Vikes- What I think they should do now.

The Vikings made the decision to rush Josh Freeman out to see what he could do versus the New York Giants on Monday Night Football. If you didn't see the game, then you are lucky, because it was Uuuugly!!!  Josh was obviously not ready to play for us yet.  He needs more time to learn the system.  He needs to get his mechanics fixed. And he needs to get his head right.  If I were the Vikings Management and Coaches I would sit Freeman for our next three games minimum.  I would start Ponder verses Green Bay next week and put Cassel as back up.  That is what I think they should do now.

Josh Freeman Signing With The Vikes- My Thoughts

I paid a little bit of attention to the Josh Freeman saga over the past week, but I didn't think he would end up with the Vikings, so I didn't pay a ton of attention to it.  I was shocked when I heard he was going to sign with the Vikes last night.  So I have spent the past couple of hours reading peoples reactions and learning more about Freeman.

How Josh Freeman became Greg Schiano's enemy #1 by Bleacher Report pretty much sums up what Vikings fans need to know about how Freeman ended up leaving the Bucs.

As far as reading fan's reactions that is usually pretty worthless, but every once and a while you read something that makes reading through the crap worthwhile.  The comment I thought made the most sense came from the Minnesota Vikings Facebook Page.  This is what some guy named Skyler Geer wrote:

Listen uneducated fans, when Freeman is good he's better than every QB on our roster. That being said he doesnt know our system yet, Cassel is the hot hand.
I think a lot of this signing is to motivate Ponder/Cassel.
Start Cassel the next few games while Freeman learns the playbook see how he does. if it's not good we can throw ponder back in or if Leslie thinks Josh is ready he could be very scary he will throw it which opens up field for AP. Which we just saw Cassel do.
Don't expect to see freeman for 3-5 weeks if one of others plays bad. If we stick w/ Cassel & he plays well freeman may never get a shot here.

The thing that I think it important to realize is that Freeman chose to come to MN over apparently a few other teams.  I think that speaks well of both Frazier and Spielman.  It's pretty clear that Freeman has been seriously regressing and he and his agent believe MN is the best place to get his head straight and turn it around.  Both Ponder and Cassel are now on notice that the future of the MN quarterback position is up for grabs.

Updated 10/9:  The more I have read the past couple of days the more I am liking this deal. At worst if Freeman doesn't work out the Vikes will probably get a compensatory pick.  It seems that Freeman's stats were pretty good last year until the last few games where he threw a bunch of picks.  That apparently coincided with the Bucs not choosing to extend his contract.  That decline continued into this year.  It's pretty clear that the situation in Tampa under coach Psycho had turned toxic for Freeman.  This guy could easily turn into a Stafford like Franchise QB for us. 

My Thought On The Vikings Going Into The Bye

Well the 1st quarter of the season is in the books and the Vikes are lucky to not be 0-4 and unlucky to not be 3-1.  I will say this: the Browns were NOT who we thought they were.  Unfortunately we can't say the same thing about Ponder and our pass defense.  They are the two biggest reason's we are not 3-1.  Ponder has improved a little bit, but his turnovers have just killed us.   However, our porous Defense is the biggest reason we are not 3-1.  There is no way in heck we should have given up 31 points to the Browns at home.  There is little doubt at this point that we finish last in the North unless the Defense improves markedly.  I see no reason to be optimistic about that happening.

As far as Ponder versus Cassel, I think Ponder should ride the bench for a while.  Let him learn from Cassel.  I don't know that the Vikes have to give up on Ponder totally at this point.  He wasn't the only reason our Offense was struggled at times the first 3 weeks of the season.  There are times when Ponder flashes, but he is just too inconsistent. Our Offensive line really struggled against the Lions, Bears, and Browns.  Having Jerome Felton back makes a big difference in Peterson's play and no doubt the whole O line's play as well.  To me Felton's presence was as the big a factor in the win as Cassel.  I think had Felton been able to play the first three games we might have won both the Bears and Browns game.

I say let Cassel play and see where it takes us.  With our D, I don't think it will be very far.  If he can't take us beyond a .500 record over the next two quarters of the season then they should re-insert Ponder for the last 4 games of the season and see if he cleaned up his game.  If not it's time for a new QB plan next year.

SKOL Vikings!!!

Today is start of Vikings season and just like last year I don't know what to expect out of this team.  I can see us starting out at  4-0 or 1-3 in the first quarter of the season.

Here are the big three questions in my mind that will have to be answered this year for us to have a good season:

1. Can AP stay healthy and play at the same level as last year?

If he can, than it's going to be a fun team to watch no matter what happens.

2.  Is Ponder going to improve from last year or is he not the answer?

Ponder could improve from last season and we could still start out 1-3 and have a losing season if AP were to get hurt or if our defense doesn't hold up. If Ponder proves not to be the answer then we will almost certainly have a losing record this season.  If so we can hopefully get a franchise quarterback in next years draft.  

