frerotte - Brought back some much needed leadership to the huddle and managed the game well. It appears that Coach Childress is willing to open up more of the offensive playbook with Gus driving the bus (come on, I had to fit it there some where).

Thoughts from the other games
- I know Brady's out, but the Dolphins? And at home? And that bad?
- Falcons prove that they are the best of the worst.
- Bills need a comeback to top Raiders. Russell's passing numbers continue to mirror Vince Young.
- Giants need extra session to top toothless Bengals and stay undefeated.
- Much like Frerotte, Collins manages well and has a stout defense to count on. Schaub continues to prove that you don't give big money to a unproven QB.
- Griese may not have a arm left after leading the Bucs to a overtime victory over the Bears. He threw for over 400 yards on 67 attempts....yes, 67! That's not a 6th inning pitch count people!
- Cards drop to 2-1, Skins keep pace in NFC East moving up to 2-1.
- Denver wins another close one, this time without the aid of the refs.
- Kitna kills my Fantasy team as the resurging 49ers crush the Lions.
- Seattle wakes up against the Rams. Scott Linehan might be gone by the time you read this.
- Steelers offense non-existent in Philly. Eagles continue to impress as does the NFC East in general this week.
- What happened to Derek Anderson? Quinn is already wanted in Cleveland and the Ravens make easy work of the Browns.
- Colts 0-2 at home? Should have lost to the Vikings on top of that? AFC's weakening as the Colts and Pats appear to be in disarray.
- Cowboys still the team to beat, make easy work of the Packers.

Who I like Monday Night (and no I don't mean Peter King)
I can't see the Chargers going 0-3 and the Jets will suffer from the East Coast to West Coast travel hang-over. I like the Chargers at home, Favre struggles yet again.

Chargers 24
Jets 13

Later,
Keith Michaels
venomlace@yahoo.com

Purple Pride Ponderings - Week 2

2008-09-15T21:17:00.004-05:00

As much as Dan Dierdorf attempted to make excuse after excuse for the Colts, the Vikings found a way to hand the game to the growing infirmary report known as the Indianapolis Colts. Throughout the entire game, viewers were subjected to hearing over and over again how detrimental it was for the Colts to be without center Jeff Saturday and tight end Dallas Clark. So why is it that we only heard about the injuries and missing players from the Colts? The home team Vikings had a couple of rather important pieces missing as well. Safety Madieu Williams missed his second game due to a nagging neck injury, forcing the Vikings to start a rookie in his place once again. On the other side of the ball the Vikings were without LT Byannt McKinnie, serving game two of his four game suspension for trouncing a bouncer over the head with a rope stantion. In his place was Artis Hicks, who by all accounts could have not played due to injury so he was nowhere near 100%.

So Dan, the next time you try making excuses for the darling network favorite throughout a game, try to at least acknowledge the other team's ailments, and you might want to make sure it's not against a team that's going to blow a fourth quarter lead.

Jackson is not ready; neither is Childress
Tarvaris Jackson is taking a lot of heat for his play so far in his young career. Anyone that watched the game heard the chorus of boo's in the Metrodome after incomplete passes and bad decision making with his feet. At no time has Jackson shown any kind of leadership quality while on the field or the sideline. Sure he's had some misfortune with bone-headed receiver play (Williamson, Berrian, Shiancoe), but when it comes down to it, he's just not ready to be a leader for an offense that desperately needs one. Despite all the inadequacies at QB, the supposed leader holding this team back right now is the head coach, Brad Childress. Not only did he place all of his eggs in one basket with Jackson, he also fails on every level when it comes to making proper in-game decisions. Childress has been with this team long enough to warrant a firing after the first two games. It's not going to happen, but it should. Wilf should do what it takes to bring a winner back to Minnesota, something he needs during his push for a new stadium. Fire Chilly, hire a coach like Cower, and pursue Jeff Garcia and try to salvage this season. While it's improbable for someone like Cower to take over a team part way into a season, I could see at least promoting Leslie Frazier to change things up. This team has loads of talent, but it has the wrong personnel in place to lead it.

