Frazier Gets 1st Win Despite the Injuries.

 

 Peterson

 After a very disappointing start season the Vikings finally were able to look productive under the new regime of head coach Leslie Frazier. Frazier wanted to get Peterson more involved in the game, than he was under Chilly. It was evident the first drive when Peterson was looking like a machine pushing the pile and making big plays down the field on a catch and run. Then just when Vikings fans were starting to feel good about themselves again, the best player on the team comes out of the pile and limped his way to the sideline. The extent of Peterson's injury is not yet known. The Vikings were able to plug the rookie Toby Gerhart into the lineup, and he did a good job of filling in. He had over 60 yards and 1 rushing touchdown. The defense seemed to be playing more like they were last year. They were able to get to the quarterback at a good rate and even got a interception. The Vikings are near the bottom of the league in takeaways, something that is a big problem for the Vikings this year. 

To me it seemed like the players were playing with some emotion. This was one of the few times i have seen this all year. I will give Frazier the benefit of the doubt and say he did a good job in his one week with the players to implement a fun aspect back into the game. One play that really showed me this team is going to fit until the end was Favre's impersonation of Michael Vick. Favre had a 10 yard scramble on third down and was able to scamper his way past the sticks before sliding. Every player wearing a Vikings Jersey had a smile on their face after that play. 

I was hoping the Vikings would use Webb or Jackson in a trick play, or the wildcat formation. This was not part of Frazier's game plan. I just can't understand how the so called best athlete on the team hasn't found his way onto the field for even one play this year. It seems to me like they could try to get him involved somehow.

Frazier's postgame speech was a good one. He was presented with the game ball. I am happy for Frazier and his staff. I know its not always all about the coaching, and that you need the talented players. But looking at this teams talent at each and every position, it was clear that coaching was playing a big role.

Wolves-Vikings Blog: Chilly out of Minnesota- Whats Next?

Wolves-Vikings Blog: Chilly out of Minnesota- Whats Next?: "Brad Childress Fired Better late than never is what most Vikings fans are thinking. On Monday one day after the Vikings suffered a horren..."

Chilly out of Minnesota- Whats Next?

Brad Childress Fired

Better late than never is what most Vikings fans are thinking. On Monday one day after the Vikings suffered a horrendous loss to the Packers, the Vikes let Chilly go, and will replace him with Leslie Frazier the defensive coordinator. The Vikings needed a change after starting this dismal season just 3 and 7, with for the most part the exact same players as last year. There were numerous reports of Vikings players getting into verbal conflicts, and really just having a lack of respect for Childress. When your starting QB does not talk with you, and the entire metrodome is chanting "FIRE CHILDRESS", maybe it was time to make a move. Frazier's interview. Frazier takes over, if you can remember last summer he had multiple interviews with different teams to be there head coach. It looks like he will get his chance to do just that now. Click here for Childress inital Statements

 Whats Next for the Vikings? With the hope of making the playoff completely shot down, should the vikes let Favre go? Favre who was one of the best QB's in the league last year, has come in this year and been plagued by turnovers. He is statistically in the top 3 for worst QB in the league with his league leading int's and fumbles his passer rating is 69.8. The only QB who has a worse QB rating is Matt Moore from Carolina with a 55.9 and he was benched for rookie Jimmy Clausen.

Favre is not going to do anything productive this year anymore, and i think the Vikes should look to play Webb and Jackson for the remainder of the year to see what they exactly have for potential QB's in house. Webb and Jackson have both been compared to young Michael Vick's and maybe Jackson has learned something after being Favre's understudy for 2 years. They are both mobile QB's something that has killed the Vikings defense in recent weeks, and something the Vikings offense desperately need. The O line has been terrible this year Peterson is getting hit as soon as he touches the ball, and Favre has had no time to make plays down the field.  Who would you rather see Webb, Jackson, or Favre for the remainder of the year?




