Quotulatiousness

November 18, 2019

Denver Broncos give up 20-point halftime lead over the Minnesota Vikings, lose 27-23

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

On Sunday afternoon, the 7-3 Vikings hosted the 3-6 Denver Broncos at US Bank Stadium in a 1:00pm start. Minnesota was without some key starters, including wide receiver Adam Thielen who is still recovering from a hamstring injury suffered early in the Detroit game, right guard Josh Kline (concussion), nose tackle Linval Joseph who had minor knee surgery and may be out for a few more games, along with safety Anthony Harris.

US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, home of the Minnesota Vikings by “www78”
“Viking Stadium” by www78 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Vikings fans were quite worried that the team would come out flat, having made the classic mistake of looking past the current opponent … making it a “trap” game:

Aside from that, one of the storylines of interest coming in was that it was going to be the first Vikings game for wide receiver Josh Doctson, who was just activated from injured reserve. He joined the Vikings early in the season, but was injured in one of his first practices with the team. The absence of Adam Thielen was thought to give him a good opportunity to show if his chemistry with Kirk Cousins had carried over from their time together in Washington. I watched the entire game, and while an Arif Hasan tweet told me that Doctson got on the field in the third quarter, he certainly didn’t make any catches.

For the first 30 minutes, this game totally lived up to the “trap” billing … the Vikings were putrid on defence, and cover-your-eyes awful on offence. As Matthew Coller put it, “There are 1,000 ways to lose a football game and the Minnesota Vikings attempted to try out every one of them on Sunday.” I’m not exaggerating by much to say the Vikings MVP in the first half was punter Britton Colquitt. At least he did his job with no obvious errors or miscues. It would be difficult to say the same for anyone else wearing purple in the first half. They went into the locker room — which must have appeared as welcoming as the gates of hell with Coach Zimmer ready to bite heads off — on the wrong side of a 20-0 score.

For every Vikings game, I print off a copy of the team roster and as the game progresses, I make notes beside players’ names for excellent play (“+”), terrible play (“-“), penalties (“P”), sacks (“S”), and so on. After 30 minutes, I had no “+” entries at all. The Vikings had gained all of 47 yards while holding the ball for only 11 minutes. The CBS crew covering the game helpfully noted that the last 99 teams to be down 20 points at the half had all lost the game. As you’d expect, the loyal fans took it well:

Even Ben Leber, who works for the Vikings Entertainment Network had to admit things were not going well:

The second half started well … in fact, the second half looked like a completely different team was wearing the purple uniforms than the collection of random bums who’d stumbled through the first half. The team gained nearly twice as many yards on their first drive as they’d done through the entire first half, taking the ball from their own 25 yard line to score their first points of the day on a Kirk Cousins to Irv Smith, Jr. ten yard pass (Smith’s first NFL TD). Vikings Twitter seemed to approve of the new plot twist:

But would the new-look Vikings continue the good work or lapse back into that zombie state of the first half? They did allow the Broncos to score, but only a field goal, then got back to work. It was the fourth quarter when the Vikings finally established a points lead they would not relinquish (although it went down to the final play of the game):

On their final drive, the Broncos pushed the ball all the way down to the Vikings’ 2-yard line. Denver had three chances on first-and-goal, but the Minnesota defense … and, specifically, Jayron Kearse … came up huge on the final three plays to hold on to the victory.

Kirk Cousins was absolutely on fire in the second half of this football game, and he ended up completing 29-of-35 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns. After a first half where he had no catches, Stefon Diggs wound up with five receptions for 121 yards and a touchdown on the afternoon. Kyle Rudolph had five catches for 67 yards and a touchdown, while Olabisi Johnson had six catches, but managed just 35 yards. Dalvin Cook had 31 yards on five receptions, Tyler Conklin had two catches for 28 yards, Irv Smith Jr. had three catches for 20 yards and his first NFL touchdown, and Ameer Abdullah (two catches, 11 yards) and C.J. Ham (one catch, six yards) caught passes as well.

Cook didn’t get a whole lot going on the ground, though he did cross over the 1,000-yard threshold for the season. He had just 26 yards on 11 carries, as the Broncos did a very good job of taking him away.

As Christopher Gates also pointed out, this was only the fifth time in team history the Vikings have come back from a 20-point deficit to win the game. Andy Carlson provides his post-game take:

October 25, 2019

Vikings defeat Washington 19-9 at US Bank Stadium

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

There wasn’t much excitement in advance of this Thursday night game between the 5-2 Minnesota Vikings and the 1-6 Washington Redskins, and the odds in Las Vegas had the Vikings as 17-point favourites. Thanks to a slow start, the Vikings didn’t come close to covering the spread, but did end up with a fairly comfortable win. A fumble by wide receiver Stefon Diggs gave Washington an early boost, but Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter strip-sacked Case Keenum (recovered by Shamar Stephen) that gave the ball back to Minnesota before the Redskins could capitalize.

