SBNation.com User Blog: dwarg

It's all about Webb

dwarg — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 16:11:01 -0000

What to do about our struggling offense? It's a difficult call whether or not to bench Ponder for Webb. The pros and cons of staying the course vs change (possibly just for changes sake) have been talked about extensively here. It all seems to come down to what you think about Webb.

This is where the personnel director and the head coach need to ask why they have Webb listed as a backup QB on this roster. If Christian Ponder gets an opportunity to struggle through his problems as a starting QB, why hasn't Webb been given that opportunity? Unless they feel he has no chance of ever being a starting caliber QB. In which case why waste the roster spot on a guy you have no intention of playing, especially when that guy is one of the most gifted athletes on your roster? In that case, he should have been moved to receiver as soon as they decided he had no chance of being a relevant QB and kept Rosenfels as the backup.

If the coaching staff does feel he has the potential to be an NFL QB then they need to put him in there and see what he can do with the same mediocre receivers and pass protection Ponder has had, so we can see what he can do with it. Regardless of whether he succeeds or fails at least we'll have a means of comparison by which to judge Ponder's performance--which both we AND the coaching staff can only speculate on now.

If it were up to me, I say start Ponder next week and if he continues to struggle, at the next press conference you declare Webb the starter so he has two weeks to prepare for his start and Ponder has a couple weeks to get his head straight. Give Webb at least two starts (Bears and Rams); if he looks as bad as Ponder (especially against the Rams), it takes the heat off of Ponder to come back. If he looks better than ponder we keep Joe Webb around to compete as starting QB in training camp next year (probably against Ponder since his trade value is probably nothing) since there aren't a lot of college QBs with QBOTF written on them this coming draft. Either way I think Frasier is making the same mistake Chili did with T-Jack. Anointing the starter too soon without making him compete for his job.

I'm not saying Joe Webb is the answer, just that seeing him in action with the same team around him that Ponder has will give us a basis for comparison.

Vote Jared Allen NFL's Hardest-Working Man

dwarg — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:20:09 -0000

Vote Jared Allen NFL's Hardest-Working Man

Head on over to NFL.com to vote for Jared Allen as the NFL's Hardest-Working Man this season.

Candidates are:
Jared Allen
Rob Gronkowski
Calvin Johnson
Aaron Rodgers
Darren Sproles

In Defense of Brad Childress-my good friend

dwarg — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 18:44:43 -0000

Yes I'm back. The Moss circus and the cries of newly hatching Chilly haters has lured me out of retirement.

With this recent history lesson from our editor Ted Glover. I thought I'd look back to a little more recent history also from our own Ted Glover.

All I want to know is how is the Childress this year different from the Childress of last year? One year he's a mastermind that had assembled the players to make his KAO blossom into a potent bouquet of offensive firepower. Now he's an incompetent dictator? All he had to do was shoot a commercial to tell you that he did the right thing all the time and people believed it?

Last year when anyone pointed out how Chilly was an underachiever with all the talent he had at his disposal it was a form of heresy. On KFAN Dan Barreiro branded them "the Chilly haters" that would never be satisfied. Sludge immediately dismissed them from Vikings fanline as irrational. The vast majority claimed he had earned that contract extension. Two more wins each year, they exclaimed. He personally found and drafted Peterson and Harvin then negotiated contracts with Hutch and Jared Allen apparently with no help from Messieurs Spielman or Studwell and no help from an owner willing to spend money.

That is the frustrating thing. The squandered opportunity we had as fans. With an owner willing to spend the money to put a good product on the field and a great scouting team and salary cap managers and contract negotiators, if we had just managed to get even a mediocre coach, we could have had a shot at a Super Bowl. And with it a new stadium. Now we have a debacle and a team that probably won't be in Minnesota much longer.

We have no excuse for saying we didn't see this coming. On Christmas Eve 2006 Chilly cut our leading receiver for questioning him, then tried to take credit for his numbers by saying it was his schemes that put him in position to score. When he couldn't get anyone else in position to score he blamed his players and the state of the team--even after he called this the plumb job in the NFL when he got it. He has been a coward, a liar, and a delusional egoist from the moment he got here.

