Also, can I pause for a moment and brag how close my prediction was? I said we'd win 24-21 and we won 24-16????
SKOL!
Sunday, September 9, 2018
1-0!
I was going to write up a long post, but I have to be up at 5 am for work tomorrow so you'll have to make do with the video highlights for now:
Also, can I pause for a moment and brag how close my prediction was? I said we'd win 24-21 and we won 24-16????
SKOL!
Also, can I pause for a moment and brag how close my prediction was? I said we'd win 24-21 and we won 24-16????
SKOL!
Friday, September 7, 2018
San Francisco 49ers at Minnesota Vikings Preview
Howdy y'all! We are just TWO DAYS AWAY from our 2018-2019 season opener and I am so incredibly excited!
Basic info: 1:00 PM Eastern time start, at US Bank Stadium, airing on FOX.
So we had a good preseason, 3 wins, 1 loss, none of which I found exciting, except for maybe the Seahawks game where we won 21-20.
Pre-season Recap:
Minnesota at Tennessee - (W) 13-3
Seattle at Minnesota - (W) 21-20
Jacksonville at Minnesota - (L) 14-10
Minnesota at Denver - (W) 42-28
Really, I was glad to see the highlights, and rolled my eyes at the stupid mistakes, but the older I get, the less the preseason means to me. You get 10-15 minutes of your starters so they can get the rust off, and then start putting your second and third choices through their paces, and mix in the guys who will never play an NFL snap out of the preseason or a practice squad just in case you've got a guy who's actually gold and not just a flash in the pan. Didn't the Detroit Lions go 4-0 in the preseason of the year they went 0-16? Pretty sure that was the year I started realizing preseason doesn't mean anything.
Focusing on this Sunday, I'm glad we're getting the 49ers game out of the way early. They're going to be a good team this year (HOW could the Cheatriots be so stupid as to toss Garoppolo for an aging Brady??) and I want a chance to knock them on their butts before they've had a chance to gel. Honestly, I don't know anything about their O-line, their runningbacks Breida and Morris, or their WR Pettis. Their starting WR, Pierre Garcon was on my fantasy team a couple years back and I liked him, he was a good earner, but are good fantasy stats for an 11 year veteran any kind of guarantee of a good offense in a new season?
I think I'll pick on running backs today.
Looking up Matt Breida, he's a 2 year veteran, undrafted, age 23, from Georgia Southern, and last year he had 105 carries for 465 yards, average 4.4 and 2 TDs. Looking more closely at his stats, he had 1 fumble and no other turnovers, 21 receptions out of 36 targets for 180 yards with a long of 32.
Their number two, Alfred Morris is a 7 year veteran, aged 29, from Florida Atlantic with 115 carries for 547 yards (4.8 avg) and 1 touchdown last year. He had 7 receptions from 9 targets for 45 yards with a long of 13. And one kick return for 12 yards...in 2016...with Dallas. BUT he's had zero fumbles in the past three years after 11 fumbles the three years before that. That's a good stat.
So these guys look solid. But as a comparison, in Dalvin Cook's rookie year (last year) he had 74 attempts for 354 yards with a long of 33, two touchdowns, one fumble, and one fumble for loss. Plus 11 receptions out of 16 targets for 90 yards with a long of 36 yards.
On the flip side, we're starting Kirk Cousins (QB), Dalvin Cook (RB), Adam Thielen (WR), and Kyle Rudolph (TE). All of this I am very pleased about, but I'm also nervous as Cousins has not had as much time with this team as Garoppolo has had with his.
I particularly like Adam Thielen (I know plenty of people think he's nothing special) and I'm happy enough to have him split time with Stefon Diggs - and I hope our coaching staff has a good system where they both get enough snaps to be effective, but not so many they wear down and collapse in the playoffs.
I'm hoping we win the offensive battle.
Really, though, despite looking at the RBs today I think this will probably be a clash of two bend-but-don't break defenses. I'm predicting myself eating my fingernails to the bone during the entire game. Honestly, I'm kind of wondering if it's going to be a miraculous play by Marcus Sherels (or a lineman!) that makes the difference and swings us to a W.
My prediction: Vikings 24 - 49ers 21.
Other thoughts: best wishes to former Gator Keanu Neal (currently playing safety for the Atlanta Falcons) who tore his ACL and is out for the season. Hate my Gators getting hurt, even when they've gone up to the NFL and play for not-my-Vikings!
SKOL!
Basic info: 1:00 PM Eastern time start, at US Bank Stadium, airing on FOX.
So we had a good preseason, 3 wins, 1 loss, none of which I found exciting, except for maybe the Seahawks game where we won 21-20.
