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By The Jazzy One on March 12th, 2010
Okay, so that title might have been a little bit of link-bait, but it’s actually true.
No, LaDainian Tomlinson has not signed a contract to play for the Minnesota Vikings. He did, however, spend Wednesday evening and Thursday morning with the Vikes, and he was seen leaving Winter Park with a purple jersey in his hands.
Of course that doesn’t mean he’s coming to Minnesota for sure. He left Minnesota because he had promised the New York Jets that he would at least visit before signing with anyone else, and his word means a lot to him.
That’s actually pretty cool in my book.
Reports around the web are saying that Tomlinson enjoyed his visit, and he likes what his role would be in Minnesota. Childress has said that he will be “running back 1A” behind Adrian Peterson, meaning that Peterson is the starter, but Tomlinson would have an active role. I really think that Tomlinson would fill the role well. The idea of having Adrian Peterson and LaDainian Tomlinson on the field at the same time could be interesting. It gets even more interesting when you start thinking about adding guys like Percy Harvin, Sidney Rice, Bernard Berrian, and Visanthe Shiancoe to that mix.
Childress told the Star Tribune that he put Tomlinson on the phone with Adrian Peterson, and that the two had a good conversation.
Tomlinson will be visiting with the New York Jets today. Most people think that we’ll have some information on which way he’s leaning by sometime this weekend.
I was (and perhaps still am… I don’t really know anymore) leaning more towards Brian Westbrook as our new third down back, but Tomlinson would be a great pickup. I’m hoping to have good news to report by next week.
By The Jazzy One on January 25th, 2010
The Vikings season is over.
I’m still feeling pretty upset over last night’s game. That was probably the hardest game for me to take out of any sporting event that I have ever watched. The Vikings had numerous chances, but they let every single one of them slip away.
Statistically, the Vikings were the better team
If the Vikings could have held onto the ball last night, they would’ve walked all over New Orleans. The statistics show that the Vikes were more dominant in many aspects of the game.
-Minnesota had 31 first downs to New Orleans’ 15.
-Minnesota had 58% third down efficiency compared to 25% by New Orleans.
-Minnesota had 475 total yards. New Orleans had 257.
-Minnesota had 165 yards rushing compared to 68 by New Orleans.
-Minnesota had 310 yards passing compared to 189 by New Orleans.
-Minnesota had 32 penalty yards compared to 88 from New Orleans.
-Minnesota held the ball for 36 minutes and 49 seconds, and New Orleans had it for 27 minutes and 56 seconds.
The Turnovers were just too much
Of course, statistics don’t mean much if you can’t hold onto the ball. The Vikings hadn’t turned the ball over more than twice in a single game all season. Last night they turned it over 5 times. Inexcusable.
Adrian Peterson was credited for 2 fumbles (1 lost). In my opinion, he was more at fault for the botched hand-off that led to Favre being credited for a lost fumble, so really it should’ve been 3 drops and 2 lost. Inexcusable.
Unfortunately, the turnovers were contagious.
Bernard Berrian, who before last night had fumbled 5 times in a 6 year career, and only 1 time in a Vikings uniform, put the ball on the turf, ending a Vikings drive.
Percy Harvin, who has been such a clutch player, and only fumbled 1 time all season despite touching the ball enough times to gain over 2,000 all-purpose yards also dropped the ball, again, ending a Vikings drive.
The Vikings were still in the game, though
Despite turning the ball over 5 times, the Vikings took the NFC’s best team into overtime. The Vikings lost the coin toss, though, and were unable to overcome the odds.
The calls in overtime were a little suspect
Don’t get me wrong… I’m not blaming the refs for the Vikings loss here. If the Vikings had held onto the ball, there would not have been an overtime for the bad calls to take place in.
But the 4th down call, where the Saints guy dove over the pile? He fumbled the ball before crossing the marker, and he came down with the ball tucked in his gut. The guy’s head was at the marker, his gut (and the ball) was about two feet short. The booth reviewed it, but somehow didn’t catch it?
The call on Ben Leber for the pass interference was ridiculous as well.
The plays that are really to blame
Brett Favre’s interception at the end of regulation was bad. Lots of people around the web today are blaming Brett for the loss, saying that it’s “Brett being Brett”. While I do agree that it killed any chance that the Vikings had, I put more of the blame on two other things that happened earlier in the game.
