Folks, Gridiron Videos has been kind enough to give us a third installment of CP preseason highlights.

Christian Ponder's Third Preseason Game

It was a bit of a rough start.  CP was way off on his first deep downfield pass.  I agree with Mayock.  The play seemed to have been designed to go there regardless, to open up his arm and get him thinking vertically.  Next we have that awful botched snap, where Ponder shows his agility but ultimately loses a bunch of yards.  The next notable play is a miscommunication between he and Burton (who probably won't make the team and who almost certainly misread the scheme).  

After that, I have to say, things looked great.  Ponder shows the ability to get out of the pocket and get the ball down field, some really nice touch on a 16 yard out, and some good ball movement inside the Cowboy's 50 to get the ball in the hands of Reisner.  

I still think Reisner gets out of bounds on that last play.  Would have been nice to have seen us get two shots at the end zone. 

Anyway, we'll have a lot more to look at this Thursday.

Just wanted to put this out there for folks who are out of town and want to catch the action tonight.  This link will work not only for this game but for all the games this season, as long as the site doesn't get torn down.

http://www.firstrowsports.eu/sport/american-football.html

Skol. 

I should also add, you can use this site to stream "any" NFL game.  So, a side perk would be catching a critical division rival game, or watching a fantasy player while having your main set tuned into the Vikes.

Christian Ponder Video #2

Here's the second installment of Christian Ponder highlights from the preseason.  I requested this from Gridiron Videos and he was kind enough to oblige.  Please show some support and "like" the video.

Now, lest I be attacked again for using the "75 Words" convention for using up the needed space to enter a FanPost, I'll make sure I include some content...

In this video we see once again that Ponder gives us things to be hopeful and worried about.  Hopeful because, when he has a clear lane, he delivers the ball efficiently and accurately.  Worried because he does exit the pocket quickly (granted, he's almost always under pressure).  Overall, the good outweighs the bad here.  I would rather see the accuracy and deliberateness first.  With time and continuity, he'll get more comfortable with his line and learn to trust the pocket.  Fingers crossed: at the combine there were a lot of comparisons between Ponder's and Hasselbeck's games; I know it's a stretch, but I have to admit I see a closer resemblance to an early Steve Young (minus the south paw).

Initially, I was not excited to see us trade for McNabb.  I wanted to turn a fresh page and begin the season with the biggest story from our offseason.  I've come around now.  I'm glad Ponder won't be canon fodder (at least not yet).  He's got the tools, but he needs to grow into them.  

Just caught this clip on YouTube, put together by folks at GridironVideos.   It's a compilation of all of Ponder's completions in the first preseason game.

Ponder Video

Looks extremely athletic.  Makes smart decisions.  Now, if we could just get some blocking up front.

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Just wondering if anybody has strong feelings about moving out of the 30th spot this year. It seems like the top tier players at (arguably) our high need positions, CB/OL/QB/S, are all going to be off the board. This is also being touted widely as a deep draft. Both facts seem to make #30 a bit of a no man's land. Last year, I had an early read on Harvin and felt very strongly about him months before the draft. This year I have no such sense of urgency about anybody who's coming up in conversations. So, with that in mind I want to send out feelers. If anybody would like to see us move up, who do you want, where do you think you can get him, and what do you imagine we would have to give up for it? If moving back seems like a better idea, make your case. 'Cause I'm feeling like I want something else to think about than living with #30.

So, for those who want to feel good about our chances (statistically speaking), here's the latest Accuscore Report, based on 10,000 simulations.  We are projected to have a 99% chance of making the playoffs, a 94% chance of winning the division, and are likely to finish the season at 13-3.  Not bad.  

To make 75 words, I'll ask, is anyone aware of when the flex games will be determined?  I haven't heard any discussion of whether we'll be getting any extra Vikings games in Prime Time.  

So, we all know the one that was called (and that cost us the game).  New photojournalistic evidence reveals a better example of what tripping looks like in the NFL.  Desperate, flailing, defeated, laying on one's back, completely out of the play, having been run over by a freight train, and having nothing left to do but throw up one's legs, etc.  As the Steelers will be if we have the fortune of playing them again when it really counts.  

Another great game for Sydney Rice.  Check out the names of the eight receivers who rank above him, all of whom are big time NFL stars.  Like to see our guy rising up to join the elite.

