Sunday, September 8, 2013

Vikings Week One Jottings: Bush is a Beast, Pondering about Ponder and Fun with the Box Score

Well, well, well. Week 1 is in the books for the Vikings and it didn’t quite go the way that Vikings fans wanted it to go. When the game came to a close, the scoreboard read 34-24 in favor of the Detroit Lions. Here are some thoughts about what the heck happened:

Reggie Bush is a beast and an excellent pickup for the Lions

-         Reggie Bush had 191 yards overall. 101 via the air and 90 on the ground. Bush only crossed the goal line once for the Lions, but he was the main spoke in the wheel that ran over the Vikings. What’s more impressive is that Bush did all of this after dislocating his thumb early in the contest and right after that pulling a groin.

It could have been uglier, much uglier
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      Detroit had some really bone-headed penalties throughout the contest on Sunday; the Lions racked up 11 penalties for 88 yards. Take out those 88 penalty yards and give Detroit a couple touchdowns for about the four times they missed the goal line by inches, the Vikings could have left that game much more scarred than they did.

Umm, Adrian?
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      I believe my exact tweet was “Oh my god. Adrian bleepin’ Peterson”, when Peterson busted up the gut for a 78 yard touchdown scamper on the Vikings first touch as an offense this season. It was quite incredible and everyone on Twitter seemed to think the same way. Then he kind of went away. Adrian had three touchdowns on the day, but only rushed for an additional 15 yards after that first touch.

Adrian was getting bunched up behind the line and that could be for various reasons, one could be that every other team in the league knows the Vikings are going to run it and they might as well put a million people in the box. It helps when Christian Ponder is able to stretch the field, but we all know that doesn’t happen too often. Bottom line is if the Vikings want to be successful this season, Adrian needs to get more going.

Pondering about Ponder
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      In all honesty, Ponder didn’t look terrible, but he didn’t look good either. I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it does if you think about it. You have to look somewhat decent. I’m not a Ponder basher, but I understand why some people are. He has a leash and he’s not quite to the end of it. Other than the three interceptions, which I know isn’t a thing we can just ignore but alas, Ponder’s stats didn’t look all too bad. He went 18-for-28, 236 yards, 8.4 yards a toss and one TD toss to Peterson.
      
      Ponder looks good… okay decent… on paper, but when you watch him live, it’s not pretty. The Vikings have a very early Bye Week this season, scheduled for Week 5 after the Week 4 London trip against the Steelers. This could be a good thing for the Vikings and Vikings fans, but a very bad thing for Christain Ponder’s job security.

Come back, Kevin Williams
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      It may have just been that Reggie Bush went beast mode in his Detroit debut, but it may have been a slightly different story with Kevin Williams fronting that defensive line. Football teams are well oiled machines and it really don’t matter how much oil you got if you take out one of the major cogs to the machine.

Jared Allen looked good
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      I think we can all admit that Jared Allen never looked real great last season, but today against Detroit he was one of the few bright spots for the Vikings. Allen had four tackles, including a sack, and he lead the team with two pass deflections.

Hello, Jerome Simpson
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      Maybe it’s because Tom Pelissero left the Vikings beat, maybe it’s because he wasn’t suspended at the beginning of this season, but Simpson looked good today. Simpson had seven catches for 140 yards on eight targets. Solid, solid day for Mr. Simpson.

Fun with the box score

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      Adrian Peterson had more tackles than Ndamukong Suh today. Adrian Peterson registered a solo tackle while Suh only registered a pass deflection and QB hit on the day.

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