The Minnesota Vikings once again built up a huge lead by half time.  This time, though, they didn’t blow it!  The Vikings get their first win of the season as they defeated the visiting Arizona Cardinals by a score of 34-10

Despite the fact [...]]]>

The Minnesota Vikings are now 1-4.

The Minnesota Vikings once again built up a huge lead by half time.  This time, though, they didn’t blow it!  The Vikings get their first win of the season as they defeated the visiting Arizona Cardinals by a score of 34-10

Adrian Peterson Is Still A Beast

Despite the fact that Adrian Peterson has been part of a predictable offense so far this season that can’t stay on the field in the second half of games, he has been a really good runner.

I think us fans want to see him run for 60+ yard touchdowns, which would be really nice, but Peterson is racking up the yards the hard way… by being consistently good.

All Day is averaging 4.5 yards per carry so far this year even though the other teams pretty much know exactly when he’s going to get the ball.  Yesterday he ran for 122 yards and THREE touchdowns to keep the team’s offense moving in the right direction

Jared Allen Is Still A Beast

So far during Allen’s time in Minnesota, he has usually gotten off to a somewhat slow start before picking up steam by the end of the season.

Not this year.

After five games Jared Allen leads the NFL with 8.5 sacks.  Two of them came Sunday against Kevin Kolb, and they contributed to the fact that Jared was able to keep the Vikings defense fired up through the whole game.

Brian Robison Is Better Than Ray Edwards

I wanted Robison to start for the last two seasons, but Edwards had the job, and Robison didn’t really get enough of an opportunity to prove that he should take that job away.

This year, I’m finding out that my hunch was right.

Brian Robison is a beast, and is the perfect compliment to Jared Allen.  Robison is a great pass rusher, a solid tackler, and he seems to be in on a lot of plays during the game.    Yesterday he matched Allen with 2 sacks.  He also had 4 solo tackles and a forced fumble.

The Defense Played Solid

A lot of credit is being given to Adrian Peterson today, and it’s deserved, but we can’t leave out the defense.  For the first time all season they looked good for four solid quarters of play.  The defense sacked  Kevin Kolb 4 times, intercepted him 3 times, and forced 2 fumbles during the game.  They were solid on tackles and didn’t give up a lot of big plays.

Penalty Yards Went Down

Another thing that goes hand in hand with winning our first game of the year is the fact that we had less penalty yards against us than we had in any other game.  The Vikings were penalized 5 times for a total of 35 yards.  Last week the Vikings were penalized for 45 yards.  In the first 3 weeks it had always been over 65 yards.

The fewer yards we give away, the better chance we obviously have in coming out on top.

We Need To Build On This

Now that we got the monkey off our back, the Vikings need to build on this going into a tough Sunday night matchup against the Chicago Bears.  The Bears haven’t exactly been a solid team either, and if the defense can play like we did yesterday, we might actually have a shot!

The Vikings lead the all-time series against the Cardinals by a narrow margin of 11-10

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It is Week 5 in the NFL and the Vikings are 1 of 4 teams that have yet to post a win in the regular season. So far the season has been harsh for the Vikings. In the first 3 games, they mastered the first half and then the defense just falls apart. It does [...]]]>

It is Week 5 in the NFL and the Vikings are 1 of 4 teams that have yet to post a win in the regular season. So far the season has been harsh for the Vikings. In the first 3 games, they mastered the first half and then the defense just falls apart. It does not matter how many points the offense scores. The defense has yo be able to stop the opposing team to earn a W. Those big plays that the Vikes secondary gives up has been haunting them throughout this season.

The Vikings will be hosting the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday and kickoff is at noon. In the game 2 former Philadelphia Eagle QBs will be facing off(McNabb and Kolb).  So do the Vikings have a enough to put a notch in the W column.