First of all, after we forced a Reggie Bush fumble on a punt, the Vikings had incredible field position. It should’ve been AT LEAST 3 points, probably 7. Brett hands off to Adrian Peterson, who can not hold onto the ball. The Saints recover, and take away any possible momentum that the Vikings could’ve had going into the half. I completely feel that the game would’ve been totally different if the Vikings had scored there.
But even more so than that, the mistake that really cost the Vikings the game was the penalty directly before Brett’s last interception. The Vikings were already at the edge of Longwell’s field goal range, but a very stupid mistake that should never happen in an NFC championship game moved the ball back, and made Brett feel like he had to force a play to win the game. If it wasn’t for that penalty, the Vikings probably would’ve handed off to Taylor and given Longwell the chance to win the game.
Of course, that field goal would’ve been about 50 yards, which isn’t a guarantee, but I would’ve felt pretty confident putting the game in the hands of a kicker like Longwell.
So now what?
Well, now we spend the next few months debating whether or not Brett will come back (no matter what he says himself), we debate the value of Adrian Peterson, and we once again wonder what could have been.
As for the first two things, I’ll be discussing them in depth in the coming days and weeks.
As for the wondering… Vikings fans will be discussing that until we get another shot… whenever that may be.
By The Jazzy One on November 30th, 2009
The Minnesota Vikings are now 10-1
Although the score looked very similar to last week (36-10 compared to last week’s 35-9), the Vikings weren’t quite as “perfect” this week. But, in the end, it didn’t matter. The Vikings were obviously too much for the Bears from the start, and they dominated the entire game.
The Vikings were simply too good
-537 net yards for the Vikings compared to 169 net yards for the Bears
-31 first downs for the Vikings compared to 8 first downs for the Bears
-66% Third Down Efficiency for the Vikings compared to 25% for the Bears
-1 Turnover for the Vikings compared to 3 for the Bears
-4 Sacks for the Vikings compared to 1 for the Bears
-66% Red Zone Efficiency for the Vikings compared to 0% for the Bears
-40:55 time of possession for the Vikings compared to 19:05 for the Bears
-Brett Favre had the 4th highest yardage total of his career (and only 10 yards away from his best game)
-Harvin, Peterson, and Taylor combined for 163 yards rushing
-5 Vikings receivers had 5 or more catches
But, unlike last week, it wasn’t all good
There were several disappointing things about this week’s game.
First of all, way too many penalties. The Vikings had 10 penalties for 70 yards. That’s unacceptable. Some of them were ridiculously absent minded, too… McKinnie going downfield on a passing play? Sullivan forgetting to snap the ball? These things should be worked out by now!
After the Bye Week, the Vikings were #2 in the NFL for fewest penalty yards. 3 games later, and they’ve slipped down to #12 on the list. They did well last week, but this week they fell back into the sloppiness. That has to be changed before the post season.
Second of all, Peterson has to hold onto the ball. His fumbling is down from last year, which is good, but it still has to be fixed. Fox kept showing how he holds the ball in his right hand even when he runs to the left. I think that’s a big part of the problem, and I’m not sure why the Vikings coaches haven’t changed that yet… especially since the left side of our line is the strongest.
The Vikings have the best receiving squad in football.
I know that’s saying a lot, especially since Arizona has Fitzgerald and Boldin, Pittsburgh has Ward and Holmes, New England has Moss and Welker… but I was so impressed by the play of Rice, Harvin, and Berrian yesterday, and then when you throw in Shiancoe and Taylor, it’s no wonder that Favre is having a career year.
Of course Favre has a lot to do with their success, but you can’t take away the fact that they have a lot to do with Favre’s success as well.
Final Grade?
I give the Vikings an B+. They were sloppy in several areas, but the passing game got them a few bonus points to raise the grade a little bit.
I have to admit, though… I don’t see many teams in the NFL that could compete with this Vikings team if they play at 100%.
By The Jazzy One on November 24th, 2009
Minnesota Vikings Trivia
On November 30, 2008 in the Metrodome against the Chicago Bears, Gus Frerotte, quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings, threw a 99-yard touchdown pass to Bernard Berrian which tied the record in the NFL.
By The Jazzy One on November 16th, 2009
The Vikings have improved to 8-1 on the season and 4-0 in the NFC North.
Sunday afternoon the now 8-1 Vikings beat the now 1-8 Lions by a score of 27-10 at Mall of America Field in the Hubert H Humphrey Metrodome (that’s a mouthful!) It wasn’t pretty, but what matters is the final score, and the Vikings won by 17.
