Vikings vs Packers: Pre-Game Thread

[bleedspeed]

Good win. Bradford really can throw the ball with touch. Dropping in those rainbows that are easy to catch. Good game for him. It will be interesting how this team would do without AP. I liked Ham from the preseason.

[Monster]

Yeah, their defense is something special. Think about the three other fumbles they forced and didn't recover! It could have been even more dominant.

Their O-line was terrible though. I mean, they were literally shoved around like a bunch of rag dolls by the Packer D-line, so I can't even tell if AP has lost a step or not because there were literally no holes to even get through. Either way, he's 31 years old and it's just really hard for a RB that age to be anything more than average. Perhaps taking him out of the picture opens up the playbook a bit and makes the offense less predictable.

Bradford was amazing. The accuracy and touch on his throws were impressive. And Diggs is looking like the next great Vikings WR.

First of all I have to say there was plenty of opportunity for LST's prediction of a blowout the Vikings way with all the times the Vikings almost created (like Q pointed out) more turnovers than they had. They did have the ball bounce their way on that Theilen fumble though.

While the oline hasn't looked good I am also not sure what they are or aren't at this point. Do we know how good the D-line's are for the teams we have played? its 2 weeks in. I watched part of the Titans game and Ap missed at least 1 big hole but thats typical. He usually takes a bit to knock the rust of. In addition we do have to remember this team is in a bit of a flux on offense integrating 3 different starting QBs at one point or another into the offense. There was one play where AP got takled behind the line of Scrimmage and while Kalil didn't do a great job of his block it looked like he may have been blocking the guy inside and AP ran inside. Is that one Kalil?

The bottom line is the running game hasn't been good enough and in the Packers game protection clearly wasn't enough. As good as AP is he isn't a vertsatile back. At times its really a question of whether you are better off with a non game breaker like Asiata in there because when he is ther you have absolutely no idea what he Vikings are going to do. He can literally do everything and can pick up some yards. I don't like ripping AP because he is one of the best RBS of all time but there are some positives of having more versatile guys back there. The word is that its a torn meniscus so I may not be out long. I hop ethey sit him at least a week there is no reason to be messing around when you have guys like Asiata and McKinnon available and a terrific defense.

Back to the oline for a moment. Last year they blocked well enough in the run game to get AP to another rushing title. What is going to be their identity this year? IDK they don't look good right now, but its game 2. They could turn it around at some point or at least be solid in one phase of the game. I have some faith yet they COULD be a functional unit although Its not looking real positive right now.

I've tried to not go all crazy on Diggs being the next whatever, but he is putting up a pretty nie case for being legit. Whats kinda crazy is Wright who sadly not that long ago you could make a case he was teh best all around WR on the team isn't even active. If the Vikings WRs keep being this legit...Bradford is gonna be in good shape assuming he can stay healthy from getting whacked around.

[Monster]

Also this was my first game watching a Vikings game on our new 55" flat screen TV that we bought earlier in the weekend and it was a great experience! Yep we finally figured it was time. Its funny my wife was the one more insistent on the upgrade. I'm looking forward to watching more sports on it and I also purchased a couple Chromebooks to upgrade the old netbooks we had. It's upgrade city at our house!

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Monster, Congrats on the technology upgrade, good time of year to do it!

In 2014 without AP and the exact same two main backups (Asiata and McKinnon), the Vikes were 14th in overall rushing yards and tied for 7th in Yards per Attempt. That's pretty solid, and both guys are better catching the ball out of the backfield.

I think the one big thing with AP that keeps teams on their toes is their fear of the big play. Even last year, he ripped off 10 runs for 20+ yards, which was 3rd in the league. So even when AP is struggling to get 1 or 2 yards, the defense is still fearful of the big play potential and will load up the box when he's in the backfield. So I think we'll miss the threat of AP more than his actual production, in that teams will probably focus more on pass coverage and doubling up guys like Diggs.

Healthy or not though, we need to find a way to get more yards on the ground.

[TAFKASP]

Also this was my first game watching a Vikings game on our new 55" flat screen TV that we bought earlier in the weekend and it was a great experience! Yep we finally figured it was time. Its funny my wife was the one more insistent on the upgrade. I'm looking forward to watching more sports on it and I also purchased a couple Chromebooks to upgrade the old netbooks we had. It's upgrade city at our house!

I've got my wife and in-laws using Chromebooks and I love that they're no longer requiring assistance every couple weeks to remove whatever spyware bs they managed to install on their old Windows systems!

[Monster]

Monster, Congrats on the technology upgrade, good time of year to do it!

In 2014 without AP and the exact same two main backups (Asiata and McKinnon), the Vikes were 14th in overall rushing yards and tied for 7th in Yards per Attempt. That's pretty solid, and both guys are better catching the ball out of the backfield.

I think the one big thing with AP that keeps teams on their toes is their fear of the big play. Even last year, he ripped off 10 runs for 20+ yards, which was 3rd in the league. So even when AP is struggling to get 1 or 2 yards, the defense is still fearful of the big play potential and will load up the box when he's in the backfield. So I think we'll miss the threat of AP more than his actual production, in that teams will probably focus more on pass coverage and doubling up guys like Diggs.

Healthy or not though, we need to find a way to get more yards on the ground.

Good post. I'll add that McKinnon certainly has the physical gifts to make some game breaking plays. They could also utilize Patterson in the backfield if they wanted to do some game breaking stuff. One point I forgot to make was I don't see real evidence of AP slowing down. He is getting hit in the backfield or making a wrong cut here or there early in the season

[Monster]

Also this was my first game watching a Vikings game on our new 55" flat screen TV that we bought earlier in the weekend and it was a great experience! Yep we finally figured it was time. Its funny my wife was the one more insistent on the upgrade. I'm looking forward to watching more sports on it and I also purchased a couple Chromebooks to upgrade the old netbooks we had. It's upgrade city at our house!

I've got my wife and in-laws using Chromebooks and I love that they're no longer requiring assistance every couple weeks to remove whatever spyware bs they managed to install on their old Windows systems!

Yeah I happened to see one on Craigslist for dirt cheap when I was looking for something when my wife's netbook had died a few weeks ago. I did a bit of research and realized you could do more offline than I thought so I bought it. It's small cheap and does everything I need for a 2nd computer I was sold. I put a replacement motherboard in my wife's netbook but of course it was still slow and I wasn't really in the mood to reinstall Windows etc etc. I'm not a computer genius and neither is my wife so I think the Chromebook is gonna work out great for her. If she doesn't like the new one that's ok I'll take it. Lol