In Case you Didn't Hear

Adrian Peterson (aka "All-Day" or "Purple Jesus") had a pretty good day running the football yesterday. I'm pissed, what was he thinking? Seriously, how are we going to get a top 5 draft pick (and get a future QB) if he goes out and wins games by setting NFL rushing records and stuff.

Yesterday was pretty amazing to witness. The Vikings have something special here and they need to make sure they do 2 very important things...

1. Keep him healthy!
2. Build a real team around him!

You won't see me this tempered very often but here is what has been lost in all of this Purple Jesus hysteria.

The Following had their best performances of the season (beyond Peterson)

• EJ Henderson - his statline isn't impressive but EJ was all over the place. He had a great day. Going into the game I was very worried about 2 things, Ladanian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates. Slowing either (or both) of these guys was going to take a tremendous effort by EJ Henderson (and the other LBs). Tomlinson finished with 40 yards rushing and Gates had 1 catch for 10 yards.
• Cedric Griffin - with Winfield out Griffin had to step up. And he did, having his best day as a Viking. 2 passes defensed that were both very good plays. The Chargers 2 best receivers (Chambers and Jackson) combined for 6 catches and 75 yards. For a pass defense that has been scary bad all year this was a great game let by #23.
• Chester Taylor - had his best day of the 2007 season. 9 carries, 60 yards, 6.7 avg and 1 TD. Everybody wants to give PJ the ball 40 times a game but maybe sharing the load is aiding him in racking up huge 2nd half yards. Taylor has now been the backup RB in the 2 greatest single game rushing performances in NFL history.
  
• Offensive Line - While Peterson was amazing on Sunday, let's not forget the guys who gave him massive initial holes. 296 is awesome, but so is 378 which is what the entire team had because of this offensive line. They haven't dominated a line of scrimmage like this all year. The Bears game was great, but that rush D has been struggling all year. The Charges rush D was 7th in the league giving up only 88.9 yds/game, not anymore!
• ADRIAN PETERSON - after a ho-hum 43 yards on 13 1st half carries, he breaks out 253 in the 2nd half. Incredible. When Jamal Lewis set the previous record he had a paltry 5 carries that netted over 10 yards. AD had that in the 4th quarter alone and he had 9 total. There are a number of impressive numbers for Purple Jesus but ultimately it comes down to the fact that this kid is 8 games into a career and he has already turned the league upside down. It's not like he was running against the Gopher defense, the Chargers are were one of the best teams in the dominant AFC. They were manhandled on this date and then run over by Purple Jesus.

GRADES

QB (B+) - all this position had to do was hand the ball off. I thought Jackson was having a solid game before getting knocked out. He picked up 3 1st downs through the air and used his legs for 2 carries of 9 and 10 yards. All in all that is about what we can expect from him at this point. Bollinger stepped in and did admirably. His injury may have been the stimulant to Peterson's big day. When you are down to your 3rd string you run, run and run. Then you take 1 shot over the top and he completed it.

RB (A+) - nothing more to say really.

WR (C+) - not their fault really, they were just irrelevant. Rice had one of his best days as a pro. Solid day, but nothing impressive.

OL (A) - Bollinger was destroyed on his first play from scrimmage but other than that it was a near perfect day.

DL (A-) - only 1 actual sack but had pressure on Rivers ALL DAY. I would have liked to see the safety instead of a facemask, but I'm just getting greedy.

LB (A+) - I was very happy with this group, their rush and pass defense was exactly what it had to be.

CB (A) - My favorite play all day was Dwight Smith's tipped pass on the deep ball down the Viking's sideline. That got me more excited than anything else.

Fun day to be a Vikings fan and the perfect game to lead into Packer Week. Unfortunately Peterson's performance still only counts for 1 win and we are still sitting at 3-5 (with no significant NFC wins). The worst thing that can happen to this team is we finish 7-9, miss the playoffs and get stuck outside the top 15 draft picks. If you want to make the playoffs you need to rattle off a few wins in a row. Starting NOW.

Quarterback Mess

The 2007 season has not been kind to the Vikings and it has been particularly harsh on the QBs. Nobody thought this was going to be a real strength of the team, in fact ESPN Insider ranked our QB situation 31st in the league this offseason (only the Chiefs were worse).

I know that you were all with me that it can only get better and really we'll surprise a lot people with the play of Tarvaris Jackson.

