Greetings Rubes!

Before I get to the Vikes, MASS props go out to the Minnesota Lynx on winning the WNBA championship!  Atta girls!!!

Post Packer Game Edition...

Anyway, regarding the Vikes-Pack game, I had opined previously about Pack QB Aaron Rodgers, and if you had any doubt about his greatness, it was all on display today.  He's simply the best player in the NFL right now, regardless of position, and it's not even close.  Yes, he was playing against a pretty lousy Vikings team with their B-squad secondary going, but he is just playing out of his mind, and I will be surprised if he doesn't break the NFL record for QB rating in a season.  He's THAT good.  En-fuego~!  I will be shocked if the Pack don't find themselves in the Super Bowl again this year, simply because of him.  That being said, the Packers are not totally unbeatable.  Their defense doesn't do a lot for me outside of a few players, they're not "shut-down" by any means, they can be scored on and whatnot.  But what's weird is, I don't think the Packers really care??  Oh, you score 27 against us?....we'll score 33.  You score 38 against us?....we'll score 45.  With Rodgers playing at this level, unless you get mass pressure on him, they're going to be tough to beat.

Also, in all honesty, I had no realistic expectation of winning today's game, but just to give those guys a good sweat for 60 minutes.....priceless.  They're a better team than we are, and I don't have to like it, but I can accept it.  Rookie QB Christian Ponder's first NFL start gives me hope for the future.  He was only 13 of 32, but those are misleading numbers.  He throws a very nice ball, and his accuracy was a welcome addition to the offense.  He didn't hit any of his receivers in the foot all day~!  Good Grief! He threw a couple of picks to Charles Woodson, who made nice plays in undercutting the pass routes, but that's what Charles Woodson does.  He's a future Hall-of-Famer.  No shame there.  I think in Ponder, we've definitely got a kid to work with, and if we can add some weapons to stud RB Adrian Peterson and WR Percy Harvin, I think we can get something cooking.

Speaking of "cooking"....will somebody please smack Vikings CB Chris Cook in the mouth,....repeatedly??  The Pack-Rodgers freak-show is coming to town and this idiot gets arrested Friday night for supposedly strangling his girlfriend, and misses the game,....potential felony charges pending.  Genius.  In fact, this clown is still sitting in jail.  Note to Cook:  Hey Stupid,...we've already seen the Pac-Man (former Titans CB Adam Jones) movie and it was awful,....nobody wants to see the sequel.

Sticking with the secondary, is it really too much to ask, that a defensive back make a play on the ball once in a while?  Once in a while,...hell, I'll take once a month.  I'm really not understanding how the receivers these guys are covering are open on EVERY PLAY.  I was assuming that their job was to cover these people so they wouldn't be open.  I must've assumed too much.....and made an ass.....out of you.....and me.........ah crap.  Sure, at the end of a game some DB has 12 tackles.  Looks nice on paper, but what good is that if those 12 tackles came after the guy you were covering just caught a 3rd down pass?  It's asinine.  Not to mention that our safeties just aren't very good.  CB Cook actually has some talent, and if he could stay out of jail long enough, maybe we could slide currently injured CB Antoine Winfield to safety and get some sort of production from back there.  UGH!

This just in:  DE Jared Allen and RB Adrian Peterson are the best there is at their respective positions.  Does anybody really want to get back into the "who's better, Adrian or Titans' RB Chris Johnson argument"?  Really?  Not remotely close.

"Lamebackers"...

I would like to add something about the Vikings "linebackers".  Have they even been playing the last few weeks?  Awful,...just awful.  And they are being "coached" by former 49ers Head Coach, and Hall of Fame LB Mike Singletary???  I'm now convinced, that if the Vikings starting linebackers were myself, my Mom, and my brother, through 6 games the 3 of us would have made an equal number of plays as the guys we currently have on the field.  GOOD GRIEF! 

Vikings DT Kevin Williams, an absolute stud for years, has one sack in his last 28 games.  That's brutal, and he's not even close to the player he used to be.

Ahhh crap........

Greetings Rubes!