It was a nice sight to finally see Sidney Rice out one the field. Hopefully he will resign with the Vikes next year

I came across this and it is very interesting how Hank Baskett is making more than Adrian Peterson. Look at the money some of the Vikings are earning. The Pro Bowler Sidney Rice doesn't even make $500,000.Check out the Vikings Pay grade

Vikes may have Blown Their Season in the Windy City

The Vikings playoff hopes might have just blown out the window, thanks to the Windy City. The Vikings have not been able to win on the road this year and they continued the trend Sunday in Chicago. The first drive the Vikings looked good driving the ball right down the field for a field goal. from that point on the offense looked stagnant to say the least. Peterson was getting hit by two Bears before he could even get back to the line. For having the best running back in the game you think the line, which has 2 probowlers on it, would be able to engage in the block and make a crease for Peterson. All he needs is a tiny crease, but that was not the case today. Aside from not run blocking very good, they cant keep a pocket, to provide Favre with some time to make a play. Favre is second this year for quarterback hits, that is something you don't want your 41 year old QB to go through. The Vikes lack of depth at the WR position was evident today. When you look out and see Baskett, Lewis, and Camirillo as the three WR on the field, you know it is not a good day. Brett Favre continued to throw more picks than touchdowns, granted they might not have all been his fault.

Where was the defensive intensity we saw at the end of the game last week? The Vikings were unable to get any pressure on Cutler and he was able to make play after play against the defense. Hussain Abdallah was able to have a career day making 2 interceptions, but that was not even close to enough to keep the Vikings in the game. The Bears have the worst third down convergence percentage in the league, but 3rd down after 3rd down they were able to convert. I don't understand how the Vikings have the same personnel as last year, but look like a completely different team.

Notes from the game

Percy Harvin was the standout on the offensive side of the ball once again, even though he was the only WR the Bears needed to worry about since Berrian and Rice were on the sideline in street clothes. He managed to fight through his migraine and ankle after not practicing at all this past week, and play in the game. He had 4 receptions for 64 yds and one TD. He left the game late when his ankle was rolled up under him on a kick return adding to the lack of depth at WR.

Peterson had zero room to run. He always breaks three tackles in the backfield to just to get back to the line of scrimmage.

 Defensive line was able to get no pressure on Cutler all day. The defense as a whole was not able to make stops when they needed to which continues to be a trend for them all season.

Hussain Abdallah intercepted 2 passes from Cutler.

Full game highlights
What do you think about the game?

Love Lifts Wolves to 2nd Straight

The Timberwolves rallied by the Knicks for their second consecutive win. In Sacramento it was Beasley who carried the wolves with his 42 points and energy, and Love was his wing man. Last night against the Knicks it was a different story, Love took on the role of Batman with his massive game of 31 points and 31 rebounds, and Beasley was robin pouring in 35 of his own. For Kevin Love his 30 30 game was the first in 28 years, that is a pretty special number to get too. Beasley said, "Kevin told me on the bench in the third quarter that I'm going for 30 tonight." Beasley thought he meant points, but Love was going for rebounds, and set a franchise record in the process. Wes Johnson also had a solid game with his 15 point effort. The wolves seem to be playing better defense over the past week, and seem to be gaining confidence as they continue to win. This could be a great combination mixing youth with confidence, hopefully the wolves continue to get after it on the defensive end. 

This is what wolves fans had hoped to see, an alpha wolf emerge. It seems like Love and Beasley are doing just that they are becoming young stars and carrying this young team. The future only looks brighter for the wolves. Word out of Wolves headquarters is that Jonny Flynn is targeting to return on Wednesday night. I expect it will take a few weeks before Jonny is back to 100%. In a few weeks Beasley and Love will still be carrying the team, Flynn will be healthy and playing his role as the floor general, and Webster will be on the mend. With the improved play of Brewer and Johnson over the past week, Rambis is going to have to make some tough decisions on who is going to get the minutes. Lets not forget about Ellington either who started the year as the Wolves SG. 

What do you think Rambis should do with his logjam at guard/small forward? Lets not forget Webster might be the best SG the wolves have.

watch Love's postgame reaction

B Easy Beasley

Lately the Wolves have been playing a little better basketball. They had an extremely tough stretch starting with Miami where the got beat by about 30 points a night, but we wont talk about that. The story that is happening now is in California. The youngest team in basketball played exceptionally well against the defending champs on Tuesday night. They where doing it with the same type of Defense that we had seen throughout the preseason. The players seemed to be more emotional out on the court the past two games against the Lakers and Kings. Love was the story of the game after the Lakers where he had his second career 20 20 effort.