Pre-season Recap:
Minnesota at Tennessee - (W) 13-3
Seattle at Minnesota - (W) 21-20
Jacksonville at Minnesota - (L) 14-10
Minnesota at Denver - (W) 42-28
Really, I was glad to see the highlights, and rolled my eyes at the stupid mistakes, but the older I get, the less the preseason means to me. You get 10-15 minutes of your starters so they can get the rust off, and then start putting your second and third choices through their paces, and mix in the guys who will never play an NFL snap out of the preseason or a practice squad just in case you've got a guy who's actually gold and not just a flash in the pan. Didn't the Detroit Lions go 4-0 in the preseason of the year they went 0-16? Pretty sure that was the year I started realizing preseason doesn't mean anything.
Focusing on this Sunday, I'm glad we're getting the 49ers game out of the way early. They're going to be a good team this year (HOW could the Cheatriots be so stupid as to toss Garoppolo for an aging Brady??) and I want a chance to knock them on their butts before they've had a chance to gel. Honestly, I don't know anything about their O-line, their runningbacks Breida and Morris, or their WR Pettis. Their starting WR, Pierre Garcon was on my fantasy team a couple years back and I liked him, he was a good earner, but are good fantasy stats for an 11 year veteran any kind of guarantee of a good offense in a new season?
I think I'll pick on running backs today.
Looking up Matt Breida, he's a 2 year veteran, undrafted, age 23, from Georgia Southern, and last year he had 105 carries for 465 yards, average 4.4 and 2 TDs. Looking more closely at his stats, he had 1 fumble and no other turnovers, 21 receptions out of 36 targets for 180 yards with a long of 32.
Their number two, Alfred Morris is a 7 year veteran, aged 29, from Florida Atlantic with 115 carries for 547 yards (4.8 avg) and 1 touchdown last year. He had 7 receptions from 9 targets for 45 yards with a long of 13. And one kick return for 12 yards...in 2016...with Dallas. BUT he's had zero fumbles in the past three years after 11 fumbles the three years before that. That's a good stat.
So these guys look solid. But as a comparison, in Dalvin Cook's rookie year (last year) he had 74 attempts for 354 yards with a long of 33, two touchdowns, one fumble, and one fumble for loss. Plus 11 receptions out of 16 targets for 90 yards with a long of 36 yards.
On the flip side, we're starting Kirk Cousins (QB), Dalvin Cook (RB), Adam Thielen (WR), and Kyle Rudolph (TE). All of this I am very pleased about, but I'm also nervous as Cousins has not had as much time with this team as Garoppolo has had with his.
I particularly like Adam Thielen (I know plenty of people think he's nothing special) and I'm happy enough to have him split time with Stefon Diggs - and I hope our coaching staff has a good system where they both get enough snaps to be effective, but not so many they wear down and collapse in the playoffs.
I'm hoping we win the offensive battle.
Really, though, despite looking at the RBs today I think this will probably be a clash of two bend-but-don't break defenses. I'm predicting myself eating my fingernails to the bone during the entire game. Honestly, I'm kind of wondering if it's going to be a miraculous play by Marcus Sherels (or a lineman!) that makes the difference and swings us to a W.
My prediction: Vikings 24 - 49ers 21.
Other thoughts: best wishes to former Gator Keanu Neal (currently playing safety for the Atlanta Falcons) who tore his ACL and is out for the season. Hate my Gators getting hurt, even when they've gone up to the NFL and play for not-my-Vikings!
SKOL!
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Guess who's back!
Dalvin Cook is back at training camp!
Hah, yeah, I'm back too. According to my department, I'm officially finished with grad school, so I decided what better way to celebrate than to bring back my beloved Vikings' blog? I wonder if this year I'll have time to watch EVERY Vikings game as it airs?? Maybe that's a bridge too far for a Millennial working two jobs and writing a book, but we'll pray to the Football Gods and see what happens.
But on to the important stuff!
First, just wanted to post this because it still gives me the chills:
And then this, because ESPN finally got it right:
Can you DIGG it?
Yes, I'm still a bit sad that we've lost Keenum. I genuinely believe the dude has a good run left in him. I've always had a soft spot for the Broncos, and I'll be interested in what he does with them in the upcoming season.
Definitely have some hype for Kirk Cousins though. All those franchise records he set for the Redskins? I know they had some sweet players around him, but I'm hoping that he'll gel with Diggs, Treadwell, and Rudolph to an even higher degree. He had three consecutive seasons with 4,000 passing yards, so if we combine that kind of passing with a healthy, hungry Dalvin Cook we could have something extremely exciting here folks.
