The Viking Ship » Detroit Lions

NFC North Predictions by @VikesFans (sent via Twitter)

The Jazzy One — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:44:53 +0000

I was tweeted a message from @VikesFans asking me to check out his NFC North predictions for this coming season. It is a YouTube video, so I thought I’d just share it with all of you as well.

FYI: He also blogs from time to time at http://www.vikesfans.blogspot.com/

I agree with his thoughts as far as the Vikings winning the division and the Packers coming in 2nd. I also agree that the Lions will be better this year than they were last year, but I don’t think they’ll quite top the Bears just yet. The Lions are moving in the right direction, but I think it’ll take another year or two before they have things really click. They were a team that was terrible in every area just two years ago. They’ve made some big improvements, but they could use a couple more, and they need time to gel a bit.

What do you guys think?

I’d love to post some more NFC North predictions. You can send them to me however you want… they can be written out, or in video form, or whatever is easiest. Let’s see what you all think. Send things to me at jazz@thevikingship.net

The Minnesota Vikings 2010 Schedule

The Jazzy One — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:57:18 +0000

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?

Minnesota Vikings Joke (12-31-09)

The Jazzy One — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:00:10 +0000

Minnesota Vikings Joke

Q. What do you call a Detroit Lions QB on the Vikings 1 yard line?

A. Lost

Daily Vikings Trivia (11-30-09) Offensive players drafted before AD

The Jazzy One — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:51:03 +0000

Minnesota Vikings Trivia

How'd that work for you, Oakland?

Four offensive players were chosen ahead of Vikings running back Adrian Peterson in 2007. They were QB Jamarcus Russell (Raiders), WR Calvin Johnson (Lions), OT Joe Thomas (Browns), and OT Levi Brown (Cardinals)

Happy Thanksgiving Vikings Fans!

The Jazzy One — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:50:59 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have a lot to be thankful for this year!

1. Adrian Peterson

2. Brett Favre

3. Percy Harvin

4. Sidney Rice

5. Jared Allen

6. Visanthe Shiancoe

7. The rest of the Vikings offense

8. The rest of the Vikings defense

9. The fact that the Vikings are 9-1

10. The fact that we’re not Bears fans

11. The fact that we got Brett Favre and Percy Harvin instead of TJ Houshmandzadeh

12. The fact that the QB everyone was mad that we didn’t get has 17 interceptions, while the QB that many people said would be a turnover machine in Minnesota only has 3 interceptions.

13. The fact that we’re not Lions fans

14. The fact that our special teams unit is WAAAAAAAY better this year

15. The fact that we actually get good field position after the other team kicks off

16. The fact that we have the best BACKUP running back in football

17. The fact that the Vikings girls let us make this blog look much better with their pictures all over it

18. The fact that we’re going to crush the Bears on Sunday

19. The fact that we’re not Packers fans

20. Did I mention Adrian Peterson?

There are 20 good things to be thankful for, just to name a few.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Week 10 Recap: Another divisional sweep wrapped up for the Vikings

The Jazzy One — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:43:58 +0000

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.

Madden 10 Predictions – Week 10 – Vikings vs Lions

The Jazzy One — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:36:14 +0000

Here are this week’s Madden Predictions.

So far, the Predictions are 6-2 with predicting the right winner of the game.

IT’S GAME TIME – Week 10 Preview: The Minnesota Vikings vs The Detroit Lions

The Jazzy One — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:45:14 +0000

The Minnesota Vikings will host the Detroit Lions

The Bye Week is finally over, and we can now get back to preparing for more Minnesota Vikings games! This week the Vikings will host their division rivals, the Detroit Lions. It will be the Vikings chance to sweep a division series for the second time this year.

The Lions have a lot of things working against them this game.

