Well folks, I'm mostly settled into my new place in College Station (go Aggies!) and I'm super excited to see my Vikings on tv for the first time this preseason. Especially since we're playing against a good team - it's always fun to watch San Francisco.
First play of the game and Ponder goes deep...and misses. Oy. It's just preseason, right? Still, we need to up our play action, so we might as well polish it now instead of waiting until the season actually starts.
Adrian Peterson is out after two plays, but after all the ish that's gone down with the injury bug this preseason, I'm not complaining. Let Gerhart light up the field. I've always wanted him to do well, so his general quietness has not pleased me.
And Ponder loses the ball...WTF?? How did that happen?? Ah, it was stripped by a linebacker Loadholt let go by. Jeez, I thought our line was doing better this offseason! I mean, a bad play can happen to anyone. But I'm afraid of sloppiness - #1 way to kill a good season before it starts.
Happy to see Robison chasing down Kaepernick and not giving up on a bad play. And Harrison Smith brings down the 49er behind the line of scrimmage...good man! Happy to see him busting some ass, despite the sophomore slump curse hanging over his head. LOVE the pressure on that 3rd and 11, and that my homeboy Kevin Williams knocked down that pass. THAT's a classic Viking. We didn't block the kick, but that's ok. Blocked kicks are not everyday occurrences, The Cock Block of '06 to the contrary.
Cordarrelle Patterson only took the return to the 15...hmm. Gerhart with a 4 yard run up the middle. Not bad, wish he could've pushed a bit farther. Ponder makes a nice little pass to John Carlson, no YAC. Great tackling by San Fran, they're going to be a rough team to beat this season. Jennings unable to catch a ball from Ponder, and it's a second 3 and out...this is irritating me. Locke only gets it to the 42 as well, I hope this is NOT an omen for the rest of the season.
Back to defense...not a lot of pressure on Kaep, we're damn lucky that ball was too low and the receiver fell instead of catching it because he's in open field there. Chris Cook with a great tackle, glad to see him following through with a play!! 49ers false start, and then Kaep's arm is hit and the ball falls to the field. Thank goodness for our defense! Brian Robison is getting in some faces, which is much appreciated by this weary fan. Not sure I'm in love with the man coverage, but it seems to be working thus far. Beautiful kick by their punter!
Love the skippy little run by Bobby Felder! Someone wants to be on the final 53!! Cordarrelle makes a nice catch in the backfield, but only gains 4 before he's wrapped up and dragged down. Still, as I remind myself constantly, he did junior college for two years and achieved success in the SEC in just one, so it's another big leap for him. 3rd and inches after another short screen pass by Cordarrelle...OMG Gerhart dragged down way behind the line of scrimmage! Shitty playcall, and shitty execution. At least this punt went to the 15 yard line. Not happy with the offense I'm seeing right now. Kalil needs to get himself in order.
A small run and then a huge one. What's with the holes, Defense??? Nice deflection by Jamarca Sanford to save a huge pickup by Kaep. Whew! Then a second strangely bad INC by Kaep...is he ok? Or just not used to these new WRs? And Kaep is getting into a rhythm, this isn't good. Oy, I thought we were going to force a punt! Come on Vikings! Well...at least our players are getting to the receivers quickly, and not allowing TOO much YAC. But I don't like this rhythm we're allowing. Kaep was 1-7 and now he's 4-4. At least we stuffed that run, thank you Desmond Bishop. Beautiful slant gets them to the 5, at least Robinson saved a TD by tackling him at the catch. SHIT a really beautiful TD catch by Quinton Patton. I couldn't quite see who was covering him...but he was a couple of steps off. Kaep 6-6, bah. At least four of those catches were made to Josh Robinson's assignment, and you can bet Frazier is going to have something to say about that.
2 1/2 minutes left, let's see the Vikings 2 minute drill!
AJ Jefferson runs it back to the 22. Gerhart picks up three...I'm starting to wonder about his strength. Surely our trainers are working with him on this? BEAUTIFUL pass Ponder to Jennings! So glad to see Jennings connecting with Ponder, let's get a rhythm going here! Gerhart picks up another three. Is this design or weakness? Great attempt by Stephen Burton to get a one-handed catch, but Ponder pump-faked instead of letting it go, and he aimed too high in his hurry. 3rd and 7 and Ponder runs for the first, but there's a flag...nice blocking by Rudolph...SHIT Kalil makes unnecessary roughness penalty, at least we keep the first. I HATE sloppiness!
