Quotulatiousness

August 28, 2011

Cowboys 23 Vikings 17 in 3rd preseason match-up

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 00:07

The game was not being broadcast in my area, so all the information I had was via Twitter updates.

Vikings’ scratches for tonight’s game were Asher Allen (CB), Toby Gerhart (RB), Kenny Onatolu (LB), Ross Homan (LB), Heath Farwell (LB), Visanthe Shiancoe (TE), and Kevin Williams (DT). No surprises in any of those names.

This was the first start for Anthony Herrera, who suffered a torn ACL late last season. I hope he gets back into his game quickly, as the offensive line has been an area of concern even before Bryant McKinnie was released. Letroy Guion took the first team snaps for Kevin Williams, who is suffering from a lingering foot issue (plantar fasciitis).

Some positions are still tightly contested, including two (or three) wide receiver slots (take your pick of Camarillo, Aromashodu, Arceneaux, Iglesias, and Jaymar Johnson), strong safety (Tyrell Johnson, Jamarca Sanford, and Mistral Raymond), and dime cornerback (Asher Allen, Marcus Sherels, and Tony Carter). If any of them distinguish themselves tonight, it’ll be a big step towards making the 53-man roster.

Among the folks not able to attend the game: Zygi Wilf, the majority owner of the team. He lives in New Jersey and was prevented from getting to the game by Hurricane Irene (it’s only the second home game he’s missed since purchasing the team in 2006).

The first score of the game was a 49-yard pass from Donovan McNabb to Bernard Berrian for a TD. Dallas defender Abram Elam nearly had the pick, but the ball went through his hands.

On the Cowboys’ next series, there was a scary moment for Vikings fans as starting cornerback Antoine Winfield went down after hitting Jason Witten. Winfield did not return to the field, but he described the injury as a “stinger”. Dallas scored a field goal on the drive, putting the score at 7-3 Vikings.

The Cowboys went ahead on a blocked field goal attempt when Kyle Rudolph missed a block on Orlando Scandrick. The ball was picked up and run in for the score by Alan Ball. 10-7 Cowboys.

On the following series, McNabb’s pass to Kleinsasser was tipped by defensive end Jason Hatcher and intercepted by safety Gerald Sensabaugh. Dallas turned that into a 17-7 lead on a TD by Felix Jones, powering through Tyrell Johnson and Cedric Griffin. (Tom Pelissero thought that Johnson may have lost his chance to stay with the team on a missed interception and poor tackling on the TD run.)

Cord Parks, who I was impressed with in the first two preseason games, has a nice return on the kick-off, putting the Vikings offence back in business on the Dallas 42-yard line. Unfortunately, Percy Harvin dropped a pass on third down, forcing a Ryan Longwell field goal to move the score to 17-10.

Christian Ballard got a sack inside the two-minute warning, to force a Dallas punt (his second sack in three games). At the half, the score was still 17-10 for Dallas.

The Vikings’ first team stayed in the game for one series, then gave way to the second team, led by Joe Webb. Dallas added a field goal on the following series. Webb completed a 43-yard pass to Manny Arceneaux, then followed that up with a rushing TD to move the score to 20-17.

Christian Ponder came in to the game with just over five minutes left to play, then had a bad exchange with center Brandon Fusco. Dallas moved the score to 23-17 on the next series, with a field goal by Dan Bailey.

That ended up being the final score. Significant stats were Donovan McNabb’s 12 of 18 passes for 164 yards, with one TD and one INT, Bernard Berrian with two passes for 64 yards (and a TD), and Adrian Peterson with 11 carries for 69 yards.

October 22, 2010

Percy Harvin starting to get the respect of opponents

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 08:56

Although I was watching the game, I didn’t notice this little drama:

In Sunday’s 24-21 victory over the Cowboys, the Vikings put Harvin in the backfield seven times. That includes two plays that were negated by penalties and another play the Cowboys quickly aborted.

With the score tied 21-21 with 6 minutes, 12 seconds left, the Vikings lined up at the Dallas 23-yard line. They had three receivers bunched near right, Randy Moss wide left and Harvin standing beside Brett Favre in the shotgun.

The sight of Harvin in the backfield caused not one, not two, but four Cowboys defenders to signal for a timeout. The Vikings went to a different formation after the timeout.

“Dallas probably didn’t have the personnel in the game to deal with that,” backup running back Albert Young said. “That’s the kind of mismatch that can catch a team off-guard. But I don’t think people will be caught off-guard anymore after seeing that one.”