Peterson destined to be the next Barry Sanders?
We already know he can run and move like Barry, but he could end up following in Sanders' infamy as well. If Zygi refuses to fire Childress, Peterson will be subjected to being the only playmaker worthy of moving the ball in this offense. He will get over worked and become frustrated. This is exactly what happened to Sanders, a great player that just got tired of losing and destroying his body in the process. Peterson had another remarkable day on Sunday and was responsible for the Vikings 15 points. This team cannot count on him to break the big one and reach the end zone every game. If Jackson refuses to be the leader in the huddle, Peterson needs to step into this role and I don't doubt for one second that he won't.

Don't blame the Defense for this one
Even though the fourth quarter looked like a defensive breakdown, I don't think it's fair to place the blame on them at all. They played outstanding football and kept Manning in check for nearly three quarters before Gonzales barley snuck by the secondary and took a page out of Randy Moss' book with the last second lateral. Last week I said it was time for Allen to shut his mouth and play football, and he did just that this week. Even though he only had one sack, he was in Manning's face all day and put some pads on him several times throughout the game. The other defensive star was EJ Henderson who is on a quest for the Pro Bowl this year, and will get it should he continue to play the way he is so far this year. Had the offense actually punched one or two into the end zone, this game would have never came down to a Manning comeback and the defense wouldn't have become so winded down the stretch.

Doesn't get any easier
The schedule gods were not pleasant to the Vikings this year. If it wasn't bad enough to start the season 0-2, the Vikings must now face a re-emerging Panthers team, followed by a road trip to Tennessee against one of the best defenses in the game. They then find themselves under the Monday Night lights in New Orleans. I know I may have jumped the gun about firing Childress only two games into the season, but should the Vikings end up 0-5 and Zygi still not make a move, I think it's a clear indication that this team will not be in Minnesota after the Metrodome lease ends in 2011.

A bit too much of the doom and gloom in this week's PPP, but that could be remedied with a solid win against the Cats next Sunday.

Later,
Keith Michaels
venomlace@yahoo.com

Purple Pride Ponderings - Week 1 2008

2008-09-09T21:58:00.007-05:00

When the calendar hit September this year, there were two things I heavily anticipated - Metallica's new album, and a revamped Vikings football team. Similar, yet different. Metallica is and always has been my favorite Rock/Metal band. The Vikings is and always have been my favorite football team. Leading up to September, I had to wonder would this be the album that brings Metallica back to the level us die-hard fans remember? As for the Vikings, would this be the year Childress and his "kick ass offense" takes off and leads us to the promised land? ESPN took my love for both a step further on Monday night. They fused them together throughout the entire broadcast, paying homage to the best band on the planet. A nice plug for the new album indeed, but it also got this Vikings fan that was already clamoring for a statement victory against the hated Packers - even more amped.

As we all know, part of this metal infused evening left me feeling like the typical lyrics of a sad Country song, and that part would be the Minnesota Vikings.

The Stage was set, and he blew it
Jackson once again, did not have a good night, completing less that 50% of his passes. Sure he looked a bit better in the second half, but how could he not after piling up a measly six yards in the first half. As bad as the Vikings overall appeared to play (and as much as Rodgers was....Favre-like....puke!), they still found themselves in the game, with a chance to win on the final drive. This was it, Jackson's chance to prove all the sceptics wrong, show them that he is ready to be a big-time play maker in this league. But of course, instead he throws a horrible interception at the most inopportune time. Game over, Vikings fans left wondering what to do about a team with loads of talent, and a QB that still seems incapable of leading them.

Money well spent
Well at least that's what we were led to believe this entire off-season. The Vikings spent a truck-load of money on three players in particular - Jarred Allen, Bernard Berrian, and Maideu Williams. So how did they fare in this Monday night dance with their hated rival?

Williams - Did not play, out with a bad neck. May see action by week three.
Berrian - Three receptions for 38 yards and no touchdowns. If this guy could actually stay on his feet, he very well would have been over 100 yards with a score. But hey, at least he caught a few balls, which is more than Williamson could of ever said last year.
Allen - 0 tackles, 0 sacks Shut your mouth and play next week Country boy!