Gerhart picks up two...why are we not throwing the ball? According to Twitter Patterson rolled his ankle...ahhh not what I wanted to hear!
Ponder with another run, pleased that he at least slid to a finish instead of diving headfirst. I remember all the trouble we Gators had with Chris Leak and Tim Tebow not sliding to save themselves. Ponder finds Simpson to convert on a third and long!! Wow!! Let's keep THAT up boys! Ponder actually looked comfortable on this 11 yard toss to Gerhart...I'm feeling a little hopeful! A happy Ponder in the pocket would do wonders for our offense. Handoff to Matt Asiata with a nice little run, but there's a flag...MATT KALIL I'm going to KICK YOUR ASS!!! I may be a 5'6" girl with more flab than muscle, but I will find a way...Frazier, please work your coaching magic...I see him talking to Kalil who has been pulled out, so that's good.
Nice run by Gerhart, negated by a holding by Loadholt. I HATE SLOPPINESS!! VIKINGS, DO YOU HEAR ME?!
John Carlson picks up five with a nice catch in coverage. Very relieved we're finally going to our TE's. I've been praying for two-TE and five-wide sets for many years now...hoping we see some soon. Finally Stephen Burton gets a catch! Not deep enough though, and our punting unit is on. You know, without those penalties we could've marched down the field. Locke and #24 combined to down the ball at the 2 yard line, good job special teams! According to the Vikings.com player roster that's AJ Jefferson. Guess he's really after that 53 man spot too!
49ers on offense again, with Colt McCoy as QB, and Greenway is going hard to his targets. Silver lining, I guess. Nice spin moves by James who eludes three tackles that way. Vikes need to work on that. Thank goodness, 9ers dropped another pass. McCoy throws into double coverage and his guy makes the catch, we have GOT to work on stripped and batting down passes. We are in a pass-heavy league this year...and we let James bust up the middle for 9 yards. Why can't Gerhart do this? And we finally take down a flustered McCoy. McCoy took off and just slipped by Jared Allen...I hope Allen's shoulder isn't paining him, it's not like him to miss like that. Heard Fred Evans' name for the first time all night, good to see him take down McCoy. And GREENWAY with the interception and takes it to the 28 yard line!! WOOHOO!!! LIGHT AT LAST!!
Vikings' ball, and Gerhart gets another catch back to the line of scrimmage. Are we just passing to all our RBs now? Serious question bro...and then a beautiful run by Gerhart up the middle! I need to see the replay to see who ripped that hole for him...hm, looks like three guys including 71. But a good play. Gerhart again, but he's tripped up and only gets a yard. Ponder runs out of bounds, didn't see if all his men were covered due to the camera angle. Looks like Patterson was pretty open...oof. 3rd and 7. And it's a FIVE WIDE!! Pass incomplete, but there's a flag and it looked like PI to me - and it is! Since it was in the endzone the ball is at the one yard line now? Nice! Jennings with a beautiful play, he totally drew that foul. Beautiful floating pass to Zach Line, never did I think I'd like an SMU player! But he's got our first touchdown of the game, congrats Mr. Line!!
Brian Murphy of the Pioneer Press just tweeted, "It took 10 possessions for Vikings first-team offense to score first TD after Greenway interception gave them short field." Oh...that is depressing.
You know what's more depressing? Hawkings going 105 yards to return the punt for a TD, but there's a flag on the 4 yard line...no, just taunting, it counts. Bah. Okay, special teams need work too.
And Chris Cook is out with a groin injury. I hope it's just a pull, nothing serious. We need him! We need all our playmakers!!
AJ Jefferson takes the punt back to the 35 yard line. Not bad. Would've loved a TD there, but our offense definitely needs the work. Asiata with a little run, not bad. If he hadn't hesitated, or maybe juked left, he could've gotten a couple more yards, I think. UGH and Ponder is picked off on a deflected pass. It was a pass to Burton too, this is not doing good for his chances for that spot he's battling for. Speaking of, I haven't seen Joe Webb at all, and it's a common consensus that Webb and Burton are rivals for the "last spot"...interesting.
McCoy's pass dropped, but the second one caught just short of the first. Think it was Quinton Patton again. See a flag - shit it's on us again. Robinson! You are really putting your spot in jeopardy! God damn, I miss my boy Winfield! Great tackle by Greenway making a stop behind the line of scrimmage. He's such an underrated player. I appreciate you bro!
WHAT THE HELL McCoy ballet danced past FOUR Vikings defenders only to be finally dragged down by Audie Cole. Good job Cole!