3.  Will our pass rush and young secondary hold up?

If our secondary sucks than we will almost certainly finish last in our Division this year.

Post Game Thoughts:  What a hot mess that game turned into.  Ponder as erratic and mistake filled as ever.  The O-Line not giving Ponder or AP much help.  Musgrave's questionable play calling not helping matters either. The Defense had as many or more issues than the Offense today.  Giving up 34 points in a game isn't acceptable.  This game reminded me a bit of the total team meltdown we had in Chicago last year.  Also I have to give credit to the Lions.  They could be a scary good team if they don't shoot themselves in the foot.

On the plus side AP, the receivers, and Walsh looked good for the most part..  I'm not optimistic about next weeks game in Chicago, but I think we have a shot at going into the bye 2-2.

Thanks Vikes!!!

I haven't been licking any wounds the past few days.  I just haven't gotten around to commenting on the game.  Not having Ponder able to go was a bummer.  The game was a bummer.  However, the Vikings season was a huge success after the last couple of years.

Give AP The Rock! It's About Time

(Photo: Brace Hemmelgarn, USA TODAY Sports)

"68% Pass 32% rush on a day they were not shutting down Peterson. Peterson 18 carries for 106 yards. That was just absurd. He should of had 10 more carries, easily. Well there is always next week."

I wrote this two weeks ago when the Vikes played the Bears in Chicago.  Then last week Peterson had 210 on 21 carries versus Green Bay.  Once again I thought that was about 5-10 carries less than he should of had.

Finally this week we gave Peterson the Rock 31 times.  He went for 154 and 2 TD's and we beat the bears 21-14.  IT IS ABOUT TIME!!!

With Percy Harvin out for the season there is no reason why Peterson should't carry the ball on the order of the number snaps he did today.  The first game Percy was out versus the Lions Peterson carried the ball 27 times for 171 yards with 1TD and we won that game as well. Peterson is looking better than he ever has in his carrier and that's saying something.  The last seven games he has run well over 100 yards per game.  If Peterson can run at 5 yards or more per carry we've got to keep feeding him the ball. It makes no sense not to do it.

If it means that Ponder only attempts to throw the ball 21 times like he did in yesterday's game so be it.



 

I'm at a Loss!

How can Christian Ponder suck so bad?

I have been on Ponder's side up until now.  The game today in Green Bay was brutal. It was our game to win but 2 foolish 3rd Quarter interceptions while in fieldgoal range just killed us.  For the first time today I thought Ponder should have been benched.  The first interception was yet another terrible roll out throw against the grain that was off the mark right to a defender  who was waiting in the end zone.  Talk about a buzzkill to start the 2nd half.   At a minimum we should have been up 17-10.  Instead the Packers got a fieldgoal to cut our lead to 1 at 14-13.  Then we went 3 and out twice and the Packers scored   to go up 20 to 14.

So Peterson gets us going on another drive,  when Bam another INT. That second interception was it for me.  The play should have been a run as Peterson clearly had yet another huge whole to go through. But instead it was play action pass into disaster.  The ball should have never been thrown and it totally took the wind out of our sails.  The Pack went on a very long drive, kicked a fieldgoal and it was pretty much game over at 23 to 14.

23-14, Seriously!!!  No second half points, Seriously!!!  Peterson rushes for 210 in three quarters and we get 14 points, Seriously!!!  Aggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

I hope the team takes this loss better than I have.  I'm totally deflated.

Vikes Disappoint Tonight

I wish tonight's game would have been in Tampa Bay because the Vikings didn't show up ready to play.  We started out down 13 to nothing and it never got closer than 6 points for a brief time in the 2nd quarter.  The Vikings have to have the Defense play better than they did for us to have a chance.  They were probably still a bit winded from Sunday when the Cardinals easily owned the time of possession. Plain and simply it looked like The Bucs wanted this one more.

Ponder seems to be getting pounded on Facebook by a lot of the fans, but his numbers tonight weren't that much different than Freeman's.  He was sacked 3 times and was knocked down several more.  The fact is he was put in poor down and distance far to many times.  I wish the naysayers would just shut up for a while and see what happens with Ponder.  It's way to early to call him a failure.  The interception at the end was unfortunate and meaningless.

The fumbles by Peterson and Simpson were just killers in the first half and the touchdown at the start of the 2nd half was the final nail in the coffin.  The Vikings were not going to come back from being down 17 points.  The game at best would have been 36 to 33 with scores on our last two possessions where we got into the red zone.

Hopefully we can bounce back and give Seattle a game.

Some Viking Blogging: Pondering Ponder

This is my first Vikings blog of 2012 and what a start to the season it has been.  Who would have thought the Vikes would have a 5-2 record at this point.  I know I sure didn't.  The Vikes got lucky to win their first game in overtime verses a poor Jacksonville team after giving up the lead on a late touchdown.  Then we lost to the Colts in Week 2 and it didn't look good.  But then we soundly beat the 49ers when a light went on in our Defense and since then our only loss was to Washington last week.  Ponder had a terrible game today but we won 21-14 thanks to a pick 6 by our Rookie Safety, some solid running by Adrian Peterson, and of coarse the play of Percy Harvin.

