Vikes v. Kitties - Wowza.
Did someone say "New Era Vikes?" That was a close one. Watching that first half all that could go wrong did in what looked like the quintessential Vikings choker (remember week 2 and Vikes v. Colts? I know you do.)
Because I can, here are my quick takes -
- Anyone else say out loud "Well, that's it for Jared Allen's season" after that hit he took on the knee? I did. As MCA pointed out last week, he is worth every penny.
- TJac had himself a game. Pretty efficient at running the offense. Frerotte looked terrible. Not saying TJac is the answer. Which horse should we ride the rest of the way? I have no idea, gut says TJac.
- Diesel needs to hang on to that rock, four fumbles. Yikes.
- Shiancoe is quietly having himself a season after a brutal start.
- We got lucky with that call that the ball to Calvin Johnson was a dropped pass.
- Darren Sharper has lost a step.
- This team is now winning games, it might not be that pretty but they're winning and never giving up.
- You think Arizona is taking next Sunday off after clinching their first division title since 1970-whatever? I do.
10 Comments:
Gents,
What can you say? That was a game we would have lost in years past. It was as ugly as could be, but we got the win. The "bend-but-don't-break" defense really saved us in the first half, as the score could have been 21-3 (instead we held them to two FGs and stuffed them on a 4th and 1).
Jan, I was yelling out loud that Allen was done for the year. Luckily, Mrs. BG had left the building by that point, as she would not have been pleased. The whole thing totally changed the energy level of the game, though, as it seemed to wake up the Vikes.
At one point (after the bomb to Calvin Johnson), I texted LH saying something to the effect of: "the revenge of Culpepper" as I was not yet confident that we would win the factoid game.
Yeah, Sharper doesn't seem to be around the ball as much this year. In his defense, he is like 35, right?
I am hoping that the Cardinals (and potentially the Giants in week 17) will have mailed it in, because I still don't feel confident that we can win without the WW.
Finally - TJack. What can you say? I was not optimistic that he would take care of bid-ness, so I was shocked by how well he played. He looked totally calm and confident. It helped that he was facing the Lions D, but he made some great throws, the only poor one being when he was getting hit while throwing. For some reason, I am a sucker for his mobility (vs. Frerotte looking like a statue in the pocket), and I think he may be the preferred option. That said, the Giants and Falcons have much better defenses than the Kitties.
Any update on Frerotte's status?
December 8, 2008 at 1:13 PM
P.S. Suggit fudge-packers! They shouldn't have even been in the game, but Houston turned it over 4 times, twice inside the red-zone when they were driving for scores.
Given that they still have to play at Chicago, a 7-9 season is very likely. And I love it.
December 8, 2008 at 5:54 PM
I hate to fill the usual role of jan here, but I fear he's taken leave of his faculties. As such, I now see it as my solemn obligation to sober up this weird, newfound optimism and get it under stoic Minnesotan control a bit. With that, let's just keep in mind that there's about an 85% chance that this "New Era" squad finishes either 9-7 or 8-8.
Also, I'm not sure the team isn't cutting off its nose to spite its face on the Williams injunction thing. If they had a legitimate chance of pushing this off onto next season should they eventually lose, fine. But as it currently stands, if this is all resolved, to the Wall's detriment, next week, the suspensions will extend into the playoffs (I assume, maybe that's wrong and they're only regular season game suspensions and straddle seasons). Unless the team's extremely confident in their legal position, that doesn't seem strategically very bright. Putting off a suspension to get to the postseason when you probably don't have to is the sort of thing that teams like the Vikings do, and it leads to things like De'Angelo Williams going off for 211 yards and three tuddies in the first round of the playoffs.
Anyway, good to get business taken care of against the Lions. I actually wanted to win this game more than any of the rest of the season not because of the tiebreakers with the Bears, but as a big fuck you to all the people who spent all week telling us this was the Lions only chance to avoid going winless. Umm, they still have Green Bay, who's 5-8, on the schedule. The Vikes are now 8-5 and probably on their way to winning the division. Why are all these pundits acting like it was a done deal that we would blow this game? It's OK for us, as fans on FLSBW, to be skeptical and remember the '01 game and all that, but not the national media. Detroit was lucky to be in that game, the way the Vikes have played the last 6 weeks. We were favored by 9 points.
Frerotte's up in the air as of today - quite sore, not ruled out for this week yet. We'll see. Now that the team's got some confidence and T-Jac filled in admirably and looked pretty confident himself, I hope the two of them are fairly interchangeable. I think whether we can beat either Atlanta or Arizona is pretty much independent of which one of them is playing.