The Vikings have now swept 2 of the 3 teams in their division this year, even though in a weird scheduling coincidence, they haven’t played the third team at all yet. (The first Vikings-Bears game of the year will come in 2 weeks)
The Vikings were not sharp in their win
Since the beginning of this year, the Vikings have been among league leaders in 3rd down conversions and in fewest penalty yards. Somehow, though, the team forgot how to accomplish these things during their week-long vacation.
The team went 3 for 11 (27%) on third down conversions, and had 13 penalties for 91 yards. Luckily, they were playing the Lions. If they were that bad against a good team, Minnesota would have a hard time winning.
Peterson needs to hold onto the ball.
I’m not going to completely blame the fumbled pitch on the reverse on Peterson. It was a bad pitch (Peterson’s fault), but it was still catchable (Harvin’s fault), and they were running a trick play when they probably didn’t really need to (Childress’s Fault). So I’ll give Peterson 1/3 of the blame for that.
On the other hand, the long run where he got the ball punched out of his hands was completely his fault. I don’t know if he thought that he had already outrun everyone or what, but he was not holding onto that ball well, and the defender knew it. The ball was punched out easily, and the Vikings lost out on 7 points because of it.
Ray Edwards is a beast
5 tackles, 2 sacks, who knows how many hits and hurries on Stafford, 1 forced fumble, 1 recovered fumble. The man was all over the place.
The Lions came into the game determined to stop Jared Allen. They were determined to stop Pat and/or Kevin Williams. Edwards reaped the benefits by facing lots of tight ends and fullbacks. He didn’t hesitate to take advantage of that. If it wasn’t for a few monstrous offensive performances, everyone in Minnesota would be talking about nothing but Ray Edwards today.
Adrian Peterson is a beast
133 yards, 2 more TDs. He had two big break away runs, including a 22 yard touchdown run where it looked like he was going to be stopped for a loss. Somehow he ducked under a defender, powered his way through the crowd, and took off for the score.
If it wasn’t for the fumble, he would’ve had another long touchdown run as well.
And he wasn’t used a lot in the passing game, but he did take one short catch and turn it into an 11 yard gain.
 Brett Favre is a beast.
He continues to play smart, good football, but yet his stats keep anyone from labeling him as a “game manager”.
Sunday he threw for 344 yards and a touchdown. He completed 20 of 29 passes. He hit several long passes, including a 56 yard pass to Sidney Rice, and a 40 yard pass to Percy Harvin. He was only sacked 1 time, and he had a QB rating of 120.5. He threw for 1 touchdown and no interceptions. That brings his total for the year to 17 TDs and only 3 interceptions.
Speaking of interceptions, this is his best year of his career for keeping the picks under control. After 9 games, he has had 3 interceptions. Since he has been a full time starter (so not counting his first 2 years in the league), after 9 games he has averaged 10.7 interceptions per game. The only year he has been close to his numbers this year was in 2002 when he only had 4 interceptions after the first 9 games.
Sidney Rice is a Beast
7 Catches for 201 yards. Only 10 yards short of setting a Minnesota Vikings record. In fact, he knew that on his final route when Tarvaris Jackson threw him the ball, but he couldn’t come down with the pass.
Sidney Rice has turned into the ultimate reliable receiver. He’s the team’s leading receiver, but because so much attention in the passing game has to be put on Bernard Berrian and Percy Harvin, and even Adrian Peterson to some extent, teams have a hard time justifying a double team on Rice. I’m sure Sidney doesn’t mind.
His sure handedness has built up a lot of trust in him with Brett Favre, so Brett keeps delivering him the ball.
His play Sunday was unbelievable.
Overall?
Overall it was a sloppy game for the Vikings, but they were still impressive. Hopefully they’ll work the rust out of their system before next week when they host the Seattle Seahawks.
By The Jazzy One on September 4th, 2009
Tonight is the last preseason game for the Vikings, coming just 4 days after their third preseason game. To be perfectly honest, the fourth preseason game of the year is pretty boring. I mean, pretty much none of the starters will play, and the anxiousness of REAL football has taken over (being just barely over a week away at this point), so there isn’t a lot of excitement surrounding tonight’s game.
Not only that, but I probably won’t get to watch a whole lot of the game anyway, due to family functions.
But, I will still watch as much as I can, and I’ll read all the stats, recaps, and watch all the videos at the end of the night.
Here are some things to watch for tonight.
The Quarterbacks
The big question going around right now is what are the Vikings going to do at the quarterback position? Is it possible that they’re going to try to keep four of them on the roster? Are the rumors about the team shopping T-Jack as trade bait true?
