Minnesota Vikings

With only seven wins between these teams, if you’re watching this game on Sunday, it’s clearly not because of any playoff implications. Of course, teams playing solely for pride have accomplished some monumental upsets late in the season in the past. Perhaps these two teams can provide a more compelling game than their talent and production thus far would indicate.

With the Colts victory last week, the Vikings are inching closer and closer to consideration for worst team in the league. If they want to avoid that distinction, they’ll have to figure out their problems on defense against an offense that doesn’t intimidate much. Minnesota has held an opponent to less than 20 points only once this season, and that was against a Cardinals team that was much worse in Week 5 than it is now. Their deteriorating secondary is only making matters worse and their opponents have scored at least 34 points in each of the last three games. Read the rest of this entry »

Considering the end result was one of the most one-sided games played this year, the Saints’ 42-20 thrashing of the Vikings was actually pretty competitive into the second quarter. If a few plays had gone the other way, Minnesota may have even been able to claim a halftime lead. New Orleans made plenty of early mistakes to allow the Vikings a chance to pull off the upset. With the Saints owning a paltry 4-3 road record with a couple embarrassing road losses on their 2011 résumé, the opportunity was there for Minnesota.

The Saints fumbled the ball away on their third offensive play, had a 40-yard touchdown negated by a Jed Collins holding penalty, and turned the ball over deep in their own territory when Brian De La Puente (-3.0) snapped the ball right by Drew Brees (+9.0) while the quarterback was still changing the play. Those miscues all occurred in the first half, but despite giving the Vikings the ball in Saints’ territory twice, New Orleans still led 21-13 at the half. Read the rest of this entry »

At first glance, a game played by two teams with eight wins separating their records may not hold much appeal. For those without the means to watch whatever game they choose, it’s one of those games you hope isn’t going to be shown in your area. However, there are always intriguing storylines before every game and this one is no different.

Perhaps the matchup isn’t as one-sided as it appears. The Saints are 4-3 on the road and have only one road victory by a touchdown or more, indicating that they usually keep games close against any competition on the road. They’ve lost games to teams like Tampa Bay and St. Louis on the road and scored 30 or more points only twice. By comparison, the Saints have won all six of their home games by a touchdown or more and scored 30 or more points in five of them. Simply put, this team just isn’t the same away from the Superdome. If the Buccaneers and Rams can play a competitive game against the Saints, the Vikings may be able to as well. Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to divisional games, especially in the NFC North, records rarely matter. A great example occured this weekend with Minnesota travelling to Detroit. Despite a terrible start, the Vikings had a chance to snatch an upset win in the dying moments of the game. It was a night to forget for Christian Ponder whose replacement, the electric Joe Webb, almost engineered an amazing comeback. It wasn’t at all pretty as he remains a less than a polished passer but he made enough plays to give the Vikings a chance.

It was a surprisingly good day for a Detroit secondary that went into the game without Chris Houston and Louis Delmas due to knee injuries. The Lions also saw both Aaron Berry and Eric Wright miss significant time during the game. Webb’s ability to keep plays alive was what really hurt them late in the game but their lead eventually proved insurmountable leaving the Lions’ playoff hopes very much alive.

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Perhaps the yellow in their opponents’ uniforms will remind the Lions to avoid forcing the flags to rain down on the field. At the least, they need to make sure they don’t add to the four post-play penalties they’ve committed in the past two games. Head Coach Jim Schwartz has promised that offending players will lose playing time if those continue.

It’s not hard to figure out why the Lions have been whistled for a penalty 22 times in the last two games or why their frustration has brought them on. They’re a young team with few players having playoff experience. After starting 5-0 and becoming media darlings, a 2-5 stretch has made them less relevant and seems to have had an effect. If they’re going to make the postseason this year, Detroit needs to focus on getting the wins, not venting their frustration with undisciplined play. An experienced team doesn’t dwell on a bad stretch and allow it to affect their performance for the rest of the year. They simply move on and play their best football in December. Read the rest of this entry »

He has been the story of the second half of the season so far; a quarterback willing his team to win without contributing as a passer. It has purists furious that a quarterback who can’t consistently hit simple throws is being seen as revolutionary player, while many neutral fans are simply enjoying the ride as Tim Tebow defies what many see as logic and continues to win.