So yes, it's November second and I'll join the call of, "Throw the bums out!" once again. Childress and our politicians are similar in a lot of ways, let's just try not to get fooled by the fools we replace them with again and hope it isn't too late.

Yes I'm back. The Moss circus and the cries of newly hatching Chilly haters has lured me out of retirement.

With this recent history lesson from our editor Ted Glover. I thought I'd look back to a little more recent history also from our own Ted Glover.

Discuss Defense

dwarg — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 06:37:30 -0000

While I think we'll be seeing a lot more talk about "Favre vs Chilly, Schismgate 2.0: A Tale of Two Halves" in the coming week and the special teams made their share of mistakes, I thought I'd create a fanpost dedicated to our defense to keep the conversation a little more focused.

With all the talk of Leslie Frazier becoming a head coach the past few years I have to imagine his stock has fallen quite a bit this season. Admittedly, he has a lot of holes to fill but this time of year that's par for the course in the NFL. The best sign of a good coach his when the holes don't show up on gameday and right now we're seeing a lot of them.

Madieu Williams is a liability. It's hard to imagine we can't find someone else that may cover as poorly as he does but could at least tackle better.
Antoine Winfield is still hurt and can't keep up with receivers. We might be better off moving him into a nickel or dime spot for the time being to reduce his coverage time and area or give him another week off and hope he gets back above 80% for the playoffs.
Linebacker play was pretty random even when we had EJ. Greenway was looking like a monster to start the season but they have all been falling off as the season progressed, and now we have a backup in the middle. Leber looks like he's always close to the play but has a hard time finishing it. I think our linebackers need an identity (more on that later).
Speaking of having trouble finishing plays and making tackles. Our defense should be sent back to Tackling 101. Lesson one, using the appendages dangling from your shoulders to aide in bringing down a ball carrying opponent; or, wrap up young man, wrap up!
Jared Allen is MIA. Looks like we tried something different this week dropping Allen into coverage more and stunting linebackers to his side to confuse the double teams. I'm glad to see they made the effort to change things up but I don't know how effective it was. The Tampa 2 requires pressure from the 4 down lineman without a lot of exotic blitzing. We have to get that pressure back because our secondary is going to need help against the passing attack of any playoff team.
Pat Williams being injured. He seemed to show up in a big way on a couple plays during our blowout losses to AZ and the Panthers, but strangely I don't think his void is as hard to fill as the others I've listed.

Speaking of changing things up, I've got this in my back pocket. Frazier was being interviewed by Paul Allen weeks ago and they were talking about his playing days with the '85 Bears. As a parting shot/joke Allen asked if they were ever going to see the Vikings run the Bears 46 defense as they were going to commercial. Frazier said "I have them practice it all the time so it's there if we decide to go with it. Coach won't let me run it in a game, but we keep practicing it."

Now the old Bears 46 probably isn't the best thing to run in this day and age, and lord knows we don't have a safety that could hold up to it's requirements, but if we blended it with the Tampa 2 (basically left the safety back making it a 45 defense) it would give the line more help and require more from our linebackers. And I think that last part is a good thing. If Brinkley excels at stopping the run let's bring him down closer to the line and take pass coverage off his plate. Meanwhile Leber and Greenway can split the field and fly to the ball. I think a little less thinking and more action would serve them well.

This is my take on the 46 and how it may help the Vikings and is probably not anything like what Frazier is having them practice, but I can dream. Have I lost it completely? It's 2AM on a school night and I should be in bed.

