End of Season Thoughts

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Raptorman
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Re: End of Season Thoughts

Post by Raptorman »

While I fee it was a good season, I would have been happier ending it in any other stadium other than Lambeau and against the Packers. Peterson still had 99 yards his last game. I predicted 9-10 wins before the season started and am happy I was close. Didn't expect the playoffs, and didn't expect Ponder not to play. So we work on next season. If I have it figured correct the Vikes should be picking 21st in the draft. So maybe we can pick up an impact player. Now for the long offseason and cheering on my other team. You know, the one playing the Packers. Whoever it might be.

Edit:Well the draft postion is wrong.
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PurpleKoolaid
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Re: End of Season Thoughts

Post by PurpleKoolaid »

We have some great rookies. Fraizer made some strides. Ponder did too. Wright was much better then I thought. I really thought Childs would be the WR we would be talking about. Walsh was the pick of the draft. It took alot of grit to pick him when the word on him was he was innaccurate. A few good moves and we can be competing for the ead in our division.
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Re: End of Season Thoughts

Post by Arma »

Onto to an exciting draft. What a great year!
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Re: End of Season Thoughts

Post by Orion »

admvp wrote:
After bashing him for an entire season, it's almost surreal that I'm suddenly thinking of Ponder in this light, as though he's the savior and the missing key to tonight's game. But I think back to last Sunday's clinching game and some of the throws he made... He was throwing it down the field. And with some success. Green Bay wasn't that great tonight. They were beatable tonight. Who knows, maybe Ponder does swing the game.

I agree and I think the Vikings beat the Packers with a healthy Ponder. But would've, should've, could've, it is what it is :\. Oh well, time for the Vikings to rest and start prepping for next season.
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Re: End of Season Thoughts

Post by John_Viveiros »

My biggest disappointment about this game was that the next game up, against the Falcons in their dome, would have been really tailored to the Vikings strengths. I think we had a 50-50 shot at beating those guys, and then it would have been one more win to the Superbowl.

My biggest disappointment about the season was seeing three teams all find fabulous QB's in the draft. Especially the Russell Wilson pick, which we could have had if we had been shrewd. Boy, what a difference that would have made in our outlook for 2013.

Otherwise, the Vikes had a great season, losing five road games to playoff teams (beating one on the road and two at home). In a normal year, with a normal schedule (or playing in the AFC West) the Vikes may have earned a first round bye with a team like this.
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Re: End of Season Thoughts

Post by Eli »

DanAS wrote:The best news is that we have relatively few holes. The worst news is that one of those holes is the one that is most difficult to fix (QB). But other teams do it, so maybe we can.
I'm not sure that's true. The Vikings did fill a few key positions this year with solid rookie starters - left tackle, kicker, one safety. And they picked up a couple of other players who may one day be pretty good. Personnel wise, that's only a small step from where they were previously. They won games on the back of Adrian Peterson and on a wave of youthful energy that came as a result of jettisoning almost 1/3rd of the roster.

But they have many positions to fill: they need to find a minimum of two, some would argue three, quarterbacks. They need quality linebackers, both to start and as backups. They need at least one good starting cornerback, and more for depth. They need to find a starting safety to play opposite of Harrison Smith. They need a nose tackle and an eventual replacement for a quickly aging Kevin Williams. They need guards. And most of all, they need wide receivers.

That's not a short shopping list.
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Re: End of Season Thoughts

Post by DanAS »

Eli wrote: I'm not sure that's true. The Vikings did fill a few key positions this year with solid rookie starters - left tackle, kicker, one safety. And they picked up a couple of other players who may one day be pretty good. Personnel wise, that's only a small step from where they were previously. They won games on the back of Adrian Peterson and on a wave of youthful energy that came as a result of jettisoning almost 1/3rd of the roster.

But they have many positions to fill: they need to find a minimum of two, some would argue three, quarterbacks. They need quality linebackers, both to start and as backups. They need at least one good starting cornerback, and more for depth. They need to find a starting safety to play opposite of Harrison Smith. They need a nose tackle and an eventual replacement for a quickly aging Kevin Williams. They need guards. And most of all, they need wide receivers.

That's not a short shopping list.
I'm not suggesting that they're only a couple of players away from having an all star team. What I'm saying is that they're only a few away from competing with the best teams. They don't need to upgrade their defense in order to compete -- what they need is a starting QB and new receivers. (I'm penciling in Ponder as a quality back up, which is truly what I think he deserves to be called at this point. Webb shouldn't be playing the position at all except as a wildcat threat.)

Of course, in making the above statement, I've been assuming that everyone else stays healthy, and that is a faulty assumption. Even though they are deep at some other positions (e.g., defensive end), they can ill afford injuries at other positions (e.g., CB). So yes, I would think that we could use some quality free agents to fill the glaring needs as well as to add needed depth, and hopefully we can draft as well next year as we did last year.