The hype surrounding Favre this past Monday night was no doubt deserved.  Offensive player of the week under the scrutiny of the national media, equally deserved.  Allen was a monster and should have been awarded defensive honors.  But, as a fan who notices every detail, who screams Kennedy's name after a giant sack, while everyone else in the room is asking "Who's Kennedy?," I saw something this week that I think you'd have to have been an SBNation blogger to see.  It was in the details (the under-the-helmet look on a guy's face) and it was gorgeous to watch.   What I saw was an urgency, a precision, and an aggressiveness that we have always been promised from a certain player, but that has never been there with any consistency.  My gameball this week goes to Sidney Rice.  I simply loved what he brought and think that if he continues to factor heavily into this team's repertoire of weapons there is no conceivable way defenses can line up against us.  BB is on the up.  Harvin: we all know what he can bring.  If Rice becomes a dynamic threat, it's over.  And, for the first time, this week that seems like a genuine probability.

Are folks concerned about any of the following?  For example, Hutch?

So, it seems to me that the beauty of the Wildcat (splitting the traditional QB out wide) is that you can break from a standard huddle, with the guys who would make up a typical formation, and suddenly confront a defense with a tactically different alignment they have to quickly adapt to.  The element of surprise would certainly be lost if, for example, we trucked out TJ on the handful of plays we ran from scrimmage in the Wildcat.  Given the importance of being able to use your starting quarterback in the formation so as not to announce it, what are our chances realistically of running this formation and not putting Favre at risk?  As I'm reading this morning's reviews, it seems that a lot of the same people who were thrilled to see us insert this formation are now questioning the decision to split Favre out wide. But, isn't that the whole point?

Okay, so, two things happened this weekend to change my sense of the division.  

I'll start with the bad.  Frankly, I thought Aaron Rogers played frighteningly well this weekend.  I did not have this sense at any point last year, but am now worried that he could emerge as a very legitimate top-calibre threat this year.  I just don't think I could stand it if the Packers turn out to have another stable, top-shelf young gunslinger.  

And, for the good.  Man, watching the Bears last night made my mouth water.  Orlando Pace is an absolute dinosaur.  Dumervil is both less explosive and less powerful than Jared Allen and absolutely dominated Pace on the left side of the line.  I think the Bears are even weaker along the OL than people predicted, and if they try to add bodies to the left to stop Allen, it will only lead to more opportunities for Williams and Evans.  Looking very forward to our match ups with Chicago.  Cutler's good, but not deadly.

So, I've heard a couple of analysts say that we shouldn't expect to have any word out of MN anytime soon about who they will try to trade from among, Sage, TJ, and JDB.  I read something here yesterday that made sense, saying that we would try to move quick while the hype was hot, also that we'd want to avoid injuring our trade candidate before sending him off.  But, the post never considered, what if the guy we didn't trade got hurt before the start of the season, a bigger problem for us, since we're (now) a win-now team.  I'm of the opinion we should wait and continue to see how each of our three guys performs.  There's no reason why any of their stocks should drop (except Sage's perhaps, who's riding the biggest wave of love after his ten throws last week), and we will have more clarity after our fourth game, who we gain the most from by keeping in the system.  I think this is wise and we have everything to gain from being patient.

As I see it, we have to draft a QB in 2010, and everything depends on at least a year of stability at the position before the young man steps into the pressure of following up whatever becomes of our quarterback situation in the next two (plus) years.

More than anything, I believe (sadly) that this is the final vote-of-no-confidence in Tarvaris.  Chris Carter said it best in a panel discussion when he said that the move to acquire Favre is about opening up the playbook.  Sage is not, according to him, "getting" the system, and if Jackson has not gotten it by now, well, his time is up.  I have enjoyed watching his development more than most, but believe he has been stung hardest by this off-season and cannot grow up to be a healthy quarterback in this league under our system, and the scrutiny of our fans.  We should do Jackson and ourselves the favor of searching for an immediate deal, sending him to another team.

Sage, I believe, can withstand this transition.  He's done it his whole career, and he will be a serviceable back up.  I don't believe JDB will not ever be a legitimate NFL starter and that he will be fine for us playing an auxiliary role.  In fact, I think that Jackson is objectively better for us than JDB, but because of the reasons I've already mentioned, can't produce for us, and will probably get us more trade value from other teams than JDB.  

That means that the real question re: our future lies in the draft.  And, we have to take action immediately.  In a perfect world, Brett has a great year this year and comes back a la Elway for a second consecutive ring in 2010.  That would give our 2010 draft one year to develop under a legendary quarterback.  It is not the ideal three years that Rogers had with Green Bay, but it is what we will have to work with.

Fortunately for us this is projected to be a strong year for quarterbacks.  With whatever we get for TJ, we will add ammunition to our draft stock, giving us more strength to move up in the first round to find a real solution to our perpetual shakiness at the QB slot.  Favre, however excited people are about hims, is still not "that" solution.

