Thursday, December 20, 2007

Voices from a Stranger...



Hey readers, here is another rant from an other source besides us three geniuses. If you don't remember this feature is a guest writer's opinion on whatever they like. If you feel you’d like to do this just email the tkontoast@gmail.com address and let us know. You can email that address to see if we already have one in line for that week or email your post for us to review. Also, if it’s not good it’s not going up. We are honest SOB’s that will say...hell no!

Without further ado, this week’s entry comes from one of our new loyal readers outside the state of MN. He refers to himself as the “BMOC up in the AZ” which stands for “Big Man on Campus up in Arizona” because that is where he teaches his juvenile students. He’s a great football mind and actually has experience playing collegiate football at North Dakota State College of Science and Moorhead St. He is trying to work his way up the ranks to be the next big thing in AZ and shows a little of that knowledge with this piece about our fellow Minnesota Vikings.

Are the Purple a Contender or Pretender?


Sure you hear this all the time on Around the Horn or PTI, but you need to ask yourself MN Vikings fans; do you really think they can win in the playoffs? I am going to give some pros and cons and you can figure that shit out

DA CONs

The key to being a good to great team is ball security. Sure the Vikings are +7 in the turnover margin, but that is very misleading. We have fumbled the football 21 total times. 12 of them have gone to the other team, which is tied for 10th most fumbles in the NFL. We are tied with the one win Dolphins!! Interceptions: we have only thrown 12 this year, which is really surprising considering we have a revolving door at QB. The question I ask you, Vikings fans, is how many times you sit at home and say “Oh Shit” at a bad throw by one of the QB’s? I am not confident in their throwing ability at all. Did you listen to Steve Young just rip into T Jax and say we need to simplify everything for him...meaning he is not ready for the playoffs!!


The Vikings are the 3rd worst team in 3rd down percentage—say that five times fast after a few cocktails. They are only converting 33% of their 3rd downs. The only teams worse than them are the Lions and 49ers and you know the story about those shit teams. This is a very key stat when it comes to playoff time; good teams are normally higher than 40%. If the playoffs were to start right now 9 out of the 12-playoff teams are above this mark. Only the Bucs 39% and the Seahawks 35% are not above 40%.

Defensively we are making great improvements in the secondary and our pass coverage over the last five games. Stop before you start getting a chubby over are improving secondary, look who has been throwing the pigskin in these 5 games. This is the list of premier QB’s that have been playing our weak secondary: Dante Culpecker, Eli Manning (17 ints), Kitna (17 ints), Shaun Hill(who??) and Kyle “I look like a queer” Orton. The last time we faced a real QB was Farve and he only threw for 351 yards—DO NOT think our secondary is good.


The overall defense isn’t that great either; we allow 334 yards/game which are the worst out of the NFC playoff teams. We are 5th in total penalties on D, surprisingly behind the Giants who are #1 and the Pack are tied for 2nd.

Last, you need a decent, experienced QB to guide your squad to the Super Bowl. Well just because T Jax is improving doesn’t mean he is to a Super Bowl caliber QB. Sure the Ravens won it with Dilfer, but come on now, he at least he took care of the football and that was one of the best defenses ever!!!

I couldn’t believe the passes I was seeing T-Jack put up on Monday night. He thought he was playing a pickup football game at the park. He tried to throw a fade away jumper for 30yards downfield; no one was 15 yards close to it. This is when we are trying to put some points on the board because we are down 7pts. He also had Sidney Rice wide open for a possible TD (for sure a first down) and he aims the ball and doesn’t even come close to hitting him when he is 5 yards away. Childress needs to tell him to quit his D1-AA bullshit and tell him he is in the NFL.

DA PROs

A great rushing team can do some serious damage in the playoffs. The Vikes have the best rushing attack in the league averaging 169/game, which is 20 yards more than the Steelers. We have the best average/rush at 5.4, 0.8 ahead of the Eagles. This is great to have and can be a lethal weapon if the coach uses a good schemes to disguise the rushing attack. That is why I am a little worried because Childress doesn’t seem to know this. He threw the ball more times than he ran it in the first half on Monday...and we were losing 13-6 at half. Sure we can get away with it against a shitty Bears team, but a playoff team, Childress needs to buy a clue and figure it out!


Defensively we are the number one team against the rush only allowing 67 yards/game 10 yards less than the Ravens Defense. This is great for the playoffs, but this will force teams to throw the ball and that is our weakness. I look at our first round possible match-ups and those teams (Seahawks and Bucs) will abandon the run quickly against our DE. That could mean trouble for us in the first round.

