Quotulatiousness

January 15, 2014

Minnesota hires Mike Zimmer as their new head coach

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 11:12

It’s being widely reported (at least on Twitter) that the Minnesota Vikings have offered the head coaching position to Cincinnati Bengals defensive co-ordinator Mike Zimmer. Zimmer arrived in Minnesota yesterday for a second interview with Vikings executives and remained in town overnight. At the Daily Norseman, Arif Hasan put together a voluminous compendium of information on the head coaching candidates. Here’s part of the section on Mike Zimmer:

The former linebacker is also well-known for specific gameplanning, and pre-game adjustments to the scheme to match the weaknesses of the opponent, rather than relying on a base scheme. There are significant drawbacks to this approach (which is why the league-leading Seahawks defense prefers to stick with the scheme instead of changing much for specific game plans), but it has its adherents (Bill Belichick being the most famous — though defensive mavens like Rex Ryan do this as well. It is also the approach of Todd Bowles, the DC of the second-best defense in the league in Arizona).

The position that Zimmer prefers to be deepest seems to be cornerback, although he’s made sure the roster has had competition at a number of levels. Also interestingly, he has a tendency both to stick with and quickly move on from players. The best example of this odd paradox is Rey Maualuga, second-round pick for the Bengals in 2009. Rey was a solid-to-good strongside linebacker that did well for two years before switching to the middle.

[…]

Zimmer is probably best known for his hardnose, “no-nonsense” style of coaching that has endeared him to Bengals fans and seems to follow the tradition of Bill Parcells, berating players blue in order to get them fired up. Applied with intelligence, it also seems to have gotten the players’ loyalty. He’s even used it as an asset in his free agency recruiting, arguing that his ability to get results is better for players than what others can offer. It also means that players know where they stand with him, which can be invaluable.

Update: The Star Tribune confirms the news with this report by Mark Craig:

Mike Zimmer, a 20-year veteran NFL assistant coach who worked with Hall of Famer Bill Parcells in Dallas before turning the Cincinnati Bengals’ defense around as their defensive coordinator the past six seasons, has been hired as the ninth head coach in the Vikings’ 54-year history, NFL sources confirmed.

Zimmer, who has never been a head coach at any level, replaces Leslie Frazier, who was fired on Dec. 30, and becomes the third head coach hired since current owners Zygi and Mark Wilf bought the team in 2005.

Zimmer, 57, played quarterback and linebacker at Illinois State. He then coached on the defensive side at the collegiate level for 15 years at Missouri, Weber State and Washington State before joining the Dallas Cowboys as secondary coach.

He won a Super Bowl ring when the Cowboys beat the Steelers in Super Bowl XXX. One of Zimmer’s players, unheralded cornerback Larry Brown, became the game’s MVP.

[…]

Zimmer was praised by Parcells recently in a Star Tribune article.

“He’s very competitive, he’s intense,” Parcells said. “I think he’s a smart guy. … Every place that I’ve ever heard that he’s been, the players really liked him. And yet he doesn’t coddle the players at all. He’s got a good balance with that tough love.

“I think now he’s got enough experience to handle the players and the big picture and the scouting and the constraints and the things that the league mandates now. He’s got enough experience to where he’d do a good job.”

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis also has said Zimmer has what it takes to be a head coach.

“Zim does a great job of identifying who to push and when,” Lewis was quoted as saying on the Bengals website. “He helps me by being the guy who puts his foot up their butt, getting them moving in the right direction so I don’t have to be the one to do it all the time.”

Zimmer’s son, Adam, is a Bengals assistant coach. He also has two daughters Corri and Marki. Zimmer’s wife, Vicki, passed away suddenly of natural causes at age 50 in 2009. That same year, he was named NFL assistant coach of the year by cbssports.com and the Pro Football Writers Association.

January 12, 2014

Vikings schedule second interviews with two head coach candidates

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 10:53

The Minnesota Vikings have moved on to setting up second interviews for at least two of the head coaching candidates they’ve talked to:

Numerous sources are reporting that both Todd Bowles, defensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals, and Mike Zimmer, defensive coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals, will be getting second interviews with the team this week. Zimmer’s interview is reportedly going to be “early next week,” according to our friends from Cincy Jungle, while no date … firm or otherwise … has been floated for Bowles’ potential second interview.

The third finalist is presumed to be San Francisco 49ers’ offensive coordinator Greg Roman. Rick Spielman and company were in Charlotte today to interview him, the last day they could do so. If the Niners defeat the Carolina Panthers and advance in the post-season, the Vikings wouldn’t be able to interview him again until the week before the Super Bowl. If the Niners lose, one would assume that Roman’s second interview would be sometime next week.

Arif Hasan has a compendium of information on all the known head coach candidates the Vikings have interviewed. This is from the section on Todd Bowles:

Currently the defensive coordinator for one of the league’s top defenses, Todd Bowles is quickly gaining buzz among fans and within coaching circles as a potential head coach and like few candidates was actually a fairly fine player in the NFL. The Cardinals are doing well with Bowles for now, but it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to keep him for long.