All along I have worried that once we signed Favre he would bring with him the baggage from the Jets about not being a team guy.  I was reluctantly resigned to having him don Purple this year but thought, by all means, if he did he would come back during training camp to show this team that he's ready to be a committed locker room guy.  We already know he has world class calibre.  But, now, WTF?  Seriously?  There will be no way for him to escape the perception (in the locker room, of all places!) that this is a guy who felt he didn't have to go through the trenches with his teammates.  I've always tried to avoid thinking in prima dona terms about Favre, believing he did a relatively good job of staying out of the media fray this year, despite the amount of attention he received.  But, now, I don't believe there's any other excuse I will believe.  It wasn't his shoulder, we know.  And, now, indeed, it probably wasn't his knees or ankles.  Brett Favre waited until now to make his decision so that he didn't have to do what was expected of every other player on the team besides him, to attend training camp.  I'm not happy at all with this and believe that we should not accept this as an organization--even if he gives us a better chance to win (hypothetically).  This crap (I would bet) has done real damage to our solidarity.

Reading a statement from Jackson this morning, for the first time in Chilly's tenure I had the feeling that he's finally getting the message to his players that the need to hear.  Jackson's comments were as follows:

“We know we can run the football,” he said. “We’ve proven that. We just have to get the passing game [going]. Like coach said, when we have to throw the football can we throw it? Not just on running downs or first down. When we have to throw the football late in games can we do it? We have to try to get to that level and be consistent with it.”

I have been a backer of Jackson's development, and felt hopeful about his elevation toward the end of last regular season.  I have also watched disbelievingly at times when the coaching staff has not seemed to realistically appraise the challenges that lay ahead of us, or to demonstrate anything in the way of a "plan" or a sense of urgency in tight games.  In particular, I remember how completely incompetent we were last year against the Eagles when we "had" to pass down the stretch of a game that was still very much in reach and they knew it.  Over and again, Chilly's play calling was predictable, our receivers ran routes the defensive secondary had no problem shutting down, and Jackson (frankly) would have had to have been a miracle worker to have achieved any success against the blanket coverage we faced.  A combination of predictable play calling, a depleted talent base at WR, and a quarterback who still lacked confidence and accuracy. 

But, what I like so much about Jackson's quote this morning is that for the first time I am hearing the team talk about what nobody would say last year, that we need to be able to pass not just when we pull a surprise on first down, or huck a random ball downfield, but, as all great schemes do effectively, pass when the other team knows it's coming.  

I have been disappointed to hear that neither quarterback has taken clear leadership this preseason.  Truly, I didn't believe that Sage was capable of showing that kind of fire and (quietly) hoped Jackson would.  But, at this point, we now seem to be in the midst of a legitimate battle for mere reliability and setting our focus on a goal that perhaps for the first time is finally realistic.  We're talking about more than being just good enough to complement our run game.  We're talking about being able to pass when we have to.  And, I should say, I am glad to hear the words coming from Jackson.  It shows me that at the very least he gets the thing I wasn't sure he got.  

These are not the words of someone who has risen from the ashes.  But, they are also not the words of a guy who just a year ago walked off the field and told the coach that he's just trying not to make any mistakes.  

My favorite quote of the day, from ESPN's latest article: "ESPN NFL reporter Ed Werder says the rumors will not stop surrounding Brett Favre just because he announced he was staying retired."  The irony here?  Werder's one of the primary culprits for fueling the rumors.  So, when he tells us they won't stop, we should believe him.  

Please don't take this as me loving on Favre.  I don't.  I didn't even want him on our team.  But, seriously.  Is he a prima donna?  A media hog?  An big ego as he was just called this morning by a separate ESPN reporter?  Or have all these impressions just been fed to us by a swarm of buzz flies that make money off the attention we give them.  These fools inspire all sorts of ridiculous, half-baked "news" reports, churning up useless story after useless story, then deflect responsibility to someone who's basically been silent since this damn thing started.  My guess.  Favre probably did want to come back.  And, his body probably hurt real bad the more he worked it out.  And this probably scared him and gave him real pause.  Hence, the drawn out, uncertain nature of the whole thing, which only came to light as time progressed.

I've hated the coverage this thing got.  I found it obnoxious and tedious.  But, I think that it would be hard for anybody to produce any real evidence from the last several months for Brett being a media hog, an ego maniac, a prima donna.  I think this attention has been done to him and the pricks writing the stories should accept responsibility for their own desperate wish to have their name attached to the latest breaking story, however unreliable that story is. The press, not Brett Favre, is the real media hog.  They make it.  They need it.  They give it to use.  And we reproduce it by recycling the very terms they've given us to think with.

