The Purple were 4 of 11 on third downs yesterday.  The third down story reflects the story of the entire game. For the most part the Vikes had manageable third downs in the first half: 3 & 6, 3 & 5. By and large our beloved Purple did not put themselves into 3^rd and long in the first half. The second half was the complete opposite. They rarely were in third and manageable. We would all agree they have to convert the manageable third downs.

Because the Purple were not able to convert they were obviously putting the Bolts offense on the field. And when on the field the Chargers chewed up clock. Ironically, I think that is the approach the Vikes would like to employ. I think the Purple would like to chew the clock with the running game and keep opposing offenses off the field. But the Bolts pulled the switch a roo. They were the ones controlling the clock yesterday.

The Vikes had the ball for a total of less than 8 minutes in the ENTIRE second half yesterday. 8 minutes total.

Musgrave came under much criticism for his playcalling yesterday with what seemingly looked like: run, run, pass, punt. It certainly seemed like the Purple could run on the Bolts D. The Vikes did rush for 6.1 per. Yet the offense seemed disjointed and could not get into any rhythm. The offense seemed out of sorts the entire afternoon. Then when we needed som Mo’; Webb came in and the out of rhythm nation that is the Minnesota offense sputtered into a 3 and out. It begged the question whether Webb coming in at that point was scripted or a gut call?

Regardless, your beloved head football coach nailed it. The second half Vikes were not the same as the first half Vikes. We call that inconsistency. We were abysmal on third down and need to convert and execute when called upon. I’m looking at you BB. That said, we need to put our beloved Purple into successful positions. I’m looking at you Bill Musgrave.

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A few points of Purple Homerism –

-       Hello Berrian, nice to meet you. I have preached it to Vikings fans with a feverish voice! Berrian is worth the risk. The man can flat fly down the numbers and is by far the Purple’s best deep threat. It was a sight for these sore eyes to see 5 hook up with 87. Looking for and need a big year from you BB.

-       A blocked friggin’ field goal? For reals? There were 3 blocked field goals total last season. For the record, one of those belonged to kicker #8 from the Purple. If not for the blocked FG return for a TD, I think even the non-homers would have felt pretty good about the first team Purple.

-       DMcNabb’s pick was flukey. #5 is going to throw more TDs than INTs this season. The good news is, he had all kinds of time to throw that ball and stood in the pocket and tried to fit one in to Kleinsasser. 97 for the Boys threw his meat hooks up with his eyes closed, said a Hail Mary and happened to hit the ball. I have no worries about 5’s decision making.

-       All Day looked really good and that’s good news for the passing game. This squad has all kinds of ways to move the little piggy down the turf.

You may remember that our Pro Bowl CB AWinfield wanted us to wait to judge this team until after the third preseason game. Well, color me Purple. I still think this team is playoff bound!

Which reminds me of a song I used to sing in the 80s. “Playoff bound, loaded up and truckin’. We gonna do what they say can’t be done. We gotta long way to go and a short time to get there. We’re playoff bound, watch ole’ All Day run.”

It was a big hit back in the day.

Enough Homerism for today!

Peace!

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