Well, it is not better and nobody is surprised. It is pretty bad and it is hard to win games when your quarterback arguably the weakest link on your team. I am very dissatisfied with our QB play and I realize that we will not win more than 5 games this year no matter how good our defense or running game is.

The interesting (and I use that word loosely) thing is that I'm not calling for a change at QB or a change in Offensive Coordinator. We don't have an option that will allow us to win in 2007. I'm ready to accept that.

Here is my 3 step plan...

1. Let Tarvaris Play - Kelly Holcomb has been just as bad as Jackson this year and really his record is 0-3 to Jackson's 2-2. I know that young QBs often always struggle in their first year of consistent playing time. But there are 2 distinct differences between what you usually see with a young QB and what the Vikings have...

• Their team is usually really bad to begin with. Peyton Manning's first year had a terrible offense and a terrible defense.
• They usually show at least flashes of talent. Even as Manning struggled in his rookie season he still had moments of showing that there was some serious talent there. We were able to see that given time and some surrounding talent this kid might really be something.
  

Jackson is blessed with a talented defense (at least against the run), a talented expensive OLine and a game changing running back. And secondly, Jackson hasn't once shown a a unique ability or flashes that he will be anything better than mediocre. There isn't 1 pass that he has thrown that was impressive. The the 60 yd pass to Williamson is the highlite of his career and that was a long pass, to a wide open receiver that any QB at this level should be able to hit 85% of the time.

With that said we might as well let him play and play a lot. When we have no other option, we have to give Jackson every opportunity to grow into an NFL QB and prove everyone wrong.

2. Evaluate in January - I am a big believer in players have to adjust to the speed of the game. Some players adjust and can succeed at this level (Brad Johnson). For some the game really slows down and they dominate this level (Tom Brady). And for many others the NFL game is too fast for them and they struggle to keep up (Ryan Leaf). As I stated, we have no other option so why not let TJax adjust. I think a full season is ample time to evaluate if he'll figure it out or be left behind.

A perfect example of this is Jackson's performance in the pre season. If you recall, he looked good. Not great, not a QB ready to lead this team deep into the playoffs, but significantly better than what we've seen in the regular season. Why is that? The pre season game is slower. At that speed Jackson was able to see the field, his decision making wasn't rushed and he was able to execute. Week 1, things started moving faster and he has struggled to adjust.

Let him start the remaining 9 games and if we don't see improvement then I think we know that he is not a long term solution. At some point it will either click or it won't.

If TJax improves and looks like the future of the franchise, then skip step #3 and draft some help for him in the form of OLine or WR. If the results are mixed or no better than week 7, move on to step #3.

3. Find a New Solution - I for one don't believe that the game will slow down for Tarvaris and the Vikings will have to go into 2008 with a new future QB on the roster. Fortunately this will be a good offseason to find a new QB. The NFL draft is expected to be full of very good QBs. 6 current college QBs expected to declare for the draft are considered 1st round talent (3 of top 10).

• Brian Brohm - Louisville
• Andre' Woodson - Kentucky
• Matt Ryan - Boston College
• Chad Henne - Michigan
• Colt Brennan - Hawaii
• John David Booty - USC

And to go along with this deep QB talent, the Vikings are on pace for another to 10 draft pick. Chances are pretty good that the draft day decision makers will have their choice among 5 of the 6. This is the time and the place to bring in a new future franchise QB.

The Future of this Franchise

Is there any doubt that Adrian Peterson is truly the Purple Jesus? I know that this is VERY early in his career but all signs point to a franchise RB that teams have to gameplan to stop every week. If we are going to move forward with sub-mediocrity at the quarter back position we really should trade Peterson as soon as possible. It is a disservice to the league, fans and most importantly it will be a complete waste of his career. Don't make him the next Barry Sanders. Get him a competent QB and a good offensive line. Let him be the next Barry Sanders with playoff wins on his resume.

I really have not seen anything in Jackson's game that gives me any hope. His throws are erratic, his decision making is questionable at best, he has shown no leadership on the field and while you can't argue his athletic ability he has shown no ability to use it to his advantage.

Holcomb is not the answer and Bollinger is certainly not the answer. Give the ball to TJax and let this season play out. But this organization better be prepared to move in a new direction and do so quickly. They have the real deal standing 7 yards behind center, they better get someone who not only can hand off to him but can also keep defenses honest.