Exterior of US Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings by “www78”
“Viking Stadium” by www78 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Washington coaches have clearly been studying recent Vikings game film, as they seemed to concentrate on cornerback Xavier Rhodes for much of the first half, picking up yardage on passes and on penalties. Rhodes still seems to be unable to get back to his early career form.

Do you get a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when the talking heads on the TV start digging up stats on individual players? I did, when the Fox crew started complimenting Vikings right tackle Brian O’Neill for not having given up a sack so far in his NFL career … which, of course, he promptly did on that drive (Cousins was sacked twice in the span of three plays, which snuffed out a drive and the Vikings had to settle for a field goal attempt).

There was, however, a Dalvin Cook touchdown run on the night (the only TD by either team):

In addition to Cook’s rushing, backup Alexander Mattison did some great work … that unfortunately won’t show up on the stat sheets due to penalties wiping out his runs. He’s not as shifty as Cook, but he’s an excellent 1-2 combination with Cook and I’m delighted the Vikings have him on the roster.

Matthew Coller says the Vikings didn’t earn any style points in the win:

Over the past three weeks the Minnesota Vikings played a brand of football that looked like some of the best offenses in team history. They were video-game-numbers wins, the type that fans get a thrill out of watching. Thursday night’s 19-9 win over Washington did not fall into those categories.

On the Vikings’ first drive it appeared they might be in for another track meet when quarterback Kirk Cousins — who cleared 300 yards and a 135-plus quarterback rating in each of the last three games — found star receiver Stefon Diggs wide open in Washington’s secondary. But Diggs tried to cut back and escape defenders, which resulted in a fumble, his fourth of the season.

It appeared that Washington interim head coach Bill Callahan was well aware of the only way to stay in the game with the much more gifted Vikings: By slowing things down.

[…]

Keenum suffered a concussion in the first half when defensive tackle Linval Joseph slammed him to the ground forcing rookie Dwayne Haskins into the game. It wouldn’t take long for him to show exactly why Washington has been hesitant to play him.

After an aggressive decision by Mike Zimmer to go for a fourth-and-short failed late in the third quarter, Haskins overthrew an open receiver, which bounced directly into the hands of Anthony Harris, ruining Washington’s chances to tie the game and give themselves a shot at a stunning upset.

The Vikings took advantage, grinding out a field goal drive to put them up 19-9 with 11 minutes remaining. Haskins continued his struggles, taking a third down sack and the Vikings killed clock with Cook and Alexander Mattison. Of course the Vikings’ final drive wasn’t without penalties that drove them back to first-and-25. But Mattison closed things out with a 19-yard gain on third down that put things on ice.

Mixed into the game were a total of 11 penalties for 120 yards, six sacks, less than four yards per carry for the Vikings and few targets for receivers that went in anyone’s direction outside of Diggs.

Judd Zulgad on the performance of Kirk Cousins against the team that drafted him:

… there was one curiosity that existed when it came to this matchup. That would have been the fact Kirk Cousins was facing his former team — the franchise that never believed in him — in prime time. Gulp. You did not have to look very hard to find that Cousins was 5-13 in prime-time games.

This was the exact type of game in which Cousins would try to do too much and make a key mistake. Maybe it would be an ill-timed interception, or a goofy fumble on a sack or an overthrow on a deep pass to a wide open receiver. The absence of wide receiver Adam Thielen (hamstring) didn’t help matters.

“I’m going to talk to (Cousins) a little bit about some of those things,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said a few days back. “He needs to just focus on his job, focus on getting guys in the right place and doing what he’s supposed to do. There’s always some emotions when you’re playing a team that you went against.”

Cousins might have felt those emotions but he never let them against the best of him in the Vikings’ 19-9 victory over Washington. The Vikings’ fourth consecutive victory put them at 6-2. They could be tied with Green Bay atop the NFC North if the Packers lose on Sunday night in Kansas City.

Cousins wasn’t dynamic on Thursday but he didn’t need to be. What the Vikings needed was a solid game and Cousins provided exactly that. He completed 23 of 26 passes for 285 yards with no touchdowns, no interceptions and registered a passer rating of 112.3. Cousins’ 88.5 completion percentage was the highest in franchise history. It was Cousins’ 24th start with the Vikings and only the second time he has not thrown a touchdown. The first time came in the Vikings’ Week 4 loss at Chicago. That left Vikings fan infuriated. This time? Hey, Cousins won the game, right?