[…]

Bowles is not particularly married to a specific type of front, whether 3-4 or 4-3 and has operated in multiple types of defenses with different gap concepts, from one-gap, to hybrids, to pure two-gap defenses. He’s shown a slight preference for tight man coverage, though focuses less on using the coverage to disrupt timing and more on finding ways to prevent outlet passes from appearing for opposing offenses.

This is in part due to the small amount of data that people have about the types of schemes he prefers—he hasn’t been a DC recently for very long.

From what seems evident, Bowles strives to create situations favorable to the player instead of maintaining scheme integrity, but doesn’t fully embrace the “adapt the scheme to the talent” mantra that has been so popular for fans and sportswriters (notably, neither did the other top DVOA defenses this year: Seattle, Carolina, Buffalo and Cincinnati), in that he prefers schematic soundness to maximizing success for every individual player.

There’s little doubt, however, that Bowles prefers to be aggressive more than anything else and seems to employ more one-gap principles than two-gap principles in his defenses.

This is from the section on Mike Zimmer:

Mike Zimmer has recently become a hot name in coaching searches, and it’s easy to see why: even with a defense missing its two best players (Geno Atkins and Leon Hall), Cincinnati had a top five defense and entered the playoffs despite spotty quarterback play.

[…]

Zimmer’s teams have been marked by an ability to recognize talent no matter the source and putting them in positions to perform, from first-round draft picks like Leon Hall, to undrafted free agents like Vontaze Burfict — both of whom are at the top of their position. Players like Vincent Rey (UDFA), Geno Atkins (4th-round pick) and others from nearly every round have made key contributions for Zimmer over the years.

The belief that Zimmer is an excellent defensive coordinator is very true, although I think overstated (I would put more stock in Wade Phillips or Rob Ryan, for example). Zimmer is considered a 4-3 specialist, but that probably pigeonholes him.

This year, he’s used more players in the same base formation to do different things. It would be correct to call Zimmer vanilla in his personnel deployments (the Bengals barely, if at all, used personnel outside of 4-3-4 or 4-2-5) but incorrect to say he doesn’t use situational players, rotate or find creative uses of his personnel. Interestingly, he was forced to run a 3-4 with the Cowboys, and that likely influenced how exactly he runs his defense.

January 4, 2014

Former Vikings head coach doesn’t stay unemployed for long

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 13:08

Leslie Frazier was fired as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings on Monday. Today, he accepted the job as defensive co-ordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

You can stop worrying about Leslie Frazier. He’s fine. He has scored himself a new gig as defensive coordinator with his old friend Lovie Smith in Tampa Bay.

Rumors have it that Rod Marinelli was actually the first choice as DC in Tampa but I guess Marinelli didn’t want the gig so they went to #2 choice Frazier. Leslie served as defensive coordinator for a couple years in Minnesota before his ill-fated tenure as head coach. Years back he was DC with Cincinnati.

Frazier, a long-time devotee of the Tampa-2 defense, goes to the city that gave the defense its name. Now we wait to see if he tries to bring any of his former Minnesota assistants with him. The Vikings still have all those guys under contract, including Leslie’s friend Mike Singletary.

We can also speculate on which current Viking free agents might now look at Tampa Bay as an attractive destination because Leslie is there and will likely install a system similar to the one the Vikings ran. Jared Allen is a guy who might be a fit in Tampa. You also have to look at a guy like Erin Henderson who is likely done in Minnesota after his most recent DWI arrest. Frazier was always in Henderson’s corner and seems to like him as a Will backer in his scheme.

I’d be surprised if Singletary didn’t also follow Frazier to Tampa Bay, and (sadly) Jared Allen has almost certainly played his final game for the Vikings and hasn’t indicated any plan to retire. I’m glad Frazier will be in the league next year, even if he is working for another team. Still no change on the replacement head coach search in Minnesota: lots of candidates mentioned, but many interviews still to be conducted.

January 3, 2014

Patterson goes to the Pro Bowl after all

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 08:20

The NFL Pro Bowl will be following different rules this year and one of the rule changes is the elimination of the kickoff (instead of a kickoff, the receiving team will just get the ball at their own 25 yard line). Cordarrelle Patterson was the best kick returner in the NFL this season, but if there are no kickoffs, there’s no need for KRs on the team. However, Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown will miss the Pro Bowl and Patterson has been named as his replacement.

Patterson may already be the NFL’s best kick returner … a point that is moot in the Pro Bowl because, for the first time, the Pro Bowl has eliminated kickoffs entirely (teams will just get the ball at the 25-yard line to start each possession). Brown was on the Pro Bowl roster as both a receiver and a punt returner, so it’s possible that Patterson could get a look in that role in the Pro Bowl. Patterson was on the field for a couple of punt returns for the Vikings late in the season.

From what I can see of the Pro Bowl rosters, Patterson is now currently the only rookie on the team. Don’t know if that will help his Rookie of the Year campaign or not … but it should.

The Pro Bowl teams will be selected on 22 January, with the game itself taking place in Honolulu on 26 January.