Madieu Williams is a liability. It's hard to imagine we can't find someone else that may cover as poorly as he does but could at least tackle better.
Antoine Winfield is still hurt and can't keep up with receivers. We might be better off moving him into a nickel or dime spot for the time being to reduce his coverage time and area or give him another week off and hope he gets back above 80% for the playoffs.
Linebacker play was pretty random even when we had EJ. Greenway was looking like a monster to start the season but they have all been falling off as the season progressed, and now we have a backup in the middle. Leber looks like he's always close to the play but has a hard time finishing it. I think our linebackers need an identity (more on that later).
Speaking of having trouble finishing plays and making tackles. Our defense should be sent back to Tackling 101. Lesson one, using the appendages dangling from your shoulders to aide in bringing down a ball carrying opponent; or, wrap up young man, wrap up!
Jared Allen is MIA. Looks like we tried something different this week dropping Allen into coverage more and stunting linebackers to his side to confuse the double teams. I'm glad to see they made the effort to change things up but I don't know how effective it was. The Tampa 2 requires pressure from the 4 down lineman without a lot of exotic blitzing. We have to get that pressure back because our secondary is going to need help against the passing attack of any playoff team.
Pat Williams being injured. He seemed to show up in a big way on a couple plays during our blowout losses to AZ and the Panthers, but strangely I don't think his void is as hard to fill as the others I've listed.

I had a nightmare

dwarg — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:12:49 -0000

In my dream I'm watching film of the Cardinal's secondary with Chris Collinsworth and he keeps quizzing me on the coverages, but they won't stop moving around. I'm sweating and need to go to the bathroom. Then my mom brings us pizza and they start dancing... dirty... dancing...

Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate you guys on a game well played and ask about that secondary play. Have you known your defense to disguise their coverages that well all season, or was that something new for this game?

The whole team played great, but that coverage was probably the best I've ever seen a defense put together. Between disguising the coverage before the snap to the aggressive play of the linebackers, corners and safeties covering their responsibilities, obviously I'm really impressed. I'm hoping we can use it to pull our heads together and take things up a notch before the playoffs. Maybe we'll get another shot at you then.

Coach Favre

dwarg — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:09:34 -0000

Listening to KFAN this morning and they had Zygi Wilf, Sidney Rice and Shank on. They were in Austin MN doing some community outreach with kids. Paul Allen was with them and they called in a couple segments.

The interesting thing about it was they asked Sidney what the big difference was from the last two years that has helped him come on so strong. I'll try to quote him from memory:

The big difference is Brett Favre. I think of him as a coach and a player. Last year, you wouldn't see me going home with a laptop to study the other team's coverages. That was the first thing Brett did when he got here. We started watching film together and looking at the coverages we're going to be facing. We text each other all the time. He's always asking, "have you seen this, have you seen that?" I've learned as much from him as I have from anyone in the last two years.

This mirrors comments Percy Harvin has made about Favre texting him about looking at other receivers (Wes Welker) for examples and he then downloads the footage onto his laptop.

Two things strike me about this.

One, you mean no one on the coaching staff was following up with Sidney last year and making sure he was putting time in his playbook (laptop) looking at opposing coverages?! It was leaked to the media when Daunte turned in his playbook they checked the time logs and he hadn't even looked at any of the plays during his offseason rehab. Laptop playbooks were something Brian Billick started back when he was with the Vikings and took to a whole new level when he went to coach the Ravens. Now all teams use them and can track player time on them. Billick was famous for riding players that weren't putting enough time in their playbooks. Apparently, our coaches are not so good at following up on that.

Two, I've heard a lot of people talk about Favre as a coach in comments here, but from what I'd heard about his time with the Jets and Pack I wasn't sure that made any sense. He may have been better then I'd heard with the Pack, but it sounds like he's taking it up a notch in the mentoring realm knowing this is probably his last shot at a title. Between what other players are saying and listening to the way he talks to his teammates (NFL video) on the field it really seems like coaching would be a great role for him to transition into if he wants to stay near the game instead of perpetually mowing his lawn in Mississippi when his playing days are over.

Although he may need to get over his spanking fixation if he wants his players to take him seriously a few years down the road.

The interesting thing about it was they asked Sidney what the big difference was from the last two years that has helped him come on so strong. I'll try to quote him from memory:

The big difference is Brett Favre. I think of him as a coach and a player. Last year, you wouldn't see me going home with a laptop to study the other team's coverages. That was the first thing Brett did when he got here. We started watching film together and looking at the coverages we're going to be facing. We text each other all the time. He's always asking, "have you seen this, have you seen that?" I've learned as much from him as I have from anyone in the last two years.

This mirrors comments Percy Harvin has made about Favre texting him about looking at other receivers (Wes Welker) for examples and he then downloads the footage onto his laptop.

Two things strike me about this.