Update: At the Daily Norseman, Ted Glover provides his usual post-game Stock Market Report:

Winning ugly is better than losing ugly

Coming into this game, the Minnesota Vikings had been on an historic run. QB Kirk Cousins set an NFL record with yards passing and passer rating over three games, the Vikes offense had been on a three game stretch that’s been more productive than at any other point in team history, and the 1-6 Washington Redskins were just supposed to be another bump in the road.

That bump almost turned into a pothole, as old friends Case Keenum and Adrian Peterson returned home wearing the colors of the opponent, and they gave the Vikings everything they could handle. But on an off night when things weren’t going the way things were supposed to, new friend Kirk Cousins played almost mistake free football, and the Vikings made enough big plays to get a win on night when they weren’t firing on all cylinders. […]

Solid Investments

Alexander Mattison, RB: Officially, Mattison had 61 yards on 13 carries, including a remarkable 28 yard run on third and 19 that daggered the Redskins. Unofficially, he had about 247* yards on 17 carries that were nullified due to penalties. Seriously, on that epic drive that ended the game, he had 30 yards on consecutive plays that were nullified by holding penalties. Mattison is making the folks that called him a mistake pick in the third round look foolish, and he is one of the most violent runners in the NFL.

*Maybe not that much, but it kinda seemed like it.

Kirk Cousins, QB: Tonight was bit of a weird game, and it’s kind of evidenced in Cousins’ statline: 23/26, 285 yards … and no touchdowns. But, he also had not interceptions, and no turnovers. Cousins and the Vikings did a really good job of moving the ball between the 20’s, but self destructed once they got in the red zone. Whether it was an inability to run, bad protection, or bad play calls, the Vikes were just not as efficient down there as they have been the last three weeks. But, on the flip side, Cousins played a solid game and didn’t make any mistakes, and when the Vikes did get within the shadow of the end zone, they did come away with points.

Junk Bonds

Xavier Rhodes, CB: It’s becoming more and more apparent that one of two things has happened to Xavier Rhodes: he is either playing hurt at a level that he probably shouldn’t be playing, or his skill set has diminished so much he is no longer feared by opposing teams. Tonight, Case Keenum and the Washington Redskins targeted Rhodes, and whoever he was covering they threw to, and Rhodes either allowed a completion, allowed a completion and missed a tackle, or was flagged for pass interference.

Pat Elflein, G: Elflein has had some rough games, but this might have been his worst. He was called for three holding penalties, one of which was in the red zone and one of which cancelled out a nice Mattison run. Washington was also able to generate a lot of pressure up the middle, and Elflein was a big reason for that. I still don’t know what Mike Zimmer has against Brett Jones, but I think we need to have a discussion about seeing what Jones could do. And as a Pat Elflein fan, it pains me to say that.

October 14, 2019

Philadelphia at Minnesota – Stuffed Eagle added to Vikings’ trophy case

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

Sunday’s match-up between two 3-2 teams had the hometown Vikings slightly favoured by the bookmakers at 3 (most NFL games assume a three-point advantage to the home team, so this indicates the teams are seen to be pretty equal overall). The Eagles, coming off a high-scoring beat-down of the hapless New York Jets, hoped to carry on their winning ways, while the Vikings wanted to keep the momentum going from last week’s win against the New York Giants.

US Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings by “www78”
“Viking Stadium” by www78 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

The first quarter went as well as the Vikings could have hoped, keeping the ball away from Carson Wentz and the Eagles’ offence: at one point near the end of the first quarter, the Vikings had almost a 5:1 advantage in time of possession. Kirk Cousins opened the scoring with a pass to Adam Thielen in the corner of the end zone, and Dan Bailey scored a field goal on the Vikings’ second possession to take a 10-0 lead in the first frame. Philadelphia started to show signs of life during the second quarter, but the score at the half was 24-10, with the Eagles set to receive the second-half kickoff … after the Eagles attempted an end-of-half fake field goal that ended with an athletic Everson Griffen interception.

Of course, no game is complete without at least one head-scratcher, as the TV broadcast initially indicated a Philadelphia safety before correcting to a Vikings touchdown reception by Stefon Diggs (one of three on the day):

To start the second half, Philadelphia managed to narrow the Vikings’ lead to only four points before Minnesota found the accelerator again and ended up with a very comfortable 18-point winning margin. Overall, it was a good game, although there were a few things missing: the early running game and all the yellow hankies we’ve grown so familiar with littering the field. Kirk Cousins finished the day with 333 yards passing (22 completions on 29 attempts) with four touchdowns and one interception. Stefon Diggs had his biggest day of the 2019 season so far with 167 receiving yards with three touchdowns and two drops, one of which was intercepted by former Viking safety Andrew Sendejo. Adam Thielen had (for him) a quiet day, receiving for 57 yards on six throws and the opening TD. Dalvin Cook was mostly kept in check by the Eagles’ number-one rushing defence, tallying 16 runs for 41 yards and one TD. Backup running back Alexander Mattison had more luck, gaining 63 yards on 14 rush attempts, but also had a late fumble down near the Eagles’ goal line.