2nd win of the season, Wolves/Kings Highlights

The Timberwolves beat the Kings last night in a game that gets Timberwolves' fans excited about this young squad. They did it again with defense and a little help from their young star Michael Beasley. Beasley poured in 18 first quarter points and ended the game with 42. Beasley could not miss in that first quarter. He is the one player the wolves can always turn too if they need a bucket. He can create his own shot, and he demonstrated that last night. It was not just his offense that helped the Timberwolves win it was his energy and leadership on the defensive end of the floor. He was often yelling across the court trying to help his teammates. This team has many good young players and i would love it if some of them could step it up and become that alpha wolf we have been looking for. Wes Johnson has been responding well to his role in the starting line up, and Brewer seems to be making more of an impact when he is on the court lately. 
Telfair has played exceptionally well after being inserted into the starting lineup because of injuries. In LA he had 13 and 9 and he too has brought a swagger and leadership to this young team.

The best part is that the Timberwolves have two of there top four players out with injury right now, Flynn and Webster. That is extremely important especially for the Timberwolves team who do not have a extreme amount of developed talent on their roster right now. Once they get those two skilled players back i look forward to more nights like last night against the Kings.

The Magic Has Returned

Wow, What a game!! First the Vikings looked like they would go ahead early and get an easy win against a sub par team at the Dome. This was not the case. the Vikings started out with some energy, after Camerillo made a great effort play to knock the ball loose on the first Favre interception, Camerillo highlight, play of the game.. The TV announcers made a great point, if Randy Moss would have been on the field instead of Camerillo, he most likely would have been pouting and already walking to the sideline. The rest of the first half was less exciting with the Vikings making defensive stops, and not being able to take advantage of the great field position. The kick return by Stephen-Howling, took the wind out of the sails a little bit. After the Vikes made a nice touchdown drive they responded on the very next play. The defense gave a a big touchdown right before half, a touchdown which hurt heading into the half. The start of the Second half was more of the same, Harvin fumbled the kick return and the Cardinals returned it for a touchdown. The Vikes seemed to have the energy taken from them. The defense was able to make some stops throughout the second half, and kept the Vikings in the game. The Vikes drove right down the field and were knocking on the door and then Favre threw a costly interception, I for one was thinking not this again. Then the Vikings made a stop, and the Favre made some good throws to set up the Peterson touchdown. From that drive on out the the magic was back in the dome. The Defense finally were able to get pressure on the QB, and make big play after big play. The offense scored at the end of regulation to tie,Shiancoe TD, and then were able to drive down the field for a game winning field goal. You could just see a different Vikings team out on the field, a team that looked like the team from last year. A team that played with energy and effort. A team that played for each other.

Take away from the games--

The emergence of Bernard Berrian was a welcome sight. Berrian ended with 9 receptions for 89 yards, and a huge catch in overtime to get the team down the field. He ended with 0 drops and looked like he was the Berrian of old. It was fun to see him step up after Moss was let go.

Harvin the Warrior--Harvin came in with a bum ankle and was able have a career day with 9 catches for 126 yards. After missing most of practice this week, he was able to come out and make play after play. You could see he was in pain, after almost every catch he would limp back to the huddle. He really showed with tremendous effort.

Peterson was mister reliable, he ended with 81 rushing yards and 63 receiving yards. He made a huge play in OT when he made a catch and flew down the field to set the Vikings up for the winning field goal.

Favre has career day, he looked tired, but was able to throw for 446 yards and make magical plays towards the end of the game.

Jared Allen finally tallies a sack, and the rest of the defense showed up and you could see it was like a light bulb went off and they made stop after stop. The defense finally was able to make the stop at the end of the game when they needed to which set up the winning drives.

The Vikings as a team looked just like that a team, Peterson said, "this is the beginning of a new season." They pulled together and gave all there effort to get this win for each other.  
They looked like the Vikings from last year.

Chilly's job is safe for now.