The Buffalo Bills are only 3-3 and do not exactly have Johnny Unitas playing quarterback for them. So why does it feel like the Vikings will be climbing Mount Everest today in trying to get a win at Ralph Wilson Stadium?
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This pessimism has nothing to do with fears of Kyle Orton putting on a QB clinic, nor does it have anything really to do with Buffalo’s outstanding defense. It has more to do with the Vikings.
I just don’t think the Vikings have it together well enough on offense right now to walk into Buffalo and spring the upset.
After two straight bad efforts, one with Christian Ponder behind center and one with Teddy Bridgewater, a few things have become evident:
1) The pass protection is a disaster for a combination of reasons.
2) The receiver corps is not as good as the optimists wanted us to believe going into the season.
3) There is no reliable big play factor with this offense right now.
When Adrian Peterson was placed on the Go-Sit-in-the-Corner list, the Vikings lost their only true home run threat.
Cordarrelle Patterson was supposed to be that kind of player as well but after some promising early signs he’s vanished. Jarius Wright gave us hope for one game but that was more a function of the Falcons leaving gaping holes for Wright to exploit than Wright suddenly being Wes Welker.
Right now, Jerick McKinnon is the only player on the Vikings who gives you the feeling that if you get him the ball he can make something happen. He has a Sproles-like factor to his game that gives you a shiver of excitement.
However, after McKinnon’s weak pass blocking performance vs. Detroit, the Vikings might be hesitant to leave him out there in passing situations. Matt Asiata does not exactly scare you with his ability to take a screen and bust it for forty.
With the Vikings lacking big play capability, life becomes way easier for defenses. There is just no reason right now for defenses to fear anything the Vikings can throw at them.
Think defenses fear Cordarrelle Patterson? They don’t. Using Patterson as a decoy doesn’t have any noticeable impact on the way defenses attack the Vikings. Patterson being on the field isn’t forcing any adjustments whatsoever.
Adrian Peterson was the one player who forced defenses into predictable looks. You don’t have that, and we saw the result against Detroit. A big pass rush harassing Teddy Bridgewater, no open receivers and not a lot of room for running backs.
The game before that, the Packers had no problem shutting down the Vikings. And the Packers are not in the same class as Detroit defensively.
Unfortunately, I don’t see the offensive situation improving very much in the near term. The Vikings are going to have a hard time moving the ball against any halfway decent defense the way they’ve been playing.
Until they get the pass protection shored up, the running back rotation figured out and the receivers into better positions, it’s going to be an uphill battle.
It’s going to be on the D today in Buffalo to keep the game close and give the Vikings a chance to catch a few breaks and steal one. That’s the only winning formula I see. That is a long shot.
Realistically, it’s hard to imagine the Vikings winning this game. This team will likely be 2-5 at the end of the day and the questions will all be the same as they were last week.
Get used to it, because turning this thing around is going to take time and it’s going to be rough.