I'm afraid of all the Viking fans now jumping on the Jack Del Rio bandwagon. Jack was an average head coach at Jacksonville for EIGHT YEARS. In his entire tenure there, he didn't win a single division title. His offense was known for running up the middle and punting. And at the end of his time in Jacksonville, he had one of the worst defenses in the league.
Eight years of mediocrity. We simply do not need any more of that. That was Tice. That was Childress. That was Frazier.
A better choice perhaps? There are no guarantees of course, but Adam Gase, the Broncos OFFENSIVE coordinator is also available. He's the guy that rewrote the entire Bronco playbook in two weeks to accommodate the unorthodox Tim Tebow. He's also the guy that has put high-powered offenses on the field for the Broncos since he's been there. He KNOWS football. And he isn't afraid to make changes in his game plan when things aren't working. INSTANT changes. The Vikings lost 5 games this year in the last minute of play because Frazier refused to make any adjustments on offense or defense. FIVE GAMES. Recognizing patterns and making adjustments are what separates the good from the truly mediocre.
Gase has a history of problem solving on the fly. Del Rio has a history of mediocrity.
Of course, every team who has fired a head coach this season is looking to Del Rio and Gase for help next season. The Vikings should make a statement with their checkbook.
I'm just afraid that the statement they will make will give us Del Rio.
sigh
I'm going to be preemptive here. I'll be the first. Fire Del Rio.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Monday, December 30, 2013
Rodgers is BACK
I really enjoyed the Packers game yesterday. Rodgers brought his "C" game in the first quarter, but the "A" game returned in time for a spectacular finish. I'm just afraid for the Packers to go deeper in the playoffs, that they will need to discover a defense somewhere in the next week. That defense yesterday was as bad I saw all season.
I enjoyed the Cowboys losing last night, too. Kyle Orton was a very good replacement for Romo, but Philly was a little better. That's all they needed to be.
I was also watching Manning in the first half of his game yesterday. Most yards, most TDs , and most points in a season. That Manning kid is good.
It was a good day for football yesterday. San Fran pulled off a last second win as well. I'm pumped for the playoffs.
Bring 'em on!
I enjoyed the Cowboys losing last night, too. Kyle Orton was a very good replacement for Romo, but Philly was a little better. That's all they needed to be.
I was also watching Manning in the first half of his game yesterday. Most yards, most TDs , and most points in a season. That Manning kid is good.
It was a good day for football yesterday. San Fran pulled off a last second win as well. I'm pumped for the playoffs.
Bring 'em on!
The End Of An Era
The Vikings have a rare opportunity to start completely over next year. Here are my thoughts on what they should do.
The first thing they need to do is fire coach Leslie Frazier. In three years with the team, he couldn't judge his talent accurately. Matt Cassel was the primary quarterback in ALL FIVE Vikings wins this season, twice in relief of an injured Ponder. What was Frazier's battle cry for two straight seasons? "Ponder is our best chance to win."
He couldn't come up with a decent game plan either. He felt our best chance to win was to keep Ponder in the pocket and to run Peterson 25-30 times a game, ignoring the fact that the only games won under Ponder were when he regularly rolled out and ran bootlegs. He was far more accurate when on the move than in the pocket, and he got sacked less often as well. Ponder actually looked GOOD in games where he wasn't restricted by the pocket. But Frazier, inexplicably kept muzzling him to the team's detriment. As head coach, it was Frazier's job to see patterns that worked and did not work in the Vikings offense. For two seasons, he failed to see those tendencies.
How about something radical for another change? Dump Peterson. Peterson is a good back who has had spectacular seasons, BUT he's also an aging back who is injury prone. And the more you watch him LOSE yards on basic plays up the middle the more you realize that he's a guy always looking for the BIG run rather than the guy content to get the yards that are there. I've mentioned it in the past, but he often had more significant negative yard plays in a game than positive yard plays in a game. It LOOKS good in highlight reels on Sportscenter when he breaks the long one, but it causes a team to punt far more than they should when you're ALWAYS looking for more yards than taking what the other defense is giving you. He dances at the line of scrimmage so often that he looks like he's auditioning for Dancing With the Stars. He no longer hits the hole that's there, he jukes behind the line hoping for a larger hole. And he loses big yardage several times a game doing that.
In the Vikings last two wins, without Peterson, the backs did their job without the flair and rarely had a backward step. THAT'S how the game is meant to be played. It would also stop us from relying on an unreliable back for our wins. It also allows a team to have several long sustained drives a game. You know, the ones that cause you to dominate clock time, get the opposing team's defense tired, and keeps opposing quarterbacks on the bench where they can't hurt you.
IF another quarterback is available in the draft when we get our choice, we should draft him as a backup to Cassel, and dump Ponder. Ponder brings this team down in so many ways. I admit much of that is Frazier's USE of Ponder in this system, but Ponder even at his BEST is just average. It's time for a QB who is GREAT, not just adequate.
Yesterday's win was good for three reasons. No Ponder. No Peterson. A great Patterson.
More of that please. And the sooner we dump Peterson, the more we'll get to USE Patterson.