Image by AzKodiak via Flickr

When the Vikings are running the ball:
I will have reiterate the only thing that is stopping the Vikings from running the defense over in the past month is the pass happy OC.  I think that the Vikings will have a BIG game on the ground against the Cards. The Cards run defense has been allowing 105 yards a game, but they have yet to face a top-tier RB as of yet this season. If the Vikes can run the ball efficiently in this game it will keep the Cards guessing in this game.
Edge: Vikings

When the Vikings are passing the ball:
Well…ahhh…What can i say about the Vikings passing “attack.” The Vikings averaging about 150 yards a game. The OL obviously are not doing their job as a unit. McNabb needs to have time to throw the ball. The Cardinal secondary is just as bad as the Vikes secondary. McNabb could have a big game if given the time to find a receiver.
Edge: Even

When the Cardinals are running the ball:
Something that the Vikings defense has prided themselves on for the past several year has been their run defense. I just do not see the Cardinals having much success on the ground at all in this game. With the Vikes defense averaging about 76 yards a game. Beanie Wells is going to be sick of seeing the Purple Sea surrounding him constantly on Sunday.
Edge: Vikings

When the Cardinals are passing the ball:
This is an area that gets me nervous about Sunday. Kevin Kolb is not a great QB in the NFL. He cannot be that bad if he is average 243 yards a game through the air. Kolb’s most potent weapon is Larry Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is one of the top three receivers in the game. With the Vikes DBs giving up big plays at the worst moment. I see Fitzgerald breaking free at least 1-2 times in this contest in the Thunderdome.
Edge: Cardinals

With both of these teams so similar I see this is going to be a good game to watch. I do not see the Vikes winning many games this season. This is one of the few I see the Vikes having a great shot to earn the W.

The Prediction:

Vikings 27 Cardinals 20

The Vikings lead the all-time series against the Cardinals by a narrow margin of 11-10

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Overheard in Cardinals training camp:  “Our offensive line was so good that even our running backs couldn’t get through it!”

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On January 10 1999 LeRoy Hoard ran for 2 touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass in the Vikings 41-21 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in the 1998 NFC Divisional Playoff game.

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On Sunday afternoon the Minnesota Vikings scored 14 points in less than 5 minutes to force a 24-24 tie and send the game into overtime.  The defense then completely dominated the Cardinals offense, and the Vikings went on to win by a score of 27-24

The game [...]]]>

The Minnesota Vikings are now 3-5.

On Sunday afternoon the Minnesota Vikings scored 14 points in less than 5 minutes to force a 24-24 tie and send the game into overtime.  The defense then completely dominated the Cardinals offense, and the Vikings went on to win by a score of 27-24

The game looked ugly early.  The Vikings found themselves trailing by 14 points with less than half of the fourth quarter left.

It was the type of game that we would’ve been hopeful about last year.

It was the type of game that most of us wrote off as a loss this year.

Yet somehow the Vikings managed to get their act together, make the comeback, and win the game!

The Defense Played Decently Well

The Vikings defense only gave up 10 points to the Cardinals on Sunday.  The run defense looked a little more like their old selves, giving up only 53 net rushing yards and holding the Cardinals to 2.5 yards per carry.  They held Arizona to 225 total net yards as well, and unlike recent weeks, the defense came up big on third downs.  The Cardinals were only 3 for 13 on third down attempts.

The big play from the defense came in the closing minutes of the game, though.  After the Vikings took the ball with just over 6 minutes left in regulation, Minnesota outscored Arizona 17-0.  During that span the Cardinals ran 12 plays.  They had a total of negative nine yards in those 12 plays.   The Vikings sacked the quarterback 4 times during that time.

That is how we expected Minnesota’s defense to look this year.

Granted, this all took place in less than half of a quarter, but it’s still something to build on, and the defense needs to take that momentum into next week.

Brett Favre Meets Bernard Berrian

During Favre’s time in Minnesota, wide receiver Bernard Berrian has been almost invisible.  Berrian had a decent game against New Orleans in last season’s NFC Championship game, but other than that he really hasn’t been much of the threat that he was the year before.

This week Brett lost Randy Moss from his receiving corp, so he thought he’d give this “Berrian Guy” a try.

NINE catches and  89 yards later, and maybe we finally have a connection!

Berrian was a beast on Sunday, but he wasn’t the big news.

The big news was the passing game itself.

Half a week after the Vikings lose Randy Moss again, Favre throws for a CAREER HIGH of 446 yards.  Like I mentioned, Berrian had 9 catches, but so did Percy Harvin who had a game-high 126 receiving yards.  Besides these guys, Favre had 4 receivers (Camarillo, Shiancoe, Peterson, and Lewis) with 4 catches a piece.  He also hit Dugan and Gerhart with one pass a piece.