Although he may need to get over his spanking fixation if he wants his players to take him seriously a few years down the road.

Coaching job security

dwarg — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:50:19 -0000

NBC sports is conducting a poll on most and least likely coaches to get fired.

Currently Mike McCarthy is the 4th most likely coach to get fired while Brad Childress is the 4th least likely coach to get fired. More interesting is that both coaches have the exact same win/loss ratio at 31-25 with McCarthy having one more playoff win than Childress.

It makes sense in light of two teams going in opposite directions from the beginning of their coaches' tenures up to now. But I think another symmetry should be noted. Since both coaches have taken over the Vikings have spent more money on players than all but two other teams in the NFL while the Packers have spent less than only two other teams. Might this be a factor in team success? At the bottom of the food chain things make sense since below Green Bay we find Tampa and the Chiefs. At the top things are a little less clear thanks to owners that throw money around with no clue what they're doing (Dan Snyder and Jerry Jones I'm looking in your direction).

ESPN has been tracking fan ratings of coaches for some time and last season it was funny to see Childress bounce around the board from week to week based on weather the Vikings won or lost, though he did climb erratically higher as our record improved. This year, according to the ESPN graph, Childress was a considerably worse coach because of the interception at the end of the Steelers game (and let's not forget that tripping call (am I right R4F?)) in week 7 than he was in week 5 when he single-handedly defeated the menacing St. Louis Rams.

Does anyone know of a website that rates teams, year by year, on criteria like, coaching, free agency, draft quality, player development, ownership situation, etc.? Maybe even add to that player sets like O-Line, D-Line, RBs, WRs, QBs, Linebackers and Backfield. Taking individual names out of the ratings should reduce the tendency to over apply blame or credit to individuals, give a better overall picture of the team's structure and health and, in regards to player sets, reward depth at those positions to take into account injury resiliency.

Or we could just keep assigning all credit and blame to the coaches...

NBC sports is conducting a poll on most and least likely coaches to get fired.

Or we could just keep assigning all credit and blame to the coaches...

The Booty has left the building

dwarg — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:04:21 -0000

First Tyler Thigpen and now John David Booty.

Booty had a tryout with the Houston Texans yesterday and today he signed with the Tennessee Titans.

With TJack set to become a free agent after this year and the inevitable "will he, won't he" retirement drama coming this off season with Favre where does that leave the Vikings QB of the future? Sage Rosencopter?

Anyway, we've discussed variations on this theme before, but farewell Booty, I have only one regret, that I never really had the chance to chant your last name at the dome.

Booooottttteeeeeeeeeee!!! Booootttteeeeeee!!!!

First Tyler Thigpen and now John David Booty.

Booty had a tryout with the Houston Texans yesterday and today he signed with the Tennessee Titans.

Anyway, we've discussed variations on this theme before, but farewell Booty, I have only one regret, that I never really had the chance to chant your last name at the dome.

Booooottttteeeeeeeeeee!!! Booootttteeeeeee!!!!

Favrenugen

dwarg — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:39:17 -0000

After listening to Jon Gruden talk about Favre like a teenage girl talks about her favorite boy-band member for three quarters I introduced my wife to the term, "bromance."

When Favre was a Packer and I had to listen to this twice a year it seemed unbearable. Now that he's a Viking I only find it slightly annoying. Which got me thinking, what was it like for those on the opposite side?

After years of fawning coverage over Favre as a Packer and then two years of Rodgers/Favre comparisons and commentary; what's it like to hear the announcer go on and on about the quarterback of your rival like he's the second coming of Christ?

Does him once being "your guy" make it more or less bearable?

After listening to Jon Gruden talk about Favre like a teenage girl talks about her favorite boy-band member for three quarters I introduced my wife to the term, "bromance."

Does him once being "your guy" make it more or less bearable?

Poll

What's it like to hear game announcers profess their undying love for Brett Favre when he's playing for a rival?

Great, I'm still a Favre fan and he deserves it.

22 votes

Fine, I still have respect for what Favre did here.

10 votes

Mildly irritating, he's a legend... I get it already, move on.

9 votes

Stupid, he's tarnished his reputation for good.