Here's the thing. I think this saga, and all the agony it produced, which couldn't be fully released in any kind of public way by the team, now becomes a shared enemy around which the guys in the locker room collect themselves. My prediction. Our big guys come back to training camp on day one saying "let's f***ing do this, fellas."  Allen looks both quarterbacks in the eyes and puts fire into their souls. TJ and SR will welcome their competition instead of resenting being relegated automatically to second- and third-string status.  We can keep JDB and see if he, in fact, develops.  I'm not worried about this ultimately and, in some ways, am actually feeling relieved. This is "not" Favre's team and would have been mistaken for such if he'd come on board. I had to do some unbelievable mental gymnastics to get ready to tolerate seeing Favre in purple and, quite frankly, had to ignore a lot of disappointment just to put myself in a position to feel excited about the year. That's gone now. And I think it all happened in time for our team to use it as motivation. Onward.

So, lots to look forward to this year.  With the eventual arrival of Favre, the question of Jackson as a starter is moot (barring injury to Favre).  But, I wonder, nevertheless, whether he might not function in an untapped, creative dimension once our offense begins to employ the Wildcat/Loki scheme.  With Favre as our quarterback, I wouldn't argue for bringing in TJack to execute the Wildcat.  The risk/benefit equation is not in our favor.  But, "if" he were the starter, I think it could be quite a threat to throw a couple of Wildcat plays into the mix with him lined up in the shotgun.  Anthony21's most recent post about quarterback stat predictions, and the replies to it said nothing about the yardage on the ground TJack, Rosencopter, and Favre were expected to accumulate.  I think that with the arrival of the Wildcat, it would only make us more unpredictable to have Jackson as a threat in that capacity.

A bit of a friendly nudge here.  In a somewhat lengthy post at the end of March Forty-Four predicted that the Vikings would not pick a WR in the first round based on the philosophy that Chilly inherited from Andy Reid in Philly: WRs are always better to acquire in the second round and later.  Just wondering what Forty-Four makes of the assertive moves both the Vikes and Eagles made this year to acquire flashy talent at the receiver position.

I'm linking to a Trib article I found to be illuminating.  Yesterday on the live feed someone made the comment that Baltimore's drafting of Oher immediately after us demonstrated that Oher was the best available pick at #22.  Never mind the impossibility of knowing that, since once Harvin was off the board, we have no idea of knowing where he would have gone next.  

This article, however, makes it very clear that NE was essentially chomping at the bit to get Harvin, and almost certainly wouldn't have traded away #23 if Harvin was still on the board.  For those who've heroized Belicheck's unparalleled wisdom in the draft, it also suggests that we've got some brain trust of our own working the front office. Finally, it is worth noting that teams were also dealing with Philly to get ahead of us before they moved up to get Maclin.

All of this, I think, points to the value we got at #22.  And, I hope, it is clear how much value we also got at #54, the ideal place in the draft to go after arguably the top RT prospect in the draft.

What do folks think about Kenny Britt?  I watched this video last night on NFL.com and was kind of taken by him.  I've raised the idea in a couple of places that our best bet might be to shop our #22 for an extra pick and slide down the board a bit for a better talent/slot ratio at one of our top two need positions WR or OT.  Britt is projected to be a late first round or, more likely, early second round pick.  He seems like he could be an ideal candidate for this kind of a move, though there seems to be some concern about his (gasp) "character."  Not sure what that means in his case: I'm inclined to like stud receivers with a bit of swagger.

I've never generated a poll here, but found myself surprised that the majority of people in the recent Jay Cutler aftermath poll believe we're in a better position for not having given up as much as the Broncos were asking.  I found myself curious to know what the general census is around Tarvaris.  I feel like a lot of strong opinions get expressed about him, but I can't always gauge where people generally stand, whether in support (or not) of him.  Limiting the poll to just three choices was a bit artificial.  Feel free to add complexity to the choices I've offered with your comments below.

And, I guess I should also add that I've (perhaps wrongly) worded the question as if Tarvaris is our team's quarterback.  Of course, we're being told that there is competition at the position this year.  But, unless we go after young talent in the draft, I think it's safe to assume that the team is still putting its stock behind Tarvaris' development.