A little harsh on these guys after week one, but when you make the kind of jing they got, you better perform.

Offensive Line
I'm sure Jackson took a lot offense to the way these guys played. I understand that McKinnie was out, but let's face it, that guy is overrated anyway. Jackson is taking a ton of heat after this game and rightfully so, but the Offensive Line did nothing to help in regards to pass protection. Jackson hardly ever had time to sit in the pocket and go through his reads, and when he did, he stood there and took a few shots, which is a credit to him. This unit better gel and gel quickly, or the next three games will put Jackson in the hospital.

The three big plays
Three big plays decided the outcome of this game.

1. The punt return for a touchdown, most of which was run down the sideline (the supposed extra man).
2. The bomb to Greg Jennings. Outstanding catch! While Rodgers seems to be getting all the accolades for that, it's Jennings that deserves it.
3. The 50+ yard Ryan Grant run that lead to the winning touchdown. Totally unacceptable for this defense. Grant is not that great of a running back, something I think that will be exposed with Favre gone. For a team that prides itself in stopping the run, they really shot themselves in the foot at that wrong time. This unit should take on as much heat as Jackson did for his interception.

A pissed off Manning comes to town
So what do we have to look forward to next week? How about a pissed off Colts team after stinking it up in their new house against that Bears. Neither of these teams wants to be 0-2 and both have something to prove now. The Vikings front seven HAS to get pressure on Manning or it's going to be a long day in the big inflatable toilet.

That's all I can muster after this debacle. As I stated earlier, would this be the year Childress and his "kick ass offense" takes off and leads us to the promised land? As of right now, the only ass kicking going on is the new Metallica album, Death Magnetic. From beginning to end, it's a hard-charged, the boys are back and grabbing you by the balls, epic masterpiece. Wish I could say the same about the Vikings, but hey, relax, it was only week one.

Later,
Keith Michaels
venomlace@yahoo.com

McKinnie suspended for four games

2008-08-30T23:33:00.004-05:00

We all knew it was coming. Since training camp started it was inevitable that the NFL would suspend Bryant McKinnie for his brawl at a Miami night club this past February. It's not the actual suspension that bothers me, it's that fact that a player gets suspended four games for hitting another man at a night club, while another only gets one game for hitting a woman.

Earlier this week, the NFL reduced the four game suspension of Brandon Marshall to one game. This guy hit his girlfriend and still has a hearing for drunk driving coming up later in September.

So what kind of message exactly is the Commissioner trying to send here? I understand that McKinnie assaulted another man with a rope-post, but still, at least he assaulted another man. I firmly believe that his suspension is warranted, but I'm a little befuddled by the reduction in games for Marshall.

So, how bad does this affect the Vikings? Well it has Artis Hicks protecting Jackson's blind side for the first four rather important games. I say important based on the Defensive Ends he will be facing. After Kampman on Monday night, he will be lined up against the Colts' Dwight Freeney, Panthers' Julius Peppers, and the Titans Kyle Vanden Bosch. That's a daunting task for any tackle to start the season.

With the only true question mark for the Vikings being at quarterback, this does not make the situation any better and will be watched closely to see how Hicks handles this pressure.

No Action for Jackson, Defense decides to play

2008-08-24T22:23:00.003-05:00

The third preseason game is now in the books. This is one where we get to see the starters usually play a series into the second half, and unfortunately, Tarvaris Jackson was on the sidelines all night. I say unfortunately, but at the same time, am pleased with the coaches decision to keep him out of this game. He should rest that knee until the Monday nighter in Green Bay when it really matters. After all, Tom Brady has yet to take a snap this preseason, and no, that does not mean I plug Jackson in the same tier as Brady. Now for a quick look at what I saw in the game Saturday night:

The Good

Defense

From the Bad in game one, to the good in week three. As stated already, week three has a bit more meaning, and the Vikings starting defense showed that well on Saturday. Apparently Childress was not talking out of his ass when he said they played a vanilla defense in week one and two. The front seven had Big Ben confused and flustered all night and held the running game in check as expected. What stood out even more is the way this team tackles. I don't think I saw one broken tackle from the starters and EJ Henderson looks like he might be in the talks of Best Linebacker in the NFL this year.