The first thing they need to do is fire coach Leslie Frazier. In three years with the team, he couldn't judge his talent accurately. Matt Cassel was the primary quarterback in ALL FIVE Vikings wins this season, twice in relief of an injured Ponder. What was Frazier's battle cry for two straight seasons? "Ponder is our best chance to win."
He couldn't come up with a decent game plan either. He felt our best chance to win was to keep Ponder in the pocket and to run Peterson 25-30 times a game, ignoring the fact that the only games won under Ponder were when he regularly rolled out and ran bootlegs. He was far more accurate when on the move than in the pocket, and he got sacked less often as well. Ponder actually looked GOOD in games where he wasn't restricted by the pocket. But Frazier, inexplicably kept muzzling him to the team's detriment. As head coach, it was Frazier's job to see patterns that worked and did not work in the Vikings offense. For two seasons, he failed to see those tendencies.
How about something radical for another change? Dump Peterson. Peterson is a good back who has had spectacular seasons, BUT he's also an aging back who is injury prone. And the more you watch him LOSE yards on basic plays up the middle the more you realize that he's a guy always looking for the BIG run rather than the guy content to get the yards that are there. I've mentioned it in the past, but he often had more significant negative yard plays in a game than positive yard plays in a game. It LOOKS good in highlight reels on Sportscenter when he breaks the long one, but it causes a team to punt far more than they should when you're ALWAYS looking for more yards than taking what the other defense is giving you. He dances at the line of scrimmage so often that he looks like he's auditioning for Dancing With the Stars. He no longer hits the hole that's there, he jukes behind the line hoping for a larger hole. And he loses big yardage several times a game doing that.
In the Vikings last two wins, without Peterson, the backs did their job without the flair and rarely had a backward step. THAT'S how the game is meant to be played. It would also stop us from relying on an unreliable back for our wins. It also allows a team to have several long sustained drives a game. You know, the ones that cause you to dominate clock time, get the opposing team's defense tired, and keeps opposing quarterbacks on the bench where they can't hurt you.
IF another quarterback is available in the draft when we get our choice, we should draft him as a backup to Cassel, and dump Ponder. Ponder brings this team down in so many ways. I admit much of that is Frazier's USE of Ponder in this system, but Ponder even at his BEST is just average. It's time for a QB who is GREAT, not just adequate.
Yesterday's win was good for three reasons. No Ponder. No Peterson. A great Patterson.
More of that please. And the sooner we dump Peterson, the more we'll get to USE Patterson.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Notes
Adrian Peterson is out for the season. With the new groin injury from last week, and still being bothered with a sore foot from a couple of games ago, the Vikings see no reason to have him play today. It's not like the game is critical to the Vikings playoff hopes.
Win or lose, neither the Lions and the Vikings are going anywhere. It's too bad that he'll miss the last Metrodome game, though.
The second game on Fox WILL be worth watching, however. Bears/Packers: The loser goes home.
The UFC's greatest champion of all-time, Anderson Silva, suffered one of the worst injuries ever seen in the octagon last night. He had his leg shattered by a kick. That's his second loss in a row to current champ Chris Weidman. An injury like that will most likely end Silva's career. Silva is 38.
The Timberwolves are back to .500 on the season at 15-15 after beating the Bucks last night in Milwaukee. The Bucks are just 6-24. Love had 33 points and 15 rebounds. If Rubio could make lay-ups and Corey Brewer could actually make ANY of this three-point attempts we, would really be good.
Trivia: Does anybody remember Aaron Hicks?
Answer: No.
Win or lose, neither the Lions and the Vikings are going anywhere. It's too bad that he'll miss the last Metrodome game, though.
The second game on Fox WILL be worth watching, however. Bears/Packers: The loser goes home.
The UFC's greatest champion of all-time, Anderson Silva, suffered one of the worst injuries ever seen in the octagon last night. He had his leg shattered by a kick. That's his second loss in a row to current champ Chris Weidman. An injury like that will most likely end Silva's career. Silva is 38.
The Timberwolves are back to .500 on the season at 15-15 after beating the Bucks last night in Milwaukee. The Bucks are just 6-24. Love had 33 points and 15 rebounds. If Rubio could make lay-ups and Corey Brewer could actually make ANY of this three-point attempts we, would really be good.
Trivia: Does anybody remember Aaron Hicks?
Answer: No.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Gophers Lose Horribly
The first half just bad. No offense by the Gophers at all.
The second half was much better with two touchdowns and a brief lead.
But in typical Minnesota sports tradition, they failed to run out the clock, gave up the go ahead touchdown late , AND dropped a hail Mary pass that would have won the game dramatically.
Same old, same old.
Why do I bother watching?
The second half was much better with two touchdowns and a brief lead.
But in typical Minnesota sports tradition, they failed to run out the clock, gave up the go ahead touchdown late , AND dropped a hail Mary pass that would have won the game dramatically.
Same old, same old.
Why do I bother watching?
Wolves Win
At home last night, against a team with a similar record, the T-Wolves did what they normally do under those circumstances. They got off to a big lead by the second quarter and dominated the rest of the way.
Still looking forward to them doing that very same thing against better teams. Either way, it was a fun game. Love was great, as usual.
Still looking forward to them doing that very same thing against better teams. Either way, it was a fun game. Love was great, as usual.
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