When a player appearing in a different position causes the defenders to panic, you know that player is considered highly dangerous.

October 18, 2010

Vikings outlast Cowboys for 24-21 win

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 09:42

Yesterday’s game showed a lot of both the good and bad of this year’s Vikings team. They made fewer mistakes than in previous weeks, and (as always) got a great performance from their defence, but displayed yet another inconsistent offensive effort.

I didn’t see the first few series, tuning in with the score level at 7-7. It was yet another forgettable first half for Brett Favre and the offense, and they went into the locker room at the half down 14-7. According to Judd Zulgad, it was Randy Moss who gave the inspirational half-time speech to the troops:

Randy Moss departed the home locker room Sunday without talking to reporters. The mercurial wide receiver had five receptions for 55 yards in his first game as a Viking at Mall of America Field since 2004, and thus his silence did not come as a surprise.

It turned out, however, that Moss’ refusal to speak did not extend to venting at his teammates at halftime of the Vikings’ 24-21 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. Moss, who rejoined the Vikings in an Oct. 6 trade with New England, let it be known that he had seen enough after watching a second consecutive opening half of offensive ineptitude from his new team.

“I think it was a matter of fact, what we needed to hear,” quarterback Brett Favre said after the Vikings improved to 2-3 and dropped Dallas to 1-4. “It wasn’t anything scientific. It had a couple of choice words in it that I’d rather not use.”

Whatever Moss said, it worked.

Percy Harvin showed that he’d been paying attention to Moss, taking the second-half kickoff back for a touchdown, tying the score at 14-14. Adrian Peterson scored a short-yardage TD a series later, giving the Vikings their first lead of the game.

The Cowboys responded with a TD pass from Tony Romo to Dez Bryant, victimizing backup cornerback Lito Sheppard, who appeared to be trying for the interception instead of the pass break-up. The final points of the game were a field goal by Ryan Longwell, which was set up by E.J. Henderson’s second interception of the game (and only the fourth of his career).

Update: I think this AP photograph by Andy King, published by the Pioneer Press clearly shows Sheppard’s attempt to catch the pass:

If he’d just gone for the block or deflection, I think he’d have broken up the pass nicely.

October 17, 2010

Another playoff rematch . . . of 1-3 teams

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 10:40

Minnesota will host the Dallas Cowboys today in a rematch of their playoff meeting earlier this year. At that time, both teams were expected to challenge for the SuperBowl again this season. Both teams, however, are seriously underperforming:

AHWOOGA! AHWOOGA!
Dallas (1-3), Minnesota (1-3)
The bomb shelter alarms have already sounded for two presumed playoff contenders, and most football fans are loving it. Even more exciting, the teams play each this Sunday in the Failure Bowl. Or the Freakout Bowl. Or the Lehmann Brothers Bowl of Shame presented by Bear Stearns. Anyway, there’s a decent chance someone gets fired afterward. Place your wagers!

Chip Scoggins thinks the real reason for both teams’ lousy record is the turnover ratio:

Opinions vary on the reasons behind the disappointing starts for both teams, but talent is certainly not the issue. Their rosters are littered with Pro Bowl players. That makes the situation even more frustrating.

“Dallas is full of talent [so] I don’t think they thought they’d be 1-3,” Vikings nose tackle Pat Williams said. “We’re full of talent and I for sure never thought we’d be 1-3. But that’s the cards that are dealt. We have to get out of this hole ourselves. We can’t blame nobody but ourselves.”

If you’re looking for a common dominator, it’s turnover margin. Every coach points to that statistic as a telltale sign of a team’s success, and both the Vikings and Cowboys rank among the league’s worst in this area.

The Vikings are tied for 30th at minus-6; Dallas is No. 27 at minus-4. The teams have combined for only eight takeaways compared with 18 turnovers.

October 16, 2010

The 21st anniversary of the NFL’s biggest trade

Filed under: Football, History — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 12:17

Remember the Herschel Walker trade? Where the Vikings gave up just about everything to obtain a top-flight running back? It was such a big trade that Minnesotans joked that the NHL’s North Stars moving to Dallas was the final part of the deal (“joked” in the gallows humour style). The trade happened 21 years ago, and it gutted the Vikings for at least five years:

[T]he Vikings of 1989 vintage believed they were a running back away from being a Super Bowl contender. The Cowboys, under first-year owner Jerry Jones, were going nowhere. Yet, they had a marketable star named Herschel Walker who, as it would turn out, could fetch a king’s ransom in trade. The Vikings had nine Pro Bowlers on their roster — even though guys like Wade Wilson, while a Pro Bowl selection, weren’t really Pro Bowlers in the truest sense of the word — and all that was missing was a big-play guy who could make a difference.

