I didn’t watch yesterday’s game, as we were busy with Maggie, our new dog. The Vikings haven’t won many games in Chicago this century, but yesterday’s game was tantalizingly close to being a win. The Bears scored the winning touchdown with only seconds to spare.
1500ESPN‘s Jeff Dubay and Judd Zulgad react:
Detroit’s Ndamukong Suh has a long history of abusive play: he’s been fined several times for deliberately attempting to harm other players (Green Bay’s Evan Dietrich-Smith and Houston’s Matt Schaub, both during Thanksgiving Day games, and now his illegal hit on Minnesota’s John Sullivan during Sunday’s game). ESPN1500‘s Judd Zulgad says the league “dropped the ball” in the latest incident:
In Suh, the NFL has a repeat offender and a player who has tried to injure opponents. That means they have the perfect man to make an example of at every turn.
The fact Suh is a key part of the Lions’ defense is even more of a reason to do this. He has lost the right to ever receive the benefit of the doubt.
For this hit, the NFL should have fined Suh $100,000 and suspended him for one game.
The league should have then informed Suh that the next time he thinks about throwing a questionable block, stomping on someone or delivering a questionable hit that the fine will be $150,000 and the suspension will be two games.
The third time, he will be out $200,000 and the suspension will be three games.
This will give the Lions far more incentive to make sure that Suh cleans up his act and if he can’t then he will cheap shot his way right out of the NFL.
The Detroit Lions did just about everything they could to be good hosts: they kept providing the guests with opportunities to take extra advantage of mistakes, miscues, and assorted errors, but the Vikings seemed equally determined not to take advantage. The first half ended with the Vikings in the lead, but Detroit having demonstrated that they could move the ball pretty much at will and only bad luck and individual player errors kept them from being at least a touchdown ahead.
The (very) short list of Vikings who looked like they came to play football on Sunday included Jerome Simpson (who had his best receiving performance since he joined the team with 7 catches for 140 yards), Jared Allen, Harrison Smith (but more in the second half), and Blair Walsh … that pretty much rounds out the top ten. The rest of the team ranked somewhere between “adequate” and “cover-your-eyes awful”. Even the NFL MVP from last season had a relatively pedestrian outing. If you take away Adrian Peterson’s first run (78 yards for at touchdown), he didn’t even manage to average one yard per rush after that (15 yards on 17 carries). None of Minnesota’s three first-round draft picks had a memorable day (Sharrif Floyd was in the rotation at defensive tackle and had a pass deflection with those tragically short arms, Xavier Rhodes had a couple of penalties at corner, and Cordarrelle Patterson was given few opportunities to return kicks on special teams and had only one reception).
Reggie Bush, Detroit’s latest running back addition, had a great game both on the ground and through the air (90 yards rushing and 101 receiving). The absence of Kevin Williams at defensive tackle gave Bush lots of opportunities to showcase his elusive running style. As noted by a few commentators, the lack of Antoine Winfield on running downs was quite apparent (in two games against Detroit last year, Winfield tallied 20 tackles). A partial explanation for the poor defensive outing may be that they spent most of the first half on the field, but that doesn’t excuse the overall performance.
1500ESPN‘s Judd Zulgad and Jeff Dubay have a rant:
Christopher Gates of the Daily Norseman:
Truth be told, if the Lions could have stopped shooting themselves in the foot in the first half, this game probably would have been decided significantly earlier than it was. They botched a field goal attempt on their opening drive, had what looked like a touchdown catch by Calvin Johnson overturned (on what was the right call). They had a touchdown taken off the board thanks to a personal foul penalty on Ndamukong Suh on what should have been a pick-six by DeAndre Levy off of a deflection by Simpson. Detroit wasn’t really that far away from putting up a 50-spot in this one. . .the Vikings were relatively lucky that things were as close as they were, given the circumstances.
It was an ugly loss for the Vikings on Sunday afternoon at Ford Field, and it was truly a group effort. Hopefully this team can get themselves together before next Sunday at Soldier Field. . .a place that, incidentally, they pretty much never win at. Getting into an 0-2 hole not just in the overall standings, but in the division, after the first two games of the season is going to be a pretty tough hole to dig out of.
Can the Vikings learn from this loss? Sure, they can. Will they? Unfortunately, we have to wait seven days to find out.