The most visible change to the Pro Bowl this year is that the teams will no longer represent the two conferences: the teams will be chosen in sandlot style by two honorary captains (Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders) from the pool of nominated players.

Update: Interestingly, Patterson has also been named to the first team All-Pro roster as a kick returner. He’s apparently the only rookie on the All-Pro team this year. Adrian Peterson was nominated to the second team at running back, despite having his second-worst year statistically.

January 2, 2014

Chris Kluwe burns his bridges in Minnesota … and the rest of the NFL

Filed under: Football, Liberty, Media — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 13:57

He’s been looking for work since his time in Minnesota came to an end shortly after the team drafted Jeff Locke in the 2013 draft, but hasn’t been able to catch on with a team, despite his still-respectable abilities. He has strong suspicions why this might be, and he’s probably right. Now that he’s come to terms with the end of his punting career, Chris Kluwe explains what he think happened between him and the Vikings in 2012 and pretty much guarantees he will never work in the NFL again:

During the summer of 2012, I was approached by a group called Minnesotans for Marriage Equality, which asked if I would be interested in helping defeat what was known as the Minnesota Gay Marriage Amendment. The proposed amendment would have defined marriage as “only a union of one man and one woman.” (It was voted down, and same-sex marriage is now legal in Minnesota.) I said yes, but that I would have to clear it with the team first. After talking to the Vikings legal department, I was given the go-ahead to speak on the issue as long as I made it clear I was acting as a private citizen, not as a spokesman for the Vikings, which I felt was fair and complied with. I did several radio advertisements and a dinner appearance for Minnesotans for Marriage Equality. No one from the Vikings’ legal department told me I was doing anything wrong or that I had to stop.

On Sept. 7, 2012, this website published a letter I had written to Maryland delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. chastising him for trampling the free-speech rights of Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo. The letter also detailed why I supported the rights of same-sex couples to get married. It quickly went viral.

On Sept. 8, the head coach of the Vikings, Leslie Frazier, called me into his office after our morning special-teams meeting. I anticipated it would be about the letter (punters aren’t generally called into the principal’s office). Once inside, Coach Frazier immediately told me that I “needed to be quiet, and stop speaking out on this stuff” (referring to my support for same-sex marriage rights). I told Coach Frazier that I felt it was the right thing to do (what with supporting equality and all), and I also told him that one of his main coaching points to us was to be “good men” and to “do the right thing.” He reiterated his fervent desire for me to cease speaking on the subject, stating that “a wise coach once told me there are two things you don’t talk about in the NFL, politics and religion.” I repeated my stance that this was the right thing to do, that equality is not something to be denied anyone, and that I would not promise to cease speaking out. At that point, Coach Frazier told me in a flat voice, “If that’s what you feel you have to do,” and the meeting ended. The atmosphere was tense as I left the room.

[…]

So there you have it. It’s my belief, based on everything that happened over the course of 2012, that I was fired by Mike Priefer, a bigot who didn’t agree with the cause I was working for, and two cowards, Leslie Frazier and Rick Spielman, both of whom knew I was a good punter and would remain a good punter for the foreseeable future, as my numbers over my eight-year career had shown, but who lacked the fortitude to disagree with Mike Priefer on a touchy subject matter. (Frazier was fired on Monday, at the conclusion of a 5-10-1 season.) One of the main coaching points I’ve heard throughout my entire life is, “How you respond to difficult situations defines your character,” and I think it’s a good saying. I also think it applies to more than just the players.

If there’s one thing I hope to achieve from sharing this story, it’s to make sure that Mike Priefer never holds a coaching position again in the NFL, and ideally never coaches at any level. (According to the Pioneer Press, he is “the only in-house candidate with a chance” at the head-coaching job.) It’s inexcusable that someone would use his status as a teacher and a role model to proselytize on behalf of his own doctrine of intolerance, and I hope he never gets another opportunity to pass his example along to anyone else. I also hope that Leslie Frazier and Rick Spielman take a good look in the mirror and ask themselves if they are the people they truly profess themselves to be.

Update, 3 January: The Vikings have hired two lawyers, one of them the former chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, to investigate Kluwe’s allegations.

Eric Magnuson, the former chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, and Chris Madel, a former U.S. Department of Justice Trial attorney, will lead the investigation.

“It is extremely important for the Vikings organization to react immediately and comprehensively with an independent review of these allegations,” Vikings owner/president Mark Wilf said in a statement issued by the team Friday.

Magnuson and Madel are partners in the firm Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. Their investigation is already underway, according to the Vikings’ release.

“This is a highly sensitive matter that we as an organization will address with integrity,” Vikings vice president of legal affairs and chief administrative officer Kevin Warren said in the statement.

“Eric and Chris have stellar reputations in both the local and national legal community. They have handled numerous cases involving a wide range of issues, and we are confident they will move swiftly and fairly in completing this investigation.”

[…]

The Vikings investigation comes a little less than two months after the NFL hired attorney Ted Wells to investigate issues of workplace conduct with the Miami Dolphins, who asked the league for help after representatives for tackle Jonathan Martin turned over evidence of alleged abuse at the hands of teammate Richie Incognito.