Judd Zulgad contemplates the bulletin board material a current member of the Iggles provided for Kirk Cousins:

Philadelphia linebacker Zach Brown attempted to plant doubt between the ears of Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins when given the opportunity on Friday.

“I think every defense is going to want that guy to throw the ball,” said Brown, who was a teammate of Cousins’ in Washington in 2017. “For me, that’s probably the weakest part of their offense is him. Everything else is good. They’ve got a good running game, probably one of the best in the league. They have real good receivers. You just want them to pass the ball. You want Kirk Cousins to get it in his hands.”

Brown was gambling Cousins’ reaction to his comments would be to over-think them and potentially fall apart on Sunday. Turns out Brown didn’t know Cousins as well as he thought he did and Cousins, well, he claimed he didn’t even know about Brown’s comments until after the fact. Not only did Cousins not fall apart but he put together one of his best games since signing a three-year, $84 million contract with the Vikings in March 2018.

Cousins completed 22 of 29 passes for 333 yards with four touchdowns, one interception and a 138.4 passer rating in a 38-20 victory that put the Vikings at 4-2 and will silence the Cousins’ critics (this one included) for the time being.

“I just found out about (Brown’s comments) about 20 minutes ago,” Cousins said after the game. “(An ESPN reporter) talked to me on the field and mentioned it. I didn’t even know what (Brown) said. I really do stay in here and not read anything and that’s for my best interest. Zach was a teammate in Washington, he’s one of the better linebackers I played with or against. I have a lot of respect for him. If you’re trying to write a story about how it was a motivator this week, it wasn’t because I didn’t know about it. Ignorance is bliss. I just put my head down and work and prepare the same way every week and not try to ride the roller coaster.”

At the Daily Norseman, Ted Glover provides an uncharacteristically upbeat Stock Market Report on the Eagles game:

Junk Bonds

No one. So, there were some players that had some bad individual plays, but not over the course of the whole game. Xavier Rhodes comes to mind once or twice, Pat Elflein had a bad whiff that led to a sack, and Mattison had a fumble late, for example. Overall, though, I don’t think there was anyone that stood out so poorly that deserved a junk bond. If you disagree, let me know.

Buy/Sell

Buy: Something snapped in the Vikings after the Bears game. After the Chicago shitshow, it felt like the Vikings were one bad game or locker room outburst from spiraling out of control. But, something different happened. I don’t know what it was — a locker room speech, the Diggs and Thielen comments, or something else, but whatever it was worked, and the Vikings have gone on a a little bit of a tear, kicking the hell out of two NFC East teams in a row.

Sell: It’s going to last. As much as I would love to see it happen, the chances the Vikings go 14-2 are remote. So when the next loss does come, I will really be looking at how the Vikings react, and how they rebound the following game.

Buy: Anthony Barr fumble recovery. After the Vikings had gone up 38-20, there was still enough time left for the Eagles to rally, and they had proved earlier in the game that they could, in fact, do just that. But when it looked like the Eagles were driving, Eric Kendricks stripped the ball from Zach Ertz at the Vikings 28, Barr scooped it up, and essentially put the dagger in Philly’s comeback hopes.

Sell: Anthony Barr pass coverage. Of course, Barr helped breathe life into their comeback. Down 24-10 Barr let Miles Sanders get behind him for a 45 yard gain, and that got the ball down to Vikings 4. Two plays later the Eagles were in the end zone, it was 24-17, and sphincters throughout the Upper Midwest tightened.

Buy: 88 yard drive to ice the game. So here’s the situation. It was 31-20, and even though the Vikings defense had stopped the Eagles a couple times, and the Vikes had added a second half TD, it still felt like Philly wasn’t out of it. After a big sack by Kendricks and Mac Alexander stopped the Eagles around midfield, Philly punted and [the Vikings] took over at the 12. The Vikings went on an epic 8 play, 88 yard drive that took almost five minutes of game clock, capped by a Dalvin Cook one yard run to make the score 38-20, and it put the game out of reach. It was a killer instinct that has been lacking from this team for the better part of two seasons, and it was really nice to see.

Sell: Closing the Eagles out at 24-3. As awesome as that drive was, it didn’t come until after the Eagles had closed the score from 24-3 to 24-20. The offense started out en fuego, but, not unexpectedly, cooled off a bit. And just when they cooled off a bit, the Vikes defense went into a bit of a hibernation. Broken coverages, missed tackles, and a lack of pressure allowed the Eagles to rally, and before you could lean over and tell a bad Ole and Lena Joke, it was 24-20 with over 20 minutes of game time left. Both the offense and defense snapped out of it, but it was still a concerning lapse on both sides of the ball, and something the Vikings can’t do week in and week out.

