A month ago I listed three offensive players – beyond the obvious guys – I thought had to have good seasons for the Vikings to make it back into the playoffs and hang around a while when they got there.
Here’s part two of this thing with a focus on three under-the-radar players on the defensive side of the ball.
Brian Robison: Against Kansas City, Robison showed he could be an important player for the Vikings in 2009. Starting in place of an injured Jared Allen, Robison displayed speed off the edge at defensive end. He frequently beat the tackle blocking him, helped flush Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel out of the pocket and forced Cassel to scramble and make difficult throws on the run.
Robison didn’t get any sacks and Cassel often escaped the Vikings pass rush and made positive plays, but that’s not the point. Putting constant heat on opposing QBs is the point. Do it often enough and quarterbacks get hit – especially ones that can’t scramble as well as Cassel – passes fall incomplete and drives stall.
When the New York Giants won the Super Bowl in ’07, Justin Tuck emerged as a pass rushing threat along with Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora. The Giants defensive line was deadly. I think Robison could play a similar role and have a similar impact for the Vikings in 2009 – with hopefully similar results for the club in the Super Bowl.
Asher Allen: What’s a 2009 third-round draft pick doing on this list? Well, we can expect the Vikings run defence to be strong again this year. That means opponents will often be in passing situations, using three and four receiver sets. The Vikings nickel back – whomever it is – is going to be playing a lot and will be thrown at a lot.
So someone has to win that job and play well. Charles Gordon performed capably as the nickel last year until he broke his ankle. He’s no longer on the team. I don’t have much confidence in the other candidates for the job – Benny Sapp, Marcus McCauley and Karl Paymah. That leaves Allen, who has shown thus far in preseason that he is physical and he can tackle. Now he has to show he can cover NFL wide receivers. If not, then we’ll be seeing teams complete a lot of passes on Sapp, or McCauley or Paymah.
Heath Farwell: I’m cheating a bit here. Farwell won’t make much of an impact on defence. I’m putting him on here because of his special teams play.
To say the Vikings punt and kick-off coverage units sucked last year is to badly misuse the word. Those units went below and beyond suck. I don’t think it’s unrelated that the Vikes coverage on kick-offs and punts in two preseason games has looked pretty good with Farwell’s playing on them again. Farwell is usually the first Viking downfield, either making tackles or taking on blockers so his teammates can make them. He’s made a huge difference in this area already.
The Vikings coverage units cost the Vikings a lot of points and precious field position in 2008. If Farwell knee is okay (and it appears to be) and he can remain healthy, he’ll be a big reason why the special teams is a lot better in 2009.
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5 comments:
McCauley is having a very solid camp. WHen it comes to the Nickle why is he the only one on the outside? Sapp can't cover the corner nor can injury prone asher allen
Anon:
I'd like McCauley to do well as the Vikes invested a third round pick in him in '07. But what I've seen in his first two seasons doesn't inspire much confidence. The reason he only plays outside when they go nickel is that he can't play in the inside – not sure why, he's not that physical a corner. Winfield always moves inside when McCauley's in the game.
I'm not sure why you consider Allen injury-prone though. He's a rookie who has no history of that in the pros or at the University of Georgia, as far as I know.
I like he rookie too Asher Allen. I like all of them but , I think we all will see a different player this year in McCauley as we seen in camp and practices. The only way to get the experience is to play. They coached him the 1st season, he did well , then stopped the second.....they need to coach this all-world talent...what you think.
Anon:
I didn't think McCauley played all that well his rookie season. But he was a rookie. It's true he didn't play much last year as the team used Gordon and then Sapp in the nickel role, so he didn't get much chance to show if he had improved. But you'd think if he had showed enough in practice the Vikes wouldn't have been playing Gordon and Sapp.
Going into his senior season he was considered a first round talent. So there's something there. But we haven't seen it yet.
DC..good luck this year..They released McCauley
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