The results of Wells’ investigation, which are to be made public, have not yet been released. Martin never returned to the team after a cafeteria prank Oct. 28. Incognito finished the season on the suspended list.

“The Vikings contacted us yesterday about the matter and have kept us fully informed,” league spokesman Greg Aiello wrote in an email to USA TODAY Sports. “We have no plans to conduct a separate review.”

Green Bay playoff game at risk of TV blackout in home market

Filed under: Business, Football, Media — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 08:39

For some reason, I had the impression that NFL blackout rules didn’t apply in the post-season, but Dan Zinski says there’s a real risk that the Green Bay Packers may not sell all of their tickets for this weekend’s game against the San Francisco 49ers:

Packer fans are the greatest, most loyal and diehard fans in the world. Which explains why, as of Wednesday afternoon, there were reportedly still 7,500 tickets available for Sunday’s home playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers.

Huh?

Yes it’s true. Amazingly, the Packers are struggling to sell out their home playoff game. Despite their fans being better than everyone else’s fans.

[…]

The tickets must be sold by 3:40 PM Thursday to avoid a blackout. But if history is any indication the NFL will give the Packers an extension.

If the Packers still can’t sell the tickets and the blackout goes into effect? Look for a mass exodus out of Green Bay and Milwaukee and into all the towns where the game is on television. That will be a bad time to be traveling anywhere in Wisconsin.

And just wait until Sunday night when everyone is driving home, totally wasted. In the name of public safety, maybe the state government should buy up the tickets.

My guess is that the nightmare scenario won’t come to pass, that the tickets will get bought up and everyone will be able to see the game. And what an enjoyable game it will be…for people who hate the Packers.

On the other hand, I’ve seen predictions that the game-time temperature could be as low as -15F, which would be the coldest game in NFL history (the current record is -13F at the “Ice Bowl” in 1967). I wouldn’t blame the fans quite as much for not wanting to be part of that kind of historical event.

Update, 3 January: Earlier this afternoon, the Packers announced that they’d sold all the tickets to the game (a local business apparently stepped in to buy the remainder), so the game will be available on TV in the Wisconsin area. The weather reports are looking worse, however, as the temperature could go as low as -18F (or -25F) with a potential windchill of -53F. Brrrrrrrrrrrr.

December 31, 2013

Vikings start search for new head coach

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 11:36

I was away for a few days, celebrating our 30th anniversary, so I didn’t get to watch the final game at the Metrodome between the Vikings and the Detroit Lions (see Arif Hasan’s summary here). I was also away from my computer when the news came down that the team had fired head coach Leslie Frazier. I wasn’t surprised that Frazier took the blame for the awful 2013 season, but it also wouldn’t have surprised me greatly if they’d decided to keep Frazier. The problem was really at the quarterback position, not the head coach (although Frazier and his staff certainly made some mistakes). One of the big mistakes was on display during the game against the Lions: the outstanding performance by Cordarrelle Patterson … in whom the coaching staff had so little confidence that he barely saw the playing field for most of the season.

Even with the best running back in the game and a rising star at wide receiver, the Vikings could only do so much with the quarterback floundering. I liked Christian Ponder when he was drafted, and I’d hoped to see him grow into the kind of quarterback you can build a franchise around. Instead, Ponder regressed to the point that benching him was a kindness. Matt Cassel was an excellent signing as a backup and did quite well when he was called upon to take over the starting role. I hope he decides to come back for the second year of his contract (which can be voided by either the team or the player). I still don’t understand what happened with Josh Freeman…

The Vikings have the 8th overall pick in the 2014 draft, and would have had the same pick even if they’d lost the game to the Lions because all the teams above them in the draft order lost on Sunday. The obvious choice with that pick would be a quarterback (Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M has been the common prediction for the Vikings in early mock drafts). There are certainly other needs that could be addressed if all the “can’t miss” quarterback prospects are off the board by then, including cornerback, linebacker, safety, defensive end, and nose tackle. I’ve even seen fantasists floating the idea of trading Adrian Peterson to the Rams for their two first-round picks. I guess having had multiple first-rounders in the last two years has spoiled the draftniks.

Before the news of Frazier’s firing, John Holler explained why it was likely to happen:

If the Vikings fire Leslie Frazier today, it’s not because he isn’t a good head coach. He is.

It won’t be because his team quit on him. They didn’t. At a time when pragmatic fans were thinking it wouldn’t be so bad if the Vikings lost all their remaining games when they were 1-7 at midseason, the Vikings went 4-3-1 in the second half – the best record in the division, as well as a 2-0-1 record against the NFC North in Act II of their annual meetings.

It won’t be because his players didn’t have his back. They do. If you were to ask anyone who has spent any amount of time with Frazier to define his character, you wouldn’t hear a dissenting opinion. If the Vikings had a 36-12 record over the last three years and players were asked if Frazier was a better coach or human being, that 12-win average would pale by comparison.

Frazier is a good coach. He is an exemplary man.