What followed was the NFL equivalent to a burglary. The trade cost the Vikings five live bodies (RB Darrin Nelson, CB Issiac Holt, DE Alex Stewart and LBs Jesse Solomon and David Howard) and three first-round, three second-round and two third-round picks in return. It hamstrung the Vikings organization for five years and turned Dallas from a joke to the kingpin of the NFL. Walker, although talented, wasn’t anywhere close to being worth what the Vikings gave up to get him. That trade transformed the Cowboys from a 1-15 team to a Super Bowl champ and set the Vikings back for years, denying them the top draft choices that could re-stock their own shelves.

For all their bravado and claims to be “America’s Team,” the Cowboys’ rise to the top of the NFL in the early 1990s was a direct result of the Walker trade. They were more Minnesota’s team, or at least Minnesota’s former players and draft picks, than anything.

The trade was so big that I still find it incredible that the Vikings ownership were willing to give up so much for a single player, no matter how talented. They gambled that Walker was the missing ingredient to a SuperBowl team, and lost . . . big.

The Wikipedia entry for Walker includes this information:

In 1989, at the height of his NFL career, the Cowboys traded Walker to the Minnesota Vikings for a total of five players (LB Jesse Solomon, DB Issiac Holt, RB Darrin Nelson, LB David Howard, DE Alex Stewart) and six draft picks (which led to Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland, Kevin Smith, and Darren Woodson). This was judged to be one of the turning points in the rise of the Cowboys to the top echelon of the NFL. Nicknamed the “HWT” (Herschel Walker Trade), Walker’s trade was widely perceived as an exceptionally poor move considering what the Vikings had to give up in order to get him, and remains one of the most frequently vilified roster moves of the team’s history. The Vikings coaches reluctantly accepted Walker after the trade and never totally used the tool they had been given. Scout.com says, “Walker was never used properly by the coaching brain trust.” “Herschel the Turkey,” a mocking “honor” given out by the Star Tribune newspaper to particularly inept or disgraceful Minnesota sports personalities, is named for him.

Walker played for the Vikings for two and a half years, never amassing 1,000 rushing yards in a season. His rights were then acquired by the Philadelphia Eagles, and, subsequently, the New York Giants. Eventually, he was re-acquired by the Cowboys, where he was used not only as a running back but as a flanker and other offensive positions as well. In addition to running and catching passes, Walker was also often used to return kickoffs throughout his career.

[. . .]

While Herschel Walker’s NFL career was certainly notable, it was also a disappointment from the standpoint that he never played on a championship team. High expectations were placed on him due to his extraordinary college career and the dollar amount of his trade to the Minnesota Vikings. Many of those expectations were never realized. The move to Minnesota was the turning point in his NFL tenure. In 2008, the trade was selected by SI.com as the number one worst sports trade of all time. It was also the subject of an episode of ESPN Classic’s The Top 5 Reasons You Can’t Blame…

October 15, 2010

The Two Scotts both pick Minnesota over Dallas

Filed under: Football, Humour — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 12:28

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Feschuk-Reid affair without some light banter:

Dallas (plus 1.5) at Minnesota

Reid: I’ve always thought that when a girl plays hard to get, it’s time to start sending her up-close photos of your bait and tackle. On the field, Favre may be guided by pure instinct but off the field he appears to be a careful thinker. Shrewd strategies designed to achieve maximum impact. That’s what I take away from this entire Deadspin affair. And like Wade Phillips, I look forward to seeing how Tony Romo blows this game in the fourth quarter. Pick: Minnesota.

[. . .]

Feschuk: Favre got nailed in the bag with a pigskin during practice this week, and that’s not even a euphemism. Clearly, the football gods are taking rare pleasure in delivering the gunslinger’s comeuppance. The video of Favre taking one in the tenders was funny enough on its own, but even funnier in this treatment by the folks at Kissing Suzy Kolber.

Pick: Minnesota.

An alternate interpretation of the video was from Mark Craig who suggested that it was “NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (not pictured) visited Winter Park today to deliver his punishment to the future Hall of Fame quarterback.”