6 votes

I'm going to kill someone if I hear the F word one more time!

5 votes

52 votes | Poll has closed

We know how you feel

dwarg — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:14:06 -0000

I just watched the game this morning, so I'm sorry I'm so late with this but I felt the need to sympathize with you all. Had Gore been healthy... If your number 1 draft pick didn't have sawdust for brains... it probably would have been a different ball game. The 49ers had every right to win that game.

That said, being a Vikings fan we've lost a lot of games to Brett Favre in bizzare, or downright impossible fashion over the years. So I can't tell you how nice it was to see one of his last second comebacks and be able to cheer for, instead of against, him and come out with a win.

I hope Gore gets healthy quick and you guys get a chance for revenge against the Vikes in the playoffs.

It's of small consolation, but... good game.

I hope Gore gets healthy quick and you guys get a chance for revenge against the Vikes in the playoffs.

It's of small consolation, but... good game.

Addition-AP and EJ on injury report

dwarg — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 05:22:03 -0000

Yahoo sports is reporting that AP was limited in practice due to a back injury.

Also EJ and Madieu Williams have shoulder injuries, although EJs injury sounds like the most serious of the bunch.

I hope we see a little, or a lot, more Chester Taylor and some passing this Sunday to take some of the load off Peterson. I rather he miss most of a game than several games if he aggravates an injury. Remember we got him in the draft because the previous six teams were afraid of his injury history.

Yahoo sports is reporting that AP was limited in practice due to a back injury.

Also EJ and Madieu Williams have shoulder injuries, although EJs injury sounds like the most serious of the bunch.

NFL Game Rewind

dwarg — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:07:44 -0000

Anyone out there using the new NFL Game Rewind service? It sounds like exactly what I've been looking for, but I'm curious how long the delay is between kickoff and when the game becomes available. They make it sound like it's almost a live stream, but it's not. If it's less than 4 hours I'm all over it.

By the way I tried the demo on the site, and the quality was phenomenal.

Eagles Fans are Class Acts

dwarg — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:08:38 -0000

Hey Everyone,

I'm a Vikings fan and I just had to join the Bleeding Green Nation to thank everyone for showing so much class on our board last weekend. I had assumed all fans were as irrational and immature as Packers and Bears fans but you've shown otherwise.

Best of luck to you all. I'd rather we lost to the champs then some chumps so I'll be rooting for you the rest of the way.

Hey Everyone,

Best of luck to you all. I'd rather we lost to the champs then some chumps so I'll be rooting for you the rest of the way.

Can't Buy Tickets

dwarg — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 08:29:40 -0000

As of 2:00 AM Thursday morning I can't buy Vikings tickets via Ticketmaster. I can view them on their crappy site, just not buy them.

How is it the biggest ticket seller in the universe, with a virtual monopoly on ticket sales and all the profits that go with it, can't make a site as nice and functional as their lowly competitor StubHub.com and can't even keep the site up when they're supposed to be selling playoff tickets?

I know, check back in the morning... But you see, I'm tired and pissed off and I want tickets now. So I did the next best thing and posted to the DailyNorseman.

As of 2:00 AM Thursday morning I can't buy Vikings tickets via Ticketmaster. I can view them on their crappy site, just not buy them.

I know, check back in the morning... But you see, I'm tired and pissed off and I want tickets now. So I did the next best thing and posted to the DailyNorseman.

Blackout? I doubt it.

dwarg — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:05:43 -0000

I don't understand all this ink being spilled over the possibility of a blackout for the Vikings playoff game. They made the playoffs Sunday and immediately on Monday the stories began that they had 20,000 seats remaining and there may be a blackout. Obviously the tickets will be sold out by tomorrow, if not today (Tuesday).

It seems to me someone has an ulterior motive to slander our fanbase and make it look like the Vikings aren't getting much support in MN. Both by implying that we're not buying tickets and by inciting Eagles fans to slam the phones and buy as many tickets as possible. It will look bad if there is a lot of Green in the stands on Sunday.

Anyone want to buy into the conspiracy that this story was planted by the league to help move the team to L.A. or drive the stadium deal forward. I'm selling conspiracy tickets on the cheap and I do accept Visa and MasterCard.