The Vikings are going to undergo a significant overhaul in the next few months and, at the moment, it doesn’t appear as though that is going to include Frazier. Have the Vikings succeeded under his watch? The empirical evidence says no. Given that 8-7-1 won the NFC North, it can be argued that the Vikings were more snake-bit than dismal.

But, in a bottom-line world, over the last three seasons as head coach, Frazier has a regular season record of 18-29-1 in 48 games and is 0-1 in the postseason.

If the thought process at Winter Park is based on a belief that Frazier can be the person to mold the young core of the Vikings team moving forward, he will be back next year. But, in the NFL, lame-duck coaching contracts are rarely fulfilled. Change is constant in the NFL. Players come. Players go. Coaches come. Coaches go. Unfortunately, character isn’t a consideration. If it was, Frazier would have been given a vote of confidence.

He didn’t get it.

In the end, it’s not personal. It’s only business.

Frazier’s firing got almost unanimous response from the Twin Cities sportswriters who’ve been covering the Vikings:

Update, 2 January: Cordarrelle Patterson just won the Offensive Rookie of the Month award, having been the first rookie to score at least three rushing and three receiving touchdowns since Roger Craig in December, 1983. He’s the fourth Viking to win ORotM, joining Adrian Peterson, Randy Moss, and Percy Harvin.

Patterson was also named to the All-NFC North team:

Even if several players got spots because they were the best options in a mediocre division, the Vikings’ group of all-division players did provide highlights. Patterson was the best kick returner in the NFL, leading the league with a 32.4-yard return average and becoming the only player in the league to return two kicks for touchdowns. Peterson finished fifth in the NFL with 1,266 rushing yards, despite carrying only 18 times in the final four games and missing two with groin and foot injuries. And Robison had the best year of his career, finishing with nine sacks and ending the year second in the NFL with 81 total pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.

It’s tough to find too many snubs on the Vikings roster. The biggest one might be punt returner Marcus Sherels, who surged at the end of the season and finished third in the NFL with a 15.2-yard return average. Sherels, though, was up against a strong field; every punt returner in the NFC North had a touchdown this season.

December 27, 2013

The Metrodome had “a retro-futuristic feel that was equal parts Jetsons and Lite-Brite”

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 12:56

This Sunday, the final game will be played in Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. ESPN‘s Kevin Seifert looks at some of the oddities of the soon-to-be demolished stadium:

They played two World Series in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, and the same number of Final Fours. Baseball’s All-Star Game, the Super Bowl, Pink Floyd and Paul McCartney all made appearances, as well. And yet, from a national perspective, the dominant memory might well have originated on Dec. 12, 2010 — when the roof collapsed a day before a Minnesota Vikings game.

The Teflon-coated roof was one of many engineering quirks that gave the Metrodome a retro-futuristic feel that was equal parts Jetsons and Lite-Brite. My personal favorite was the strict rule against opening any set of double doors at the same time, a fail-safe against altering the air pressure setting that maintained the roof’s shape.

That rule was one of many improvised plans that stadium engineers developed and followed to maintain a building that will host its final event Sunday. And it’s why Steve Maki and six colleagues found themselves on the roof with fire hoses and a steam connection in the hours before the 2010 collapse.

We’ll get back to that incredible instance of homespun maintenance in a moment. First, it’s important to know a few facts about the roof.

The original design called for 20 fans of 90-horsepower apiece to maintain inflation from their position at the top of the stadium. Because it was used in a region that receives about 50 inches of snow per year, a system was installed to melt snow accumulation on the roof by shooting hot air between two layers of fabric on the surface.

December 23, 2013

Bengals slice, dice, and gut woeful Vikings in Cincinnati

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 09:23

After all the nice things I quoted about Matt Cassel yesterday morning, it was probably inevitable that he’d have a bad game in Cincinnati against the Bengals. What wasn’t inevitable was that everyone on the team not named “Cordarrelle Patterson” would also have a bad game at the same time. Ted Glover at the Daily Norseman sums up the pluses and minuses for his weekly Stock Market Report:

Blue Chip Stocks:

Cordarrelle Patterson, Jack Of All Trades: At some point during the game, maybe early in the third quarter, the only reason I kept watching this game was because even in a blowout, Patterson got my attention. Now, let’s not kid ourselves, I had no illusions about him making one ridiculous play after another to give the Vikings a miraculous victory, but he is, right now, the only decent threat the Vikings have on offense, and every time he touches the ball, he could go the distance. With Adrian Peterson hurt, the Vikings QB situation a Shakespearean tragedy, and the defense easier to score on than a horny hooker, Patterson is literally the only reason I will tune in and watch the Vikings season finale next week. At least, finally, the Vikings are trying to feed him the ball. It only took three months.

Solid Investments:

I got nothin’: Rhett Ellison had a couple nice catches, I suppose. Jarius Wright made a nice play on his 36 yard TD catch. So maybe those guys, I guess. I’m open to suggestions.