There you have it folks, Percy Harvin!  Sanchez, indeed, fell to us and Gonzo employs the "win now" attitude of Vikings fans to justify why he wasn't chosen.  I'm inclined to agree with him here, though not because I driven by a "win now" attitude.  I think the upgrade Harvin gives us at WR is more substantial than the upgrade Sanchez would give us at quarterback (and he would doubtless take some time to develop).  I'd be interested to hear from Gonzo whether trade options would be available to the Vikings with these players available to them, where he thinks a trade might come from, and what that would position us to do differently.

Here's a direct quote from Brad Childress in today's Access Vikings Blog, responding to the infamous conversation between Housh and Jackson.

“It’s interesting because I can’t speak to any of T.J. Houshmandzadeh’s comments. But I’m the one who dialed the phone and put the phone in his hand and I listened to the conversation, which wasn’t more than, tops, a minute and 10 seconds. It was in our locker room. He handed the phone back to me and I had a dialogue about it and I could probably name the four conversations. I was there. I wasn’t patched into the conversation. So I’m not speaking for T.J. Houshmandzadeh, but I couldn’t paint that conversation in that litmus.”

As someone who thinks that words matter, and should be used accurately, I'm constantly impressed by Childress' utterly inability to speak in coherent sentences.  One can "paint" a conversation a certain way.  Or "cast" it in a certain "light" (which may be the word he intended to use, who knows?).  But, Childress "paints" in "that litmus."  A litmus test is a way of measuring the pH of a liquid, metaphorically, it can be used to talk about testing for the presence of something that is otherwise undetectable.  But there is no proper usage known to humans of painting in litmus.

This wouldn't be such a big deal if it were just an occasional slip, or if they were buffered by an easygoing personality.  But, I feel like every time I read a quote from Childress there are one or two sentences that simply baffle me.  Not that he has to be a Rhodes Scholar.  Most of the time, the stuff he's saying just isn't that complicated.  But, his inability to speak straightforwardly simply adds to the impression I already have of him as a person who doesn't process the world the way the rest of us do, and who's ineffective as a communicator.

Does anyone have a theory on Torry Holt?  I would have thought that acquiring him would be a no-brainer for the Beloved Purple.  His price tag is well within our $30-some million available cap room.  We wouldn't need to sign him long-term, thus leaving plenty of space for future signings.  And, notwithstanding the belabored quarterback discussion, we (in my opinion) have huge needs at receiver.  I don't think that anyone can confidently say that Rice is our answer.  And few would argue that Berrian alone can frighten a defense.  Holt would seem to add instant flair, practice wisdom, and depth.  I've been awaiting the news of his signing and am surprised by the general silence, not only on our part, but across the league.  Any ideas?

Scout.com is offering a pretty cool tool that combines the opinions of multiple mock drafts into one.  Currently 40 mock drafts are being fed into the engine.

Check out the Mock Draft Muncher (which, in the aggregate, has us selecting Harvin):

http://www.theobr.com/public/mdm/

By drilling into "click here" you can also look at mock draft timelines to track the rising and falling stock of players.  In the case of our beloved team, the trends look like this:

http://www.theobr.com/public/mdm/posTrendDisplay2.asp?pos=22

A fun time waster as we all await news on where Cutler will end up...

In addition to a RT (either Shaffer or Pace would be nice) and and WR (Holt?), I think we can absolutely get stronger at CB in the FA market this offseason.  And, we wouldn't have to trade away any picks.  I was a big critic of Griffin last year, becoming more moderate toward the last three games, when he showed improvement.  But, our secondary is unquestionably weak.  Line Rolle up on the other side of Winfield and I think we instantly become a robust defense.  With our cap room, we could go after all three of these positions, adding immediate quality.  And use the draft to add youth, which will take a couple of years to develop.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3977690

Does anyone have "insider" access to ESPN who might post the first round results from the most recent mock draft.  I'd love to see who they have falling to the Vikings.

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Yesterday, Judd Zugland posted on his Access Vikings blog an absolutely shoddy piece of journalism from our own former Kevin Siefert over at ESPN.  The story basically reports that Jackson had a conversation with Housh and that's what sent Housh packing.  

"he told them that it was all good until they brought Tarvaris Jackson into talk to him (and basically signal to him that he is their starter"

Later in the day, on the basis that the story is vaguely "interesting" he posted it a second time, saying that maybe it got lost in the "Kennedy" shuffle.  First of all, what Kennedy shuffle.  This wasn't exactly a Jay Cutler signing.

What do we gain by any of this?  Did it need to be posted twice, as if to add emphasis? Do people imagine that Housh didn't know that Jackson was the only viable starter on our team at the point he came for his visit?  

If Housh was surprised to be talking to Jackson, he's too stupid to get paid the money he wanted anyway.  More importantly, posting this article twice is insulting to fans and Jackson.