Greetings, Vikings fans, and sorry for the delay. My laptop ran out of juice. I'm plugged in and ready to go now.
Adrian has been making offensive linemen look good for most of his career, so I wouldn't say this is out of the ordinary for him. Maybe it would for other backs, but not him. One key to his recent surge is the team's use of multiple-TE sets. The Vikings have been bringing in two or three tight ends to block and it has really paid off. His 80-yard touchdown the other day? Three tight ends.
I don't think it's far to say that Mike's skills have diminished. He's just a poor fit for what the Vikings do. I'm not sure why they brought him and are paying him $10 million in if they planned to be a run-heavy team that does not throw deep often.
Mark Craig and I alternate weeks. When I do it, I do it on Tuesdays. When Mark does it, he does Mondays. Mark will be your man next Monday.
It's too early to say. Seems to be heading in the right direction, but it didn't look like he was close to playing Sunday. He did nothing in early warmups.
I'll let him know you're interested in taking over as play-caller.
Mark, I think it's been pretty obvious that Patterson is not a polished receiver, which is why he rarely plays. Yeah, maybe they should throw him a screen pass every once in a while, but teams are alert to him when he comes on the field. Take the toss to him against the Raiders, for example. They shut it down. If Patterson is going to live up to his first-round selection, he needs to learn how to run routes and get open. He hasn't done that yet.
Peggy, good eye. Every year, fans are saying this is the year he gets cut. But the guy is so valuable on special teams. He's a great returner and he is one of the NFL's best gunners on punt coverage. The Vikings love him and he should continue to be here for a while.
Congratulations, you win the award for largest chat question of the season. But it's a thoughtful one, so I appreciate that. It's not for me to say how individual fans should feel about rooting for him. That's on you. I'm the fan of only one pro team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, so I'm not sure how I would feel if, say, Sidney Crosby was charged with child abuse. I'd like to say I would take a moral stand, but if we was scoring two points a game, I might feel differently. As for the Comeback Player of the Year question, I would like to think that he will not get serious consideration for that because coming back from legal issues shouldn't be applauded. But I guess we will see.
I gave a Kendricks update (or non-update) a minute ago. As for Trattou, he was ruled out the Friday before the Raiders game but I saw that he told the other paper that he was healthy enough to play, so that was interesting. But he is the fifth defensive end right now, so even if he is healthy, I'm not sure he is going to be active anyway. Would they sit down Crichton for him? Maybe, I guess, if they think Trattou is better on special teams.
They haven't needed him to do that recently. They did in Detroit four weeks ago, and he did it and led them to a comeback win. I wouldn't worry about Teddy right now. They will probably need him to throw the ball a lot in some of these upcoming games. Let's see how he handles it and then revisit worrying.
I don't think they traded Hodges four games into the season because they wanted to drafter a player at his position after the season. Doesn't work that way.
The guy leads the league in rushing by like 200 yards.
The Vikings are 7-2. They have the No. 2 scoring defense in the league. Terence Newman, who is playing ahead of Waynes at left corner, just picked off two passes in a big win over the Raiders. What's the rush to get Waynes out there?
First one was from 53 yards, so hard to fault him for that. Second one was blocked. Looked like a low kick on the TV replays, but Walsh insisted it wasn't low. I'll be curious to see what Mike Priefer has to say about it Thursday.
I think there was great blocking involved coupled with poor execution of a squib kick by the Raiders. But boy Patterson can run when he gets the ball in the open field. Special athlete.
Coverage was pretty tight downfield. The Vikings say they were looking to stretch the field vertically more than they normally do, but the guys were not consistently open downfield, this Teddy holding the ball for so long on a bunch of plays. Kudos to him for not forcing throws to receivers who were not open.
He is a rookie playing a tough position against some really good pass rushers. Give the kid some time to grow.
They've been a little better, yeah. Using multiple tight ends has helped them, too.
Those are the three leading candidates, yeah.
Good eye, Cole. The Vikings clearly like him. Brian Robison and Everson Griffen played almost every snap against the Raiders, but they still found a way to get Hunter on the field for 22 or so snaps. Meanwhile, Scott Crichton did not play a single defensive snap. Hunter is an interesting prospect. He is one of the youngest players in the NFL, if not the youngest, and has a lot of room to grow.
You're going to have to wait for Sunday's paper for that pick, Tim.