446 yards, and the crazy thing… he still only had 2 passes over 30 yards.

With the exception of 2 interceptions, one of which happened as he was getting blind-sided by a pass rusher, Favre was Mr. Accurate without being a gun slinger.  Not that I have a problem with gun-slinging, because I don’t… but if Favre gets into a rhythm, he will pick apart any team in the league.  Hopefully that’s a sign of things to come as well.

Allen Gets Past Defenders

Jared Allen has had a rough year.

After 7 games he only had 1 sack.  ONE.  This is a guy who has had over 14 sacks per season for the last 3 years.

He might have gotten some things figured out (hopefully, anyway) on Sunday as he racked up 2 and a half more.  He still has a LONG way to go before hitting at least 14,  but next week he gets to face the Chicago Bears, who have given up a league-high 32 sacks this year so far… and he gets to play those Bears again later in the season.

He also still has games against the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Redskins, both of which are in the top 10 for most sacks given up in the league.

Maybe with a little motivation he can get this season back on track.

Childress Keeps His Head Afloat… For Now

There were rumors swirling that if their teams lost, neither Wade Phillips of the Cowboys or Brad Childress of the Vikings would have jobs by the

middle of the week.

Those rumors proved true about Phillips, who was fired by Dallas today.

I fully expected Brad Childress to be fired as well if the Vikings lost to the Cardinals.  The win by Minnesota, however, bought him at least a week.  I still don’t think anything less than a Super Bowl victory will save Chilly’s job for next year, but I don’t think owner Zygi Wilf will fire him after he wins.

I’ll admit that there was a small part of me who wouldn’t have been completely disappointed with a Vikings loss for this reason… but that’s a story for another time.

Longwell Doesn’t Sweat The Pressure

Was there anyone out there reading this that could honestly say they were worried about the game once Adrian Peterson carried the team into Ryan Longwell’s field goal range.

Longwell is always cool under pressure, and he is probably one of the most underrated weapons on our team.

We’ve all watched Brett Favre set up Ryan Longwell for the winning score many, many times.

It’s much much sweater when they’re wearing purple as they do it.

This wee the Minnesota Vikings will be at home playing against the Arizona Cardinals.

To be honest, I’m a little skeptical of the Vikings right now.

To be fair and give the team a little credit, even though they’re 2-5, all five of their losses [...]]]>

This wee the Minnesota Vikings will be at home playing against the Arizona Cardinals.

Can The Vikings Actually Win A Game?

To be honest, I’m a little skeptical of the Vikings right now.

To be fair and give the team a little credit, even though they’re 2-5, all five of their losses have come been at the hands of teams with winning records:

• New Orleans is 5-3
• Miami is 4-3
• The Jets are 5-2
• Green Bay is 5-3
• New England is 6-1

The Vikings have played two teams with losing records (Detroit and Dallas) and have beaten both of them.

Using those stats as a basis, Minnesota should beat Arizona, who is coming into the game with a 3-4 record.  But the state of the team right now leaves me downright concerned.

• Rice is still out
• Favre has a fractured foot and a lacerated jaw
• Harvin didn’t practice until today
• The defense has been sliding
• There is no pass rush
• Randy Moss was waived
• Some of the players are upset about the Moss situation
• Brad Childress is hiding something

Ugh… the whole thing is a mess.  How is this team supposed to play with any confidence on Sunday?

We Need The Offense To Click

One thing that is going in the Vikings favor this week is that Arizona has given up more points than any other team in the NFC, and more than all but 3 teams in the NFL.  If the Vikings can somehow muster up some offense, they stand a chance of winning this game.

Of course they’re going to have to do with without Moss, and without Rice, which means that Percy Harvin will probably be moved back to the wide out position.

The reason that is bad is that since moving into the slot with the arrival of Moss in Minnesota, Harvin’s reception yardage had doubled.  He’s simply more effective when there is someone on the outside that demands the attention of the opposing defense.  Without that, Harvin has a harder time getting open as often.