Speaking of Dalvin Cook, as a Gator alumna I watched that dude run all over us for three years. He broke Warrick Dunn's single season rushing record and his career rushing record at FSU (and Dunn spent four years at FSU!), and I'm the first to admit he's thrilling to watch when he has the ball. ACL injuries aren't a death sentence anymore, and I'm hoping hard Cook comes back ready to show the world what he's made of.
I also wanted to take a moment to shout out to Tony Sparano, the Vikings' O-line coach, who passed away last Sunday at age 56 from heart disease. 19 years in the NFL as a coach or assistant coach is one hell of a legacy, and we'll all miss him. Glad to hear the Vikings shifted their camp events around so everyone who knew Coach Sparano could attend his funeral services.
Camp Notes
According to my sources (aka Twitter) Marcus Sherels snagged the first INT of this year's camp, which is no less than I expected. Sherels is the guy nobody remembers until he has another punt return for a touchdown, but he's determinedly weaving himself into the team, and if he stays healthy I'm hoping he can come up big in the clutch when we need him. Sherels is going to share return duties with our rookie Mike Hughes, and I'm anticipating a lot of fun watching pick #30 acclimate himself to the NFL. We've got those new kickoff rules this season, and while they were proposed to keep kickers safer, the fact that they force everyone to start cold rather than running might make for some interesting results!
Xavier Rhodes is reportedly taking the rookies and newbies under his wing, and Harrison Smith is entering this year as the league's top safety. I get tingly thinking about our defensive back lineup, particularly, Rhodes, Smith, Sendejo and Kearse - and I love that they're taking on the young'uns, and can't wait to see how Mackensie Alexander shows up on Sundays.
My thought for the week is that "Don't stop playing til the clock hits zero" should be this year's team mantra. We've got everything we need - we just need to put the pieces together and leave everything we've got on the field.
SKOL!
Hah, yeah, I'm back too. According to my department, I'm officially finished with grad school, so I decided what better way to celebrate than to bring back my beloved Vikings' blog? I wonder if this year I'll have time to watch EVERY Vikings game as it airs?? Maybe that's a bridge too far for a Millennial working two jobs and writing a book, but we'll pray to the Football Gods and see what happens.
But on to the important stuff!
First, just wanted to post this because it still gives me the chills:
And then this, because ESPN finally got it right:
Can you DIGG it?
Yes, I'm still a bit sad that we've lost Keenum. I genuinely believe the dude has a good run left in him. I've always had a soft spot for the Broncos, and I'll be interested in what he does with them in the upcoming season.
Definitely have some hype for Kirk Cousins though. All those franchise records he set for the Redskins? I know they had some sweet players around him, but I'm hoping that he'll gel with Diggs, Treadwell, and Rudolph to an even higher degree. He had three consecutive seasons with 4,000 passing yards, so if we combine that kind of passing with a healthy, hungry Dalvin Cook we could have something extremely exciting here folks.
Speaking of Dalvin Cook, as a Gator alumna I watched that dude run all over us for three years. He broke Warrick Dunn's single season rushing record and his career rushing record at FSU (and Dunn spent four years at FSU!), and I'm the first to admit he's thrilling to watch when he has the ball. ACL injuries aren't a death sentence anymore, and I'm hoping hard Cook comes back ready to show the world what he's made of.
I also wanted to take a moment to shout out to Tony Sparano, the Vikings' O-line coach, who passed away last Sunday at age 56 from heart disease. 19 years in the NFL as a coach or assistant coach is one hell of a legacy, and we'll all miss him. Glad to hear the Vikings shifted their camp events around so everyone who knew Coach Sparano could attend his funeral services.
Camp Notes
According to my sources (aka Twitter) Marcus Sherels snagged the first INT of this year's camp, which is no less than I expected. Sherels is the guy nobody remembers until he has another punt return for a touchdown, but he's determinedly weaving himself into the team, and if he stays healthy I'm hoping he can come up big in the clutch when we need him. Sherels is going to share return duties with our rookie Mike Hughes, and I'm anticipating a lot of fun watching pick #30 acclimate himself to the NFL. We've got those new kickoff rules this season, and while they were proposed to keep kickers safer, the fact that they force everyone to start cold rather than running might make for some interesting results!
Xavier Rhodes is reportedly taking the rookies and newbies under his wing, and Harrison Smith is entering this year as the league's top safety. I get tingly thinking about our defensive back lineup, particularly, Rhodes, Smith, Sendejo and Kearse - and I love that they're taking on the young'uns, and can't wait to see how Mackensie Alexander shows up on Sundays.
My thought for the week is that "Don't stop playing til the clock hits zero" should be this year's team mantra. We've got everything we need - we just need to put the pieces together and leave everything we've got on the field.
SKOL!
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