Well, after 4 weeks of the NFL season the Vikes are primed...........with an 0-4 record.  Ah crap.  I, for one, did not envsion this, and I'm at a bit of a loss to figure out why we are in this hole.  I think the first knee-jerk reaction is to say that HC Leslie Frazier and offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave are simply in over their heads.  I think there may be some validity to that, but take a closer look.   Have we been out-coached?....no question...especially in the 2nd half of the first 3 games, but we also followed the game plan those first 3 weeks to halftime leads of 17-7, 17-0, and 20-0, so it isn't like we've been getting pounded 41-7 week after week.  So, obviously, we're good enough to compete, just not good enough to make the plays, or put us in the right position to win.  Ultra-extraordinarily frustrating.  I would almost feel better having getting pounded 41-7 for the first 4 weeks. then you could sell the rebuilding phase to the masses.  GOOD GRIEF!  I think LB Chad Greenway summed it up best:  "...no way to sugar-coat it, we just haven't done enough to win".  Amen.  There is plenty of talent on this team, but they haven't done enough.   The OL has opened up a few holes for AP, but they haven't done enough.  The defense has gotten a few stops and a bunch of sacks, but they haven't done enough.  The DBs have made some nice plays, but they haven't done enough.  QB Donovan McNabb has made a few nice plays,..but he hasn't done enough, and has missed waaaaay too many open receivers, especially on 3rd downs.  The D also hasn't made enough plays on 3rd down to get off the field.  I'm actually feeling sorry for guys like WR Percy Harvin, RB Adrian Peterson, TE Visanthe Shiancoe, and DE Jared Allen, ....who is playing like an absolute BEAST!  Those guys are giving their all...only all for naught.  Waaaay too many penalties at crucial times, and an un-canny ability to fail to make a play at crucial moments have doomed this team to this point.

When the year began, I knew there was a bit of a "rebuild" on the agenda, although the Vikes brass didn't want to call it that.  We added, I think, 10 rookies/rookie-free-agents to the roster, a 20% overhaul, so there is a bit of a youth-movement going on. However, with a lot of former Pro-Bowlers still on the roster, (DT Kevin Williams, LB E.J. Henderson, G Steve Hutchinson, CB Antoine Winfield, QB Donovan McNabb), I was at least thinking we could still win, while some of the youth came to fruition.  Well, at least for 4 weeks, that hasn't happened.  I know K-Williams is hurt, but he's not the player he was for the past decade.  Neither is Hutchinson.  On the OL, LT Charlie Johnson has been average at best, and I'm still not sure what we have in C John Sullivan, or OT Phil Loadholt, who should be man-handling much smaller men on a play-by-play basis and just isn't.

Another thing about LB Chad Greenway.  Nice player.  Solid.  Absolutely works his ass off, but he's not ELITE.  He's not a game-changer....and we're paying him to be an elite game-changer.   He just isn't LaMarr Woodley or James Harrison (both Steelers).  But with his new salary,...those expectations should be expected, and he's just not that guy.  In fact, as far as pass-coverage, our linebackers are awful.  They'll pick off the odd tipped pass, and make a play here or there, but in the pass game, as far as covering a TE or a running back down the field, or covering so well that the oppositions QB has to ditch the original plan and run for his life?.......zero chance of that happening.  Add that to non-existent Safety play from Hussien Abdullah, Jamarca Sanford, or Tyrell Johnson and you've got an easy recipe to beat the Vikes down the field.........."go over the middle...they can't cover".  UGH!!!!

As far as offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave?........mmm....much to be desired.  A pretty simple game plan that can't get AP loose, the complete ignoring of the WRs, and the failure to utilize a talent like QB/WR Joe Webb.........very simpleton.  And rather sad.  Utilize your weapons for cripes sake~!

And then there's McNabb.  When we first brought him on board I thought it might be a good move, say, if Ponder wasn't ready yet due to the lockout, or whatever, I thought with his experience he could help us win,....(although I've never been a big McNabb fan).  I thought he'd be all geeked-up to show the world that last year in Washington was an abberation, and he'd want to prove that he was still among the best.  Eh?......not even close.  Very innacurate, and has shown no ability to make a clutch play or the right decision at a crucial time whatsoever.  It's too bad.  He's a class guy.....but I think his days of being a top-flight QB are long-gone.

There's a screaming following howling for QB Christian Ponder to take the reigns.  I'm still a little leery at this point.  I do want to see what we have in Ponder, but I'm not sure if this week at home vs. Arizona is the right time.   One,..first off he would get mass cheers...i.e..."McNabb is on the bench!..OH YES!!".  But if goes a couple/few 3-and-outs, and/or throws a couple of bad interceptions, I'd really rather not have the cascade of booooos raining down on him, at home, at this juncture.  I think I'd rather see QB Joe Webb get the start, if we are going to make that kind of change at home.  He's got a year under his belt, he beat a playoff-headed Phllly team a year ago, so I don't think he'd be nearly as freaked out, and I don't want to put Ponder under the microscope this early.  Frazier has already said McNabb will start this Sunday.....so we will see how this one plays out......

p.s....I hope the Wild are competitive this year....otherwise....this will be a long winter..........