The Star Tribune‘s Jim Souhan is losing patience with Christian Ponder:
Let’s cut through the enabling fog: Ponder cost the Vikings a potentially important victory Sunday, and he should have taken full blame.
At the helm of an offense featuring the NFL MVP, an excellent offensive line, a Pro Bowl tight end and a dramatically improved receiving corps, Ponder filled the role of neither inspired leader nor adequate facilitator. He didn’t make winning plays, and he didn’t avoid losing plays.
Facing a defense intent on stopping Peterson, he threw three interceptions. One would have resulted in a defensive touchdown if not for a despicable personal foul by the NFL’s dirtiest player, Ndamukong Suh. Ponder was saved from a fourth interception and another touchdown return when Lions defender Bill Bentley dropped a Ponder pass with nothing but fake grass between him and the end zone.
Don’t believe what Ponder’s apologists will tell you about the team sharing blame, and don’t look at the stat sheet, which showed 18 completions on 28 attempts for 236 yards. Perhaps the scariest aspect of Ponder’s performance was not his oh-no-he-didn’t throws. It was that even his completions looked shaky.
The “final” roster I posted yesterday didn’t last 24 hours without change … the Vikings claimed former Chicago Bear offensive tackle J’Marcus Webb off waivers and cut Troy Kropog to make room on the 53-man roster. Cornerback Bobby Felder and defensive end D’Aundre Reed were both waived/injured and were put on the Vikings injured reserve list after passing waivers.
Former Vikings Antoine Winfield and Chris Kluwe were both cut by their new teams, which adds a bit more evidence to the “Rick Spielman is an evil genius” file (Spielman cut both players despite good performances over several years and strong fan opinions (Update, 3 September: See this Patrick Reusse post for more grudging acknowledgement of the quality of Spielman’s decision-making)).
Kluwe released from Raiders, WInfield retires from Seattle. #Vikings GM Rick Spielman knows more than you. Don't deny it, accept it.
— Ted Glover (@purplebuckeye) September 2, 2013
The following players have been signed to the eight-man practice squad (for some reason, I always think the PS is 10 players, rather than eight):
Final cuts were due to be announced late Saturday afternoon. The Vikings didn’t start announcing their released players until about an hour before the deadline, starting with running back Joe Banyard, who’d had a great preseason game on Thursday. Unless he’s picked up by another club, I’d expect to see him signed to the Vikings practice squad when that is allowed to happen.
There was a brief flurry of interest among Viking fans when it was rumoured that Seattle was trying to trade former Viking cornerback Antoine Winfield and would cut him if he couldn’t be traded. Several fans expressed the hope that he might be back in purple, but the hope was dashed when Seattle announced that Winfield would be retiring instead.
|
Position |
Starter(s) |
Backups |
Other |
|---|---|---|---|
|
QB |
Christian Ponder |
Matt Cassel, McLeod Bethel-Thompson |
|
|
WR |
FL – Greg Jennings SE – Jerome Simpson |
FL – Jarius Wright, SE – Cordarrelle Patterson (R), Joe Webb, |
Greg Childs (PUP) |
|
RB |
Adrian Peterson |
Toby Gerhart, Matt Asiata, |
|
|
FB |
Zach Line (UFA) |
Jerome Felton (suspended for 3 games) |
|
|
TE |
Kyle Rudolph |
John Carlson, Rhett Ellison, |
|
|
OL |
LT – Matt Kalil LG – Charlie Johnson C – John Sullivan RG – Brandon Fusco RT – Phil Loadholt |
LT – LG – Jeff Baca (R) C – Joe Berger RG – RT – |
DeMarcus Love (suspended for first 4 games of season), Seth Olsen (IR) |
|
DL |
LE – Brian Robison UT – Kevin Williams NT – Letroy Guion RE – Jared Allen |
LE – Everson Griffen, UT – Sharrif Floyd (R), NT – Fred Evans, Chase Baker, RE – George Johnson, |
Christian Ballard (left team for undisclosed reasons) |
|
LB |
S – Chad Greenway M – Erin Henderson W – Marvin Mitchell |
S – Larry Dean, M – Audie Cole, Michael Mauti (R) W – Desmond Bishop, Gerald Hodges (R) |
|
|
CB |
Chris Cook Josh Robinson |
A.J. Jefferson, Xavier Rhodes (R), Marcus Sherels |
|
|
S |
Harrison Smith Jamarca Sanford |
Robert Blanton, Mistral Raymond, Andrew Sendejo, |
|
|
K |
Blair Walsh |
||
|
P |
Jeff Locke (R) |
||
|
LS |
Cullen Loeffler |
Jared Allen* |
|
|
H |
Jeff Locke* |
Matt Cassel*, McLeod Bethel-Thompson* |
|
|
KR |
Cordarrelle Patterson* |
Marcus Sherels*, Josh Robinson*, A.J. Jefferson*, Joe Webb*, Jarius Wright* |
|
|
PR |
Marcus Sherels* |
Jarius Wright*, Josh Robinson* |
An asterisk indicates a player already listed on the roster in another capacity. On Sunday, teams can sign up to eight players to their respective practice squads. Some of the players cut today are eligible for practice squad contracts.