Vikings Win!

dwarg — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:42:53 -0000

Or at least the Purple's Special Teams won "Goat of the Week" honors from Peter King. Mr King tells us, "Minnesota's special teams. They define brutal."

You can read the paragraph here, halfway down the page. He also finishes the story with this prediction:

"I think I don't care if the Vikings are just a game out of first place in the NFC North. They're cooked. Any team that plays as poorly in all three phases as the Vikes did at Chicago -- allowing 48 Chicago points in the first 46 minutes of the game -- will be home for New Year's."

So while special teams should be the focus of this embarrassing loss how culpable is the Defense and Leslie Frazier in this? It's true they didn't get a lot of help in terms of field position and they didn't give up 14 of the 48 points, but that still leaves them with 34 points.

A lot of people have been talking about Frazier replacing Chili at the helm--at least if we cut Chili loose during the season. Is this still what the fans are looking for? Or should we ride the Kick Ass Offense to the end of the season to enjoy the higher draft pick it bestows upon us before looking for a real coach?

The good news is that Zygi doesn't mind spending money on coaches and he may have learned enough of a lesson from his last hiring debacle that we have a good chance at getting a good coach.

I'd give my right arm to have Tomlin back, but that's spilled milk now.

Or at least the Purple's Special Teams won "Goat of the Week" honors from Peter King. Mr King tells us, "Minnesota's special teams. They define brutal."

You can read the paragraph here, halfway down the page. He also finishes the story with this prediction:

"I think I don't care if the Vikings are just a game out of first place in the NFC North. They're cooked. Any team that plays as poorly in all three phases as the Vikes did at Chicago -- allowing 48 Chicago points in the first 46 minutes of the game -- will be home for New Year's."

The good news is that Zygi doesn't mind spending money on coaches and he may have learned enough of a lesson from his last hiring debacle that we have a good chance at getting a good coach.

I'd give my right arm to have Tomlin back, but that's spilled milk now.

Sir Purple vs. The Cowardly Lion

dwarg — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:47:25 -0000

Imagine that football teams are glorious knights in shining armor. Each week they suit up for battle and one fiefdom pins its hopes on their champion to bring them an honorable victory over another fiefdom's champion.

To begin the season Sir Purple faced a number of very noble opponents and suffered some very close, but mostly honorable losses, while managing the same number of hard fought victories.

Then, in week six, as Sir Purple rode into Ye Olde Metrodome marching under the cheers of his adoring fans he faced a new kind of opponent. The NFL handlers dragged out a poor bedraggled lion, slinking and whimpering about, missing most of its teeth, it backed itself into a corner for a safety.

Unimpressed Sir Purple charged, lowering his lance and aiming for the kill. As he bared down on the lion to his surprise it reared up and let out a semi convincing roar. This so startled sir purple that he fumbled his lance--falling to the turf. The lion could not press it's advantage, however, and instead just put some distance between them.

What followed was an embarrassing display of ineptitude by both Sir Purple and the lion as they stumbled after one another, occasionally landing a blow, but most wounds were self inflicted.

As time wound down Ye Olde Official had mercy on Sir Purple tripping the Lion with his flag in a near perfect location for Sir Purple to pull out his Longwell sword and finish the job. The lion twitched as a pool of dark red ink grew underneath him staining the green grass crimson in the afternoon light.

The stadium was silent as the mob was forced to confront the horrors of what they had witnessed. A once proud creature brought low by circumstance, and Matt Millen, dragged into the killing fields for some sport had been allowed to feel like a mighty lion once again because their champion was not up to the job.

Sir Purple waved his banner in victory but the crowd refused to cheer as one by one they shuffled out of the stadium with their heads hanging low. A tear could be seen running down the cheek of more than one swarthy Vikings fan. The sweet taste of victory turned to ashes in his mouth.

To begin the season Sir Purple faced a number of very noble opponents and suffered some very close, but mostly honorable losses, while managing the same number of hard fought victories.

What followed was an embarrassing display of ineptitude by both Sir Purple and the lion as they stumbled after one another, occasionally landing a blow, but most wounds were self inflicted.