We are coming off an awesome week one win over a team that might have the 2nd best (to Carolina) front seven we'll see this year. How much better is your week going to be after a Viking win!? It's encouraging, exciting, and, to quote Skoltastic_Voyage in our gameday thread Sunday, it gave me a Vikasm. So there's that. Nice work, coining that by the way, Skoltastic_Voyage. As we prepare for our home opener, a few thoughts:
- * The more I think about the things we did with Flash this week in the running game, the happier I am that Norv got that out there, on film, for opposing teams, right away. I believe the headache and fright this will cause opposing defensive coordinators could have a big effect on the rest of our offense. Namely, Cassel and Peterson, as I expect a lot of attention to be paid to Cordarelle in the coming weeks.
* It was nice to see all the talk about Zimmer as a teacher of technique actually come to fruition. There will be plenty of mistakes made on defense throughout the season, and I am positive we will give up a lot of yards and points at some point. The offenses in the NFL are too good. But, if we play sound football like we did this week, we should be OK, most weeks. The tackling efficiency was great to see, as was the fact that guys seemed to be in the right spot, more often than not. Cheers to Zim.
* Harrison Smith is the real deal. We all knew this, so maybe the rest of the NFL community will start to realize it soon as well.
* Watching Everson Griffen collect back-to-back sacks against Jake Long in the fourth quarter was marvelous. I know a lot of people were leery of giving this guy a big money contract - essentially a 'pay for potential' type of deal, but I think he will earn it. He's such a strong dude, and extremely fast for his size. I don't expect him to approach Jared Allen sack numbers, but he plays the run very well, and he still provides a ton of pressure off the edge as well. Money well spent, IMO.
* Is Anthony Barr fast, or what?
* I am not making any negative observations, because .. we won yesterday. We have won way too few times lately to not enjoy it for all it's worth. The coaching staff should be hard at work identifying the negatives and determining solutions. Us? Let's just enjoy a win, at least for another day. We deserve it.
Big game on tap this weekend, at The Bank. It will be a challenge, no doubt about it. I am looking forward to see how we handle New England. I know Zimmer will have some things cooked up for Brady. Much better offense, but a lesser defense, IMO, than we saw Sunday. I just want to see us continue to improve, and play fundamentally sound football. Win the take/give, clean up the penalties, cut down on the mental mistakes. Don't beat ourselves.
Here are the opposing fan forums for this week:
Pro Sports Daily: New England Patriots
http://forums.prosportsdaily.com/forumd ... d-Patriots
Football's Future
http://www.footballsfuture.com/phpBB2/v ... m.php?f=25
Patriot's Planet
http://www.patriotsplanet.com/BB/forumdisplay.php?f=16
PatsFans.com
http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-pat ... -forum.10/
What they're saying:
I would be surprised if Stork is inactive again next week.
Bill is going to have to get the run D ready for AP and that Viking's Oline. Their Dline shouldn't be as good as Miami's so that helps.
Good news:
The Pats seem to be as healthy as I can remember going into week 2.
The Pats rarely look bad in back-to-back weeks and usually rebound strongly
Bad news:
The problems from last year are still prevalent, if not worse, along both lines
Gronkowski looks like he will be more Brady/Welker in recovering from ACL surgery (i.e. he might look off all year) than Adrian Peterson
I'm praying we move back to 4-3 but I have a feeling we'll be seeing the 3-4 line up still (albeit mixed in with more 4-3) since Patterson is a terror with the ball in his hands.
And hopefully McD and BB have had a good enough look at our Oline to figure out which position each player is their best at.
I'm pretty sure Connolly switched positions with Devey halfway through the game...that kind of thing can't keep happening. Stick to one spot and get good at it...or at the very least mediocre.
We'll probably see a lot more Ridley imo.
I expect to lose this one too. 24-17
The vikes have a super passionate fan base, and they had a big road win today. THat place will be loud. the pats will do what they have done in tough enviornemtns in recnet years. And that is cave.
I see nothing that leads me to believe the pats win this game. If an average Rb like moreno can run all over us, i am literally scared to think what AP may do to us.
AP is by far the biggest concern for all Pats fans and I'm sure coaches. Our OL and DL were awful today.
The Pats are gonna need to find a way to contain AP because if they play the same way next weekend, AP and Vikes will run all over them, completely control the pace of the game, and win.
Pats best bet is for the offense to play better, get out to a lead early, and force the Vikes to go to air to try and catch.
I think the plan will be to sell out vs. the run and hope Revis can handle Patterson without much help. I would expect Jennings to have big numbers next week.
Cassel must not win.
Sorry for the bad news but our defense is going to allow 200+ rushing yards to AD next week.
Vikings should look to exploit a DL that lacked penetration; AP could have a good day, but I can't see BB surrendering this aspect at all, he's good at fixing weaknesses (or at least, papering over them so they're not as evident...)
We can only hope that after a grueling week of practice the following happens:
-Rust is shaken off by all, especially Wilfork, Gronk, Brady, and Dobson
-Somebody (Fleming? Stork?) emerges as an effective interior offensive lineman that actually knows what they are doing
-Play-calling and game-planning dramatically improves
Last year I would scoff at this matchup and chalk it up to a fairly easy W, but the Vikings are dangerous with AP and our horrific run defense. Plus they have the most dynamic offensive player in CP on their side as well.
Our defense really really needs to get their stuff together or we're going to be embarrassed for the second week in a row. That said, I have faith in BB and the veteran players to bust their butts and show up much more prepared for this matchup with fire in their hearts.
Yesterday was an ugly game in a place the Patriots traditionally don't play well in. I'm not going to overreact.
Think the Vikings game will tell us a lot more about this team. Not facing a great team but it's on the road, a fast track and coming after a loss. Think that game will tell us a lot more about this Patriot team and it's genuine issues.
I can't speak for anyone else, but for me 1 win won't erase my concern. It's Minnesota after all. It mostly depends on how they play I guess, but I am more concerned with how they will perform against better competition.
Go Vikes!
to frosted for these "Enemy Fan Forum" threads. It was a great idea. And nice work digging up all the links and what not. It's always interesting to see what the other fans are saying.