October 7, 2019

Minnesota Vikings pillage the New York Giants, 28-10

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

The 2-2 Minnesota Vikings visited the 2-2 New York Giants on Sunday afternoon, still smarting from last week’s drubbing at the hands of the Chicago Bears. Earlier in the week, media rumours began that the Vikings were looking to trade wide receiver Stefon Diggs, followed by reports that Diggs was very unhappy with the Vikings this season (particularly the lack of receptions for him and Adam Thielen). Diggs failed to show for a team practice and meetings and was heavily fined by the Vikings for the absences. Quarterback Kirk Cousins has been taking a lot of heat for his sub-par performance in the first four games, and fans were hoping to see some signs of improvement in New Jersey. Cousins delivered … but mainly to Adam Thielen and Dalvin Cook. Cousins threw for more than 300 yards and two touchdowns, both to Thielen, while Cook had a career day with 132 yards rushing on 21 carries and six receptions for 86 yards (but he did lose a fumble at the end of a run).

Christopher Gates:

This was exactly the sort of game that Kirk Cousins needed to have after his performance in Chicago. He completed 22-of-27 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns and looked as good as he has all season. Adam Thielen was the recipient of both of Cousins’ touchdown tosses, and finished the afternoon with seven receptions for 130 yards. After causing some controversy earlier this week, Stefon Diggs had three catches for 44 yards, while rookie Olabisi Johnson had four grabs for 43 yards.

Dalvin Cook had another outstanding game, both on the ground and in the passing game. He had his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the year, rushing for 132 yards on 21 carries. He also caught six passes for 86 yards, all in the first half. Alexander Mattison picked up 35 yards on six carries, and Ameer Abdullah chipped in with three carries for 24 yards.

The Vikings move to 3-2 on the season, and will host the Philadelphia Eagles next Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Giants fall to 2-3, and have a short week ahead of them, as they’ll travel to take on the New England Patriots for Thursday Night Football.

The Minnesota Vikings get a victory over the New York Giants in Week 5 NFL action, winning by a final score of 28-10 at MetLife Stadium. Thank you to everyone that got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!

Judd Zulgad:

How fast can life in the NFL change?

A week ago, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins was offering wide receiver Adam Thielen a public apology for getting him the ball only two times for 6 yards in a loss at Chicago. Another wide receiver, Stefon Diggs, decided to stay away from the team facility for a few days because of his frustration with the Vikings going to a run-first scheme under Gary Kubiak and Kevin Stefanski.

By halftime of the Vikings’ 28-10 victory over the feeble New York Giants on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, Cousins had a season-high 278 yards passing, Thielen had a season-best six receptions for 121 yards and a touchdown and Diggs had, well, his involvement remained a work in progress (two catches for 24 yards).

Diggs added a 20-yard reception in the fourth quarter to finish with three catches for 44 yards, Thielen ended up at seven catches for 130 yards and two scores and Cousins completed 22 of 27 passes for 306 yards and the two TDs to Thielen. It was Cousins’ first 300-yard passing game since a 24-17 victory last Nov. 25 over Green Bay at U.S. Bank Stadium. That was nine games ago and also marked the last time Thielen had more than 100 yards receiving.

The Giants’ inability to stop the pass and the run didn’t hurt matters, but this was the exact type of game the Vikings needed after a week of drama that centered around a unit that isn’t even supposed to be the key to this team. Did this signify a turnaround for an offense that was held to 222 yards in a 16-6 loss to the Bears? Probably not, considering Chicago’s defense can be dominant and the Giants defense belongs in the XFL.

As usual after a Vikings game, Ted Glover provides his essential Stock Market Report on the day’s activities:

Buy: The offense was way better today. It’s really hard to find fault with an offense that had 490 yards, while the QB threw for over 300, RB1 had over 130 yards on the ground, and one of two WR1’s had 130 yards and two TD’s. It was a performance that was sorely needed for the team and the fans.

Sell: The Red Zone offense was better today. But nothing is perfect, and the Vikings struggled for the first time in the red zone today. On the opening drive of the game, they got down to the 13, but had to settle for a field goal. On their third drive Cook fumbled inside the five and the Giants recovered when it looked like he was going in to score. Granted, it turned out to not be a big deal, as the Vikings won handily, but it was mildly concerning.

Buy: What Diggs said needed to be said. Whatever the issue was had been simmering for awhile, and after the Bears game, it needed to be said. It worked, and the Vikings came together and had a whale of a football game. Hell, if it ends up with games like this, maybe he needs to call someone out every week.

Sell: The way Diggs said it. I’ve never been a fan of complaining to the press, though. Had the Vikings lost today, what Diggs said and did on Wednesday would have gone nuclear, and it would have taken on a life of its own. I get the frustration, as we all felt it, and I have no issue with calling people out when they’re underperforming. But like Diggs said himself in the locker room after the game, he could have handled it a lot differently. And yes, he wants to be in Minnesota.