January 19, 2010

TMQ’s view of the Minnesota-Dallas playoff game

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 13:05

I don’t always agree with Gregg Easterbrook, but I always find him an interesting writer. Here’s some of his observations on the Vikings-Cowboys game:

Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees — the run-up to Title Weekend is sure to focus on them. For my money, the Colts, Jets, Saints and Vikings made the championship round because they have the league’s four best offensive lines.

Ninety percent of the action in football occurs away from the ball. When Jersey/B runners burst into the clear, or Favre casually dissects a defense, what’s going on is terrific blocking. Manning was sacked less than any other NFL quarterback this season because the Colts’ offensive line is tremendous. The Jets are in the championship round because of the holes their blockers open. The Vikings’ and Saints’ offensive lines both pass-block and run-block equally well, which is a rare combination. The TV commentators will be watching the glory boys holding the football. I’ll be watching the offensive lines. All four are tremendous.

[. . .] between a first-ever chance to host an NFC title game, and the travails of the city of New Orleans, there will be more energy in the Superdome on Sunday than in Iron Man’s pulse reactor. The sheer atmosphere-power within the facility may exceed the crowd feeling of any other game in NFL history. The Vikings are 9-0 at home this season, and 4-4 on the road — the only quality team they beat on the road was the Packers. NFL players are not intimidated by crowd noise. But it won’t just be crowd noise, it will be energy. The Vikings face an uphill climb.

Adrian Peterson — remember him? He hasn’t had a 100-yard rushing game since Nov. 15. The New Orleans run defense is weak, while its pass defense is strong. A conservative, rush-oriented game plan might be just what the doctor ordered considering New Orleans’ personnel and the need to keep the Saints’ league-leading offense off the field. But with Brett Favre and Brad Childress both preoccupied with pumping up Favre’s stats (see below) will Minnesota be able to bring itself to do the smart thing and use a conservative game plan?

When the Saints have the ball, you just never know what is going to happen. They probably don’t either, which is the joy of watching this team. When attention turns to the Vikings, all eyes are on Favre. But what makes Minnesota special is the best pair of lines in the league. The offensive line is stout, the defensive line is fantastic. The Vikings just clobbered the Cowboys via superior line play — if they are to win in New Orleans, their lines will be the key.

I’m looking forward to watching the Saints-Vikings game, but Easterbrook’s praise of Minnesota is a tad overdone. The offensive and defensive lines are good, but they have had some bad outings in the last month, and the offensive line is much better at pass blocking than run blocking (Adrian Peterson is one of the best running backs in the NFL, but even he can’t run if there are no running lanes opened up for him). It’s also not yet known how bad the leg injury to Ray Edwards was (no official word until tomorrow). If he can’t play, it’ll depend on Jared Allen fighting through double-team blocking without the same threat from the other side of the line.

The Brett-Favre-to-Sidney-Rice connection has been wonderful, but after Sunday’s game, New Orleans will be double-teaming Rice all afternoon. Percy Harvin, Bernard Berrian, and Visanthe Shiancoe will have to get open much more this week than they did this time. New Orleans is supposed to be weak against the run (they’ve jumped ahead in most games, so teams have had to throw against them to try to catch up). I hope that’s true, and that Adrian gets some good run blocking to let him do what he’s proven he can do best: hit those lanes and take it to the house.

January 17, 2010

The nailbiter-that-wasn’t

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 17:29

With most media reports emphasizing how Dallas on their five-game winning streak had the advantage over Minnesota, the results didn’t bear out the prognostications. DeMarcus Ware was going to make Phil Loadholt and Bryant McKinnie look like rag dolls. The Dallas nose tackle was going to use Vikings centre Sullivan as a welcome mat. Jason Whitten was going to have a career game against Minnesota’s notoriously bad secondary.

34-3 was the final score, clearly showing the experts knew what they were talking about.

Well, in another universe anyway. Dallas had a great start to the game, putting up lots of yards against the Vikings, while the Vikings had negative yardage. But Dallas couldn’t get into the end zone, while the Vikings started getting there on a regular basis. Brett Favre set yet another record (his 4 TD passes were a personal playoff mark), and receiver Sidney Rice was on the receiving end of three of them, the fourth going to Visanthe Shiancoe. Jared Allen made lots of noise in the Dallas backfield, drawing attention away from the other side of the line, where Ray Edwards tallied three sacks (half of the Vikings’ total in the game).

Although the Vikings’ offensive line kept Favre relatively untroubled, they still didn’t do enough to open running lanes for Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor. Facing New Orleans for the NFC title game next week, the line had better do more to create those lanes, as the Saints are not good at defending against the run.

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