Junk Bonds:

Pretty much everyone not named Cordarrelle Patterson: This was a whole lot of bad, and as poor an overall game effort since the Seattle debacle. Matt Cassel was inept, as was the Vikings running game other than Patterson on the edge, as was the Vikings offensive line. On defense, the Vikings pass rush stayed in Minneapolis, the linebackers were awful, but the secondary was even worse. Seriously, there was not one unit, other than the Vikings kickoff return, that had a game that remotely close to bad. Seriously, just to get to bad they needed to take an escalator, then an elevator, then get shot out of a cannon into the arms of a Sherpa guide that could’ve lead the way on the final assault to the bad summit.

Jim Souhan avoids blatantly walking back his pro-Cassel comments of yesterday by concentrating on the woeful, can’t-stop-anyone defence:

At halftime of the Vikings’ loss to the Bengals on Sunday, monkeys riding dogs herded goats into a pen.

If the Vikings secondary had been asked to do the herding, those goats would have busted out of Paul Brown Stadium, stolen a case of whiskey and commandeered a paddle boat down the Ohio River.

A 42-14 loss filled with mistakes, turnovers, blown coverage and general aimlessness may have ended even idle conversations about Leslie Frazier and Matt Cassel, as two months of competitiveness segued into an afternoon of pratfalls.

In a week, the Vikings likely will be looking for a new coach and a franchise quarterback. To get this team back to the playoffs, the brain trust will also need to add a few quality defenders, but only at the positions of defensive line, linebacker, cornerback, safety and coordinator.

The Vikings offense may be one player away.

The Vikings defense needs a squadron — a gaggle, a pride? — plus herding lessons.

The team has allowed an NFL-worst 467 points this year. If the Detroit Lions score 18 points next Sunday at Mall of America Field, the Vikings will break the franchise record for most points allowed — 484 in 1984.

Too often, Vikings defensive backs look like mimes. They make familiar motions but didn’t seem interested in objects.

I don’t know if the game broadcast was available in the Toronto area, as our power went off about an hour before kick-off and wasn’t restored until about half an hour after the game was over. I followed the updates on Twitter, but by the end of the first quarter, I decided I was better off sitting and reading a book rather than watching the disaster unfold in Ohio.

December 22, 2013

Matt Cassel has done everything the Vikings have asked

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 11:48

In the Star Tribune, Jim Souhan wonders why Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier didn’t switch to Matt Cassel permanently the first time Christian Ponder went down to injury:

The Vikings will be looking for a quarterback in the draft. If they could draw up a prototype of the ideal prospect, he would look something like this:

About 6-foot-4, 230 pounds. Good mechanics. Able to control a huddle and read defenses. Adept at throwing the deep ball.

He’d possess leadership skills and experience. He’d be able to complete about 62 percent of his passes, move well within the pocket and handle the diplomatic demands of the modern NFL quarterback.

The Vikings absolutely should draft someone like that. They also should realize that they’ll have that guy in their huddle Sunday.

If you want to label Matt Cassel, you can pick any convenient phrase, and you’d be right. He has been project, prospect, young backup, winning starter, losing starter, demoted starter, castoff, veteran backup, emergency starter and, this season, a third quarterback on a team that temporarily favored two struggling quarterbacks.

At season’s end, either he or the Vikings can opt out of the second year of his two-year contract. The Vikings would be wise to keep him around. Asked whether he wants to stay, Cassel said, “I would love to be back here.”

Cassel has done exactly what the Vikings wanted Christian Ponder to do: take advantage of defenses stacked up to stop Adrian Peterson. Last Sunday, Cassel went further, taking advantage of a defense that had probably never heard of fill-in starter Matt Asiata. Cassel produced 48 points with an offense missing its top two backs and top two tight ends.

A Vikings quarterback has thrown for 240 yards five times this season. Ponder and Freeman have done it zero times; Cassel has done it five times.

Matt Cassel may not be the long-term answer, but he’s proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s a better quarterback than either Ponder or Freeman and has fully earned the starting role for the remainder of the season. The team has been more than generous in allowing Ponder opportunities to solidify his hold on the starting quarterback position and he’s remained frustratingly inconsistent. The $2 million spent on bringing Josh Freeman to town might as well have gone on redecorating the locker rooms at the soon-to-be-demolished Metrodome, as it would clearly take a miracle for him to see the field again this year.

Assuming that the Vikings spend a high pick on a quarterback in the 2014 draft, keeping Cassel on the roster is the intelligent thing to do. He can start, giving the rookie more time to acclimatize to the NFL, or he can be a mentor if the team decides to give the rookie a chance to start right away. Cassel may not be the best quarterback around, but he’s the best option open to Minnesota.

Update:

December 20, 2013

The NFC North and the inexplicable Detroit Lions

Filed under: Football, Humour — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 00:02

Remember that highly accurate cartoon Draw Play Dave Rappoccio drew a few weeks ago, showing the true state of the NFC North:

DrawPlayDave - The NFC North

He’s got an expanded version of that up at his site as a full strip, and provides this additional information:

The NFC North is like wacko world these days. The Bears lose Jay Cutler, have a terrible Defense, and then Josh McCown opens up the McOWN ZONE and suddenly the Bears are on top. The Packers lose Aaron Rodgers for the year, tie with Minnesota, have a terrible defense, trot out the likes of Scott Tolzein and Matt “around the league in 80 games” Flynn and they have managed second place and have a chance for the division. The Vikings are a pile of trash with an aging defense and no good option at QB. Yet they just blew out the Eagles. And AP wasn’t even playing. Not even Toby Gerhart was playing.