Year 2 of the Kick Ass Offense

Last year the Vikings KAO was awful. But Brad the Red Hot Childress Pepper assured us it was a Kick Ass Offense if it is run right. Apparently we don't have the horses to run it yet, cause the offense is awful again. Fortunately we have Adrian Peterson and his big play ability cause without Purple Jesus' 3 TDs of 60 yards or more this team might be worst off than our current 2-4 predicament.

Based on results here are 2 hallmarks of the Kick Ass Offense

Unable to sustain a drive

This offense has scored 9 touchdowns this year. The average length of a TD drive has been 67 yards. That doesn't sound too bad (I don't know the league average) but when you look a little closer it isn't nearly that good.

• TD Drive #1 - 80 yards vs. Atlanta
• This looks like a legit drive right? WRONG. It took a 60 yard Purple Jesus swing pass to score. This doesn't count a legit drive, this was a great play by a playmaker.
• TD Drive #2 - 43 yards vs. Det
• This was a legit drive that started in Detroit territory.
• TD Drive #3 - 29 yards vs. Kansas City
• No big plays required, we only had to go 29 yards
• TD Drive #4 - 72 yards vs. Green Bay
• This one gets mixed reviews. A sustained drive BUT on 3rd and 38 (you read that right) we got a facemask by AJ Hawk that kept the drive alive.
• TD Drive #5 - 74 yards vs. Chicago
• TD Drive #6 - 80 yards vs. Chicago
• TD Drive #7 - 88 yards vs. Chicago
• TD Drive #8 - 68 yards vs. Chicago
• None of those are impressive either if you take out 60 yd pass to Williamson, and runs by Peterson of 67, 73, 35.
• TD Drive #9 - 69 yards vs. Dallas
• this was the best drive of the year.

So if you take out 60 yard runs by Purple Jesus this offense as has scored TDs on drives of 60 yards on average. Now, I'm not trying to indict this offense, but this is a problem.

You are just not going to win very many games when your offense is flat out incapable of sustaining a TD drive of more than 60 yards. This puts too much pressure on your defense and special teams.

Defense more potent than passing game

This one is pretty simple. Through 1/3 of the season the defense has more TDs than the passing game.

4 Touchdowns for the defense spread out over 3 games.
3 Touchdowns for the passing offense in 3 games

I'm not sure how the running game has been so productive. Usually when a team is good at running the ball defenses will "stack 8 in the box" to stop the run while still being able to cover a weak passing attack. Well, I wonder why defenses don't actually put 9 or 10 in the box. Most rushing offenses will use the run to set up the pass with play action. I'm not sure we can execute that so we pretty much use the run to set up more runs which often sets up incomplete passes.

We need a QB

I was hopeful for Tarvaris but I just don't think he is going to be a viable option at QB. I understand you have to be patient and QBs usually struggle in their first full year of starting. But you also should see some flashes of talent or playmaking ability. Through 8 starts I don't think we've seen anything. Not 1 play has Jackson been "impressive." I know he hit Williamson for 60 yards at Chicago. But that shouldn't count, Williamson had 3 steps on the coverage and Jackson hit him in stride. If he can't do that even once in a while he shouldn't be on an NFL practice squad.

I have seen in sports how stepping up to the next level takes some adjusting. When the game you are used to speeds up it takes time to adjust to the speed. Some players adjust and some just can't. I've seen players with tremendous talent who just can't adjust to a faster game. Players who adjust usually perform great when the game slows down for them, but watching TJax the game is clearly too fast for him right now and I don't know that it will slow down for him.

I don't think he should be benched (partly because our options are very limited). I think he gives us just as good a chance to win as Holcomb or Bollinger. But we cannot go into 2009 with Jackson as your only option at QB. I fear that he is not the answer nor the keeper of the Kick Ass Offense.

Vikings v Bears Recap

"This ain't college, Rook!" That was what Peanut Tillman had to say to Adrian Peterson (the MN version) early in the 1st quarter. Good call, Peanut!

Really this game came down to the following equation...

Purple Jesus > Devin Hester

Peterson Highlights

The rest of the parties involved were just average.

OK, so maybe we need a little better analysis than that, but if you are just skimming the blog, that is all you need to know. We'll start with the grades....

QB (B+) - this was TJax best game as a pro. The sad part his he didn't top 150 yards and completed fewer than 40% of his passes. With that said he made 1 huge play to Williamson to give us a TD that nobody was counting on. He also did not turn the ball over, which goes a LONG way towards winning a ball game. And his numbers would be much better were it not for some dropped passes by Sydney. But he also missed a few guys including Richardson on what would have been a huge play (it not a TD) late in the 2nd qtr. Overall a solid game but nothing to get excited about.