Head coach Leslie Frazier took no chances in this fourth preseason game: almost none of the starting players even put in a token appearance. What looked like a serious injury to backup offensive lineman Seth Olsen seemed to justify Frazier’s caution — Olsen went down and didn’t get back up again. The trainers rushed on to the field, followed shortly by the EMS team. Olsen was carried off the field, but was seen to be moving his arm. While the injury appears to be much less serious than first indications, it was a scary moment. Tom Pelissero has more:
The injury occurred when Olsen dived to make a low block downfield on a screen pass to teammate Joe Banyard. It appeared a Titans defensive lineman’s right knee struck Olsen in the head before he landed face-down on the turf.
There was a roughly 10-minute delay as a medical team worked to pad Olsen’s head and strap him down, with the Vikings’ entire team forming a semicircle on the field. Olsen was conscious as he left the field on the gurney and raised his left hand to acknowledge the crowd.
“You could see all our guys getting on a knee and just praying for him and just hoping for the best,” Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said. “When those moments come and they bring that stretcher out, you have no idea what’s going on. So, we were all just hoping for the best, and fortunately, things worked out that way.”
The Vikings initially announced Olsen had a neck injury, but Frazier clarified after the game the diagnosis was a concussion.
With almost all the first team sitting out the game, the second- and third-string got a final chance to make their case for sticking when the final cuts come down (cut-down to 53 players is tomorrow). Marcus Sherels (who took time off to attend his father’s funeral last week), being challenged for both his DB spot and special teams role, had a very good game including setting a team preseason record with a 109-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Joe Banyard made his case for sticking with the team with 64 yards on the ground, 52 yards receiving and a TD.
Ben Goessling has a few other players on the bubble:
- Desmond Bishop probably had his best night of the preseason in his third game back from a torn hamstring, making seven tackles and pulling down two Titans players in the backfield on Tennessee’s first drive. It’s worth noting that Marvin Mitchell, who has started at weak-side linebacker all through training camp, didn’t play on Thursday night, as the Vikings treated him more like a starter than a player who has much to prove. But Bishop might have done enough to guarantee himself a roster spot, at the very least.
- While Sherels stole the show for the Vikings, Bobby Felder had a night he’d probably rather forget, spraining his ankle shortly after getting beat a 50-yard pass in the third quarter. X-rays on Felder’s ankle were negative, but he probably would have liked to finish his preseason with a stronger impression after playing well early.
- Fullback Zach Line, who didn’t have to do much lead blocking in college, provided a nice example of it on the Vikings’ drive for the go-ahead field goal. He and DeMarcus Love combined on a nice kick-out block on Banyard’s 19-yard run. Line didn’t show the pass-catching skills he’d displayed early, but he’s probably done enough that the Vikings would at least consider using a practice-squad spot on him.
