With the futures of Viking defensive ends Ray Edwards and Brian Robison in doubt, this is not the kind of news the team wants to hear.
Everson Griffen didn't make much of a contribution in his rookie season with the Vikings. He mostly played special teams and he wasn't able to take snaps away from Robison as the main backup defensive end. We don't know if Griffen will ever be any good.
But the team seems to have plans for Griffen. Both Edwards and Robison are set to be free agents. The scuttlebutt is the Vikings aren't all that interested in re-signing Edwards (Why? Why? This guy is a good player). The Vikings probably can't keep both Edwards and Robison anyway.
So Griffen offers potential and depth along the defensive line for the Vikings in case they lose Edwards, Robison – or both – this offseason. At least Griffen did until this incident.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell hasn't looked kindly on these types of incidents in recent years. Allegedly assaulting a police officer would seem to ensure Griffen misses at least four games next season. And maybe the Vikings cut ties with him altogether if things get real ugly.
The only good that come out of this is if it forces the Vikings to re-think their apparent strategy to let Edwards leave via free agency.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Good reading
I'm working on a long post about the Vikings philosophy with filling the quarterback position for the past 30 years that's taking a fair bit of research.
While I'm working on that, here is some good reading from ESPN 1500's Tom Pelissero where he grades the performances of the Vikings offensive and defensive players. As you would expect from any grading exercise about a 6-10 team, there are not many good grades here.
This is what quality football reporting looks like. There are no meaningless quotes from the players – who are generally coached these days to say as little of substance as possible to reporters.
What Pelissero is doing is providing candid, honest evaluations about the play of the Vikings players in 2010. There's no sugar-coating here and that's rare. If the Vikings players and coaches read what Pelissero writes, they surely hate his guts. But he's providing the kind of information and analysis serious football fans crave.
While I'm working on that, here is some good reading from ESPN 1500's Tom Pelissero where he grades the performances of the Vikings offensive and defensive players. As you would expect from any grading exercise about a 6-10 team, there are not many good grades here.
This is what quality football reporting looks like. There are no meaningless quotes from the players – who are generally coached these days to say as little of substance as possible to reporters.
What Pelissero is doing is providing candid, honest evaluations about the play of the Vikings players in 2010. There's no sugar-coating here and that's rare. If the Vikings players and coaches read what Pelissero writes, they surely hate his guts. But he's providing the kind of information and analysis serious football fans crave.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
2010-2011 NFL season continues to suck
If the Green Bay Packers win the Super Bowl, it may cap off the most miserable season in the Vikings history.
And prepare to read two weeks of stories focusing on how Aaron Rodgers has once and for all shown the Packers were right to let Brett Favre go in 2008 and how he might be better than Favre ever was.
I think Rodgers proved that last year, even after Favre and the Vikings swept the Packers, won the division and went to the NFC Championship game. He played great last year. He played great in 2008. And he's played even greater in 2010. I hate the guy.
However, if the Packers beat the Steelers (I think they will), it will be just as much because of the team's defence as it will be because of Rodgers. The Green Bay defence is playing very well.
But onto some Viking thoughts ....
Some interesting comments from new offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave in this post.
"Ideally, you would like to find a young guy that has a bunch of promise and potential and you would hand him the keys and let him make his mistakes and learn and but also know that he would be there for you in the long term," Musgrave said.
Maybe I'm taking things out of context, but I interpret Musgrave's quote above as a bit of a swipe at Joe Webb. I'm quite happy to hear Musgrave plans to explore other quarterback options this offseason. But I think Webb merits some consideration as a potential starter in the future.
And what do you think about Vince Young wearing purple and gold in 2011?
Finally, former Viking Robert Smith has some interesting comments about Adrian Peterson in this Q and A.
I think the comment about Peterson's blocking is more than fair. As for the pass catching, well, AP seems to catch the ball just fine when the Vikings choose to throw it to him. They just don't do it very often. Maybe Bill Musgrave has plans to change that in 2011.
