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Week 11 Player(s) of the Game: The Entire Team

By The Jazzy One on November 24th, 2009

Minnesota Vikings PLAYER OF GAME 03 Week 11 Player(s) of the Game: The Entire Team

Okay, I know this is going to sound lazy, but I promise it’s not!

But after watching Sunday’s game… the first truly complete game played by the Vikings, I can’t pick a player of the game.

The Minnesota Vikings are a team that is incredibly stacked with talented football players, pretty much from top to bottom, but so far, they’ve had trouble putting 4 quarters of play together all in the same week.  Obviously, with a 9-1 record, they’ve played well when it was necessary, but this is a team that trailed the Browns and the Lions at half time in the first two weeks of the season.  It’s a team that needed a last second TD pass to put away San Francisco.  It’s a team that gave up a ton of passing yards to a backup quarterback of a winless team when they played St Louis.  It’s a team that led the Ravens big, but almost blew it and had to rely on a missed field goal by their kicker to leave with a victory.  It’s a team that last week against the Lions, even though they won big, they looked sloppy doing it.

But this week all that changed.  This week was a solid performance from top to bottom.

That’s why I have to give the Player(s) of the Game nod to the entire team.

Here are some reasons why.

-The team led a complete offensive attack, gaining 160 yards on the ground and 271 yards through the air

-The rushing attack was a team effort with 82 yards from Adrian Peterson and 73 yards from Chester Taylor

-Brett Favre completed 88% of his passes, and Tarvaris Jackson completed 75% of his.

-Both quarterbacks threw TD passes, Favre with 4 and Jackson with 1.

-4 different receivers caught touchdowns:  Rice, Berrian, Shiancoe, and Harvin

-3 receivers had over 70 yards in receptions: Rice (89), Harvin (79), and Shiancoe (78)

-7 different receivers caught a pass

-4 receivers caught 4 or more passes:  Peterson (4), Harvin (5), Rice (6), Shiancoe (8)

-The team was a perfect 3/3 from the red zone

-The team had no turnovers

-The team was 61% on 3rd downs

-The team had 28 first downs

-The offense held onto the ball for over 42 minutes

-Longwell went 5/5 kicking

-14 defenders made tackles

-8 defenders made multiple tackles

-The Vikings had 2 sacks from non-linemen:  Henderson and Abdullah

-The defense held Seattle to 212 net yards

-The defense held Seattle to 4 rushing yards

-The defense held Seattle to 10 first downs

-The defense held Seattle to a 10% third down efficiency

-Seattle fumbled the ball 4 times against the defense (the Vikings recovered 1)

-Only 4 Seattle receivers were allowed catches.

This game was a pleasure to watch from start to finish.  I’m always proud to be a Vikings fan, but this game reminded me why.

Minnesota Vikings twitter 01 Week 11 Player(s) of the Game: The Entire Team

November 24th, 2009 | Tags: , , | Category: Minnesota Vikings Player of the Game | ONE COMMENT

Week 11 Recap: The Vikings finally fired on all cylinders

By The Jazzy One on November 23rd, 2009

Minnesota Vikings GAME RECAP 03 Week 11 Recap: The Vikings finally fired on all cylinders

Our Minnesota Vikings are now 9-1

… and this past Sunday they played like a 9-1 team should play against a 3-7 opponent.

The game started off slow, tied at Zero after the first quarter, but it was  all Vikings from there on out.  Favre moved the team up and down the field, seemingly at will.  They scored 21 points in the 2nd quarter, and 7 points each in the 3rd and 4th quarter to beat Seattle 35-9.

Minnesota Vikings 2009Week11 Week 11 Recap: The Vikings finally fired on all cylinders

The team tightened up on the sloppiness from last week.

After 3 penalties in the first quarter on the Vikings, and a fourth one 4 seconds into the 2nd quarter, it looked like the Vikings were going to go down the same sloppy path that they went down last week against Detroit, but after that 4th penalty, the Vikings tightened things up, and only had 1 more penalty in the final nearly-3-quarters of play.  That final penalty was in the 4th quarter, and it was on Kennedy, who isn’t a starter.

Ho-hum… more records for Brett Favre

Minnesota Vikings 09000d5d81464833 gallery 600 Week 11 Recap: The Vikings finally fired on all cylinders

I wonder if he ever gets tired of setting records.  Favre played an amazing game, throwing 22-25, 4 TDs to 4 different receivers, 213 yards, and no interceptions.  His 88% completion was not only a personal best, but it set a Vikings single game record.  His QB rating 141.8.

Favre wasn’t the highest rated Vikings QB of the day.

Tarvaris Jackson came into the game early in the 3rd quarter, and Childress let Jackson play some ball.  Even though Favre came out, Childress let Jackson have some time with Peterson, Rice, Berrian, and the rest of the starters.  Jackson went 6-8 for 77 yards, 1 TD, and no interceptions.  He had a QB rating of 144.3 on the day.

