* When Bryant McKinnie makes the Pro Bowl, it's time to drop this sham.
* After being in the top five most of the season, the Vikings have dropped to #10 in Football Outsiders' latest DVOA rankings – thanks to their performance against the Chicago Bears Monday night.
The offence is ranked 10th, which seems a little low. The defence is ranked 19th, which seems way too high.
* Sports Illustrated's Peter King and the National Football Post's Matt Bowen aren't bullish on the Vikings anymore. You can check out both stories here and here.
Bowen writes that the Vikes are in danger of being a one-and-done playoff team. I wouldn't say they are a one-and-done team. But they definitely look like a classic "win-one-at-home and-then-lose-the-next-one-on-the-road" playoff team.
* And while the Vikings have plenty of things to worry about, Adrian Peterson's latest fumble makes me wonder if he'll ever be the sure-handed runner we'd all like him to be.
I was checking out some comments at the Vikings Gab blog today and one person remarked about the difference you see in how Percy Harvin handles the ball when he's being tackled compared to Peterson.
Now Harvin's going to end up handling the football about 250 times less than Peterson this year, but in just under 110 touches this season, Harvin's fumbled once.
And if you watch him when he's being tackled, you see why. Harvin almost always keeps the ball close to his chest and if an opponent so much as lays a fingertip on him, he immediately secures the ball with two hands. Harvin still gets multiple yards after contact and is a load to bring down – just like Peterson – but he holds onto the ball.
Too often Peterson doesn't and his problem seems to be twofold. One – he's got a bad habit of holding the ball in one arm away from his body, a position that makes it easier for opponents to rip the ball away from him as Hunter Hillenmeyer did on Monday night.
Two – he doesn't seem to have great awareness when he's in a crowd of defenders, or in a position where he's about to be tackled, to get the ball in a more secure body position and then fight for extra yardage.
Peterson is in his third season and he still does these things. It's all correctable, just like Randy Moss' laziness and Daunte Culpepper's inability to read a defence should have been correctable. But those guys never did correct their mistakes and I've got a feeling Peterson will never correct his. It will be that one nasty flaw that will have football fans say, "Adrian Peterson was awesome, but ...."
It always seems to be that way with the Viking greats.
* By the way, Minnesotans, can you tell me what's happened to Patrick Reusse? It doesn't seem right to have the Vikings tanking and not have the ole' Star-Tribune curmudgeon columnist telling us all he told us so.
Did he get fired or something?
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2 comments:
I don't care much for Peter King and Matt Bowen. I didn't get excited when they liked the Vikings, and I won't get discouraged when they don't.
I haven't heard anything about Reusse, so I don't know about that. I don't buy the Tribune every day, usually just once or twice a week.
I wonder if Peterson's habits are too deeply set. I like what you pointed out about Harvin. I would think that Peterson would do anything he could to improve his game, but I'll also bet he never had to protect the ball to find huge success in college. old habits die hard (which is why you're posting, no?). Heh.
Peter:
Not sure why Peterson hasn't been able to fix the fumbling problem. He's improved as a receiver and a blocker this year, but the fumbling persists. I don't get it. Maybe (hopefully) next year he solves it.
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