My Futile Resistance

by Skol Girl

With as much as he’s done to improve the Minnesota Vikings over his tenure as head coach, you’d think I’d be a big fan of Coach Brad Childress. I try to be. The Vikings record has steadily improved each year he’s been head coach and they’ve been the NFC North champions for the last two years. And yet, I still can’t quite give myself over to becoming a Brad Childress super fan.

The problem, for me, is that I’m beginning to suspect he’s a member of the Borg.

In Star Trek the Borg run around sporting mechanical implants and spouting, “You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.” This comparison comes to mind because that is how I feel when Childress talks about Tavaris Jackson.

Whenever asked about the quarterback situation and the depth chart at that position Childress firmly tells us that he’s seen “an evolution” in Tavaris Jackson during training camp. I keep waiting for this much touted evolution to make itself visible on the field during a game. So Jackson looks basically the way he’s always looked to me—good arm, good athleticism, sketchy leadership, nervous under pressure. I’m not quite sure where the evolution is.

But despite the fact that I have yet to see the promised evolution, Childress says it so much, that I am beginning to feel that resistance really is futile. No matter what I see in his performance, Tavaris Jackson is still going to be the apple of Childress’ eye—I will eventually be assimilated. Maybe I’m just one game away from saying, “We are 3 of 4. Tavaris Jackson has evolved as a starting quarterback. He’s taking steps within the system. You will be assimilated.”

I’m just not there yet.

So far this preseason, Sage Rosenfels performance at quarterback has yielded better results than Jackson’s. After some rough and disorganized play from the Vikings offense during the St. Louis game, Rosenfels rallied his troops and led them down the field for not one, not two, but three touchdowns. Three.

Granted, that comparison is slanted because, as the presumed starter for the 2010 season Tavaris Jackson played very little. He also played relatively little in the games against the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks. While neither Jackson nor Rosenfels scored a touchdown in the game against San Francisco, Rosenfels did connect with Javon Walker for a touchdown in the Seattle game.

While the comparisons are slanted toward Rosenfels because Rosenfels took more snaps and thus had more opportunities to make plays, he still looked better at quarterback to me than Jackson. But, as Childress pointed out to me via the reporters for the Pioneer Press, I’m using the wrong criteria to evaluate the quarterbacks.

That’s right, I had things all ass-backwards. How a quarterback plays in an actual game (even a preseason one) isn’t how Childress and his staff are evaluating the quarterbacks for the depth chart. In the article “Odd Man Out?” by Jeremy Fowler of the Pioneer Press Childress said,

“You can say, ‘Well, it’s about the games,’” Childress said. “We give them opportunities based on what we see in practice.”

While I can see awarding opportunities based on how a player performs in practice, what a player actually does with those opportunities during a game seems, to me, like it ought to be the clincher. But that’s just me thinking winning games is more important than being brilliant on the practice field.

However, no matter how freaking fantastic Tavaris Jackson might have been in training camp, it still wasn’t good enough to prevent Childress from sending Ryan Longwell, Steve Hutchinson, and Jared Allen off to Mississippi to lean on (and, I suspect trank) Brett Favre, load him into the private jet, and get him to return to the Vikings for another season. Apparently, even Borg assimilation has it’s limits.

Viva la resistance!

This piece is also posted at http://www.dailynorseman.com/ under the name Skol Girl and at http://chinspeaks.wordpress.com/ under my alter ego P.M.Chin

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Catching Up with the Vikings

by Skol Girl

It is always a challenge to get caught up after a vacation. When the vacation you’re catching up from isn’t yours, it’s also a surprise.

My sister swept into town, her husband and her baby in tow, and I wasn’t able to find the time to even skim the sports page until they left. Which was tough because plenty of interesting things happened in the wide world of Vikings football while I was distracted by the cuteness of my teething eight-month-old niece.

As far as I can tell, this is what I missed. Percy Harvin spent a night in the hospital for observation after collapsing on the practice field because of migraine complications—he was released the next day. The Vikings lost to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday Night Football. Sidney Rice went to Vail, Colorado for hip surgery. Javon Walker, who once elicited criticism from Brett Favre for contract antics back when they were teammates together in Green Bay, signed with the Vikings to help shore up the depleted receiving corps. The Vikings completed a rare player-for-player trade with the Miami Dolphins, exchanging corner back Benny Sapp for wide receiver Greg Camarillo. Former member of the Minnesota Vikings coaching staff, Pete Carroll came to town with the Seattle Seahawks to face the Vikings on Saturday night—the Vikings won, but their performance was a mixed bag.