Buy: This was a needed win. This win settled a lot of jittery nerves in Vikings Land. Not everything is all unicorns and rainbows yet, but at least the Vikings gave themselves a launching point to get to the unicorns and rainbows stage. A loss today would have meant death, pestilence, and plague across the land.

Sell: This win cures everything that ails the Vikings. They still have a tough schedule ahead. Philly comes to town this week, then a big road game against Detroit. The defense still had problems with drive extending penalties on third down, the offense had some issues in the red zone, and were it not for two Daniel Jones overthrows this could have been a completely different ballgame. Still, though, it was a good win, and that’s what matters for today.

Buy: The Vikings have a problem with penalties. We mentioned the defense and their mind numbing third down penalties. It killed them against the Bears last week, and it cost them again today. The Vikings are one of the most penalized teams in the NFL this year, and after five games it’s now officially “a thing”.

Sell: The amount of penalties in a typical game is good for the NFL. All of that said, it seems like the NFL is doing everything they can to make this great game unwatchable. Rules changes in recent years are making the game unrecognizable from what it was just 4-5 years ago. Referees are over legislating what penalties they do understand, are screwing up replay calls over what rules they don’t understand, and throwing ticky tack flags where everyone goes “wtf was that call” are dragging the game down.

January 15, 2018

Vikings beat New Orleans Saints 29-24 in improbable finish to advance to NFC Championship game

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

The first half played out pretty much exactly as Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer game-planned it, allowing the New Orleans Saints no chance to score and reaching halftime with a 17-point lead. The second half didn’t go as anybody game-planned it, right down to the so-improbable-that-no-movie-director-would-ever-script-it last-second winning touchdown to clinch the game for Minnesota:

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September 25, 2017

Tampa Bay at Minnesota – welcome to the Case Keenum show, starring Case Keenum!

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

Minnesota’s starting quarterback is still out with knee issues, so backup Case Keenum got all the practice reps with the first team this week, and it really showed to excellent effect in this game. I noted in my game report last week that Keenum didn’t seem to be able to release the ball as fast as Bradford, which allowed defensive pressure to get to him far too often. That issue was completely cleaned up in this game — although it should be noted that Tampa Bay was missing a number of their defensive starters and suffered a rash of injuries during the game on top of that. The final score of 31-17 makes the game appear closer on the scoreboard than it was on the playing field.

The difference a week of practice will make for an NFL quarterback: Keenum found out about an hour before the Steelers game that he’d be starting, and hadn’t had much chance to work with the starters, and the result was painful to watch. In contrast, having the full week of practice allowed Keenum to develop a good working relationship with wide receivers Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen, both of whom had great games (Diggs – 8 receptions for 173 yards and 2 TDs, Thielen – 5 for 98 yards). Keenum finished with 25 of 33 completions for 369 yards (a career best) with three touchdowns and a passer rating of 142.1. Best supporting actor player for the offense was probably Dalvin Cook, who is playing at a very high level indeed (my favourite infographic during the game showed a comparison between Adrian Peterson’s first three games and Cook, showing Cook ahead on total yards and yards per carry on fewer carries … while the announcer said “nobody is comparing him to Peterson”). Cook’s numbers for the game were 27 rushes for 97 yards and a TD, with five receptions for 72 yards.

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September 12, 2017

MNF – Vikings beat New Orleans Saints 29-19 in season opener

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

One of the bigger story lines coming in to Monday night’s game between the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings was the return of running back Adrian Peterson. After spending his entire career with the Vikings, he was clearly relishing the chance to play against his former team and provided lots of juicy quotes to the media about his plan to “stick it” to the Vikings. It didn’t quite work out the way he was hoping…

The Vikings’ expensively re-tooled offensive line — who didn’t play a single down together during the preseason — did a great job of protecting Sam Bradford. Right tackle Mike Remmers was responsible for one sack by Cameron Jordan, but otherwise the line largely kept the pressure away from Bradford. Without the need to constantly check down or run for his life (like most of the 2016 season), Bradford put in a very impressive performance, 27 of 32 for 346 yards and three touchdowns. The most impressive was a lightning-quick three play drive late in the first half that covered 74 yards and ended in a touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs.

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September 19, 2016

Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers 17-14 to inaugurate new home stadium

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 10:06

The Sunday night prime-time game between the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers came down to the last minute, with either team able to claim victory until Vikings cornerback Trae Waynes secured an interception of an Aaron Rogers pass to shut down Green Bay’s final drive and allow the Vikings to run out the clock to seal the win.

