The two minute drill

If you make it through this whole post, it will probably take you longer than two minutes to read it. Anyhow, these are my thoughts heading into the Vikings 2009 season

I’m excited to watch …
– The Vikings pass rush.

– Percy Harvin’s impact.

– Vastly improved special teams play.

– More 75-yard touchdown runs from Adrian Peterson.

– No Gus Frerotte playing QB.

– Beating the Packers.


I’m not excited about the prospect of…
– Dubious challenges and game management decisions by Brad Childress.

– Multi interception games from Brett Favre.

– Poor blitz pickups by the offensive line.

– Adrian Peterson’s quest for 2,000 yards and the 400-plus carries it will take him to get there.

– More talk about the Vikings expiring lease at the Metrodome.

I’m all about good times
Visanthe Shiancoe seems like a fun guy. Last year he made that classic comment about his dick. This year he’s Tweeting all the time, posting photos of big Phil Loadholt jammed into an airplane seat and telling us about mundane team meetings. He even had some good lines regarding His Favreness in a Star-Trib blog post the other day. He’s emerging as one of my favourite Vikings. However, if he reverts back to the 2007 Visanthe Shiancoe, he’s dead to me.

Obviously, this is good news
Looks like if Kevin and Pat Williams miss any games this season, it won’t be because of any suspensions levied in the Star Caps case.

A bit about the game
A lot’s been made about Cleveland head coach Eric Mangini trying to keep his starting quarterback secret (it’ll be Brady Quinn.) I think more should have been made about the offensive players on the Browns that we knew all along were going to start – like running back Jamal Lewis and his 3.6 yards per carry average in ’08, or Braylon Edwards and his bad hands, or the fact Robert Royal is the Browns starting tight end now – not Kellen Winslow Jr. In other words, the Browns offence looks pretty bad, and whether it’s Quinn or Derek Anderson at quarterback, the Vikings defence should eat this crew up.

Offensively, the Vikings get a break facing the Browns to start the season. You’ll be pleased to hear – given the Vikings struggles with pass protection at times during the preseason – that no one on the Browns had more than 4.5 sacks last year. Some of those players, like Willie McGinest, aren’t around anymore and Mangini’s brought in several ex-Jets to improve things. But the ex-Jets aren’t helping much.

I watched the Browns play the Packers in both team’s first preseason game last month. Yes, it was the preseason, but the Browns got absolutely no pressure on Aaron Rodgers. None. Brett Favre might not be what he once was, still, I don’t think you want to give Favre – even an almost 40, slightly gimpy Favre – all day in the pocket to scan the field. I think he’s going to enjoy playing against the Browns.

Of course, this is the Vikings and given their historic struggles playing on the road and playing outdoors, I expect this game to be closer early on than it should be. The Browns will get a boost from a loud home crowd in their season opener. But I also expect the Vikings to pull away from Cleveland by the end of the third quarter and win this game comfortably.

Vikings 24 - Browns 13

Hoping for the best but expecting slightly less than that
Like other Viking fans and bloggers, I’m officially all in with Favre playing for the Vikings. Sure, I was never crazy about the idea and I still have nasty visions of it going badly, but I’m a Viking fan and Favre is now a Viking. I’ll have no problem cheering for him.

Having watched Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels play recently, I now realize how naive I was to think either one of them (but especially Rosenfels, since I lost faith in Jackson after the playoff loss to Philly) could provide the Vikings with the consistently good quarterback play the team will need to keep pace with Jay Cutler’s Bears and Aaron Rodgers’ Packers. I don’t think Favre has shown us much yet, but he really is our best option.

As for worries about the Vikings long-term plans at quarterback, let’s leave those thoughts for the offseason. From February till the end of August, when there’s no real football being played, it’s natural for fans to think about the long-term prospects of the team. But now the NFL regular season is here and we’re in week-to-week mode with the Vikings. There’s no need to look further ahead than to the next game.

NFC North predictions
I meant to include them in this week’s two minute drill. But I was a bit lazy last night while writing this, so I’ll post them sometime on Saturday, when nobody’s reading the blog anyway.

I know nobody cares what I think, but I enjoy making these predictions.