This is how some young men’s dreams of a football career die … cut-down day in the NFL. Teams are allowed to have up to 90 players in training camp, but must cut down to 53 players after the final preseason game. The first stage of cuts is from 90 to 75 players. Here’s my guess at the depth chart after the first round of releases:
|
Position |
Starter(s) |
Backups |
Other |
|---|---|---|---|
|
QB |
Christian Ponder |
Matt Cassel, McLeod Bethel-Thompson, |
|
|
WR |
FL – Greg Jennings SE – Jerome Simpson |
FL – Jarius Wright, Stephen Burton, SE – Cordarrelle Patterson (R), Joe Webb, |
Greg Childs (PUP) |
|
RB |
Adrian Peterson |
Toby Gerhart, Matt Asiata, Joe Banyard, |
|
|
FB |
Jerome Felton (suspended for 3 games) |
Zach Line (UFA) |
|
|
TE |
Kyle Rudolph |
John Carlson, Rhett Ellison, Chase Ford, Colin Anderson |
|
|
OL |
LT – Matt Kalil LG – Charlie Johnson C – John Sullivan RG – Brandon Fusco RT – Phil Loadholt |
LT – Kevin Murphy, DeMarcus Love (suspended for first 4 games of season) LG – Jeff Baca (R), C – Joe Berger, RG – Seth Olsen, Travis Bond (R) RT – Brandon Keith, Troy Kropog |
|
|
DL |
LE – Brian Robison UT – Kevin Williams NT – Letroy Guion RE – Jared Allen |
LE – Everson Griffen, D’Aundre Reed, UT – Christian Ballard (absent for personal reasons), Sharrif Floyd (R), Everett Dawkins (R) NT – Fred Evans, Chase Baker, Anthony McCloud RE – Everson Griffen*, George Johnson, Collins Ukwu, Spencer Nealy (UFA, signed Aug. 20) |
|
|
LB |
S – Chad Greenway M – Erin Henderson W – Marvin Mitchell |
S – Larry Dean, Tyrone McKenzie M – Audie Cole, Michael Mauti (R), W – Desmond Bishop, Gerald Hodges (R) |
Nathan Williams (UFA) released Aug. 6. |
|
CB |
Chris Cook Josh Robinson |
A.J. Jefferson, Brandon Burton, Bobby Felder, Xavier Rhodes (R), Marcus Sherels, |
Jacob Lacey released Aug. 19. |
|
S |
Harrison Smith Jamarca Sanford |
Robert Blanton, Brandan Bishop Mistral Raymond, Andrew Sendejo, Darius Eubanks |
|
|
K |
Blair Walsh |
||
|
P |
Jeff Locke (R) |
||
|
LS |
Cullen Loeffler |
Jared Allen* |
|
|
H |
Jeff Locke* |
Matt Cassel*, McLeod Bethel-Thompson* |
|
|
KR |
Cordarrelle Patterson* |
Marcus Sherels*, Josh Robinson*, A.J. Jefferson*, Stephen Burton*, Joe Webb*, Jarius Wright* |
|
|
PR |
Marcus Sherels* |
Jarius Wright*, Stephen Burton*, Josh Robinson* |
An asterisk indicates a player already listed on the roster in another capacity.
This was a nationally televised game, and both teams were expected to play their starters for at least the first half (except the 49ers have like a dozen quarterbacks on the roster, so each prospective backup was going to play less than a quarter). The Vikings didn’t look good. In fact, they looked particularly bad with the first team offence on the field. The defence looked much better, but not good enough to make up for the lack of offensive productivity on display.
Adrian Peterson got a few symbolic snaps, but no meaningful action (no contact at all), and was quickly replaced by Toby Gerhart at running back. Stephen Burton, who has been pushing to make the roster as a wide receiver, gave up an interception to end an early series and reduce his chance of being on the 53-man roster at the start of the season. Both of the starting tackles ended up with personal fouls — Matt Kalil drew two unsportsmanlike penalties and Phil Loadholt was flagged for holding.
The Vikings special teams gave up a kick-return TD which immediately wiped out any momentum from the Zach Line touchdown reception. Joe Webb caught a second TD from Christian Ponder to round out the scoring for the Purple. Chris Cook left the game with a groin injury and Kevin Williams will have an MRI today after he was injured on a nasty-looking block away from the ball.
I saw the first half, then a thunderstorm rolled through our area and took out the power briefly. When the power came on a few seconds later, the cable was out and I couldn’t watch the rest of the game. From the reports, I missed very little indeed…
The first round of roster cuts (from 90 players down to 75) are due by Tuesday, so this game was the last chance for some players to make any kind of showing.