Probably, this team is still at least two years away before it can truly contend. But we're much, much closer than we appeared to be at the season's start, thanks to an excellent draft.
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Re: End of Season Thoughts

Post by Laserman »

Heck I only Expected the Vikes to get 4 wins so this season blew me away. Just wish it wasn't the packers who had to end it for us. Hopefully we will address issues at WR CB LB and bring in QB competition. 2 major issues me to are learning how to get AD the ball via the pass and stopping screen plays that just destroy us at times
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Re: End of Season Thoughts

Post by Eli »

Laserman wrote:learning how to get AD the ball via the pass
I'd not go so far as to say Adrian Peterson is a poor receiver, although he does drop some balls. But what is really striking is that when he does catch a pass he becomes a very ordinary football player. It's quite the opposite of what you'd expect of a great running back. He seems thoroughly unaccustomed to having his back to the defense, even for the split second it takes to catch a pass. And when it happens, he has almost no skills. He doesn't break tackles, he doesn't make jump cuts, he doesn't throw stiff arms, he doesn't switch gears and blaze down the sideline. It's both remarkable and puzzling.
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Re: End of Season Thoughts

Post by CbusVikesFan »

Peterson- MVP
Walsh- Vikings ROY
Smith Vikings Def ROY
Greenway-tackling machine-def MVP
Felton- FA Vikings MVP

No show of the year award- Kevin Williams. Hate to say that. But it is true.
Hot and Cold player of the year- Ponder
the Failed to Progress award- Webb
The letdown of the year award goes to Musgrave for not getting AD more carries.
the Courageous Players of the year- Winfield and Griffen. playing through family adversity.
the underachievement award goes to the DE's.
the overachievement award goes to the whole team. God Bless you guys. You made it fun to watch football this year. The Vikings got to play one more game than the Bears, Lions, Cowboys, Giants, Eagles, and Tampa. That is a good thing.
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Re: End of Season Thoughts

Post by Mothman »

Eli wrote: I'd not go so far as to say Adrian Peterson is a poor receiver, although he does drop some balls. But what is really striking is that when he does catch a pass he becomes a very ordinary football player. It's quite the opposite of what you'd expect of a great running back. He seems thoroughly unaccustomed to having his back to the defense, even for the split second it takes to catch a pass. And when it happens, he has almost no skills. He doesn't break tackles, he doesn't make jump cuts, he doesn't throw stiff arms, he doesn't switch gears and blaze down the sideline. It's both remarkable and puzzling.
I think you're overstating things quite a bit there. The main reason Peterson doesn't do more with the passes he catches is because the vast majority of them are checkdowns that don't leave him in position to do much. He doesn't catch a lot of swings or screens, passes that would put him in good position to run upfield and use his skills as a runner. Harvin and others fill that role in the Vikings offense. Peterson tends to get a lot of catches where he's faded into the flat and is standing with his back to the defense. By the time he can turn, defenders are converging on him and more often than not, he just doesn't have the time to escape.
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Re: End of Season Thoughts

Post by DanAS »

CbusVikesFan wrote:Peterson- MVP
Walsh- Vikings ROY
Smith Vikings Def ROY
Greenway-tackling machine-def MVP
Felton- FA Vikings MVP

No show of the year award- Kevin Williams. Hate to say that. But it is true.
Hot and Cold player of the year- Ponder
the Failed to Progress award- Webb
The letdown of the year award goes to Musgrave for not getting AD more carries.
the Courageous Players of the year- Winfield and Griffen. playing through family adversity.
the underachievement award goes to the DE's.
the overachievement award goes to the whole team. God Bless you guys. You made it fun to watch football this year. The Vikings got to play one more game than the Bears, Lions, Cowboys, Giants, Eagles, and Tampa. That is a good thing.
You didn't give the FA MVP to Carlson? (Sorry. Someone had to say it.)

I think the DEs were battling injuries, and under the circumstances, I'm not sure you can call them underachieving. As for Kevin Williams, he sure isn't what he used to be, but I don't see him as a weakness -- just no longer a strength.

