Archive for December, 2009

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the Henderson family.  First, E.J. was lost for the season after breaking his femur.  And now, E.J.’s brother Erin, who memorably rode off the field with E.J. after his gruesome injury, has been suspended four games for a violation of the league’s performance enhancing drugs policy. Henderson, a 2008 draft pick out of Maryland, had played in only one other game this year before suiting up against the Bengals this weekend to fill in on special teams for the injured Karl Paymah.  He made his presence felt by recovering a Darius Reynaud [...]

The Cardinals‘ rather stunning loss to the 49ers helped the Vikings in their quest to clinch the two seed in the NFC, but they still need a little more assistance if they want to sew that up this weekend.  And, once again, the team they’re looking to is the 49ers. To make the clinch happen this weekend, the Vikes need to take care of their own business in Carolina, and have the Niners knock off the Eagles in Philadelphia.  The Niners upsetting the Cards and Eagles in back-to-back weeks would seem an unlikely outcome, but then again, these are the [...]

What a rebound by the Vikings.  Here are my 10 points… 1.  Yesterday’s win over the Bengals was the most impressive all-around performance by the Vikings all year, given the level of competition.  A week after getting outworked by the Cardinals, the Vikings showed they haven’t become a candy-ass finesse team by pushing around a pretty physical Bengals defense.  The key was the running game, which got back on-track after derailing in Arizona.  For the first time in a long time, the Vikes dedicated themselves to running the ball, and were able to visibly wear down the Bengals’ line as [...]

With today’s convincing win over the Bengals, the Vikings clinched a playoff berth for the second straight season. They will still have to wait to clinch the NFC North, however, as the Packers were able to overcome the Bears to remain in the race. With the Saints winning to push their record to 13-0, the Vikings’ prospects for grabbing the #1 overall NFC seed are looking grim.  But at 11-2, they are solidly in control of the #2 seed and the first round playoff bye that would come with it. Amazing how much better we feel about our team right [...]

The challenge for the Vikings was to come back from a physical whupping at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals and re-assert themselves as one of the best teams in the NFL. Mission accomplished. A week after being thoroughly dominated, the Vikings made it happen in all phases of the game.  Their line play on offense and defense was excellent if not quite dominating.  Their coverage, with Antoine Winfield back in the fold, was better than it’s been all season.  And, most importantly, Adrian Peterson got back on the horse, rushing for 97 yards and 2 TDs to recover from [...]

The Vikings defense was in a mood to make a statement today against the Bengals, and for much of the first half, they did. Leading the charge was Antoine Winfield, who got back on the field for the first time in weeks, and had an immediate impact in the running game, blowing up plays just like he never left.  Unfortunately, Winfield missed his one chance to make a big play in the passing game, dropping an easy interception.  He would make up for it late in the half, though, forcing a fumble to give the Vikes a field goal attempt [...]

Rehashing what went down last week in Arizona would be redundant at this point.  Suffice it to say, the Vikings got owned, and for the first time this season, gave the faithful a legitimate reason to doubt them. Thankfully, as long as you have another game on the schedule, you have a chance to silence the doubters. For the Vikings, that chance comes today at the Venue Formerly Known as Metrodome, against the Cincinnati Bengals, a team that offers many of the same challenges the Cardinals did. Primarily, the Bengals offer a physical challenge, particularly defensively.  They have a tough, [...]

The pre-draft concerns about Percy Harvin mostly revolved around reports of a failed drug test at the Combine, and somewhat non-specific rumblings about his less-than-exemplary behavior while playing at Florida. Since becoming a Viking, however, Harvin has been mostly a model citizen.  The only blots on his record were a couple of somewhat suspicious preseason illnesses that led to a lot of bad jokes and not much else. As the season has worn on, though, a new issue has come to the fore:  Harvin’s susceptibility to migraines. The headaches have caused the rookie sensation to miss scattered practices throughout the [...]

Despite the dire warnings of observers who feared the negative influence of Brett Favre‘s presence, the Vikings locker room has been conspicuously schism-free all season long.  That’s what winning 10 of your first 11 will do for you. Now, however, the Vikings are coming off by far their worst performance of the year.  In losing to Arizona, the Vikes seemed to fall flat in all aspects of the game.  And, with such a failure naturally comes a bit of griping and finger-pointing. Perhaps surprisingly, the first real shot has come from the normally soft-spoken Adrian Peterson. All right, I’ll admit:  [...]

Made a little guest appearance on WhoDeyFans.com, answering five questions about the Vikings/Bengals match-up.  I’d probably give five different answers if I did it today, but, that’s how it goes when you’re indecisive and a tad bipolar. Thanks to Mickey Mentzer for inviting me to contribute to his fine site.  We are going to crush your team.  Nothing personal.