ESPN‘s Ben Goessling says the final stat line is kinder to Christian Ponder than it appeared on the field:
Ponder went 7-of-9 for 48 yards on his final drive during the Minnesota Vikings’ 34-14 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night, directing a 12-play, 78-yard drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Joe Webb on a fade route. It was as assertive and accurate as Ponder has looked all preseason, and though most of his completions were underneath the 49ers’ coverage, he converted two third downs (one on a 7-yard scramble, the other on his touchdown to Webb), and the scoring pass was Ponder’s second of the night. It helped him finish with his best stat line of the preseason — 17-of-23 for 116 yards, two touchdowns and an interception — but it also dressed things up after another ragged start for Ponder.
In a mid-game update yesterday, I said that today’s post “will be equal parts hilarity and doom-mongering”. Let’s see how the sages are reading the auspices…first, here’s ESPN’s Kevin Seifert with a quick overview of the lowlights:
The evening began with left tackle Matt Kalil getting beat for a sack by Bills defensive end Jerry Hughes, and it didn’t get much better, at least for a Vikings offense that again played without tailback Adrian Peterson. Coaches got quarterback Christian Ponder five series of work, but he took two sacks and was jumpy enough to complete only 5-of-12 passes for 53 yards. He led a 62-yard scoring drive, ending in a Blair Walsh’s 36-yard field goal, but otherwise the Vikings gained a total of 20 yards on his other possessions. (Walsh earlier missed from 49 yards.) The Bills’ rush was active, and center John Sullivan launched an early shotgun snap to scuttle one play, but all quarterbacks face adversity during the season. Ponder needed to react better and at times quicker Friday night. If you were hoping for an anxiety-relieving performance from him, this wasn’t it.
For those of you following at home, Matt Kalil’s training camp has been less than stellar according to the various reports … not terrible, but not on the pace he established in his rookie season. Blair Walsh didn’t miss very many field goal attempts last year, so even a miss at 49 yards is somewhat uncharacteristic for him (possibly he’s still adapting to his new holder Jeff Locke). John Sullivan is widely acknowledged to be one of the best centres in the league, so a bad snap from him is also uncharacteristic.
1500ESPN‘s Andrew Krammer averts his eyes from the struggling offence to find a bit of cheer on defence and special teams play:
The Vikings’ starting secondary didn’t get much of a test against the Bills’ quarterback Kevin Kolb, who threw four passes in the first quarter — the second of which was tipped by cornerback Xavier Rhodes, making his NFL debut, and intercepted by safety Jamarca Sanford.
Playing in both the base and nickel formations, cornerback Josh Robinson saw extended playing time at both outside and the slot after just six snaps in the preseason opener. Robinson jumped a route and deflected Kolb’s pass in the second quarter and if he had another step on the ball, could have turned it into a pick-six.
[…]
The Vikings only had three penalties, which puts the total at four across the first two preseason games — the fewest in the NFL so far.
No penalty was [as] inopportune as linebacker Tyrone McKenzie’s holding call after receiver Stephen Burton returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
Although he didn’t have a catch Friday, Burton has made a strong case for the 53-man roster this preseason by demonstrating his value as a run blocker, special teams man and solid fifth option at receiver.
Rookie punter Jeff Locke saw extended work with an inept offense — booting seven punts for an average of 40 yards, pinning three inside the 20-yard line with the help of cornerback Bobby Felder.
Felder played a big role in the field position game on Friday, downing two of Locke’s punts inside the 20 and taking a punt return back for 37 yards.
The Daily Norseman‘s Ted Glover wants to put in a couple of sell orders on the NFL stock market:
The first team offense, minus Rudolph: If I could use a WWII analogy, Ponder was France, the Bills were the German Wehrmacht, and the Vikings big uglies were the Maginot Line. Rudolph was the French Resistance, but everyone else? Yeah, pretty much got blitzkrieged. Ponder was running for his life, Matt Kalil perfected the “lookout block” technique, and John Sullivan demonstrated his otherworldly strength by snapping a football 30 yards behind him.
Matt Cassel: The second team offense wasn’t much better, but again, I think a lot of this goes to the Vikings and their decision to concentrate on what they waned to do as opposed to try and counter what Buffalo was doing. But yeah, Cassel threw a pick and was running around so much it looked like he was auditioning for Dancing With The Stars. Pre-season football fever, catch it!
Buy/Sell:
Buy: The new road uniforms. I like them. If I have a beef on anything about the new uniforms, it’s the weird edges on the numbers. But I like the look. Very nice balance between retro and a new look.