And prepare to read two weeks of stories focusing on how Aaron Rodgers has once and for all shown the Packers were right to let Brett Favre go in 2008 and how he might be better than Favre ever was.
I think Rodgers proved that last year, even after Favre and the Vikings swept the Packers, won the division and went to the NFC Championship game. He played great last year. He played great in 2008. And he's played even greater in 2010. I hate the guy.
However, if the Packers beat the Steelers (I think they will), it will be just as much because of the team's defence as it will be because of Rodgers. The Green Bay defence is playing very well.
But onto some Viking thoughts ....
Some interesting comments from new offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave in this post.
"Ideally, you would like to find a young guy that has a bunch of promise and potential and you would hand him the keys and let him make his mistakes and learn and but also know that he would be there for you in the long term," Musgrave said.
Maybe I'm taking things out of context, but I interpret Musgrave's quote above as a bit of a swipe at Joe Webb. I'm quite happy to hear Musgrave plans to explore other quarterback options this offseason. But I think Webb merits some consideration as a potential starter in the future.
And what do you think about Vince Young wearing purple and gold in 2011?
Finally, former Viking Robert Smith has some interesting comments about Adrian Peterson in this Q and A.
I think the comment about Peterson's blocking is more than fair. As for the pass catching, well, AP seems to catch the ball just fine when the Vikings choose to throw it to him. They just don't do it very often. Maybe Bill Musgrave has plans to change that in 2011.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The replacements
Leslie Frazier's coaching staff is finally taking shape.
We all know the Vikings offence was pretty bad in 2010. But the defence struggled in several games as well. And it could use a change in philosophy.
Perhaps new defensive coordinator Fred Pagac will provide that change. At certain times during the six games he was defensive coordinator, he appeared more willing than Frazier to blitz and play an attacking style of defence, rather than stick to the basic Cover Two system. I think the Vikings have the defensive talent to be more aggressive in their playcalling.
The hiring of Bill Musgrave as offensive coordinator leaves me a bit concerned. As ESPN's Kevin Seifert points out, the NFL offences Musgrave has led have in the past had success that was of Darrell Bevellian proportions.
But while certain coordinators have a knack for getting the most out of their players, talent is what tends to make coaches look good most of the time.
Bevell took a lot of heat during his time as Vikings offensive coordinator for how ineffective his offences were. Yet the one year he got great quarterbacking and strong performances from a few receivers, the Vikings scored gobs of points and Bevell's offence was one of the NFL's best.
If the 2011 Minnesota Vikings get good-to-very good play from their quarterback, if the offensive line plays adequately, if receivers are getting open and catching the ball, and if Adrian Peterson stays healthy, Bill Musgrave will probably do just fine.
That's a lot of ifs though.
We all know the Vikings offence was pretty bad in 2010. But the defence struggled in several games as well. And it could use a change in philosophy.
Perhaps new defensive coordinator Fred Pagac will provide that change. At certain times during the six games he was defensive coordinator, he appeared more willing than Frazier to blitz and play an attacking style of defence, rather than stick to the basic Cover Two system. I think the Vikings have the defensive talent to be more aggressive in their playcalling.
The hiring of Bill Musgrave as offensive coordinator leaves me a bit concerned. As ESPN's Kevin Seifert points out, the NFL offences Musgrave has led have in the past had success that was of Darrell Bevellian proportions.
But while certain coordinators have a knack for getting the most out of their players, talent is what tends to make coaches look good most of the time.
Bevell took a lot of heat during his time as Vikings offensive coordinator for how ineffective his offences were. Yet the one year he got great quarterbacking and strong performances from a few receivers, the Vikings scored gobs of points and Bevell's offence was one of the NFL's best.
If the 2011 Minnesota Vikings get good-to-very good play from their quarterback, if the offensive line plays adequately, if receivers are getting open and catching the ball, and if Adrian Peterson stays healthy, Bill Musgrave will probably do just fine.
