Archive for December, 2011

The Vikings know who their starting center will be for the next few years. But what about the other four offensive line positions? As of now, John Sullivan is the only man who is guaranteed a job for 2012. Let’s examine the other four spots from left to right: Left tackle  To put it bluntly, Charlie Johnson has no business playing left tackle in the NFL. His run blocking has been passable, but in pass protection he has been a glaring liability. If Christian Ponder is going to develop he will need someone a lot better guarding his blindside. That’s [...]

The Vikings offensive line has been a horrific mess this season, however if there has been any bright spot it’s been center John Sullivan. Sullivan has improved at handling the bull rush from nose tackles and been an excellent second level blocker for the run game. There has been a vibe that the Vikings were looking to extend Sullivan past this season before he hit free agency and the team has done just that giving the former Notre Dame Fighting Irishman a 5-year deal for $25 million that includes at least $10 million guaranteed. This will now make Sullivan one [...]

Tom Pelissero has blown the lid off the Vikings’ disaster of a defense. The big bombshell in Pelissero’s piece is the revelation that early in the year players routinely ignored Fred Pagac’s calls, instead shouting out their own plays. The major issue according to Pelissero was “the timing and frequency of blitzes and man-coverage” calls. Does that mean the players thought they were blitzing too much or not enough? Whatever the case, it’s obvious the players had no faith in Pagac from the beginning. This could help explain why the Vikings kept blowing leads in the second half. It certainly [...]

If you haven’t heard yet, there’s a new way to play fantasy football that turns the season long grind into quick hitting one week leagues. And the best part is that you can win cash every single week. You draft a team for one week and get paid out that Monday night when the MNF game ends and the week is complete. DraftStreet.com is at the forefront of this new trend in the fantasy world and is giving us a great promotion for week 15 of the NFL season: a FREE one-week fantasy league with $200 in prizes exclusively for [...]

Series: Vikings lead 20-9 Last Meeting(s): The Vikings opened the 2010 season with a 14-9 loss to the Saints at the Superdome. The last game of the Vikings’ 2009 season was also a loss in New Orleans, in the NFC Championship. The 2010 game was the Week 1 Thursday kickoff game (I’m sure the NFL has an official name for that game, I’m not going to bother) and was supposed to be a shootout. But the Vikings had trouble moving the ball; Sidney Rice missed the game, Brett Favre looked a little rusty (you mean he didn’t practice before the [...]

On the surface this looks like an embarrassing story for the Vikings. The team offered Packers practice squad receiver Tori Gurley a roster spot but Gurley turned the Vikings down to remain on the Packers’ PS. The Packers reportedly gave Gurley a raise, but Gurley says he would’ve stayed even without the pay bump because “he didn’t want his season to end in three weeks.” I’m sure there are lots of Packer fans just giddy at the idea that this guy would rather be a practice squad hand for the Packers than a full-fledged member of the Vikings roster. Their [...]

This week’s five questions features Keith Null of Who Dat Dish. We discuss the New Orleans Saints (and take a gratuitous shot at Aaron Rodgers)… TVA: How legit are the Saints as Super Bowl contenders? Can they take down the Packers in the playoffs? Please say yes. WDD: Well, to answer your question I would have to say yes — they can beat the Packers — and are a legitimate Superbowl contender. Let’s face it, the Saints have a better all-around offense than the Packers. Defensively you would also have to give the nod to the Saints as I feel [...]

Sam Hurd wanted to be the Stringer Bell of Chicago but his plan went awry when he attempted to buy drugs from an undercover federal agent. According to Homeland Security, Hurd was busted by one of their agents after trying to make a deal for 10 kilograms of cocaine and a half-ton of marijuana per week with the intent to distribute said substances around the Chicagoland area. Hurd was prepared to pay $25,000-per-kilo for the cocaine and $450-per-pound for the marijuana.

This one’s already as official as it’s going to get until someone makes it officially official. Leslie Frazier will return as Minnesota Vikings head coach in 2012. The Pioneer-Press reported on Tuesday that Frazier has been assured he will be back for a second season, and in his Wednesday presser Frazier more-or-less confirmed the story. It’s not as if we needed this kind of confirmation anyway, right? We all knew Frazier would get at least two seasons from Zygi Wilf. In my mind this is the right move. It would’ve been unfair to can Frazier after everything that happened this [...]

Blown calls make good talkers. This is one of the immutable laws of the sports gab universe, right up there with “Tim Tebow conversations will always end with someone calling someone else an a-hole.” However, as with all laws (even the immutable ones), there’s lots of gray area here. Not all blown calls are created equal. Some matter more than others. Some, like the blown face-mask call on the last play between the Vikings and Lions, barely matter at all. That may seem like a stunning statement for a Vikings blogger to make but I’m making it anyway. I really [...]