Actually, I did manage to see both the 49ers game and the Seahawks game, but I’m kind of writing off the 49ers game because I was distracted. My niece was watching the game with me and Rookie was a cute, non-sleeping, handful in her Vikings onesie. So I’ll just speak to the game against the Seahawks which I watched without Rookie.

Saturday night reminded me of a Clint Eastwood movie, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Really, there was a little bit of everything.

I’m more of a bad news first kind of person, so that’s where I’ll start. The Vikings offensive line needs to gel, protect the quarterback, and give the running game a fighting chance. Certainly, they are affected by not having John Sullivan in at center and having a rookie on the line too, but in the meantime, the quarterbacks are suffering. There were some plays Saturday night where, I don’t know if there was a miscue or what, but Seahawks defenders barreled through the line untouched and flattened Brett Favre. To make matters worse, one of the times he was being flattened Favre fumbled the ball.

For his part, Favre was mostly what you would expect. He some showed signs of fatigue and rust, but it was liberally sprinkled with accurate missiles spread out to nine different targets. Perhaps the most shocking reception was Farve’s first pass over the middle to Percy Harvin. I didn’t even realize that Harvin was going to play because he hasn’t been able to participate much in practice. While Favre did throw two picks, one of them wasn’t his fault—Bernard Berrian couldn’t quite hang on to it and the Seahawks defense snagged it on the bobble.

But now, onto better things.

I’m just going to highlight a few things, but there were lots of good things peppered into an up-and-down game.

Greg Camarillo pulled in passes with his sure hands showing Vikings fans why the team traded Benny Sapp to get him from Miami. Camarillo may not have breakaway speed, which was a liability when the Seahawks defender got two yards ahead of him and intercepted Brett Favre’s pass, but Camarillo’s fantastic sticky fingers could still make him a favorite target for Brett Favre. Some of the local journalists have sneered a bit that he isn’t particularly explosive or dynamic, but I think with Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin (when available), and Bernard Berrian (when he’s on the same page as Favre) not every player on the offense needs to be exciting and dynamic—some of them can just get the job done.

Despite being treated a bit like a redheaded stepchild, Sage Rosenfels marched the Vikings downfield and distinguished himself as the only Vikings quarterback to pass for a touchdown during Saturday’s game. He connected with newcomer Javon Walker in the end zone. Walker was in thick coverage but fought to come up with the ball. With the latest talk being that Tavaris Jackson is going to be the second quarterback on the depth chart, I hope that other teams recognize Rosenfels abilities and give him a chance to do more than fondle a clipboard on the sidelines this season.

And on defense, young Chris Cook is making a strong bid to be a starter in the September 9 game at New Orleans. With his height and his speed Cook was a desirable pick, but the coaches have said how much they like his sheer drive to learn everything they have to teach. Buzz-worthy through training camp, Cook was in on several great stops Saturday night. He’s got confidence, ability, and drive—and Lito Sheppard and Asher Allen are going to have to work hard on Thursday night if they want to win the starting job away from him.

On special teams Darius Reynaud had a fantastic game. His kick return from around the Vikings 4-yardline up to the Seahawks’ 22-yardline was a thing of beauty. If he can keep making plays like that, you have to believe he has a future with the Vikings.


It is going to be interesting to see how many starters the coaches decide to play on Thursday. Will we get a repeat of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, or will we see a more cohesive team? Guess we won’t know until Thursday. Is anyone else getting twitching about September 9?

This piece is also posted at www.dailynorseman.com under the name Skol Girl and at http://chinspeaks.wordpress.com under my alter ego P.M.Chin.

Ankles, migraines and a little Vikes fan "oh my!"

It's been an interesting few days! The black Beemer became 2010's version of the White Bronco. MN Fans came out in droves to see the man, the myth, the legend....Favre is back! This guy is still not sold on T-Jax, and not sold on Sage (come one....impressive stats against #2's and #3's - and the Ram's suck anyways).

The press conference left one thing off the table - were his allegations of texts of his wiener to a Jets cheerleader true or not? If so, how much waffling did he do before he finally decided to send it, or not send it? HA! Just trying to inject a little humor into the situation. All in all, this Vikes fan is glad he's back. He won't have as good a year as last year, but it'll still be a solid year! And the ankle injury will come up in each press conference after each game - so Vikes fans....be ready for it.

On another note, Percy was rushed to the hospital today because he passed out at practice today. My thoughts and prayers are with him for a speedy recovery - if his recovery time is anywhere near his 40 speed, we'll hopefully see him soon!

It's been a while since I've written - the last time was just after the draft. Since that time my wife and I found out that we are having a baby boy, and he is due in November!! YAY - another little Vikes fan in the house. Only problem....my wife's a Packer fan, and last week at a baby shower, her damn grandfather bought him a Packer onsie! WTF?!?! I honestly will not hold my baby boy if he is wearing those gawdawful colors and that horrible outfit.