Newly acquired starting quarterback Sam Bradford quieted a lot of concerns with his performance in the game:

For a guy best known for his injury history when he arrived here 15 days ago, Sam Bradford sure earned a lot of points for not backing down from a beating in his Minnesota Vikings debut Sunday night.

“That dude is one tough (expletive),” Vikings guard Alex Boone told USA TODAY Sports after Bradford completed 22 of 31 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns (and officially took 10 hits) in a 17-14 triumph over the rival Green Bay Packers.

“There was a couple times he got hit – I thought he was dead. He wasn’t moving, so I had to pick him up. I’m like, ‘Sam, don’t be dead.’ Next play: bullet. You’re going, ‘Jesus, this guy’s a beast!’”

The Vikings needed that production and resiliency from their new quarterback on a night they again struggled to get star running back Adrian Peterson going before he was carried to the locker room in the third quarter with a right knee injury.

Peterson had minimal swelling and could extend his leg after the game, providing optimism he avoided a season-ending ACL tear – an injury Bradford is familiar with, since two of them are responsible for 25 of the 35 starts he missed because of health in his first six NFL seasons.

Bradford, 28, did go briefly to the locker room Sunday for an X-ray after taking a helmet to his left (non-throwing) hand on the Vikings’ first touchdown drive, causing nasty swelling from his wrist to his pinkie that was captured by NBC’s cameras.

“It was nice and fat,” tight end Kyle Rudolph said of Bradford’s hand. “But he’s gutsy. Just to stand in there and take hit after hit – it speaks volume of him as a player and a person.”

Equally impressive: Bradford outplayed two-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers with all of two weeks to learn Norv Turner’s offense and about a half-dozen practices under his belt, including three last week getting most of the reps after veteran backup Shaun Hill started the opener.

Before his injury, Peterson was still struggling to find space to run, as the run blocking wasn’t opening up lanes for him and he was ending up with zero or negative yards on several attempts.

For the Packers, Aaron Rodgers didn’t have one of his better games: at one point, there were more pass interference penalty yards than offensive yards. Veteran cornerback Terence Newman was the goat on back-to-back PI penalties that moved the Packers down to the goal line, and Trae Waynes (starting for the injured Xavier Rhodes) was flagged multiple times (and as the TV commentators pointed out, usually he was in good position but being too obviously “grabby” and the officials were watching).

The accolades awarded to Stefon Diggs after his game last week will be redoubled after he put up career-high numbers last night:

After his 182-yard performance on Sunday Night Football, Stefon Diggs was quick to point out that N’Sync is just a band and not how he would describe the first time he and Sam Bradford. His game said otherwise.

In the Minnesota Vikings’ 17-14 win over the Green Bay Packers, Diggs proved to be the best wide receiver Bradford has ever had. He also showed the national TV audience that – for the first time since Randy Moss – a wide receiver is now the centerpiece of the Vikings’ offense.

“I wouldn’t say ‘in sync’ I don’t know too much about N’Sync [except] the band, but [Bradford] does everything the right way,” Diggs said. “He works hard, he comes in every day an we communicate. To get on the same page, you have to communicate. Throughout practice and games, he tells me what he sees, I tell him what I see and we try to make it work.”

Not only did he make a spectacular touchdown catch that turned out to be the game-winning score, but offensive coordinator Norv Turner called for a pass play toward Diggs on third down with 1:40 seconds remaining and the Packers out of timeouts. A pass interference call on Green Bay essentially ended the game. There is no bigger sign of confidence than that.

Diggs got open in every way possible against the Packers, finding holes in zones, turning short passes into long gains and going deep. He caught a 44-yard pass from Bradford on the team’s final drive of the first half that led to a Blair Walsh field goal.

Indicative of his mentality, Diggs’ first comment after the game was not about his nine catches on 11 targets, it was about an unsportsmanlike penalty he took in the fourth quarter.

“That won’t happen again,” he said.

December 21, 2015

Vikings beat the Chicago Bears 38-17 to go to 9-5 season record

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

Due to mundane concerns (starting to organize the household for a move), I didn’t get to watch the first half of Sunday’s game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears, but I got enough worries from the text messages as the first half wound down … with running back Adrian Peterson leaving the game during the first half with a leg injury, among other scary updates). This meant that an offensive plan built around Peterson would have to be re-tooled on the fly to work to the strengths of second-year quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. I’m on record as believing in Bridgewater as Minnesota’s quarterback of the future, but it wasn’t clear whether the current personnel grouping would allow Teddy to carry the team in the absence of Peterson. I probably shouldn’t have worried about it, as Teddy put in his first career five touchdown game (four passing, one rushing, with no interceptions).

