Tag: san diego chargers

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Will Adrian Peterson Win The Rushing Title?


Packers Vikings Football 
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psuedophreak

After last week, when they had a chance to lock up their playoff spot, it’s sorta pointless to talk about or get your hopes up for a post-season this year. They could come out and stink or they could play wonderfully and still not make it with a motived team playing ‘ second-stringers.

So absent the burden and frustration of phantom playoff hopes, my interest will be focused narrowly on my hope for and improved play for . And one probably depends upon the other.

The ‘ defense is 30th in the league against the run but even a really bad defense can improve significantly against the run by deploying eight or nine men in the box. So we’ll see, but there’s plenty of reason to hope for a big ground game for the Vikings and for in particular.

The one thing the Vikings will have to do for Peterson to have a big day, of course, will be to make the Broncos pay for stacking the box. And that depends upon Jackson making those plays, something he hasn’t done consistently.

Maybe the Vikings should come out in no-receiver sets. Sit the receivers in favor of tight ends and fullbacks and maybe an extra offensive lineman. Say to the Broncos, we’re running the ball; try and stop us. It ain’t gonna happen but I’d love to see it.

Peterson needs only 12 yards to overtake ‘s , who is out for the season. But in order to win the title, Adrian will have to significantly outplay who has 1,418 yards to Peterson’s 1,305. The problem is that the Chargers play the today.

In the passing game, I want to see Jackson make better decisions and not get flustered in the face of a heavy rush. He seems to do just fine when he’s got sufficient time in the pocket, but he’s going to have to learn play well under pressure.

Those are my modest hopes at the end of a disappointing season.

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Vikings vs. Packers Preview

I’m not too confident they can do it, despite , but if the are to have any chance at seeing post-season action, today is the day they .

Adrian Peterson kicked serious ass last week, but let’s be real; Chargers quarterback had an awful game, the team was without starting linebacker ; and standout was knocked out early in the second half. It’s not coincidental that Peterson ran for 253 yards and two touchdowns during the second half.

That’s not to say that it wasn’t a phenomenal performance by Peterson, it was a thing of beauty (). It’s no surprise, too, that the offensive line put in their best performance of the year and Peterson got a lot of help from outstanding blocking by the receivers down field.


Peace, man.
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vitaminkg21

Here’s something else that’s not a coincidence: The offense suddenly looked a lot better after was knocked out of the game and we got a signal caller with a semblance of passing accuracy in .

Before he was knocked out, Jackson threw directly to the defensive back who was positioned in front of on a five yard slant route. How did Jackson not see that Rice was covered? Later, Jackson missed an open on a deep route.

During the third Vikings’ series of the second half, after five straight running plays, on first and ten, Bollinger hits Sidney Rice for a forty yard touchdown on a stop and go route.

Those plays have been there all year but neither Jackson nor have been able to hit open receivers. This is how inaccurate our starter and primary backup have been: Tarvaris Jackson has an abysmal 46.4% completion percentage and Holcomb is not much better with 50.6%. Bollinger boasts a 70.8% completion percentage.

Indeed, Bollinger leads the team in every significant statistical category: Yards per Attempt (9), Touchdown Percentage (4.2%), Interceptions (0 verses 5 for Jackson and 1 for Holcomb), sacks (4 versus 5 for Jackson and 12 for Holcomb), and quarterback rating at 112.3. Is it time to stop grooming Jackson and put in the guy who gives us the best chance to win?

Which brings us to today’s game.

Running Against The Packers

The Vikings face the league’s 7th ranked defense today against the but then they faced the same challenge last week against the Chargers’ 7th ranked run defense.

Boasting the league’s best running back coming off a historic performance, it is no secret what the Vikings will do on offense today. .

The difference this week may very well be Brooks Bollinger, who is expected to start behind center. The Pack will stack eight or nine players in the box in order to stop Peterson and the Vikings need to–as they have all year long–take advantage of that defense.

Passing Against The Packers

Bolliger’s accuracy gives the Vikings the best chance to exploit the crowding of the box. Starting free safety is out, so rookie will be starting in his stead. Throw in the fact that starting strong safety (great name!) has been playing miserably lately, we may see some deep passes actually completed today.

And that would help open up the running game, as well.

Defending The Packers

The Packers’ offense is last in the league in rushing and second in the league in passing; the Vikes are second in the league against the run but 31st in the league against the pass, so we know what’s gonna happen.

The best defense for the Vikings must be a good offense. Just keep off the field for as much of the game as possible.

When the Vikings D is on the field, they should ignore the run, especially the play-action because it’s unlikely to be a run anyway. We need to get in Farve’s grill with a strong pass rush to keep him from getting comfortable and we need to jam the receivers to disrupt their short, West Coast routes.