Torn a little this week - probably need a big week out of Warner to keep up the FFL playoff advance, but win the real life win worse. Unless the Bears are losing, in which case I may have to go turncoat on us.
December 8, 2008 at 6:15 PM
MCA - I will pretend that I didn't hear your 'turncoat' comment about letting Warner have a big day because you want to win a fantasy football playoff game. If I did hear that then I would need to bring you before a court of your peers for judgement day and start calling you MBA (M. Benedict Arnold)
You are, however, right. I seem to have lost my mind with this team and I have no reason as to why - kind of like every season I can remember. Calling them the "New Era Vikes" may have been my attempt to repackage the same product under a different label (see: "New Coke") While nary a rocket scientist among us, we have statistically proven they will be 9-7 or 8-8 and I just have to face that fact.
As for the Williams Wall - we first need to get to the playoffs. I'd take my day in court versus just sitting them for 4 games and hoping we back into the post-season (note: we probably would have lost that Lions game without them.) Whether or not this case can actually be decided in court because of the collective bargaining agreement is one thing but there are rumors that the NFL knew as far back as 2006 that StarCaps contained a banned substance but the NFL did not put it on the banned substance list. To quote the movie Cool Hand Luke (and G n' R's 'Civil War') "What we've got here is a failure to communicate." How a judge decides what happens next is up in the air. What is also up in the air is are the 4 games defined as regular season, post-season, or even pre-season games?
Speaking of the Lions game - I 100% agree with this bullshit talk that the Vikes were their best shot at a win this year as you said they play the Puckers who look terrible (side note: is there anything better during the NFL season than a Vikings win and a Puckers loss on a Sunday?)
December 9, 2008 at 9:25 AM
jan, I wouldn't expect you to understand that conflicted feeling anymore, seeing as how you haven't made the FFL playoffs since 2005.
Good points on the Williams issue. I'm going on the unproveable (but also impossible to disprove) theory that we would find a way to get to the playoffs even without them.
Is there any definitive word up there on whether the suspensions would carry into the playoffs? It seems like it should be cut and dry based on the league's rules, but no one's covering that angle in the articles I've read.
December 9, 2008 at 9:54 AM
MCA - I have two championships in the FFL and to you I say - "Scoreboard." Have fun sucking against RTS next round.
Tons of speculation, see the link I posted about this carrying into the offseason.
December 9, 2008 at 10:15 AM
Ladies,
Sorry for the absence and the lack of insight. I have been handcuffed by some personal events and have not been in the know. This and my ffl leagues have been my source for sports news.
Regarding the comment on the side about Randy Whitman, you are correct I did not know who he was. I thought maybe he was the guy who wrote Leaves of Grass.
Alshouse, we are so on the easy side of the bracket. I wish you luck in our 3rd meeting. My team is literally limping to the finish (Portis and Barber).
December 9, 2008 at 12:47 PM
I'm not sure how much weight I give to FFL titles from the era of hand-scoring and e-mailing the Commish your pickups and that weird rule where our TE's were protected from the waiver wire. That's like equating NFL Championships from the '40s with a Super Bowl today. That said, I admit to not having won yet, to my eternal shame. In fact, I'm probably the Vikings of the FFL. Expansion team with very few horrific years, usually an early playoff loss, and complete with one season of total dominance only to get upended by a vastly inferior team when it mattered. So if I were to stop mocking '06-'08 Shark Sandwich/Your Mom, that would be like Vikes fans not making fun of the Pack. I therefore consider it a moral obligation.
rts, likewise on the good luck wishes. My matchups aren't very good this week, so I'm not real confident. Hopefully Luke and Joe blow their wads this week so one of us can swoop in for a title. Schlitz terrifies me right now.
December 9, 2008 at 2:55 PM
The fantasy vs. real-life battle is always a tough one. I had the ideal situation last week. Calvin Johnson caught a 70 yard TD bomb, but the Vikes won. That's what MCA has to wish for this week. All of AZ's points come from Warner passes, but the Vikes win the game. Gotta pull for the Vikes to win at all costs, though.
My fantasy team got absolutely robbed this week...I'm still stunned. I literally caught lightning in a bottle...and got out-lightning'd!
Jan - yes, there is no better Sunday feeling than a Vikes win and a Pucker loss. I love how everyone anointed them the division champs in week 2 when they were 2-0. Whoops.
December 9, 2008 at 5:48 PM
BG- The kicker has to be Antonio Bryant was the Angel of Death. I would have guessed he scored zero before I would have guessed he could score 32 (or whatever career numbers he put up).
December 10, 2008 at 10:08 AM
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