To be real honest, I’m not sure if any of those questions will be answered by watching the game or not. I assume Jackson, Rosenfels, and Booty will split the time fairly evenly. If the Vikings are shopping Jackson, look for him to start, so he at least gets time with the second string guys. They’ll want him to look as good as possible. If they’re not shopping Jackson, I would almost bet we’d see Rosenfels start, just to get him up to speed a bit. He missed the second week of the preseason, and didn’t get a ton of playing time during the 3rd week.
If I were in charge, I’d start Booty. I would get a good look at him with the second string guys in the line up, rather than the 4th stringers he usually gets to play with. I’d try to evaluate if he has the potential to turn into an NFL QB at some point. If not much potential shows through, I’d cut him. If there is potential, I’d trade Jackson. I don’t think the Vikings will do it my way, but I think it’d be smart.
The Wide Receivers.
I don’t know how many receivers the Vikings plan on keeping. We know they’ll keep Berrian, Rice, and Harvin for sure… and now it looks like Wade is pretty much in since he restructured his contract to take less money. That’s four. If the Vikings are going to keep five, I think the battle is between Jaymar Johnson and Darius Reynaud. Both of them have potential as a #5 receiver, and both of them have potential on special teams. I would personally give the edge to Reynaud, but it seems pretty close. If the Vikings are going to keep six receivers, I think these two are pretty much set as the two guys.
Just to note, I don’t think the Vikings will keep four quarterbacks AND six receivers. I’m not even sure they’ll do even one of those two options, but definitely not both.
That’s About It
There will be a little more shuffling going on, but mainly at linebacker and defensive backs, and most of the guys doing the shuffling will only get to play special teams unless the Vikings face a string of injuries (like they did at linebacker last year). Even in these positions, though, I have a feeling that the coaching staff knows who they like already.
By The Jazzy One on August 31st, 2009
It’s game time again!!!
Tonight is the big preseason game of the year. The third preseason game tends to be the most fun to watch, since the starters will get the most playing time. It’s the dress rehearsal for the regular season, and the Vikings will be in the national spotlight as they play on ESPN at 7PM central time.
What I’ll be watching for
- How will Brett Favre do after more time with the team
- How will the starting defensive line look as the four starters play for the first time together this year
- Will Bernard Berrian get to play?
- Will the Vikings put Percy Harvin to good use?
- Will Tarvaris Jackson come out with something to prove again?
Like I said, the third preseason game tends to be the most fun to watch. We’ll see the better players play longer than they did the first couple of games, and even when the starters sit, most of the rest of the game will be played by guys that we’ll still see occasionally on Sundays.
Brett Favre
Brett will be playing the entire first half tonight against the Texans. We’ll get a chance to see a couple different things. First off, we’ll get to see if the extra days of practice paid off. Favre has been spending time trying to learn the tendencies of his new teammates. Last week he was worried about calling the plays right, taking the snaps correctly, and making clean hand offs. This week he’ll be able to focus a little more on throwing the ball to his receivers. I still don’t expect to see MVP like numbers, because it’s still only been 13 days since he’s joined the team, but I do expect a huge improvement over last week.
Starting D-Line
Jared Allen will be back tonight, and Pat Williams is going to see his first action of the preseason. Big Pat has sat out of the two games so far. The Vikings haven’t really said why, but I’m guessing it’s for two reasons… first, it just keeps the big guy a little bit fresher. He knows the system, and he knows that his role is to plug up the middle and stop the run. Might as well not risk injury to him. Secondly, I think sitting Pat gave the Vikings a great look at Fred Evans. Evans is a step down from Pat in the run stopping department, but he seems to be a step up from Pat in pass rushing. That’s good to know… it means on third and long the Vikings know they can rest Pat and let Evans go after the quarterback. But tonight Pat will get his chance to get in there and stuff a run or two, just to show the fans that he’s still got it.
As for Jared Allen, he sat out last week due to a minor injury, and he gave Brian Robison (otherwise known as Jared Allen-Lite) a chance to shine. This week Allen will get back in there and hopefully get some opportunities to chase Matt Shaub around for a while. Oh, and Jared Allen said that he and Shaub are on good terms even though Shaub was hurt after one of Allen’s sacks last year.
Will Berrian play?