Sell: Not wearing the purple pants: One of the reasons I liked the uniform changes in 2006 was because they added the purple pants. I think I’m one of the few fans that actually like them, and with the new striping down the side of the leg, I think they look cool. Hope we see them from time to time.
Buy: Not game planning in the pre season. Look, this is the time where you try and get game reps and continuity with your first team, and not get anyone hurt. It wasn’t pretty to watch, but I understand the philosophy of what the Vikings did.
Sell: Not running at least one screen pass or draw play. I mean, it’s not like the Vikings don’t have screen passes or draws in the playbook, and really, how much valuable information can you glean from the Vikings first team offensive line playing Olly Olly Oxen free the whole time they were out there? Ponder’s lateral running ability, or maybe his backpedal? At least no one was hurt, so we’ll call it a night and get ready for the next game.
Buy: Rodney Smith’s nice TD catch. It was a nice outside shoulder throw by Thompson that Smith had to adjust for by doing a 180. He went up, got the ball at the highest point, and boom, our lone highlight of the evening, for the most part. Nice effort.
Sell: Joe Webb making the team. I didn’t see a noticeable drop in Joe Webb’s play, but I didn’t see any improvement, either. When you combine that with the fact that Stephen Burton has picked it up as a receiver and a special teams guy (had a TD called back on a kickoff return), and guys at the bottom of the roster coming on (Smith and Chris Summers looked good, for the most part), I’m finding it harder and harder for Webb to find a seat at the table when the music stops.
Perhaps I dodged a bullet, not being able to watch this preseason game between the Buffalo Bills and the Minnesota Vikings:
Tonight's #Viking–#Bills game looks like a replay of the #Clowns running in and out of cars at the #BarnumandBailey circus.Brutal
— Dan Shonka (@Ourlads_Shonka) August 17, 2013
The #Vikings offensive line couldn't block me on Twitter.
— Will (@notch17) August 17, 2013
none of these people should make the team
— The Viking Age (@TheVikingAge) August 17, 2013
Don't focus on the score. That said, all the things besides the score were pretty worrisome #Vikings #Bills
— Arif Hasan (@ArifHasanDN) August 17, 2013
Oh, and Jarius Wright is reportedly out with a concussion. On that happy note, I’m going to close Janetter and ignore the game until tomorrow morning. Unless McLeod Bethel-Thompson puts in a QB performance for the ages, I’m guessing the press summary I end up putting together will be equal parts hilarity and doom-mongering.
The second pre-season game isn’t usually all that exciting: teams are still trying to evaluate a lot of the players further down the depth chart before the first cut-down date, so you don’t expect to see too much of the starters. That being said, it’s been a long time since the last time I was able to watch the Vikings play, so I was really looking forward to tonight’s game in Buffalo. Until I saw this little piece of news:
#Bills – #Vikings tape delayed broadcast will air on Saturday night at 8:00 pm on @WKBW #Buffalo
— Jeff Russo (@JeffRussoWKBW) August 13, 2013
And as I discovered last week, even radio feeds are territory-locked, so I can’t even listen to the stream over the web. Well, it’s not like I had important plans for Saturday night…
Update: The Daily Norseman‘s Arif Hasan (who has pretty much taken over as my preferred source of detailed Vikings information from Tom Pelissero) looks at how the Bills will test the Vikings tonight.
Anyone watching the Bills may eventually get tired of hearing about the high-tempo “no-huddle” offense that teams around the league have increasingly adopted. What’s interesting is that Doug Marrone and Nathaniel Hackett have decided not just to implement some of their Syracuse playbook, but dig into the K-gun that made Jim Kelly famous and quickly allowed the Bills to join the Vikings as having four unsuccessful Super Bowl appearances.
Hey, 0-4 is better than 0-0.
But it would be lazy to describe their offense as a no-huddle. That’s not an offense, it’s a tactic.
The Bills will bring a variety of offensive formations and tactics, but will likely keep a philosophy similar to Jim Kelly’s offense in Buffalo, which is fundamentally the Run and Shoot Offense that people think died in the 1980s. Somewhat similar to the scheme run in New York under former ‘Shoot coordinator Kevin Gilbride, I wouldn’t be surprised if the modern twist on the Buffalo offense is also designed to be entirely reactive.