That's a lot of ifs though.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Worst case scenario comes true
I know it's petty. But I take great solace when the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears struggle. If the Minnesota Vikings aren't going to succeed, I certainly don't want any other NFC North team to succeed.
But now the Bears and Packers are set to play in the NFC Championships game. And one of them will advance to the Super Bowl with a very good chance of winning the Lombardi Trophy.
Aaron Rodgers is playing like some demi-god. Jay Cutler isn't playing like a demi-god, but he isn't far off.
Meanwhile, the Vikings have Joe Webb (so far).
Vikings fans may have to get used this scenario.
But now the Bears and Packers are set to play in the NFC Championships game. And one of them will advance to the Super Bowl with a very good chance of winning the Lombardi Trophy.
Aaron Rodgers is playing like some demi-god. Jay Cutler isn't playing like a demi-god, but he isn't far off.
Meanwhile, the Vikings have Joe Webb (so far).
Vikings fans may have to get used this scenario.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Inactivity leads to inactivity
I'm in the middle of moving my family from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories – my home for the last 12-plus years – to Edmonton, Alberta. So it's been difficult finding time to blog the past seven days.
Edmonton, and this is for the benefit of my American readers, calls itself the "City of Champions". This is due to the fact that the Edmonton Oilers hockey team won several Stanley Cups in the 1980s (plus one in the 1990s) and that the Edmonton Eskimos football team has won a gazillion Grey Cups (Canadian Football League version of the Super Bowl) over the years.
Minneapolis – a place I am not moving to yet – cannot claim to be a City of Champions.
They have the Minnesota Vikings partly to thank for that. And with the way Leslie Frazier's search for coaching staff is going, it looks like there will be no Super Bowls in the team's immediate future.
As the Star Tribune's Mark Craig points in this post, Frazier is botching the hiring of assistant coaches. He's in danger of losing defensive line coach Karl Dunbar and wide receiver coach George Stewart. And he's kept offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and special teams coordinator Brian Murphy on the staff even though he obviously wants to replace them and has interviewed other candidates for the job.
I wonder if the current Viking players and potential free agents around the league are noticing how Frazier is handling this situation. Let's hope not.
On the subject of coaches, I was intrigued by the Vikings interviewing Josh McDaniels for the offensive coordinator job late last week.
McDaniels bombed as a head coach in Denver. But his track record as an offensive coordinator in New England was pretty good. I would have been excited to see what he could have done with Percy Harvin and Adrian Peterson.
However, McDaniels left last week's interview without reaching any agreement and it looks like he'll coach elsewhere. I can certainly see why.
If McDaniel's still has designs on being a head coach, he's going to have to succeed at his next coaching stop. That is a lot easier to do with a good quarterback running his offence. But with Joe Webb currently at the top of the Vikings depth chart at that position, I think McDaniels told Frazier "thanks, but no thanks" to the offer to take over the offensive coordinator job.
I'd also encourage you to read this historical post about the 1967 NFL draft I came across from the Pro Football Reference blog.
It's not all about the Vikings, but provides some interesting background information and opinions on the Vikings wheeling and dealing of Fran Tarkenton back in the day. Enjoy.
Edmonton, and this is for the benefit of my American readers, calls itself the "City of Champions". This is due to the fact that the Edmonton Oilers hockey team won several Stanley Cups in the 1980s (plus one in the 1990s) and that the Edmonton Eskimos football team has won a gazillion Grey Cups (Canadian Football League version of the Super Bowl) over the years.
Minneapolis – a place I am not moving to yet – cannot claim to be a City of Champions.
They have the Minnesota Vikings partly to thank for that. And with the way Leslie Frazier's search for coaching staff is going, it looks like there will be no Super Bowls in the team's immediate future.
As the Star Tribune's Mark Craig points in this post, Frazier is botching the hiring of assistant coaches. He's in danger of losing defensive line coach Karl Dunbar and wide receiver coach George Stewart. And he's kept offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and special teams coordinator Brian Murphy on the staff even though he obviously wants to replace them and has interviewed other candidates for the job.