I haven’t been able to find a definitive answer on this just yet. Berrian strained his hamstring during the first preseason game and was kept out of the second game and a lot of practices since. He’s been doing some work in practice lately, though. If there’s a concern I’d rather him sit… we don’t want Berrian hurt for the regular season… but at the same time I’d love for him to get some work in with Favre. That could be a deadly combo, and a combo that makes Adrian Peterson even more deadly as well.
How about Percy Harvin?
 Many Vikings fans are excited to see what Harvin can really do. Last week he caught a couple passes, but didn’t have a chance to get any YAC. He also showed his speed on a kickoff return… one that if he would’ve broken ONE tackle, he probably would have scored a TD. The big question is whether or not the Vikings will want to show off Harvin a bit tonight to show the league that they’re going to have to set up game plans to contain him, or are they going to keep Harvin’s talents a surprise, so that they can spring them on unsuspecting foes during the regular season. I’d definitely see the strategy behind keeping him a surprise, but I’ll admit that I’m getting a little anxious and excited to see what he can do.
Will Tarvaris Jackson come out firing?
Rumor has it that Jackson will play most of the third quarter tonight, saving Rosenfels for last. That tells me one of two things.
1). The word going around that the Vikes are shopping Jackson for a trade is true, and they want him to show that he has some value.
2). The Vikings decided after last week’s performance that due to his experience leading the team, he’s got the #2 quarterback spot all wrapped up.
I guess there could be a third option that Brad Childress and Darrell Bevel read my post about using Tarvaris Jackson like Michael Vick and that they’re going to run the option and the wildcat exclusively in the third quarter…. but somehow I doubt that.
It should be fun
All in all, I’m really looking forward to watching this game tonight. I hope the Vikings continue to play well.
Before the game you should watch this Vikings music video to make sure you’re in the mood! 
By The Jazzy One on August 20th, 2009
Well, we’re one week into the Preseason. The Vikings beat the Colts 13-3 Friday night. Like I mentioned before, winning and losing doesn’t mean much for the preseason, but we did see some important things.
Sage Rosenfels Looked Good
He went 10 for 13 for 91 yards. He looked sharp and he looked comfortable. I really like how they had him running plays. He was taking a 3 to 5 step drop and getting rid of the ball quickly. They also mixed in a lot of play action. If they keep up this kind of play calling in the regular season, it would take away some of the pressure on the running game, because opposing teams would have to have more guys back in coverage. I really liked what I saw.
Our Starting Defense Looked Great
Of course the Colts were playing a very vanilla game plan, but in the first series, Jared Allen, Ray Edwards, and Fred Evans all had a sack. Peyton Manning was sacked 3 times. He got off 2 passes, and completed 1 of them for 6 yards.
Actually, the defense looked strong all night. Even the reserves were putting pressure on the quarterback. That was nice to see.
Our Special Teams Looked Much Better
This one was very important. Our special teams was awful last year. Against the Colts they looked fast and sharp. That gives me tons of hope.
Albert Young Looked Great
Like I said before, Albert Young is not going to be one of those guys that has break away speed and scores a 90 yard TD (although many would say the same about Chester Taylor, and he has a 95 yard TD in his stats), but he’s a good solid runner. Friday night he played great. He was patient and waited for the holes, and as soon as they open he bolted through. He averaged over 4 yards a carry. I think he’s going to make the team, and I think he’s going to contribute as much as a 3rd stringer can. I have to assume he would’ve ran even better if he would’ve had the first stringers blocking for him.
The First Year Linemen Looked Good
First year starting center John Sullivan and rookie right tackle Phil Loadholt played some extra time even after the other starters sat down. Sullivan looked like he’s going to do just fine this year. Loadholt made a couple rookie mistakes, causing Tarvaris Jackson to have to run for his life a time or two, and he had one really bad false start, but I chalk those up to first game jitters. When he was on this game, there’s no way anyone was going to get around him. He’s a LARGE man, and he moves very well.
Other notes….
Tarvaris Jackson did not look good. At all. However, to be fair to him, Sage had a better line and a MUCH better supporting cast around him. Tarvaris spent some time being chased by defenders, and he had receivers that weren’t as experienced. Sage looked much much better, but I’ll reserve my final judgement until next Friday when I see how Tarvaris plays with the starters, and how Sage fairs with the backups.
Percy Harvin didn’t play at all. He had dinged his shoulder up a bit on Wednesday, and the Vikings decided to err on the side of caution. I think that’s just fine.
Bernard Berrian left on a cart, but Coach Childress acted at half time like it wasn’t as serious as it looks. I still haven’t found out the extent of the injury. Hopefully he’ll be fine.
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