But the biggest WTF has been the Lions. When Rodgers and Cutler both went down and the Vikings being bad and the Lions in first place, it was like the football gods visited Detroit and said “Here. I’m sick of those cheese mongers in Green Bay. Chicago is overrated. Nobody wants to live in Minnesota. Here Detroit. You never have nice things. have the division. On us. Silver Platter. All you gotta do is win a few games”

And Detroit was like “Nah, I’m good”, then took a big steaming dump and started rolling around in it. They were basically handed the division and are now in third with 2 games left. How can a team with as much talent as the Lions have just crap the bed like this? I know, I know, “Lol lions, lol Detroit” but step back and look at them. They have the best WR in the game. They have a very competent though not elite QB in Stafford, who has stayed healthy. Their defensive line is absurd. Reggie Bush has been doing things. How did this happen?

December 16, 2013

Vikings stun Eagles 48-30 despite Adrian Peterson missing the game

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 10:33

Now that the Vikings have been officially eliminated from postseason play (not that there’d been much doubt for the last few games, but mathematically they were still alive), it’s less likely that I’ll be able to watch another Vikings game this season. Yesterday’s game which would normally have been carried on the Winnipeg CTV station was replaced by a game with actual playoff implications. I can’t really object to this, but it would have been nice to watch Minnesota dominate the Philadelphia Eagles.

Greg Jennings finally had the kind of game we’d hoped he’d be having all season, finally going over 100 yards receiving and scoring a TD. Cordarrelle Patterson had an impact on the game from the start, as Philadelphia avoided kicking to him as much as they could, which gave the Vikings better field position after every kick. Running back Matt Asiata, filling in for the injured Adrian Peterson and Toby Gerhart, had his first, second, and third career touchdowns, while Matt Cassel had the best outing of any Minnesota quarterback all season (and one of the best games of his career: 26 of 35 for 382 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT and a 116.6 passer rating).

The Daily Norseman‘s Ted Glover clearly enjoyed the game:

On a day when the Minnesota Vikings celebrated the ‘All Mall of America Field’ team, it was fitting, in many ways, that almost 50 points would be put on the board. After all, an all time team that has Daunte Culpepper, Robert Smith, Adrian Peterson, Anthony Carter, Cris Carter, and Randy Moss on it could hang 50 on damn near anyone.

The thing is, if you told me somebody was going to score almost 50 Sunday, the last team I would’ve picked would have been the Walking Wounded version of the Vikings. Adrian Peterson was out, Toby Gerhart was out, Kyle Rudolph and John Carlson were out. And that was just the offense. On defense, it was almost as bad, and what the Vikings fielded on Sunday was an amalgamation of second stringers, practice squad refugees, and NFL journeymen. It was a game that felt like the Vikings had virtually no chance to win.

Yet, they cruised 48-30. The NFL, go figure. It was the most gratifying win in almost a year, since the last game of the regular season last year. And for one day, at least, the most high powered offense in the NFL belongs to the Minnesota Vikings. Instead of the Eagles flying high, it was the Vikings. Flying like the Eagles. To the sea. DO YOU SEE WHAT I JUST DID THERE STEVE MILLER?

Update: At the Star Tribune, Jim Souhan says that this game may end up upending a few “foregone conclusions” about the Vikings after this season:

Foregone conclusion No. 1: Frazier will be fired.

Sure, that’s possible, maybe even likely. Frazier went 3-13 in his first full season and is 4-9-1 this year. The suggestion he’ll be fired as he nears the end of his contract is logical.

But is it wise? Last year, the Vikings won their close games and made the playoffs. This year, they’ve lost a half-dozen close games and will miss the playoffs. Their losses this season have been caused by bad quarterback play and late-game defensive collapses.

[…]

The Vikings have been so desperate to develop their own franchise quarterback for so many decades that, in the 2011 draft, they chose Christian Ponder in the first round because he shared some of the same attributes as elite quarterbacks, such as breathing oxygen and speaking in complete sentences.

It turns out that the Vikings would have been better off signing another Jeff George or Warren Moon than wasting a first-round pick on a quarterback.

This year, the Vikings are 2-2 when Cassel starts, with victories over Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. They are 2-7-1 when Cassel doesn’t start, including the game against the Bears when he rallied the Vikings to victory over Chicago when Ponder suffered a concussion late in the second quarter. Cassel is not a franchise quarterback, but he could save the franchise from making a rash decision in the draft.

Cassel is no Lamborghini. He’s a taxicab sitting in front of a bar at 2 a.m. You don’t pick him for the thrills; you pick him to avoid making a big mistake.