Minnesota Vikings Keys To Victory

Pressure The QB

One of the things that made the Vikings so dangerous last year is how often they got to opposing quarterbacks.  Especially their front four.  Derek Anderson will probably be starting for the Cardinals, and although he’s not exactly considered “elite”, he’s still an NFL quarterback who has played in a Pro Bowl, and if he has all day in the pocket, he’ll make the Vikings pay.

Figure Out A Passing Strategy

Adrian Peterson is playing great, but the Vikings can’t put it all on his shoulders.  If they do, he’ll be facing 8+ men in the box all day long.  The Vikings are going to have to figure out some way to make a passing attack work, even if they have to do it without Rice and Moss and with an injured Harvin.

It’s time for Bernard Berrian to step up.

Tackle.

Tackling by the Vikings, especially on third down, has been suspect over the last few games.  Last year it seemed like everyone on the team was a solid tackler.  (Well, maybe with the exception of Karl Paymah).  This year it seems like Winfield is the only man that can make a tackle without letting the other player gain an extra 4 yards.

My Prediction

I hate to do this, but I have to predict that the Vikings lose to the Arizona Cardinals.  This team is just falling apart.

Cardinals win 24-14.

It’s Wednesday! That means it’s time for another song parody and music video! Watch this to get you ready for the Week 9 game against the Arizona Cardinals

Download the MP3 of this song – 2010 Week 9 – Skol Type Thing

The 2010 schedule was released last night.  Here’s how it looks

WEEK 1:  Thursday, September 9 at New Orleans Saints – 7:30 p.m.

WEEK 2:  Sunday, September 19 vs. Miami Dolphins 12:00 p.m.

WEEK 3:  Sunday, September 26 vs. Detroit Lions 12:00 p.m.

WEEK 4:   BYE

WEEK 5:  Monday,  October 11 at New York Jets 7:30 [...]]]>

Minnesota Vikings 2010 Schedule

The 2010 schedule was released last night.  Here’s how it looks

WEEK 1:  Thursday, September 9
at New Orleans Saints – 7:30 p.m.

WEEK 2:  Sunday, September 19
vs. Miami Dolphins 12:00 p.m.

WEEK 3:  Sunday, September 26
vs. Detroit Lions 12:00 p.m.

WEEK 4:   BYE

WEEK 5:  Monday,  October 11
at New York Jets 7:30 p.m.

WEEK 6:  Sunday, October 17
vs. Dallas Cowboys 3:15 p.m.

WEEK 7:  Sunday, October 24
at Green Bay Packers 7:20 p.m.

WEEK 8:  Sunday, October 31
at New England Patriots 3:15 p.m.

WEEK 9:  Sunday, November 7
vs. Arizona Cardinals 12:00 p.m.

WEEK 10: Sunday, November 14
at Chicago Bears 12:00 p.m.

WEEK 11: Sunday, November 21
vs. Green Bay Packers 12:00 p.m.

WEEK 12: Sunday, November 28
at Washington Redskins 12:00 p.m.

WEEK 13: Sunday, December 5
vs. Buffalo Bills 12:00 p.m.

WEEK 14: Sunday, December 12
vs. New York Giants 12:00 p.m.

WEEK 15: Monday,  December 20
vs. Chicago Bears 7:30 p.m.

WEEK 16: Sunday, December 26
at Philadelphia Eagles 12:00 p.m.

WEEK 17: Sunday, January 2
at Detroit Lions 12:00 p.m.

I bolded the Prime Time games.  The Vikings struggled a little bit last year in Prime Time, especially at the end of the year.  They finish this year with two on the road, which could be tough if one of them wasn’t Detroit.

I think the toughest string of games happens immediately after the Bye Week when the Vikings will have to play At the Jets, against the Cowboys, at the Packers, then at the Patriots.  Maybe the Vikes are fortunate that Kurt Warner retired, because the very next game is against the Cardinals, followed by games at Chicago and against the Packers.   Luckily the Cardinals should be quite a bit weaker this year, so it should give the Vikings a bit of a break in that stretch.

The Bye Week is in Week 4.  As a fan, it’s nice to get it out of the way early, but I’m sure the players would prefer that it was later in the year so they can break up their season a bit more.

What are your thoughts on the schedule?