The Vikings defense will need to bring the game they played against the Chargers if the team is going to have a chance to win.

It wouldn’t hurt at all if picked off his old mate.

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2007 Minnesota Vikings Season Preview

The thing about this season is that the just have to get a little better than last year to win a lot more games. Consider the games the Vikings lost last year:

  • In September, the Vikings lost to the Bears, 16-19
  • In October, the Vikings lost to the Bills, 17-12
  • and to the Patriots, 7-31
  • In November, the Vikings lost to the 49ers, 9-3
  • to the Packers, 17-23
  • and to the Dolphins, 24-20
  • In December, the Vikings lost to the Bears again, 23-13
  • to the Jets, 13-26
  • again to the Packers, 9-7
  • and to the Rams, 21-41

The two games against the Packers and Bears each were winnable. The margins of victory for each of those four games were 3 points, 6 points, 10 points, and 2 points. The Vikings lost to the Bills by 5 points; to the 49ers by 6 points; and to the Dolphins by four point.

Instead of 6 and 10, they could have easily been 10 and 6 and division winners.

With the addition of , , and , I think the defense has gotten much stronger and much harder to pass against than last season.

But the defense, of course, wasn’t the problem last year. The offense was.

We improved on offense significantly with the addition of . I am officially a converted fan of , who has proven very adept at making yards after the catch. is a great addition if he can stay healthy. is a nice big target who has shown he’s got good hands, is not afraid to catch the ball in a crowd, is very athletic and has excellent body control. And if we can get to catch a few long bombs, we’ll at least have the semblance of a deep threat.

The offensive line returns with one year together playing the zone blocking scheme, so they’ve got to improve simply because they are more familiar with one another and with zone blocking.

The big question is . He looks very poised and by all accounts is a smart kid, a quick study, and a quick decision maker. The main thing for Jackson is to avoid mistakes, which is to say turnovers, while he learns the ropes.

The most glaring weakness of this team is the coverage units, which are absolutely horrible. I’m not too confident that they’ll improve that much.

Looking at the schedule, I think it’s reasonable to think that the Vikings could go 9-7 or even 10-6 this year. I’m giving the Vikings both games against the , even with . That team has to prove to me they can win, cause they’ve never done it before. I’d split the series as I would the series, though I think the Vikings could sweep them as well.

We should beat the Vickless to open the season. We play the , the , and the , all of which should be wins.

So that’s eight wins.

The are beatable with at QB. The are beatable. They’ve got a rookie coach and we don’t yet know whether is the real thing. The and the look as if they will be good, but they’re sorta at that stage where it’s too early to tell. Even the could be beatable because you never know if will be healthy.

Thee only guaranteed loss is to the .

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Vikings Sign Safety Tank Williams

The signing of former ‘ safety takes a lot of the edge off the signing of backup quarterback .

I was wondering if we were going to address any of our defensive needs during free agency, so the signing was a step in the right direction.

At 6′ 3", 223 pounds, Williams is a big, hard-hitting safety. A five-year veteran, he’s spent all of his career at strong safety for the Titans. 2004 was the only year he did not play in all sixteen games, when an ACL injury to his left knee injury limited him to nine games.

He made 58 tackles last year and 20 assists with one pick and 4 passes defended. Williams was the 13th pick of the second round of the 2002 draft by the Titans. He ran a 4.45 40 prior to the draft.

This is a great pickup. He should be fully recovered from his 2004 injury and he’s a quick, hard-hitting densive back.

The Vikings also signed former San Diego Chargers defensive end, . Scott stands 6’1" and weighs 260 pounds and has played in 56 games during his career. He had 4.5 sacks last year but his career high came in his sophmore season of 2003, when he notched 6.5 sacks.

In 2004, abdominal and knee injuries kept his sack total to 1.5. The Chargers signed him as an undrafted rookie in 2001 and Scott played on their practice squad that year.

He’s a baseball fan who likes to spend time at the batting cages.

This guy looks like he could be a good pickup as well.

Vikings free agent linebacker is visiting in St. Louis today.

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Chargers LB Ben Leber To Visit Today

that outside linebacker will visit the Vikings today and probably sign.

Craig quotes Leber’s agent– Jeff Nalley–saying: “The way we work is the first team we visit is the team we feel we’ll get a deal
done with that day…Seven teams called us [Friday] night. The Vikings are No. 1
on our list.”

Leber is a four year veteran. He’s 6′ 3" and weighs 244 pounds. He played only nine games last year because of a foot injury, Craig reports. The previous three years, he played in all sixteen games. He had a career-high 69 tackles in 2003 and 5 sacks in his rookie year, 2002. He has never intercepted a pass.

He was picked by the Chargers in the third round–71st overall–in 2002.

The Chargers’ Web site has some in-depth, year-by-year, as well as .

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