The Bad

Running Game

Ok, I know this team is trying to establish the passing game to help free up some real estate for MR. 28, but for the third preseason game, the running game was non-existent. This by no means is to take away from the Steelers defense, a defense that is known to stop the run. When you have the Minnesota moving company and backs like AD and Taylor in the backfield, you should still be able move the ball on the ground. It doesn't help that Bernard Berrian has been sidelined that past two games. He was brought in to help spread the field and pull the LB's and Safeties back, and so far, his little toe is bothering him. He's out with a toe injury!!?? I know turf toe is no joke, but come on, he's getting paid way to much to miss this much time. I'm also concerned with Rice, another WR that I thought was set to have an outstanding season. These injuries at wide out are, and should be a huge concern at this point.

The Ugly

Preseason Injuries

A lot of big names have been going down in preseason games around the NFL again. Some want to shorten the preseason, and add to the regular season. I have a problem with that. For years NFL teams have been preparing with the current structure, so why change? If the game is for real (taking two games from preseason and adding them to the regular season - 18 games), won't starting players be subjected to more injuries as they are on the field for several more quarters?

The Preseason is a necessary evil. Players and coaches need the time to prepare, evaluate, and train their bodies/minds for the rigors of an NFL season. I know the infirmary report looks bad, but what do you expect, it's a contact sport.

Tarvaris Jackson Sharp in Preseason Opener

2008-08-08T22:35:00.004-05:00

Well it's here, the first preseason game of the 2008 season. This is the year we see what Tarvaris Jackson is made of and if tonight was any indication, Childress deserves many apologies. So here's a quick take on tonight's game. Not the usual Purple Pride Ponderings format as I'm not in regular season form yet either.

The Good

Tarvaris Jackson

Jackson went 8 for 11 with 118 yards and 1 touchdown. He looked poised, in control, and made all the right decisions tonight. The most interesting thing about tonight was that while Jackson was in there, they didn’t run the ball until they got on the goal-line and let Chester Taylor punch it in. A well designed test by the Vikings coaching staff for Jackson turned into a success for the third year quarterback. He used his athletic abilities to avoid the rush and made a couple of nice throws on the run. The Vikings have some potential playmakers with Berrian, Rice, and Allison so teams may be a bit reluctant to stack the box against Peterson if Jackson continues to look the way he did tonight. Another positive for Jackson tonight, he didn’t throw a single jump pass!

The Bad

Defense

It must be noted that Pat Williams was a healthy scratch tonight. With that said, the Vikings starting defense looked rather lackluster tonight. I was hoping to see early signs of a dominant pass rush but that was nowhere to be found. The Seahawks starting offense pretty much had their way against the Vikings defense on the ground and in the air the first two drives of the game. I know it’s only preseason, and the 1^st game at that, but I was still disappointed in what I saw. Hopefully it will be a different story when the Defensive line has Edwards, Williams x2, and Allen in there.

As for the reserves, they didn’t look ANY better. I’m sure this entire side of the ball will have extra duty when they get back to Mankato. I’d love to be a fly on the wall for the film session with the defense tomorrow.

The Ugly

Bollinger and Booty

He only attempted two passes and I think that was by design. He just looks awkward out there and since the Vikings will be cutting down to three quarterbacks soon, I firmly believe Bollinger is the one to go. Jackson, Frerotte, and Booty will be the three and I was almost equally un-impressed with Booty. If Jackson was to be slammed the past two years, this guy should have tomatoes tossed in his face. I’ve been hearing how Booty may have been the most pro-ready QB in the draft, but he looked horrible. His throws were way off target and he just doesn’t have the arm to get the ball downfield that Jackson has.

Vikings 2008 Training Camp: Five Burning Questions

2008-07-23T21:36:00.007-05:00

Today was the day every player in the NFL dreads - reporting to Training Camp. The actual fun for the Minnesota Vikings beings on Friday, and like every year at this time, there's several questions before our boys lace the cleats and put on the pads. So here's my top five questions for the Minnesota Vikings leading into the 2008 version of Training Camp.