That's all I got....

I want to know what you have to say! Leave it here!!

Kudo

Brett Favre Returns to Football, Again, Er, Again-Again

by Skol Girl

Ah, here we are again. Once again, on the Tuesday before the Vikings second preseason game football just got a lot more interesting because Brett Favre unretired (yes, again) to play quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings (yes, again). There were months of speculation, there were rumors, there were dire predictions, and there were lots, and lots of jokes—but here we are once again, with Brett Favre.

I don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to think I could write about this with a template. All the important stuff would stay the same, I could just change the dates and some of the details. In fact, I strongly considered simply reposting the piece I wrote last year about Favre’s signing. However, on rereading it, I discovered that, even though the pertinent details about Brett Favre were more or less the same, my opinion about him had undergone at bit of a change*.

Turns out, a year ago I wasn’t quite sold on Mr. Favre. In my defense, his year with the New York Jets was not the sort of thing that would ignite Super Bowl dreams. But his 2009 season with Minnesota Vikings made me a believer. I remember the moment with almost crystal clarity when I was watching the Vikings play and suddenly realized I was screaming, “Yeah, go Brett! Go BRETT!!!” I stopped mid-scream I was so surprised. The real kicker (yes, the pun is intentional) was that it was still preseason. He endeared himself to me, a hardened cynic, just that fast. Good thing he doesn’t sell Amway.

So yes, this season I’ve already planted my skeptical Scandinavian butt firmly on the Favre bandwagon—I staked out my seat early.

But for as much as things seem the same, with Favre swinging into Minnesota just one day shy of the day he arrived last August, there are a lot of notable differences. Probably the biggest difference is that both Favre and his teammates have a better idea of what they are getting from one another. I honestly do not care how many millions of dollars the Wilfs throw at the guy, Brett Favre is worth every penny on several levels. Here are a few of them.

Good to great. Having Favre under center immediately elevates the Vikings offense from good to down right dangerous. The guy reads the blitz like nobody I’ve ever seen, adjusting on the fly, and audibling out of doomed plays—and that was before he was 40-years-old. Now, with 20 years of experience, there is nothing he hasn’t seen. That kind of knowledge is invaluable and enables the offense to take advantage of situations that might otherwise have cost them.

“Do or do not. There is no try.” Brett Favre is like Yoda**, he really is the Jedi master who brings out the best in his teammates. I can’t tell you how many times last year I read or heard about Favre sending Harvin or Rice a text telling them about some film they should watch because he thought it would help them. He operates like an extra coach helping to develop the young players on the team. When you consider the youth of most of his offensive weapons it’s apparent that that is the kind of investment that can benefit the Vikings for years to come. The gift that keeps on giving, if you will.

Cash money. Brett Favre means money. Period. People are excited about getting to see him play and they buy tickets which means no local media blackouts for the Minnesota faithful and it means that those attending the games are buying concessions, spending money in the merchandise tent, and patronizing local businesses before the game. Not only that, his jersey is still one of the top selling jerseys of all NFL merchandise—his name on gear is like a direct line of revenue. And, if he propels the Vikings to another winning season, it helps the Wilfs gain greater traction for new stadium discussion with the Minnesota legislature. This guy equals cash for a whole lot of people.

I want it all and I want it now. With the current Vikings roster you can’t swing a cat without hitting a Pro Bowler. The Vikings are thick with talent, but some of that talent is aging and thinking about retirement, like Pat Williams. We have heard the dread term “rebuilding year” so often that it is almost hard to believe we’re in a year where the team is built, but it is built—and it is built to win now. I include coaches because Leslie Frazier (probably) will be a head coach somewhere next year and some of the staff will likely go with him. With the Vikings current player and coaching roster Favre isn’t the star, he’s part of the mother-freaking constellation.

Well, it was several months in the making, but I have to say, I think I like Brett Favre’s 2010 arrival in Minnesota may lead to an even better season than last year. Don’t burst my bubble.

*Just in case you're curious what made me suspicious last year http://chinspeaks.wordpress.com/2009/08/19/favre-fest-is-all-thanks-to-his-daughter/
**I have a deep and amazingly geeky affection for Star Wars (but only Episodes 4-6, the others suck) so I assure you that I’m not using this comparison lightly.

This post is also available at http://www.dailynorseman.com/ under the name Skol Girl and at http://www.chinspeaks.wordpress.com/ under my alter ego P.M.Chin. Chin writes about things other than football too, but don't hold that against her.