Given that Marrone has spent some time with a heavy ‘Shoot offense like the Saints, don’t be shocked to see similar concepts.
Peter King in his Monday Morning Quarterback column has lots of nice things to say about this young man:
For the sheer story-telling of it, Havard Rugland has to be this morning’s winner. He’ll tell his story at The MMQB in detail Tuesday, but the short version is this: Soccer player from a small town in southwest Norway, enchanted with American football. Ordered a football online in early 2011, began kicking it for fun, made a YouTube video of him powerfully kicking a football, Norwegian TV picked it up, it got some buzz on American TV, and the Jets invited him for a tryout late last year. Detroit tried him out, then signed him last spring.
“I scored some points in a real football game,” Rugland said from the Lions’ facility Sunday, still sounding incredulous about it all in his quite-good English. “It is such an incredible feeling, when that first kick went through.”
It showed. For a third-quarter first-preseason-game field goal, Rugland’s 49-yarder engendered huge emotion on the Lions’ sidelines. Linebacker Stephen Tulloch lifted Rugland in the air, and the team gathered ‘round, pounding him on the pads and helmet. It’s hard to have a feel-good, memorable moment in a first preseason game, but this was certainly one.
For the record, I actually like Judd Zulgad’s view of the Minnesota Vikings (although I’m already missing the wonderful point/counterpoint fencing of Tom Pelissero and Zulgad in their traditional post-game videos). That being said, Judd Zulgad would have to be counted as one of Christian Ponder’s chorus of detractors:
Christian Ponder will have at least one thing going for him as he prepares for the Minnesota Vikings’ second preseason game on Friday night at Buffalo. The third-year quarterback will be extremely well rested.
Ponder played only two snaps in the Vikings’ 27-13 exhibition loss on Friday to Houston at the Metrodome, completing his first pass for 15 yards to Jerome Simpson and then having his second pass intercepted after it was tipped by Simpson.
A check of the NFL game books from the 15 other preseason games that had been played through Friday showed no other quarterback took as few snaps as Ponder.
In fact, the Texans’ Matt Schaub was next on the list, having been under center for six snaps in one series. In games not involving the Vikings, the lightest workload went to the Broncos’ Peyton Manning, who handled seven snaps in a series before being pulled.
There were seven quarterbacks, including Ponder, Schaub and Manning, who were pulled after only one drive. That list included Dallas’ Kyle Orton, who started the Hall of Fame game in place of Tony Romo; San Francisco’s Colin Kaepernick; Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers; and Kansas City’s Alex Smith.
Despite Zulgad’s clear anti-Ponder bias, he’s quite right that Ponder should have been granted at least another series in the first preseason game. I’m not completely convinced that Ponder is the answer to the Vikings’ needs, but he deserved better than being pulled after an incredibly short series. Whether the blame for the interception belongs to Ponder or to Jerome Simpson, I think the coaching staff short-changed Ponder by sticking to the “one series then out” philosophy. There’s the risk of injury in a meaningless game, but there’s also the psychological need to establish whether Ponder has the chops to be the starting quarterback for this team (I have nothing against Matt Cassel, and I’m glad he’s our backup QB, but I want Ponder to be given the opportunity to prove that he’s learned from both the positive and negative aspects of the 2012 season.)
Ponder and the rest of the Vikings first team should see at least a full quarter of action against the Buffalo Bills — which should be available in the Toronto TV-viewing area — in next week’s match-up.
With it being just a preseason game, I knew there was little chance of watching this game on TV, but I thought the live radio coverage might be available. I was surprised to find that even radio feeds are now territory-locked so that you can’t listen to them outside the US. Instead, I followed the course of the game on Twitter. It allowed me to keep playing Guild Wars 2 between checking for updated tweets, so that was positive.
Not so positive was the game’s outcome, where the Texans scored two unanswered touchdowns in the second half to put the game out of reach. You can watch the game highlights here. Starting quarterback Christian Ponder was only in for one series that ended prematurely on an interception:
Christian Ponder has made strides this offseason and training camp, and he’s poised to take another step forward in his career development now that he has more experience under his belt and the weapons around him in the passing game are more lethal. Friday night was his first chance to showcase this improvement on the big stage, but it was too short-lived for the casual observer to glean much. He connected with Jerome Simpson in impressive fashion for 15 yards on his first passing attempt, but he went back to Simpson on the next play and the offering went off the receiver’s fingertips and into the arms of a waiting defender. Ponder’s stat line won’t blow anyone away, and the stat line of his backup will cause some to wonder if there should be a quarterback controversy, but we are nowhere near that at this point and now we’ll just have to wait another week to see Ponder in a game situation.