McCoy's pass was wayyy over his receivers' head - and their kicker makes a 40 yard FG. Oh, there's a flag, and it's on the offense holding. (Thank goodness it wasn't us.) 10 yards, let's see if he can make it from 50. And it's good again. I would be jealous, but Blair Walsh is a pretty darn good kicker in his own right, from what I saw last season. Let's hope he can at least rival Phil Dawson in all categories.
Burton back to return the punt, tripped up on the 18. Oh well. Asiata gets to the 20. I'm not liking these tiny runs, but halftime it is. Why not go deep there? No reason not to, we're losing 20-7 anyway. Hoo boy.
Started cooking at halftime, not done so less commentary for second half. Kevin Williams gets injured, but at least he walked off the field under his own power. We stop LaMichael James on 3rd and 31, which is good, because we made some epic screw-ups on downs like that last season.
Ponder isn't playing next game, so he's still in now. He's done some scrambling and has another first. Looking more comfortable in the pocket, Simpson gets a 6 yarder to get a 2nd down and 4.
Kevin Williams seems to have a sprained and/or bruised knee and a "smile on his face" according to Aj Mansour of KFAN. As long as it's not serious!
And we have a Kyle Rudolph sighting! At least it's a catch, and a first. Seeing a lot of Asiata right now. Man, that was a nasty way to treat Stephen Burton! Good thing they flagged the guy for helmet-to-helmet, Burton was held and hit...I'm just glad his neck is okay after looking at that replay!
Ponder stayed in the pocket AND Burton caught it inside the 10!!! Beautiful!! Just what I've wanted to see!
Joe Webb catches a TD - first time I've seen him all night - and then a flag comes in! OY!! Oh it was on the defense - a facemask - so our TD is good! Good for Webb!
49ers moving well again, grrr, and a Viking is down. This is the worst part about preseason! 49ers are really looking good. This is frustrating. I must say I'm surprised McCoy is still in, maybe he'll stay with them after all? Who knows.
Ponder being interviewed, saying "there's a lot of room for improvement"...yeah, I agree. He seems to be taking responsibility, which is encouraging. I'm hoping for you dude, no matter how much I may rip you when you piss me off.
And a stupid penalty by Rhodes. Head, meet desk. We're finally getting a little tackling going, but we're letting the 9ers have their way, which I do not appreciate. And another 49ers TD that was pretty much a foregone conclusion.
49ers punt and the Vikings' own McCoy comes out to the 23 yard line. Not bad, because he tripped a little about 10 yards back, I'm glad he recovered. Cassel in now. Pass too high and incomplete.
Love Jared Allen shutting down that bloody reporter, "How disappointed are you they haven't made a move to extend you?" stupid, muck-stirring!! Jared Allen will earn another contract, and he'll have fun doing so. At least, that's how I see things. His DOWN season was 12 sacks. How many guys think 12 sacks is a GOLDEN season?! LOTS!!
And Cassel gets sacked by a rookie out of San Jose State. Really?
How many fans are going to be on the field? And why do they go to those overhead shots when they are? To make sure the fans aren't rewarded by being on tv? I guess that makes sense.
49ers get the ball back. BJ Daniels is QB...USF huh...Was he the one who had those wins my sophomore year and everyone said USF would crush UF and then they suffered a dozen humiliating losses? I think it was something like that. Hahaha extra cops on the field now so the game can go on. That's funny!!
Good reception by Collie, Bobby Felder is on him, but takes awhile to drag him down. McCloud is back and looking good despite going down earlier in the game. Hawkings is looking incredible. This irritates me. Daniels is really looking quite good, but the 49ers 3rd string line is much better than USF's first string. I can't emphasize enough how important it is for a quarterback to have a good line he feels comfortable with.
Michael Mauti is in!! So happy for him! I do hope he performs well and makes the team. I want a leader like him on the team. Daniels struck down by Desmond Bishop - why is he still in? - in the redzone.
Another 49ers TD. This is really getting sad. 33-14 is not how I hoped this game would go. 4:12 left...I hope we can score to ease the pain a little.
Bradley Randle returns the punt. No idea who he is. Not a bad return, but not a great one either. 49er tips the ball and a Viking Chase Ford comes up with it! Very nice! Play carefully Cassel...nice run there, picks up the first.
Bradley Randle gets a first and we're at the two minute warning. And that series was a waste. 49ers put in Wallace who gets nowhere with 66 seconds on the clock and that's the game.
I'll post this now, and write another post later once I've had time to think it over.
SKOL!
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