The Vikings have only lost 1 game this year
The Lions have only won 1 game this year
The Vikings have beat the Lions in 4 straight games
The Vikings are 14-1 in their last 15 games with the Lions
The Vikings have beaten the Lions 11 straight times at home
Overall, the Vikings have only lost to the Vikings at home 12 times in 47 matchups, many of them coming in the Vikings early years in the league
The Minnesota Vikings are +5 in turnovers.
The Detroit Lions are -7 in turnovers
The Vikings lead the NFL with 31 sacks
Only 4 teams have given up more sacks than the Detroit Lions
Only 1 team scores more points per game than the Minnesota Vikings this year
Only 6 teams score less points per game than the Detroit Lions this year
No team in the NFL has thrown fewer interceptions than the Minnesota Vikings this year
Only 1 team has thrown more interceptions than the Lions this year
The Minnesota Vikings are ranked 3rd in 3rd down percentage
The Detroit Lions are ranked 17th in 3rd down percentage
Only 1 team has fewer penalty yards than the Vikings this year
Only 6 teams have more penalty yards than the Lions this year
The Vikings leading rusher has 784 yards
The Lions leading rusher has 460 yards
The Vikings quarterback has 16 touchdowns and 3 interceptions
The Lions quarterback has 5 touchdowns and 12 interceptions
The Vikings leading receiver has 585 yards
The Vikings second leading receiver has 389 yards
The Lions leading receiver has 352 yards
The Vikings leading scorer (not counting kicks) has 9 TDs
The Lions leading scorer (not counting kicks) has 3 TDs

Things do not look good for the Detroit Lions. The Vikings are 16.5 point favorites over Detroit, which I will admit seems a bit much, but the fact remains, this should be Minnesota’s game. If they don’t completely blow it, they’ll win.

Antoine Winfield is sitting out

Winfield has been taking a limited part in practice this week, but he says that his foot still hurts when he cuts, so he’ll be sitting out this game. He hopes to be back for week 12 against the Seahawks.

I personally like this move. I think Paymah and Allen leave a lot to be desired when compared to Winfield, but I think they can hold their own against the Lions. If the defensive line puts pressure on Stafford, it shouldn’t matter much anyway.

The Viking Ship Keys To Victory:

-The Vikings Need To Pressure Stafford

Jared Allen is leading the league in sacks with 10.5. The Vikings are leading the league in sacks with 31. They need to keep up that momentum and make sure they’re putting Stafford under pressure. Stafford has thrown 12 picks this year, and he has given the league reminders that he’s still a rookie quarterback trying to learn the game. If the Vikings can keep him from getting into any kind of rhythm, they’ll be fine.

-The Vikings Need To Flex Their Offensive Muscles

In Week 2 the Vikings beat the Lions by 14 points despite the fact that Favre had under 200 yards throwing and Peterson had under 100 yards rushing. The Vikings offense is much more dynamic these days, but they have a tendency to score in spurts, but not stay consistent through the whole game. Even though they’re playing a weaker team, I’d like to see the Vikings move with consistency, and not stall at any point in the game.

-The Vikings Need To Not Blow It

Let’s face it: This is the Vikings game to win or lose. The Lions don’t control much of Sunday’s destiny. The Vikings are better than the Lions at every aspect of the game. If the Vikings don’t play dumb, they’ll be just fine

My Prediction?

Pain. (for the Lions fans, that is) The Vikes are gonna hurt ‘em, they’re gonna crucify ‘em… real bad.

Even though the point spread seems like a lot, I’m going to give it to the Vikings. I think they’ll win this one 42-14. I think Favre will have 3 TDs, Peterson will have 140 yards, and we’ll see T-Jack in the 4th quarter.

Song Download for this week’s Vikings Music Video

The Jazzy One — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:54:15 +0000

Hey everyone

I apologize. I was supposed to get the MP3 of the song available for download yesterday, and it completely slipped my mind.

You can download the MP3 of the Week 10 Minnesota Vikings Music Video by clicking HERE

Daily Vikings Trivia (11-13-09) All Time Record against the Lions

The Jazzy One — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:32:49 +0000

Minnesota Vikings Trivia

The Vikings all time record against the Detroit Lions is 64-30-2. The Vikings have more wins against the Lions than they do against any other team in the NFL.