I wonder if the current Viking players and potential free agents around the league are noticing how Frazier is handling this situation. Let's hope not.
On the subject of coaches, I was intrigued by the Vikings interviewing Josh McDaniels for the offensive coordinator job late last week.
McDaniels bombed as a head coach in Denver. But his track record as an offensive coordinator in New England was pretty good. I would have been excited to see what he could have done with Percy Harvin and Adrian Peterson.
However, McDaniels left last week's interview without reaching any agreement and it looks like he'll coach elsewhere. I can certainly see why.
If McDaniel's still has designs on being a head coach, he's going to have to succeed at his next coaching stop. That is a lot easier to do with a good quarterback running his offence. But with Joe Webb currently at the top of the Vikings depth chart at that position, I think McDaniels told Frazier "thanks, but no thanks" to the offer to take over the offensive coordinator job.
I'd also encourage you to read this historical post about the 1967 NFL draft I came across from the Pro Football Reference blog.
It's not all about the Vikings, but provides some interesting background information and opinions on the Vikings wheeling and dealing of Fran Tarkenton back in the day. Enjoy.
Monday, January 03, 2011
Frazier gets his shot
Congratulations Leslie Frazier. You are now the head coach of the 12th worst team in the National Football League. It will now be your responsibility to change that in 2011.
Can he do it? I wouldn't bet huge money on it at this point.
Frazier's been hyped as top head coaching candidate since arriving in Minnesota to replace Mike Tomlin as defensive coordinator in 2007. However, despite having some extremely talented personnel to work with, Frazer's defences – with the exception of the 2008 season – were not consistently dominant. Yet few NFL writers, experts or Viking fans seemed to notice this.
If Frazier is such a good coach, why didn't his defensive units play better during his almost four seasons as defensive coordinator? It's a question that has been neither asked nor answered.
The Vikings 3-3 record under Frazier's watch this season also raises some concerns. I can't deny the man dealt with some crazy circumstances during this period. But the fact remains the Vikings alternated between looking pretty good (notably in their 24-14 upset win over Philly) to looking pretty pathetic – on both sides of the ball – while Frazier was the interim head coach.
Which team is the real Leslie Frazier Vikings team? We won't find out until 2011. I pray it isn't the pathetic version.
Despite talk about the Vikings being in rebuilding mode, Frazier probably has about a year-and-a-half to get Minnesota back to being a playoff team.
With talents like Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin and Jared Allen in their prime, Vikings owner Zygi Wilf and the team's fan base won't cut Frazier much slack.
So to avoid being on the unemployment line by November of 2012, Frazier's sole focus right now should not be fixing the Vikings secondary or offensive line problems, it should be fixing the Vikings quarterback problem. Every other weakness on the Vikings roster is secondary at this point.
It won't be an easy job, but it is something Frazier must do. I'm at least encouraged that in his address to the media on Monday after being named head coach, he recognized this fact.
Can he do it? I wouldn't bet huge money on it at this point.
Frazier's been hyped as top head coaching candidate since arriving in Minnesota to replace Mike Tomlin as defensive coordinator in 2007. However, despite having some extremely talented personnel to work with, Frazer's defences – with the exception of the 2008 season – were not consistently dominant. Yet few NFL writers, experts or Viking fans seemed to notice this.
If Frazier is such a good coach, why didn't his defensive units play better during his almost four seasons as defensive coordinator? It's a question that has been neither asked nor answered.
The Vikings 3-3 record under Frazier's watch this season also raises some concerns. I can't deny the man dealt with some crazy circumstances during this period. But the fact remains the Vikings alternated between looking pretty good (notably in their 24-14 upset win over Philly) to looking pretty pathetic – on both sides of the ball – while Frazier was the interim head coach.
Which team is the real Leslie Frazier Vikings team? We won't find out until 2011. I pray it isn't the pathetic version.
Despite talk about the Vikings being in rebuilding mode, Frazier probably has about a year-and-a-half to get Minnesota back to being a playoff team.
