Buy: The Vikings offensive line is the main difference between the 2016 and 2017 offense<\/strong>. We really haven\u2019t talked about the offensive line a lot, and that\u2019s my fault. This line, from left to right, to a man, has been the main reason this team is 7-2. Yeah, the defense is elite, I get it, and the running game and receivers have evolved, I get it, but it all starts with this offensive line. They are opening holes for the running backs, and it\u2019s actually surprising when a Vikings quarterback gets pressured, much less sacked. Speaking of that, Vikings quarterbacks have only been sacked 10 times in nine games this year. Four of them came in one game, when a mostly defenseless Sam Bradford was sacked four times against the Bears back in week three. It\u2019s a remarkable reversal, and for all the grief we have (rightly) given GM Rick Spielman for assembling a really bad o-line the last 3-4 years, he deserves credit for making moves in free agency and the draft to fix the problem.<\/p>\nSell: Mike Remmers can come back at any time, though<\/strong>. As good as the starters have been, the backups have played very well when called upon. Jeremiah Sirles, Danny Isidora, and Rashod Hill have been more than adequate back ups, and the depth is something that\u2019s just as impressive. Still, we don\u2019t need to have a repeat of \u2018hey you in the fifth row can you play on the offensive line\u2019 level of injuries again. it was good to see Nick Easton back in the starting lineup today, and Mike Remmers can return any time he wants to.<\/p>\nBuy: Teddy Bridgewater is going to play, soon<\/strong>. I think everyone was happy to see Teddy in uniform today, whether he played or not. There were rumors before the game that he might get a series or two, but it didn\u2019t work out that way. I thought when the Vikings went up 35-17 to open the half, he might have come in for a series if the defense had held Washington on their first second half series, and later in the 4th quarter he put his helmet on and started warming up, but Keenum went wire to wire. But Bridgewater will play, sooner rather than later.<\/p>\nSell: Teddy Bridgewater should have come in to play today<\/strong>. As much as I want to see him on the field, it made sense not to put him in today. It really had nothing to do with the opponent or the turf (like seriously did Washington hire the Soldier Field ground crew my goodness), but the game situation. I thought if 35-17 had stayed 35-17 we\u2019re not having this conversation, but 35-20 is still a two score game, and I get Keenum coming back out to try and put the game away. He did the opposite, coughing it up twice and letting Washington back to within one score, and then, barring injury, there was no way Teddy was coming back in unless Keenum completely fell apart.<\/p>\nBuy: The Adam Thielen \u2018Leap Frog\u2019 TD celebration<\/strong>. We have a new contender for the best TD celebration of the year. The leader at the turn was Duk Duck Gray Duck, but the celebration after Thielen\u2019s TD might have … wait for it … leapfrogged the duck.<\/p>\nSell: The Stefon Diggs \u2018Hug The Goal Post\u2019 Celebration<\/strong>. Diggs has had some creative TD celebrations, but today\u2019s? Yeah, not so good. You can\u2019t use the goal post as a prop, Diggs did, and it cost the Vikings 15 yards on the ensuing kickoff. That improved field position set the Redskins up to start their drive, and they scored a touchdown.<\/p>\nHold: The David Morgan \u2018Classic\u2019 TD celebration<\/strong>. When Morgan scored and spiked the ball I tweeted something to the effect that it was a Dollar General celebration, but it was quickly pointed out to me that the spike is an all time classic celebration. And it is. You can\u2019t go wrong with the spike, and when you only score once or twice a year, celebrate however you want. As long as you don\u2019t use the goal post for a prop.<\/p>\nSo the 7-2 Vikings return home to face the 7-2 Los Angeles Rams, and the inside track to the second seed in the NFC and a first round playoff bye is on the line.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Vikings play Washington so frequently, this almost seemed like a divisional game. Case Keenum was having a really good game up until back-to-back interceptions allowed Washington to (almost) climb back into contention. Both errant passes were intended for tight end Kyle Rudolph, but both went instead to D.J. Swearinger. For a $2 million investment, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1164,1169,126,179,614],"class_list":["post-40840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football","tag-adamthielen","tag-casekeenum","tag-minnesotavikings","tag-nfl","tag-washingtonredskins"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/favicon.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-aCI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40840"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40843,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40840\/revisions\/40843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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The Vikings play Washington so frequently, this almost seemed like a divisional game. Case Keenum was having a really good game up until back-to-back interceptions allowed Washington to (almost) climb back into contention. Both errant passes were intended for tight end Kyle Rudolph, but both went instead to D.J. Swearinger. For a $2 million investment, Minnesota has had fantastic production from their backup quarterback, but this game showed why he’s never been able to lock down a starting role. When the Vikings defence is on their game, all Keenum needs to do is keep the chains moving and avoid turnovers — this wasn’t one of the times that the vaunted Vikings D was showing at their best (Everson Griffen was not active for the game, and demonstrated how much he provides to the team).<\/p>\n