First off I want to say that I have nothing against Christian Ponder. He was by all accounts a bit of a reach at #12 and I'd say that so far he fills that bill. That isn't to say he's bad. He was projected more like #30 overall, which is still very good, and I'd say that is more how he looked in action. I don't think Ponder will ever be an elite light-em-up kind of QB but more of a solid game manager that could succeed with a strong defense and rushing attack. And with how often he needs to leave games I'm not so sure he's a viable starter to be quite honest and might be better suited for the bench.

But Luck and RGIII are two of the best looking QB prospects since Peyton Manning. They are off the charts. They are 10 or 15 slots higher than all of the other players in the draft. The only reason you would pass on them is if you have an elite QB, and elite prospect, or a QB you owe a whole lot of money to. Vikings have none of the above quite frankly. There just isn't any reason to pass on them unless they get a huge deal to trade down.

With that said, the Rams have Bradford and are committed to him. They will trade down with the Browns and ensure themselves either Kalil or Blackmon. But if by some miracle the Browns decide to take a chance on RGIII still being available at #4, the Vikings need to do the smart thing and take RGIII, trade away either Ponder or Webb, and do whatever else they can in the draft.

Watch RGIII highlights. Ponder is nothing in comparison to this guy. The problem though is that the Vikings are likely "committed" to Ponder on some idiotic pride level and will build the offseason around him and Frazier's old coaching buddies and be content to march out the same losing combination next season. ugh.

BTW I'm an RGIII fan.

Pretty basic concept.  You put in Joe Webb, McNabb, AP, Harvin, Shiancoe, and Rudolph.  Those are the players but you line them up in one of two general ways.

Passing formation: McNabb the QB with Harvin, Rudolph, and Webb split out wide.  AP in the backfield.  Out of this formation you have really 5 potential throwing targets and you can still run the football normally.  Webb isn't a true WR so he'd probably be a decoy running a few basic routes to clear out for Rudolph and Harvin.  Thing is that you are almost guaranteed to have a linebacker or safety on Rudolph and/or Webb with this lineup.  The reason for this is...

Running formation:  McNabb out wide.  Joe Webb and AP in the backfield.  Both tight ends on the line.  Harvin playing slot and/or motioning through the backfield or even starting in the backfield.  Power football.  This type of lineup would be hard to defend with a two corner, two safety look, and because of the versatility of the other players you practically force the opponent to line up this way.  If they come in heavy then they run the risk of trying to cover Webb and Rudolph both with safety/linebackers.  If the DE crashes the run they risk getting burned by Webb on a roll out.  And you can still run a generic play action out of this formation as you have Harvin and Rudolph as deep target options or Shiancoe working the middle.  Or you can run the wildcat and likely most the attention is on AP. 

Note that you could interchange different players.  Like you could use this formation to rest AP and use Toby or Booker.  Or if you wanted a heavier running look you could put in Kleinsasser or Dugan.  You could also use a bigger WR instead of Percy if there was an undersized corner to force a matchup on. 

Seems like every day there is a new story about someone putting a frivolous or unnecessary hit on the rook Toby Gerhart.  Then the last day of camp a scuffle broke out between Toby and Ray Edwards after Edwards hit him after a play.  Ray Edwards said that Gerhart is doing things you shouldn't do to your own team mates in camp.  So he seems to say Toby is playing too hard for practice, or something to that effect.  But other things I've read make it seem like guys are just picking on the kid.  Perhaps it is just because the guy is so big he can take it.  Maybe they want him to play angry.  Or maybe it is, gasp, racism. 

More after the jump

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I like to spend some time each week at this website.  I also go to various non Vikings specific blogs.  Even go to our rivals SB nation blogs as well.  I find the articles, comments, and fanposts to be a good little diversion when I have some time to kill. 

And I've been noticing a trend.  Since the Favre signing, posts about the Vikings have been super common and continue to be.  And in those posts, there would always be about 3:1 ration of hateful remarks, mostly by Packers fans, to the ratio of Vikings fans commenting.  So basically I would see more Packers fans commenting in Vikings threads than our own, and most of the comments would be about how pathetic Vikings fans are.  Irony, I know. 

But lately, the haters have been silent.  Does this mean that they are starting to believe as well?

I can't wait for the game on the 4th in the Dome.  Seeing the Bears front seven dominate the Packers offense the way they did must have our boys seeing red.  Our front seven is more talented and powerful by far than either of those two.  Perhaps they'll clean things up and improve by game time but the Packers will have to throw to win and Rodgers might be spending half the game on his backside if they perform anywhere near the way they did at home against the Bears. 

Aw yeah.  Vikings offense may lack continuity right now but both sides of the ball they seem ready to physically manhandle teams.  Could be a fun year.  Already is actually.

Vikings starters dominated.  I know it is only preseason but the defense had me pretty excited.  They only had six plays with three of them resulting in sacks.  It reminded me of old school Tecmo football where you pick the offense's play and jump all over it.  Can't wait to see them in a full game. 

Starters were very efficient on offense.  I'd like to see them convert on 3rd instead of needing 4th down.  I did like how they mixed up the play calling as far as passing in some normal Vikings rushing downs.  Let's face it, Rosenfels is the Vikings starting QB.  He looked confident and in control of the game offensively.  Nothing fancy.  He just threw solid catchable balls and let the recievers do their thing. Jackson on the other hand looked like Jackson at his worse.  Sure it was second team but superman couldn't have caught some of the passes he threw.  Poor guy.

Berrian injury troubles me because those hammy's can linger.  Harvin not playing was a disappointment as that was my biggest reason to tune in.  Loadholt did not look good to me at all.  Yikes that might be a serious problem this year.  He was beat easily by the second team end on two or three plays. 

I really think this team could be something special this season.  I thought they had a good shot beginning of last season and they pulled it off after a poor start.  But this season I feel like they should have the division easily and could be trying for bigger things. 

...based on cumulative QB rating.  He is at 96.1 on the season which puts him at #4 for current starters behind Rivers, Brees, and Warner.  He doesn't have enough starts to qualify and obviously he isn't "one of the best" or anything, but if you look at it that one specific way he has produced overall when on the field.  I say leave the kid in there. 

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?archive=false&conference=null&statisticCategory=PASSING&season=2008&seasonType=REG&experience=null&tabSeq=0&qualified=false

Well, it is official.  The Williams wall is out for the final 4 games and it is unlikely that the decision will be reversed. 

http://blogs.startribune.com/vikingsblog/?p=2228

I really think they are unfortunate victims of a strict policy.  I do not feel they intentionally ingested a banned substance.  Everything seems to point in that direction and StarCaps should be liable for the lost wages.

However, and I say this as a die hard Vikings fan, I do not believe the rule should necessarily be changed.  The NFL and Players Association need to do a better job with their banned substances list because this incident obviously hurts the league in general. But if they make exceptions for accidental ingestion, then it opens the door to individuals that are really trying to mask steroids to get away with it.

If in this case NFL executives knew of the banned substance and did not add StarCaps to the list of banned suplements, then the suspension is totally bogus in my mind and officials, not players, should be taking the heat.  But that was an accusation that we don't know for sure is true.

I don't think this matters for the Lions game as the Vikes should still win it.  With Arizona's putrid rush attack perhaps it only comes into play for goal line stands.  But this hurts big time for the Atlanta and Giants games since both teams feature stellar power run games.  And of course Kevin is an exceptional pass rusher as well so that hurts in each game.

I just see this as really bad luck for the Vikings that probably reduces our playoff chances by about 50%.  What else is new though? 

So that's my $0.02 worth, any other thoughts?