I like the move by Childress to let Jackson do more than just hand off and kill the clock.  He took advantage of the big lead by letting Jackson, who will likely be competing for a starting job again as soon as Favre leaves the team, play real football with actual NFL starters around him.  Jackson in turn took advantage of that opportunity by throwing his first TD pass of the season.

Jackson looks decent on the field except for one thing:  His short passes are too soft.  That becomes insanely more obvious after watching Brett Favre throw the ball week in and week out.  The Vikings receivers claim that Jackson can throw every bit as hard as Favre, but when it comes to throwing screens and dump-offs, Jackson tries to lob the ball to where it needs to go.  If he could learn from Favre in that aspect of the game, I really think his play would improve greatly.

That’s the run defense I’m used to seeing!

The Vikings defense held Seattle to 4 rushing yards.

4.

Yep, I said FOUR.

That’s amazing.  They negative yards until their TD drive, when they were playing against half a team of reserves.  That moves them up 3 spots on the overall list.  They entered the game with the #6 rushing defense in the league.  Now they have the #3 rushing defense.

The Vikings have tons and tons of weapons

Adrian Peterson ran for 82 yards.

Chester Taylor ran for 73 yards.

7 different Vikings caught passes.

4 different Vikings caught TD passes.

Sidney Rice had 89 receiving yards.

Percy Harvin had 79 receiving yards.

Visanthe Shiancoe had 78 receiving yards.

If these guys all have a good game, how do you stop a team like this?!

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November 23rd, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Category: Minnesota Vikings Post Game Thoughts | 2 COMMENTS

IT’S GAME TIME – Week 11 Preview: The Minnesota Vikings vs The Seattle Seahawks

By The Jazzy One on November 20th, 2009

Minnesota Vikings GAME PREVIEW 03 ITS GAME TIME Week 11 Preview: The Minnesota Vikings vs The Seattle Seahawks

The Minnesota Vikings will host the Seattle Seahawks

Can you believe it’s already Week 11?!? It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago since I was writing game recaps of the preseason games.

This week the Vikings will play the 2nd game of 3 in a row at home as they host the Seattle Seahawks.

Minnesota Vikings 2009Week11 ITS GAME TIME Week 11 Preview: The Minnesota Vikings vs The Seattle Seahawks

Minnesota could potentially have their hands full with Seattle’s offense Sunday if they’re not careful. Seattle isn’t very good running the ball, ranked #27th in the league with 93 yards per game, but they are ranked #13 in passing offense with 244.2 yards per game (just 2.5 yards behind Minnesota).

The Vikings have a good defense this year, but it’s no secret that they are much stronger against the run than the pass. While Minnesota’s defense is 6th in the league in rushing yards per game, they’re a little bit farther down the list at #23 against the pass. Look for Seattle to attack the Vikings secondary more often than they test the waters against the run defense.

Strangely enough, Seattle’s defense nearly mirrors the Vikings. Seattle has the #10 rush defense in the league, giving up around 105 yards per game which is only 8.4 yards more than the Vikings give up. They’re ranked #22 in the league against the pass, giving up 1.1 yards per game less than the Vikings.

The main difference between these two teams is offensive production. The Vikings are one spot ahead of the Seahawks in passing yards per game, ranked at #12 in the league, but they’re 17 spots ahead of Seattle in rushing yards per game, ranked #10 in the league.

The Vikings are also much more efficient with their offense. The Vikings are ranked #5 in 3rd down percentage at 45%, and the Seahawks are at #20 with 38%. And even though the Vikings only average 31.5 more total yards per game than the Seahawks do, they average 10 more points per game. Those are the stats that really contribute to the difference in Minnesota’s 8-1 record and Seattle’s 3-6 record.

Will Winfield Play?

Whether or not Winfield will play seems to be up in the air at this point. He’s been testing his foot during practice, but it sounds as if it will still be a game time decision on Sunday.

It would be nice to have Winfield in the game, since the Seahawks have several potential receiving threats in Deion Branch, Nate Burleson, and TJ Houshmandzadeh.

Personally I expect him to play, but I do think that next week’s game against the Bears is far more important, and if he’s not 100% this week, I’d much rather him sit so he will be 100% next week.

The Viking Ship Keys To Victory:

Minnesota Vikings KEYS 03 ITS GAME TIME Week 11 Preview: The Minnesota Vikings vs The Seattle Seahawks

-Get to Hasselbeck

Hasselbeck has thrown 6 interceptions this game and been sacked 15 times in 7 games started. If the Vikings defense, who leads the NFL with 33 sacks, can get to him, they can force him into making bad throws

-Tough 3rd down defense

The Seahawks are below average in 3rd down conversions in the NFL, so the Vikings will want to turn up the heat on 3rd down. If the Seahawks can’t stay on the field, they’re obviously going to have a hard time scoring

My Prediction

The Vikings will win this one 31-21, and Favre is going to have another big game. Over 300 yards for Brett, over 100 for All Day.

Minnesota Vikings facebook 01 ITS GAME TIME Week 11 Preview: The Minnesota Vikings vs The Seattle Seahawks

November 20th, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Category: Minnesota Vikings Game Preview | LEAVE A COMMENT
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