As far as the rest of the NFC North,...I have to admit it's been kind of fun to watch the Lions....(not beating the Vikings of course but....).  But they've been so bad for so long....it's kind of interesting.  Having said that, unless QB Aaron Rodgers of the Pack gets hurt, nobody's beating the Pack for the division, and maybe the entire NFC.  Right now, Rodgers is playing at a level of play, that I'm not sure that I've ever seen.....and I'm including...Tom Brady at his best....and Kurt Warner back in the "greatest show on turf days".  Rodgers is simply playing out of his mind.  Think of last year even...how do you eplain a non-descript NFC 6-seed, with a crappy offensive line and a so/so defense and no running game running the table and winning the Super Bowl?  It's simply because Rodgers is playing QB at a level that is the equivalent of the greatest who's ever played the game.  I mean, he has a very nice plethora of weapons,...but just look where they catch his passes.  It's in the bread basket time and time again, and it's just obvious he is sooooooooo in his prime.  I wish to God that he played for the Titans or something, but it is what it is......

Greetings Rubes!  Hope you were all able to share the 10th anniversary of 9/11 with friends and family in peace and in good health.

Mass condolences go out to the friends and families of those affected by the Russian plane crash which killed 47 people, including former Minnesota Wild winger Pavol Demitra.  RIP.

Well, after suffering through yesterdays Vikings loss, I felt it behooved me to share a few thoughts.  First off.....39 passing yards?........for the entire game?   Hideously unacceptable.  I know the blogosphere is already howling about Donovan McNabb being washed up and we need to start Christian Ponder right away and blah, blah, blah.  But I'm looking at this debacle from a different angle, and I'm very disappointed with the game plan that new offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave vomited upon us yesterday.  All through the preseason (I know, I know..preseason doesn't count--but I want to make a point here), all through the preseason, whether it was 1st, 2nd, or 3rd stringers, no matter who was at quarterback, the Vikes spread the ball around very evenly between the backs, wideouts, tight ends...it was very unpredictable and had some flow to it, and I was thinking the days of ex-head coach Brad Childress "kick-ass offense" were behind us.  Instead, yesterday we get Adrian on 1st down, Adrian on 2nd down, then attempt a dump-off to Percy Harvin on 3rd down and hope he runs for it.  That was it.  For four quarters??  I'm not questioning featuring Adrian, but the predictability was not what I was looking for.  Contributions from Bernard Berrian, Visanthe Shiancoe, Kyle Rudolph, Lorenzo Booker, Greg Camarillo, and Devin Aromashodu yesterday?  Zero.  Efforts to include any of these guys in the play calling...maybe a couple of times.  What is that?  Prime example of piss-poor play calling:  3rd quarter, Vikes ball around their own 40 or so, 1st down, and we line up in our Blazer formation (our version of the Wildcat)  Some people are saying this was a bad move, but I disagree.  Perfect time to throw in a new wrinkle or two, but what happened?  We've got QB Joe Webb in the shotgun with Adrian and Percy next to him, arguably the most athletic trio of teammates the Vikes have ever lined up in the backfield to take an offensive snap, and Bill Musgrave calls.................????................two gut plunges.......................??  Really Bill?.....two gut plunges??  That's just sad.  Defensively, I thought they played pretty well, but due to the offense's ineptitude, the defense was stuck on the field for 37 minutes and eventually just wore down.  And they also couldn't seem to figure out a way to cover TE Antonio Gates and RB Mike Tolbert, who continually got open underneath.  Also, I thought CB Chris Cook had a decent game.  He did have two pass interference calls.  One was legit, however the other one was a really bad call.  And Percy Harvin returns the opening kickoff 103 yards for a touchdown, and for the next kickoff return...we get Lorenzo Booker back there??  Booker is a pretty good kick returner.....Percy is ELITE.....why is this an issue somehow???  Well anyway, plenty of crap to look at on film and get cleaned up before facing Tampa Bay at home next week.  SKOL VIKES!

You know who you are.....

Oh, and I did want to send a message to a good buddy of mine, who happens to be a Cheesehead and continues to call the Vikings really clever things like Chokings.  Nice 2nd grade insult, and just for that, I hope on your way to work tomorrow, I hope a bug flies up your nose and causes you moderate discomfort.