December 13, 2013

Vikings quarterbacks since 2005

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 14:39

The Vikings are the only team in the NFC North who don’t have a franchise quarterback. This is not a new situation, as the last player aside from Brett Favre in 2009 who fits that description was Daunte Culpepper. 1500ESPN‘s Phil Mackey says that Minnesota fans have become so inured to the Vikings’ quarterback woes that they no longer even recognize what a great quarterback can do:

The last time the Minnesota Vikings had a quarterback throw for 300 yards and zero interceptions was Week 17 of 2009 — nearly four years ago. There have been 41 such performances in the NFL this season alone.

Let that sink in.

We see Christian Ponder throw for 233 yards and a touchdown in a Week 12 game against Green Bay and we say, “Hey! That was pretty good! We want more of that!” We see Matt Cassel outperforming Ponder and say, “See? Look what this offense can do with Cassel at the helm!”

Meanwhile, 16 quarterbacks threw for more yards than Ponder that week. Nine threw multiple touchdowns with no interceptions. And, meanwhile, 23 quarterbacks have a higher passer rating than Cassel (84.9) this season, and 27 have a higher QBR.

I’m convinced our recent quarterback famine here in Minnesota has led us all to become football masochists.

[…]

Now, I get it. The 2009 version of Brett Favre isn’t walking through that door. Josh Freeman probably won’t help either. The Vikings can only shuffle cards that are in the deck. Yet, in our world — a world filled over the past eight seasons with a chubby Donovan McNabb, a brittle Gus Frerotte, a nervous Tarvaris Jackson and a thankful Brooks Bollinger — 265 yards and two touchdowns from Cassel looks like Air Coryell.

Outside of Favre’s last hurrah in 2009, we’ve been entrenched in quarterback purgatory since Daunte Culpepper shredded his knee in 2005. Forget about the Tom Bradys and Peyton Mannings. We’ve become so far removed from what quality QB play looks like that we’ve lost track of what an average quarterbacking performance looks like on a weekly basis.

You need to look no further than Green Bay to see what happens when a team that’s used to consistent star performance at the quarterback position suddenly has to rely on backups, third-stringers, and waiver-wire pick-ups.

December 9, 2013

Proving (again) that any moron can do well at “fantasy” sports

Filed under: Football, Randomness — Tags: — Nicholas @ 11:21

An excellent week for my picks in the Ace of Spades HQ fantasy football pool at Yahoo! That’s still a relatively big lead for the player who has been top-of-the-rankings from week 1, though:

Fantasy Football Ranking 2

Vikings lose in last-minute scorefest

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 09:22

I only got to watch the last few minutes of this game, as the local (Buffalo) channel was the Bucs-Bills game and even the Winnipeg station that usually carries Viking games had the Colts-Bengals game on. Even at that, the game lasted just long enough that Fox cut away from the game with four seconds left on the clock to begin broadcast of the Seahawks-49ers game. In that slightly-more-than two minutes, I saw most of the scoring in the game.

Initial reports on Twitter indicated this might be a 0-0 tie, with neither team able to generate much for the first few series. By halftime, the score was 7-3 in Baltimore’s favour. The big story of the half was Adrian Peterson’s injury, with all kinds of rumours flying about the relative seriousness (at one point, he was reported to have been sent by ambulance to a local hospital). Peterson was seen on the sideline later in the game, wearing shoes and no obvious cast, brace, or walking boot, so we can hope the injury will not impair his ability to finish the season. Another injury had nearly as much impact on the Vikings, as offensive guard Brandon Fusco left the game with a knee injury and didn’t return. Fusco has been the most consistent player on the line this season. Tight end John Carlson and cornerback Xavier Rhodes were also injured during the second half.

The weather was a factor in the game, but not as much as the game in Philadelphia, where up to eight inches of snow was reported at midfield. The TV announcers made several comments about the grounds crew not clearing the snow, so @Justin_Rogers posted a summary of the NFL’s rules on snow removal. @ArifHasanDN screencapped the most relevant portion:

NFL snow removal rules

It’s common for fans to decry the officials over the course of a game, but it’s rare for players to do so. Adrian Peterson was upset enough about the officiating that he probably will be getting a fine from the league over this tweet he sent out near the end of the game:

Another tweet from Eric Thompson explains why the Vikings can claim to be a bit better than their actual record:

From just before the two-minute warning to the end of the game, with the Vikings leading 12-7 the score sheet goes like this:

  • Baltimore TD after 4 minute drive. Add two-point conversion. Score 12-15.
  • Minnesota TD on a 41-yard Toby Gerhart run. (Only the third time this season Baltimore has given up a rushing TD.) Score 19-15.
  • Baltimore TD on a 77-yard kick return by Jacoby Jones. Score 19-22.
  • Minnesota TD on a 79-yard catch-and-run by Cordarrelle Patterson. Score 26-22.
  • Baltimore TD after a terrible pass interference call against Chad Greenway which wiped out what would have been the game-clinching interception. Final score 26-29.

After a wild finish like that, it’s almost anti-climactic to say that the loss pushes the Vikings out of post-season contention (with only three wins on the season, it would have taken a few miracles for them to get into the playoffs anyway).

Adding further insult, the Vikings couldn’t even get out of Baltimore without further problems:

1500ESPN rounded up a couple of homeless guys to do their post-game wrap up:

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