The field goal kicking is pretty strong for the Vikes. Ryan Hungwell is hitting 86% of his tries, which is 10th in the NFL (2 of his misses are from 50+). 86% is a higher percentage than the Pats, Cowboys, Packers and the Colts!! I like the fact that he is experienced and will come through in the clutch if given the opportunity.


The Vikes have won 5 in a row, which is very good no matter whom you are playing in the NFL. But the teams they have played are a combined 28-42, which is a little scary. But look at who the Bucs and the Seahawks have been beating up on, their divisions are horse shit!!

Lastly we have the most exciting player in football, AP baby.

This guy can win a game by himself. I don’t care if a top defense puts 8 in the box he still can takeover. I love having Chester as a backup if AP is not having a dominate day he should get the ball 12-17 times. I don’t think they get him the ball enough, throw some screens in for him.

DA ANSWER

I say the Purple are a Pretender!!! They made great strides this year but still miss the intangibles you need to win the BIG GAME. With T. Jax guiding the ship I just don’t think a win on the road in the playoffs is possible. It just seems like we are to one dimensional on both sides of the ball. The defense can stop the run not the pass, the offense can run the ball but can’t pass. The only way I see the purple beating getting some wins on the road in the playoffs is if AP can go off for 175+. Hope you enjoyed the read and thanks to TK on Toast for letting me be a stranger!!!

Out,
Bullhead

8 comments:

Fuzz said...

Good article Bullhead! It was very in-depth and pointed things I didn't even realize.

I think the 334 yards we give up is also a misleading stat or a not so important one. It still means what it means, but we are only giving up 18 pts a game. That's 8th best in the NFL. Fine, throw on us all day long, but if you crunch down in the redzone and only give up a FG, that's what it's all about. It's about not giving up points as it is giving up chunks of yardage. On the same note, Green Bay gives up 320 a game, 14 lousy yards less than us and they're 12-2. They are also considered one of the better defenses in the NFC by the "experts."

It's no surprise that our playoff chances rest on T-Jacks decisions like you said.

Dogg said...

The Vikings defense has lived by the term "bend but don't break" for years now. We will give up chunks and chunks of yards but you will not put the damn pill into the end zone on us period. We're comin for sure!

Anonymous said...

I am so sick of people ripping on T. Jax. Seriously, this is his FIRST full year as a starter! He is doing exactly what a GOOD first year started does, he makes some mistakes but he also makes plays too. Peyton Manning threw 28 picks his first year and his team went 3-13!!! T. Jax is now 8-2 as a starter this year and getting it done. Sure, he had a bad game Monday Night, why do you choose to focus on that and not his previous 4 games where he averaged a 106.35 QB rating and look who he is throwing too! That is impressive. This guys has a great arm, he moves the chains on third down with his arm and legs. Love him!

I've always heard two great formulas for winning in the playoffs are running the ball and stopping the run. LAst time I checked Vikes are THE BEST at both of those, how can that be considered a PRETENDER!

Dogg said...

Pretender for sure. You also need to have the ability to throw the football in throwing situations. We WILL NOT be ahead in every game which is why we won't win more than one playoff game. This team cannot throw the football when it's playing from behind. Whether that's TJ or the WR's I don't know.

Anonymous said...

I think T. Jax. has made great progress this year. I just don't think the guy is ready for the playoffs. His arm is great when he want to use it, he always is aiming the ball and throwing lob passes over the middle of the field. I don't think he understand when he needs to fire the ball and when he needs to use touch. Sure he is going to make mistakes and that is fine, but you can't make mistakes in the playoffs and that will cost the purple. I am not talking about T Jax in the future I am talking about him right now....he is not ready to guide the team to championships!!

Anonymous said...

I must say, I like the number of people eating the toast lately. Good discussion. Thanks to the owners for opening it up and letting people add the bacon. GREAT blog.

Anonymous said...

Pretty sure that is the worst guest appearance EVER!!! Keep Bullhead away from me, because I will show him who the real BMOC is!!

Vikes - Super Bowl homeboy!!

Dogg said...

Hey BMOC in Cloudy, don't hate the player, hate the game my boy. That was a great in depth article of the Vikes. Lay off Bullhead and buy a clue.

Chef, you want to add the bacon some time? You are more than welcome to write a guest article which we have each week.