I'm not sure you can blame Musgrave for the number of AD's carries. The Vikes were trying to preserve AD's health. I can't quarrel with that. The real goat is whoever left the cupboard so bare at the QB position. Clearly, the chickens came home to roost last night -- if we had a decent backup, he surely would have replaced Ponder earlier in the season, but as is now apparent, Ponder is the best we have at that position. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few months. Hopefully, we won't panic and overpay ... but hopefully, we will get a better QB than Ponder. As for Webb, he only has an NFL future if he can catch. It might be too late to make that adjustment.
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Re: End of Season Thoughts

Post by Mothman »

DanAS wrote:I'm not sure you can blame Musgrave for the number of AD's carries. The Vikes were trying to preserve AD's health. I can't quarrel with that. The real goat is whoever left the cupboard so bare at the QB position. Clearly, the chickens came home to roost last night -- if we had a decent backup, he surely would have replaced Ponder earlier in the season, but as is now apparent, Ponder is the best we have at that position. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few months. Hopefully, we won't panic and overpay ... but hopefully, we will get a better QB than Ponder.
If we do, I suspect it will take a monumentally superior preseason performance for that QB to start next season (if that's what you're thinking). The team looks committed to Ponder and I think we can expect him to be the starter going into next season. If he plays like he did at his best this year, I have no problem with that. However, they need to back him up with a veteran and with a young QB that has the genuine potential to become a quality starter.
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Re: End of Season Thoughts

Post by dead_poet »

Here are my thoughts, such as they are.

1) Kudos to Frazier and the front office for putting together a, frankly, amazing season given the previous year AND STARTING so many raw rookies. Few expected them to exceed five or six wins and even fewer thought we'd be sniffing the playoffs, not to mention actually make them. Especially given our tough division. Frazier deserves an extension and I don't even see how that's debatable. One of the (if not THE) greatest turnarounds in Vikings franchise history.

2) The passing game is on life support and needs a talent injection. I'm disgusted with every wide receiver on our roster not named Harvin or Wright. Fixing this is the number one priority and I'd ideally like to see the Vikings acquire a premiere free agent WR (Wallace, Jennings) AND draft a WR in the first (Terrance Williams, Robert Woods) or second round (DeAndre Hopkins, Da'Rick Rogers). Harvin needs to be extended.I just hope my plan allows both Harvin & Free Agent to co-exist (cap-wise). In a perfect world Jenkins, Aromashodu and Simpson shouldn't be on the roster on opening day.

3) Hey, we're getting a new stadium! I feel this is significant enough to warrant a mention.

4) I'm satisfied with the offensive line. Kalil really helped solidify it and deserves special praise for being every bit as good as advertised. What's scary (good) is I think he'll continue to improve. We already have a premiere left tackle and center and a serviceable right tackle (that we should extend). Our guards aren't great, but they do enough, especially in the run game. I'd love a talent upgrade at each position but not at the expense of, say a LB, CB or S. I'd re-sign Schwartz and have him compete for a starting spot in camp. This unit still needs help pass-protecting, but I thought they did a much better job in this capacity as the year went on. I firmly believe with improved receiver (and QB play), they will look even better if Ponder can get the ball out of his hands in a timely manner to receivers that can create a hint of separation.

5) Kudos to Spielman for selecting Walsh and Mike Priefer for developing/fixing/turning him into a kicking machine. Provided he doesn't have a mental breakdown (Mason Crosby) we have our kicker for the next decade-and-a-half. That's a nice comfort.

6) What a great year by Winfield, even given his injury in the last couple of games. I (and the defense) will sorely miss him. He's a difference-maker in the secondary and the only one of that nature amongst our stable of mediocre corners. Cornerback remains (yet again) an offseason priority. In a division with Rodgers and their talented/stupid WRs, you HAVE to upgrade. Winfield might have one more year left in a limited capacity. Cook hasn't improved to where I'd hoped and I really don't want to start A.J. Jefferson next season. Robinson is a bit of a wild card. He showed some flashes, so here's hoping he can develop into a quality starer on the outside.

7) What a great job by Alan Williams. Talk about an under-the-radar guy. You rarely hear anything from or about him but he quietly turned around the unit and is making progress. Turning out to be a nice selection by Frazier and hopefully he gets even better and coordinating the troops.

8 ) Ponder showed progress. Overshadowed in the Vikings' late-season/playoff run was the fact that this season was supposed to be, in large part, an evaluation of Ponder's growth. It's very unfortunate he wasn't able to be out there on Saturday, but he's earned the right with his solid play as of late to be the starter next season. His inconsistency is the most frustrating part as Good Ponder vs. Bad Ponder both showed their faces this year. I'm very anxious to see what another offseason of practice and talent infusion at WR (and possibly OG) will do and I'm hoping his last game this season will be his "floor." That said, depending on what upgrades/draft choices are made at QB, Ponder's leash should be moderate to begin with and then short should he struggle after the first four or five games.

9) I thought Musgrave did a decent job and was surprised to hear the one report that the Vkings might have interest elsewhere. I just can't see Musgrave being fired, but that will be something to monitor.

There's a lot to look forward to next season. It's hard not to like the direction of the francise at the moment from GM to head/position coaches to the majority of players. Here's hoping for another quality draft and a couple of nice free agent additions. The only bad part about this season is the expectations for the next one have risen considerably.
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Re: End of Season Thoughts

Post by Orion »

Heck, we finished 1 game out of first place. Pretty good season.
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