5. How will the Packers allegations of Tampering affect the Vikings, especially Tarvaris Jackson? (Getting this one out of the way first. Even the NFL Commish wants this soap opera to come to a swift end)

Coach Childress stated a few weeks ago that Jackson is his QB and he's got his full vote of confidence. With phone records stating that Favre made several calls to Bevell and Childress, one might think that Jackson will start to question his coach's actual confidence in him. As late as today, the Star Tribune ran a story stating that Antoine Winfield thinks Favre would be a great fit for the Vikings. But Jackson does have plenty of support from other Pro-Bowl veterans to include Sharper, Pat Williams, and Kevin Williams. Jackson needs to do what the rest of the NFL should have done from the begining and just ignore this story. As it stands, he is the leader of the Vikings and he's got plenty to prove.

4. Does adding Jarred Allen truly improve the Vikings' secondary?

It's been no secret in the NFL the past couple of years on how to attack the Vikings defense. Pass, pass, and pass some more. But you have to mix in the run to open the passing game right? Not on the Vikings because....A) You CANNOT run against them due to the Williams Wall and B) The Vikings are innept when it comes to stopping any passing game in the NFL and they often provide mediocre at best QB's with career games. The Vikings have actually had good personnel in the secondary. Guys like Sharper and Winfield play a Pro Bowl calibur game every year, but when you have zero pass rush, there's no way you are going to cover receivers in the NFL when a QB has all day to survey the field. So, if Allen follows up in Purple with what he did last year in Kansas City, the Vikings' Secondary should be vastly improved.

3. Will Bryant McKinnie be suspended after his court date on September 24th?

Since McKinnie is a repeat offender of the League's Personal-Conduct Policy, he's all but guaranteed to suffer a four game suspension, but not until after his day in court. It will be interesting to see how the Vikings organization deals with this situation as well. He's a huge part of one of the better offensive lines in football, but the Vikings have cracked down on what types of characters they have on their team. Should he only get the four game suspension and be welcome back to the team, it will be an interesting month to see how the line holds up in pass protection and providing the holes for the dynamic duo - Peterson and Taylor. The Vikings must address this in camp and find out who will be able to step up in McKinnie's October absence.

2. Has Adrian Peterson fully recovered from last year's knee injury?

Before Peterson suffered his knee injury in hated Green Bay, he was on pace to beat Dickerson's rookie rushing record. When he came back, he didn't have the same explosive press though the line that propelled him during the first half of the season. According to team trainers and coaches, Peterson looks stronger than ever and has that explosive step back. But, can he sustain it through the course of an entire season? The Vikings are lucky enough to have a humble Chester Taylor behind Peterson, but let's face it, without Peterson, the Vikings offense is no where near the same level.

1. Can Tarvaris Jackson lead the Vikings to the Playoffs and beyond?

Ah yes, the million dollar question. Childress seems to think so and has put all of his faith in Jackson (should you truly ignore Favre's phone records). He's still raw, but I firmly believe he's got the arm to become a good QB in this league. This is the year he gets fairly judged. Gone is Troy Williamson and that alone will be a huge asset in Jackson's decision making. The Vikings also landed Bernard Berrian who started showing #1 receiver ability in this league with a rotating QB situation in Chicago that I feel is far worse than Jackson. Sidney Rice enters his second year and has all the makings of having a break-out season. Allison also showed promise last year as a rookie and Bobby Wade will fill the slot this year, a roll he's happy with and damn good at. Jackson has all the tools to show that he's for real this year, and having AD behind him for a little play action never hurts either. Should the Vikings show that they can establish a passing game early on, that will limit the eight and nine man fronts and make AD even more dangerous.

Madden Curse Strikes Again

2008-07-18T14:41:00.006-05:00

Last night I was checking out some of the video previews Shacknews put up straight from the E3 floors. One of the titles I was anxious to checkout was EA Sports’ Madden 2009. The game is looking great and for the first time in years, actually looks worthy of a purchase. I say that only because there really haven’t been many graphical updates or noteworthy game play elements to justify paying $60+ for roster updates.