RB (A+) - not much needs to be said about what Purple Jesus did on the field. A few viking records were broken and all in all he pretty much carried the entire team to the W. It should also be noted that Taylor had a decent game as well. 83 yards isn't anything special but he got stronger as the game went on averaging 3.3/carry through 3 qtrs and finishing the 4th with 4.3 including 2 runs of 12 or more.

WR (C+) - Williamson's TD is the lone bright spot today. He ran a good route, got behind the coverage and most importantly caught the ball. But apparently South Carolina receivers have trouble catching NFL passes as Sydney Rice dropped a few balls that would have helped sustain drives. TJax put the ball where it had to be a number of times and it was just plain dropped, that can't happen.

OL (B+) - Only gave up 1 sack and this was their best game of the year. But watching the game I felt like PJ was making the OL look good, not the other way around.

Overall Offense (B+) - hard to criticize 31 offensive points (final 3 points was all special teams), we may not see that again this season. I think we are lacking some balance when 68% of our plays were running plays, but you have to go with what is working. Overall, I can't really complain about anything.

DBs (C-) - They gave up a ton of yards and 3 big plays for TDs. That just can't happen. If we give up 3 passing TDs of 33 yards or more again this year we better hope for 300 yards rushing or we'll lose that game. Brian Griese won't have 380 yards passing again this year (well maybe on Dec. 17) and it is kind of embarrassing that he did yesterday.

LB (A-) - I love this group of linebackers. EJ has been making plays all over the place, Leber is seriously underrated and Greenway is on his way to being a force at this level. The Bears has 9 plays that ended up in negative yardage, 7 of those 9 were made by a Vikings linebacker. Also add 1 forced fumble and 1 interception to the linebackers combined stat line.

DL (B+) - a little more pressure on Griese would have been nice. Ray Edwards probably had the best day of this group with 5 tackles including 1 for a loss (combined with EJ). The Williams brothers were pretty quiet but for the most part I think the Bears were scheming to run away from them.

Overall Defense (B-) - gave up a lot of points but for the most part played their part. A ton of passing yards given up but kept the running game shut down. By my simple math they gave up 22 rushing yards in the 2nd half. It is always nice to make teams 1 dimensional, now we just need to figure out what to do with them when we know they are going to pass.

All in all this was a good game by the Purple. On the road, against the defending NFC champs and we were clearly the physically dominant team. That was the first time all year we have won the battle at the line of scrimmage. This Bears defense isn't what it has been in recent memory but it still had Urlacher, Briggs, Hillenmeyer, Ogunleye, Tommy Harris (playing hurt) and Mark Anderson (6 of starting front 7 from week 1).

Chicago was able to hit us with big plays through the air and return games but we dominated the box on both sides of the ball. Hester is hands down the best returner in football, and if healthy will be one of the best all time (and 2nd to Favre as my most hated players in NFL, I can publish a list later). We won't have to face that with any other team.

The passing game remains a problem on both sides. The Bears were missing 3/4 secondary starters and we really didn't couldn't take advantage of that. Defensively the fact remains that ANYBODY can pass on this defense. That needs to be curtailed. I don't expect it to be fixed but it has to be mended a little bit.

Expert Analysis of Viking's Draft

Things are looking pretty good around the experts as they give their analysis of the 2007 draft. This is of course fools gold as you don't know anything until a few years down the road, but when it is good news you buy into the hype 100%!

Todd McShay of ESPN/Scouts Inc says - "The Vikings had one of the best overall drafts of any team in the NFL." He then goes on to say that he would have taken either of the USC WRs instead of Sidney Rice, but he admits that he is nitpicking with that criticism.

Mel Kiper Jr of ESPN and your consensus NFL Draft guru gave the Vikings a B+ as their official draft grade. "Vice president of player personnel Rick Spielman had an outstanding weekend." There were no A's given and Minnesota was one of only 3 teams with a B+. He basically says that every pick was good value for it's position.

• Adrian Peterson - franchise RB
• Sidney Rice - potential top 15 pick had he stayed for his Sr. season
• Marcus McCauley - boom or bust pick but great value in 3rd round
• Robison and Allison were both great 2nd day picks, Allison spent time on Kiper's "Big Board" in 2006.