With talents like Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin and Jared Allen in their prime, Vikings owner Zygi Wilf and the team's fan base won't cut Frazier much slack.
So to avoid being on the unemployment line by November of 2012, Frazier's sole focus right now should not be fixing the Vikings secondary or offensive line problems, it should be fixing the Vikings quarterback problem. Every other weakness on the Vikings roster is secondary at this point.
It won't be an easy job, but it is something Frazier must do. I'm at least encouraged that in his address to the media on Monday after being named head coach, he recognized this fact.
Sunday, January 02, 2011
RIP 2010 Minnesota Vikings
Sunday's 20-13 loss to the Detroit Lions - one of the worst teams in professional sports for more than a decade - is an appropriate ending to the Vikings 2010 season.
I am so glad this is over. I had bad vibes about how this year would go for the Vikings from the moment Brett Favre signed on for another year.
However, I didn't envision the year turning out nearly as badly as it did. And I'm ashamed to write that the Vikings poor play ruined some weeks for me and resulted in a lot of negative energy circling around me. It made me almost hate watching football.
In assessing why the Vikings failed so badly in 2010, there is a lot of blame to go around. There always is when a team goes 6-10.
But when you get right down to it, the Vikings failed this year because their quarterbacks - Joe Webb, Tarvaris Jackson and mostly Brett Favre - threw for just 3,327 yards and 14 touchdowns while being intercepted 26 times and posting a quarterback rating of about 68. You cannot win in the NFL when your quarterbacks post those kinds of numbers.
So if the Vikings do nothing else this offseason, they must take steps to seriously upgrade the quarterback position, which Vikings fans have been saying since the days of Tommy Kramer.
And while it won't be fun watching teams like the Bears and Packers play for a Super Bowl over the next few weeks, now that this Vikings season is over fans of the purple and gold can hope again.
We can hope the Vikings will find a starting quarterback who isn't 58 years-old and who doesn't average three interceptions per game. We can hope Leslie Frazier (it looks like he's getting the job) will be a brilliant head head coach. We can hope the Vikings management will sign their own key free agents, plus make wise decisions signing any other free agents to fill some of the holes in the roster. We can hope they will draft well and that those draft picks will immediately turn into impact players that help the Vikings return to the playoffs and legitimately challenge for a Super Bowl (which didn't happen this year). We can also hope there will be NFL football to watch come September.
It's going to be an interesting offseason.
I am so glad this is over. I had bad vibes about how this year would go for the Vikings from the moment Brett Favre signed on for another year.
However, I didn't envision the year turning out nearly as badly as it did. And I'm ashamed to write that the Vikings poor play ruined some weeks for me and resulted in a lot of negative energy circling around me. It made me almost hate watching football.
In assessing why the Vikings failed so badly in 2010, there is a lot of blame to go around. There always is when a team goes 6-10.
But when you get right down to it, the Vikings failed this year because their quarterbacks - Joe Webb, Tarvaris Jackson and mostly Brett Favre - threw for just 3,327 yards and 14 touchdowns while being intercepted 26 times and posting a quarterback rating of about 68. You cannot win in the NFL when your quarterbacks post those kinds of numbers.
So if the Vikings do nothing else this offseason, they must take steps to seriously upgrade the quarterback position, which Vikings fans have been saying since the days of Tommy Kramer.
And while it won't be fun watching teams like the Bears and Packers play for a Super Bowl over the next few weeks, now that this Vikings season is over fans of the purple and gold can hope again.
We can hope the Vikings will find a starting quarterback who isn't 58 years-old and who doesn't average three interceptions per game. We can hope Leslie Frazier (it looks like he's getting the job) will be a brilliant head head coach. We can hope the Vikings management will sign their own key free agents, plus make wise decisions signing any other free agents to fill some of the holes in the roster. We can hope they will draft well and that those draft picks will immediately turn into impact players that help the Vikings return to the playoffs and legitimately challenge for a Super Bowl (which didn't happen this year). We can also hope there will be NFL football to watch come September.
It's going to be an interesting offseason.
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