With all the Favre talk over the last week and a half, it finally dawned on me that the Madden Curse has struck again, and nobody’s talking about it. Sure it normally means that the cover athlete is doomed to suffer a year ending injury at some point. But this time it’s worse, yet beautiful for those of us that continually drink the Purple Kool-Aid. This time the curse affects an entire organization and their fan base.

Aside from the effects on the Packers, what about EA? With the game shipping in less than a month, the production part of it is finished. What happens if Favre gets re-instated and the Packers agree to trade him? All of a sudden you have Favre on the cover of the largest sports game in video game history, in the wrong jersey. The only reason he was chosen as the cover boy to begin with was as a tribute to his Ironman legacy in the NFL.

So not only has Favre’s desire to be the center of attention yet another year disrupted the Packers, Vikings (thanks to the Packers asinine allegations), and fans – it will also impact the video game industry and cause the Marketing team at EA Sports to question their decision making.

So do us all a favor Favre and stay retired. It’s one thing (good thing) to send the Green Bay Packers into a state of disarray, but the Vikings and Madden……..that’s going too far.

As for the game itself - from what I’ve seen while watching the E3 2008 footage, it’s looking very nice. I’ll be picking up this year’s addition for sure and can’t wait to run AD all over everybody on Xbox Live!

Packers passing poor handling of Favre situation onto Vikings

2008-07-16T22:23:00.005-05:00

Or at least in a very poor attempt, they are trying to push the attention away. It's no secret that the Packers have handled Favre's change of heart in a piss poor manner, but to try and place blame on the Vikings now, well, I guess that's to be expected from the Cheese Heads. Earlier today Fox Sports' Jay Glazer busted the story on how the Packers claim the Vikings tampered with Favre.

Their big claim is that Favre had some inappropriate dialogue with Darell Bevell, the Vikings current Offensive Coodinator. Of course before Favre came out saying he wanted to play again and would like to be granted a release, it didn't matter that he spoke with Bevell on a regular basis. Bevell and Favre became good friends while the two spent time together in Green Bay. Bevell was an assistant for the Pack from 2000-2005 and spent three of those years as the quarterbacks coach.

As to be expected, and reported on by the Star Tribune, the Vikings have denied all claims of tampering passed down to the league by the bewildered Packers.

Enough is enough Thompson, you've put your own team and fans into a box. Since you are confident enough in Rodgers to place a Hall of Fame QB as a second stringer, let him go. Man up and prove that your team is better without Favre regardless of where he goes.

No Straight Hats in MLB Please!

2008-07-15T21:59:00.004-05:00

So I'm watching the 2008 MLB All-Star game when the Reds' Edinson Volquez comes in to pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning with the National League leading 2-0. Being a fan of the American League, I've not seen much of him, though I do remember him from the Rangers......when he actually curved the bill of his hat and wore it straight!

Seriously, it's bad enough to see today's kids walking around with flat billed hats cocked to the side, do we really need this in Major League Baseball!!?? No! Get some kind of MLB hat code in the game and stop this nonsense now. Thank God C.C. Sabathia went to the Brewers so I only need to see him once a year now (can the Twins please play a different team during Interleague play already!). He's the goof that really started this in MLB, and someone needs to end it now.

Now I know what some will say. Change is good, look what the Fab 5 did for basketball shorts. Well that was a change for the better all around. The last thing we need to see is more hairy leg on the court. Watch a NBA game from the early 90's and before, it's a fightening site to behold. But, even with the longer shorts, at least it's consistent in the entire game and it's not like they are wearing them with six inches of fricking boxer shorts showing!

So please, save our historic past-time and bend the damn bill of the hat......and wear it STRAIGHT!

As for my buddy Volquez. He and his flat, tilted hat left the mound with a tie game, 2-2. JD Drew's first All-Star at bat was a homer as he drove Justin Mornaeu in as well. Twins small ball followed by Boston bang. That's what you get for pissing me off with your rediculous hat Volquez!