Despite the final score, the wide receiving corps does seem to have improved since last year:
On Friday night, the receivers made good on that praise by performing well. Burton hauled in three catches for 67 yards, Patterson had four for 54 and even Joe Webb made a couple of impressive grabs in important situations. He had two receptions for 11 yards on three targets, which included a tough behind-the-body catch on 3rd and 2. Greg Jennings didn’t play and Jarius Wright made a quick exit, but the receivers had a strong showing and the Vikings will rest on Friday night knowing this group has made huge progress since the end of the 2012 season.
[…]
It was a great night for Patterson. The Vikings won the toss and received, and Patterson took the opening kickoff and dashed 50 yards through Houston’s coverage group, taking a few easy strides toward the middle before sticking his foot in the ground and turning upfield with an extra burst you just don’t see in a lot of football players. After that, Patterson made plays in the passing game, including receptions of 22 and 18 yards. In total, Patterson had five touches for an average of 20.8 yards per touch. He broke a few tackles, refused to go down and displayed a playmaking quality that tempted the Vikings into trading back up into the 1st round to draft him.
Christopher Gates has a few “knee-jerk reactions” as he calls them:
-Nice job by Zach Line on his touchdown reception. As PA pointed out numerous times on the broadcast, he had more all-purpose yards at SMU than Eric Dickerson (but not Craig James), so he has some ability with the football. Will it be enough for him to make the team? We’ll have to see.
[…]
-Bobby Felder had an up-and-down night, giving up the Texans’ first touchdown to DeAndre Hopkins on a play where he actually had pretty solid coverage. He also made a couple of nice plays in goal-line defense in the third quarter that forced the Texans to settle for a tying field goal. Then he got caught in no man’s land on the Texans’ second touchdown.
-It’s going to sound like a cliche, but Michael Mauti just looks like an NFL middle linebacker. As we’ve said before, if the guy stays healthy, he was an absolute steal where the Vikings got him.
-Sharrif Floyd had a decent night with a tackle for loss and a batted pass (somehow, what with those short arms), before leaving with a knee issue. He’s not going to miss any practice time, according to the reports, so his being held out the rest of the game was strictly precautionary.
Greg Jennings was Minnesota’s big name signing over the offseason. He was brought in from the Green Bay Packers (who have a surplus of good receivers) to at least partially fill the hole in the roster from the departure of Percy Harvin. Since he arrived in Minnesota, Jennings has been a veritable cornucopia of media-worthy gems of casual abuse directed at his former team (and Aaron Rodgers in particular). Jim Souhan says this is a good thing:
It began as a strange and unnatural occurrence, like one of those unverified online photos of a chimp hanging out with a bird. Now it’s threatening to become a bizarre tradition, or, as the kids so eloquently put it, “a thing.”
Every four years or so, the Vikings should steal one of the Packers’ best offensive players, just to create the kind of sideshow that can make even training camp interesting.
In 2009, and 2010, and into 2011, Brett Favre turned the already fascinating Vikings-Packers rivalry into something it had never before been on any meaningful level: incestuous.
In 2013, Greg Jennings is one-upping Favre, not in terms of existential angst and passive aggressiveness, but with new-age, self-aware, YouTube-able, Twitter-ready, Facebook-enflaming, border-crossing Scud missiles designed to invoke an emotional response even if they miss the target.
Jennings, the new Viking and former Packer receiver, is, as the kids say, “trolling” his former team. If you’re too young to know what “trolling” is, just listen to Jennings a few times, and you’ll get the idea.
In July, in an interview with the Star Tribune’s Dan Wiederer, he poked holes in the flawless image of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, raising or confirming questions about Rodgers’ ego and leadership skills.
This week, Jennings told KFAN that the Packers had “brainwashed” him into believing that Green Bay was the land of milk and honey-flavored cheddar, that operations such as the Vikings were inherently flawed.
If true, that’s fascinating. If not, Jennings is fascinating.
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