John Clayton of ESPN declares the NFC North as one of the big losers from this years draft. Why? Because Chicago, Detroit and Green Bay all have to face Adrian Peterson in the future. "The NFC North is a big loser with Adrian Peterson going to Minnesota."

Sportingnews.com War Room scouts - Grade A - "RB Adrian Peterson is an elite player, and WR Sidney Rice, WR Aundrae Allison and OLB Rufus Alexander should become very good starters eventually. The sleeper of the group is CB Marcus McCauley."

Gregg Rosenthal of NBCsports.com - Grade A-

2007 Draft Review

Well the draft is over, the Vikings are signing a bunch of undrafted free agents who are all sure to be the next John Randle. But lets worry about the actual draft picks. Here are my thoughts...

1st round (#7) - Adrian Peterson - as discussed before I think this was absolutely the right pick. Tremendous upside to be an elusive and fast game breaker at RB. If our OL can gel better than they did last year we could move from a good ground game to one of the best in the league. Rumors of his injured clavical do not concern me at this point. Even if he elects to have surgery and miss the early part of 2007. We still have Chester and we are not expecting AP to carry the load with this offense just yet.

Rick Spielman was interviewed on ESPN radio and brought up an excellent point that most successful teams have a couple reliable and often diverse RBs that they count on. I like this pick, AP may not be the next Barry Sanders but he should be successful and I don't see any argument that this was not the correct pick at this point. Years down the road we may look back and dream of Brady Quinn in purple but we weren't the only ones to pass on him. And most importantly is that in my quick math QBs drafted in the top 10 have about a 50% success rate, whereas RBs have a much higher success rate. You can't fault this pick and now we hope for health and improved OL play.

2nd Round (#44) - Sydney Rice, WR, SC - This will be the controversial pick of the weekend, we traded down in the 2nd round since there were a handful of WRs still available. We then passed on Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith of USC and took Rice of South Carolina. Some reports are that he is very talented and some reports are less flattering. The Good? He is 6'3" with a near 40" vertical. Brad the Red Hot Childress Pepper (BRHCP) tells us that he has good hands. So combine those and you have a playmaker who can be your possession and red zone guy. Other reports are that he is immature and overly confident in his abilities. I am not a fan of Jarrett or Smith really so I'm OK with this pick. Drafting AP in the first was the right move regardless of what happens down the road, this pick however will surely be debated down the road.

3rd Round - Marcus McCauley, CB, Fresno State - I like this pick a LOT. Many reports are that after his Jr year MM was a 1st round lock and maybe a top 10 or 15 pick. He has good size and speed. So why did he drop to the 3rd round you ask? Well, he kind of sucked his Sr. year and was even benched. Ooooh great we spent our 3rd round pick on a guy who was benched at Fresno State on a team that went 4-8! Obviously your Kool Aid has gone stale in the offseason. Here is the RIGHT way to view this pick. MM's soph and jr seasons were fantastic because he had others around him who knew how to do their own jobs. His Sr. year they all graduated and he tried to make up for the mistakes of the guys around him. When he tried to do too much he wasn't able to perform his own job. Well this is the NFL, he can concentrate on doing his own job and he'll be JUST FINE. And really with a 3rd round pick taking a gamble on a guy with 1st round talent is one worth taking.

The rest of the picks...
4th - Brian Robison, DE, Texas - good size, "blue collar" work ethic and big vertical.
5th - Aundrae Allison, WR, East Carolina - scoutsInc had him as high as a 3rd round pick so this is at least good value.
6th - Rufus Alexander, OLB, Oklahoma
7th - Tyler Thigpen, QB, Coastal Carolina - this one seems odd but rumors are that they'll convert Thigpen to another position.
7th - Chandler Williams, WR, Florida International

KEY

BRHCP - Brad the Red Hot Childress Pepper

KAO - Kick Ass Offense

Purple Jesus (PJ) - Adrian Peterson, this term is stolen from Ragnarok. But it is good and I will help proliferate it. AP is an OK nickname but PJ is better.

TJax - Tarvaris Jackson. Boring nickname buts it's the best I've got for now. And it is so much easier than spelling Tavarius?...Tarvaris?...Travius...Trapazoid...TJax!

TYSW - Troy-You Suck-Williamson - I just made this one up right now. It will be used until further notice.

Chad I'm Not Mike Miller I'm the other guy from South Dakota Greenway - nevermind, that's too long, I'll stick with Greenway.