This season Ponder has really only had two games that were stinkers.  This game with only 58 yards passing with 2 INT's and at Detroit where he had just over 100 yards passing.  Sure he made a bad throw in Washington that went for 6, but as far as I'm concerned his second Int in Washington was on tight end Kyle Rudolph for jumping the gun on a play in which Peterson would have scored the touchdown that would have put us within a field goal of winning provided we got an on-side kick.

Ponder is going to have uneven performances just like every other young quarterback.  Personally I don't think he was getting that much time to throw in today's game especially in the 2nd Half.   Hopefully Ponder will bounce back verses Tampa on Thursday.

Ponder vs. Tebow (I'll take the Christian)

I will probably start bass blogging again sometime soon, but today it's about the purple.

In today's Vikings game our rookie QB Christian Ponder faced off against Broncos 2nd Year player and first year starter Tim Tebow. If you didn't know, the Broncos won the game 35-32 on a last second field-goal that was set up when Ponder made a bad throw while in Vikings territory with over a minute to go. Ponder also threw a "Pick 6" and lost a fumble in the red zone. Still I would not even think about trading Ponder for the 6-1 miracle man Tebow.

The Broncos have a pretty good Defence while the Vikings beat up secondary is probably the worst secondary in the NFL, maybe the worst in team history. The second half performance of the Vikings Defence today was an epic embarrassment with blown coverages and missed tackles. No doubt Tebow had the easier match up today in terms of Defence faced. Consider that previous to this game Tebow had not had a game with a completion percentage over 50%, but vs. the purple it was 66.7%. Ponder had a completion percentage of 61.7% with 3 times the number of throws.

Today's game not withstanding I think Ponder has a bigger upside than Tebow; Ponder is getting better and I think has the potential to develop into an above average QB, which is something I don't know is possible with Tebow. I don't know if Ponder can become an elite Quarterback, but he is already fun to watch, which is desperately needed in this lost season.

Ouch!

I expected my Viking were going to lose to the Packers, but I did not expect it to be that ugly, especially in light of the fact that the Purple was coming on a bye week. It was as if none of the problems from the first half of the season were addressed and instead things went backwards. The Packers deserve a lot of credit because they are a very good football team and they were at home. However, that doesn't excuse the miscues and mistakes, which were legion particularly in the 2nd half. The Vikes were pretty darn lucky they didn't get humiliated with a shut out.

On Ponder:
Ponder is lucky he didn't give up a pick 6. I thought his overall level of play was OK, but he needs help from the Offensive Line and the Receivers. He escaped the pocket multiple times where he had ample time to throw the ball and he had to just throw it away. The receivers have got to do a better job. I also don't think the Offensive Coordinator is doing Ponder a lot of favors in terms of play calling and game planning. OCMusgrave has shown no ability to make meaningful adjustments at half time.

Just went to Wikipedia to read about Bill Musgrave. Honestly from what is written there I don't know what Leslie Frasier saw to bring the guy in for the position. He doesn't have a very good track record at all in terms of the OC position. The guy is a quarterbacks coach, not a strategist. This guy either needs to show serious improvement or be fired.

Pondering the Future

Note-The lack of blogging lately is in no small part due to lower back problems. You can bet I would have been in early on the Alabama Rig buzz had I been able to comfortably sit at the computer.
REUTERS/Frank Polich

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say Christian Ponder got off to a great start as the Vikings starting QB, when he nearly through a TD on his first pass and soon after that found Shiancoe for 6. And all things considered he had a pretty good game. Honestly, I had no idea what we were getting in Christian Ponder. I don't follow College Football and I didn't look into him when he was drafted. In the pre-season he looked like a good athlete, but to me didn't look ready to be a NFL QB yet. After his first two appearances in the regular season, things look positive. This kid might be pretty good, which is something the Vikes need desperately in a Division with excellent QB talent. If nothing else he and Adrian Peterson give us Vikes fans something to watch for the rest of the season.

I was a little unhappy with the Vikings final drive of the game. It started with yet another special teams screw up that backed us up to the 2 yard line. We got out past the 20. After an incompletion on 1st down I really thought the Vikes needed to run the ball to get some yards as Adrian was having a very good day. We threw the ball instead and the drive ended with 3 straight incompletions. Lousy play calling added to having Percy Harvin out with an injury and with a nicked up Shiancoe it's impossible to blame Ponder for not leading a come from behind upset of the Packers.
The Vikes elected to kick, which is a call that could have gone either way facing 4th and 10, and the D gave up two rushing first downs and it was game over.

The Vikings Defence had their moments today, but they were mostly bad. However the Pack is the best offence in the NFL, so what are you gonna do?