That was until this week, as against the Minnesota Vikings he was held in check as a runner and forced to make the difference as a passer.

The Vikings made a concerted effort to curtail Tebow’s running threat and it worked; he only carried the ball on one designed run outside of his kneel-down ahead of the game-winning field goal. What this heavy run defense effort opened up, though, was deep passing against man coverage and a single-high safety. When teams choose to clamp down on Tebow the runner, these are the throws that are likely to be presented to Tebow the passer. The question has always been: can he make the throws? Read the rest of this entry »

The legend continues to grow and now we are reaching a point where the Denver Broncos are no longer in a situation where the conspiracy theorists can claim that the Broncos are playing Tim Tebow to fail. After a series of low scoring victories coming off the back of stifling defense, a dominant running game and a handful of key plays, Denver won in a game that featured 67 points. Tebow was still the beneficiary of some crucial plays from his defense but his passing as, much as the running game, bailed out the defense at pivotal moments. The Broncos now head the division and a home playoff game is theirs for the taking. Who thought that possible when Tebow took over as starter?

For the Minnesota Vikings this game was as frustrating as it was familiar. Frailties in the defensive secondary and another blown lead as a few dreadful plays by Christian Ponder threw away the chance to derail the storybook season of Tebow. An early pick six and an equally horrible pick in the last two minutes handed the Broncos ten points and the victory, as the Vikings did what no team could in the last month; score more than 20 points on the Broncos defense. Minnesota had the recipe for success but threw the game away. Let’s take a look at some of the performances that set the game up but eventually turned it in Denver’s favor.

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The next stop on the Tebowmania tour is Minnesota, where the Vikings will try to avoid falling to 0-4 against the AFC West in 2011. Overall, the Vikings have lost three straight after a comeback attempt in Atlanta fell short, pushing their record to 2-9, the worst any Vikings team has started a season since their inaugural campaign. Minnesota wasn’t expected to make a playoff push after turning to Christian Ponder (+6.0) at any rate. They do need to come up with some quality wins to build upon next year or else Leslie Frazier will have a hard time avoiding the proverbial hot seat if things don’t go well in the early months of the 2012 season.

The Broncos appeared destined to be in a similar position to the one the Vikings find themselves in when they opened the season 1-4. Their move to a younger quarterback has generated wins in the short term and energized the fanbase. Read the rest of this entry »

After a comfortable first half in which the Atlanta Falcons seemed to be headed to as easy a win as the matchup on paper would suggest, they made life difficult for themselves in the second stanza. The Falcons took their foot off the gas and allowed the Minnesota Vikings back into the game when they should have been cruising to a 7-4 record. One key offensive drive and an even more important tackle on the ensuing kickoff spared the Falcons blushes as their defense stood tall with a four and out inside their own five yard line.

For Atlanta this was about getting another win and the second half malaise will likely have no long term effect, as they are unlikely to have such comfort in more important games. For the Vikings they at least showed some fight but at 2-9 are now boasting their worst record through eleven games since their inaugural season in 1960 and are now guaranteed back to back losing seasons for only the second time in 25 seasons. These two teams are clearly headed in opposite directions this season, let’s take a look at some key performances that set these teams apart.

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When the Minnesota Vikings travel to Atlanta, millions of eyes will be glued in anticipation. Not because of the content at hand, but because their fantasy seasons could depend on whether Adrian Peterson plays. That’s been the biggest talking point this week, with a Falcons victory guaranteed by a media who are playing the percentages.

You can’t blame them a great deal given everything stacks up in the Falcons’ favor. They’re at home, have a healthy habit of not losing to teams with winning records, and have assembled a more talented group of players. A trio of reasons for triumph if ever there was one, right? Read the rest of this entry »