1500ESPN‘s Judd Zulgad, not known as a Bridgewater fanatic, put it quite well:

Three weeks ago, there was growing concern among Vikings fans that Teddy Bridgewater might not be this team’s quarterback of the future. On Sunday, that same quarterback had to call a timeout in the fourth quarter because the crowd at TCF Bank Stadium was chanting his name so loudly and wouldn’t keep quiet.

This is why it’s never a good idea to attempt to write off a second-year quarterback based on a bad game, or even a series of subpar performances.

Bridgewater probably isn’t as good as the guy who completed 17 of 20 passes for 231 yards with a career-high four touchdowns and no interceptions in the Vikings’ 38-17 victory over Chicago, and he certainly isn’t as bad as the guy who hit on only 17 of 28 passes for 118 yards with no touchdowns and an interception in a 38-7 loss to Seattle two weeks ago in the same stadium.

In what he acknowledged was the best game of his pro career, Bridgewater accounted for five touchdowns, including a 12-yard dart into the end zone during which he got spun in the air, and had a 154.4 passer rating. That rating is the second-best all-time for a Vikings QB in a single game, second to the 157.2 rating Gus Frerotte posted in a 35-7 victory over San Francisco on Sept. 28, 2003. A perfect passer rating is 158.3.

“These past two weeks I’ve seen a different look in his eyes,” Vikings running back Adrian Peterson said of Bridgewater.

Peterson wouldn’t be the only one who has noticed his quarterback has responded impressively since a poor performance against the Seahawks in which no element of the offense performed up to expectations.

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November 2, 2015

Vikings beat the Bears in Chicago for the first time since 2007

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

No matter how strong the Vikings may have appeared and how weak the Bears may have looked, when the Bears hosted the Vikings at Soldier Field, the outcome was always biased strongly in favour of the hosts. Since the 2000 NFL season, the Vikings had only won twice at Chicago, until yesterday. I didn’t get to watch this game, as Elizabeth and I were away for the weekend (but in an odd twist, Elizabeth watched a few minutes of the second quarter as the game was shown in the bistro in Trenton where we stopped for a late lunch).

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October 26, 2015

Vikings get first road win of the season, beating Detroit Lions 28-19

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

I nearly gave up on this game early after Detroit ran up 17 points on the Vikings, but that turned out to be the Lions’ high-water mark except for a safety given up by the Vikings late in the fourth quarter. Lions QB Matthew Stafford absorbed a career-high seven sacks, while Teddy Bridgewater was dropped for five, including a strip-sack that was recovered by the Vikings. A sixth sack was eliminated by a penalty on the Lions.

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October 19, 2015

Vikings defeat Kansas City Chiefs, 16-10

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

This was very much a game of two halfs, as the Vikings moved the ball at will through the first half … through the air, if not on the ground, while in the second half the Chiefs came alive and threatened to take control of the game. Adrian Peterson had one of his worst games as a pro: at one point he’d rushed for something like one total yard on fifteen carries and he was being hit well before he got to the line of scrimmage on many of those runs. Early in the game, it appeared that the Vikings had scored a safety, as offensive holding was called in the Chiefs’ end zone, but the referee determined that the hold had started in the field of play, so it was not a safety. Teddy Bridgewater had another up-and-down performance with some nice throws, but two interceptions and only one touchdown. The offensive line did a somewhat better job against the Chiefs than they did against the Broncos, but Teddy was still not getting a clean pocket to work in as often as he should have. A bright spot for the Vikings was the play of rookie receiver Stefon Diggs, who posted the first 100 yard game for Minnesota this season. In his first two games, he’s caught 13 of 19 for 216 yards, making some observers wonder why he didn’t see the field earlier in the season.

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October 5, 2015

Broncos beat Vikings 23-20 in Denver

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

Let me say right up front, despite my team ending up on the wrong side of the score, this was a good game. The Vikings took the shots, but stayed competitive right up to the final drive, and with only a bit more luck (Blair Walsh’s first field goal attempt), the game was still winnable for either team right down to the wire. The stats may not be gaudy, but the Vikings showed that they are much improved from last year and the Broncos are probably very relieved to get the win.

Playing in Denver is tough for visiting teams, but the Vikings did almost enough to win the game on Sunday. Rookie wide receiver Stefon Diggs got his first regular season snaps and did a lot of good things in his first opportunity (six catches for 87 yards, but needs to work on keeping control of the ball once he makes the catch). Safety Harrison Smith again showed why he should be high on everyone’s list for this year’s Pro Bowl voting (except for probably getting an unwelcome envelope from the league over a helmet-to-helmet tackle on a Denver receiver), and despite being under siege pretty much all game (taking seven sacks, including the strip-sack to end the game), quarterback Teddy Bridgewater showed that he has what it takes to succeed in the NFL. Cornerback Xavier Rhodes was clearly in the crosshairs of the officials, as he drew more than his fair share of flags during the game, some justified but some ticky-tacky.

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