On Percy Harvin, Garrett Mills, the KAO, and out-smarting Bill Belichick

virginia viking — Sun, 03 May 2009 17:01:02 -0000

Two things I hope about Brad Childress's offensive accumen: he's got some good ideas about how to use Percy Harvin; his evil plan to steal Garrett Mills off the Patriots' practice squad back in 2007 pans out.

Why? These two players have the potential to add too much versatility to the KAO for defenses to handle. Percy Harvin's a rookie, who's yet to even attend a min-camp, and Garrett Mills, though he's been on the team for two years now, has yet to see a whole lot of time on the field. Last year, he caught 5 passes for 65 yards.

Harvin, as we all know, can do a lot of things on offense. His skills could be put to good use in the backfield, in the slot, and split wide. Who covers him? He's definitely too quick for any NFL linebacker in space, and can (hopefully) beat most sub-package defensive backs, too. Devoting a safety or a top corner to covering him weakens coverage on the Vikes' X and Y receivers. Seeing him and the NFL's best running back in the backfield pretty much demands an eight-man front.

What about this Mills kid? As much as I was happy to see Shank bust out last season (pun intended), I was a little disappointed that we didn't see more of #45. Maybe he's too small to line up on the line very much. I still can't forget, though, that he set a NCAA record for 1,235 receiving yards by a tight end in 2005 for the U of Tulsa as an All-American. Clearly, the guy knows how to catch a football. Apparently, he knows how to run a few fullback dive plays, too.

This is what the Patriots media said after Belichick and Co. drafted him in the fourth round a couple of years ago. What Mills's college position coach, Matt Wells, said about him after the draft--"They have a plan for him. A team like that doesn’t draft someone without having a plan"--strikes a familiar note, doesn't it? Obviously, the Patriots' plan got derailed when Brad Childress claimed Mills off of waivers in 2007.

So, we've got two guys on the roster that are kinda tweeners, but were really, really productive football players in college. What do we do?

Well, imagine this: It's, say, 2nd and 7 midfield, and the Vikes come off the bench with their starting QB (whoever that turns out to be), Adrian Peterson, Bernard Berrian, and Sidney Rice. No surprises so far; these guys come out almost every play. Then, #12 and #45 start huddling up, too. What defensive personel do you send out?

With Harvin and Mills, the Purple could show a 3- or 4-wide set, or even a 3-back formation like the wishbone or power-i. What defense can resonably defend against both possibilities?

The problem with Brad Childress has always been that he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room. It's not a terrible quality in a head coach, actually. The Hoodie has that complex in spades. That particular coach picked right after the Vikings last weekend, and skeddadled right out of the first round after Harvin disappeared from the board. In 2007, Belichick got so pissed that he lost Mills on waivers that he stole... some back-up linebacker whose name I don't remember from our practice squad. In any case, Brad seems to enjoy beating Bill to versatile, exciting college prospects.

Let's just hope that Mr. Smarty Pants can figure out how to use them in the NFL.

Football names

virginia viking — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:00:20 -0000

always make me chuckle. We got four guys named Percy, Phil, Asher, and Jasper this weekend. Imagine: Percy, Adrian, Sage, Sidney, Visanthe, and Bernard striking fear into NFC North defences.

Loadholt, as in, "man, is he a load to get holt of," is the perfect name for a guy 6'8" 340lbs.

Don't mess with the PH unless you want to get burnt.

I sure hope the announcers have as much fun with this as I do.

SB Nation User Blog: virginia viking

On Percy Harvin, Garrett Mills, the KAO, and out-smarting Bill Belichick

Football names