MVN - Most Valuable Network

Vikings Notes: Countdown to Sunday Night

Updated Saturday 12/22…scroll down for the new stuff:

(Check back before the game tomorrow for pregame notes!)

*I usually enjoy Michael David Smith’s articles, but he’s way off base here:

The Vikings ought to seriously consider benching Jackson for either of their backups, Brooks Bollinger or Kelly Holcomb. Neither Bollinger nor Holcomb is a legitimate long-term option at quarterback, but both of them have been around long enough to know how not to lose a game.

Michael, Michael, Michael. I know Tarvaris played horribly on Monday night, but how can we suddenly discredit his previous four performances?

It’s obvious that the MNF game is the only Vikings match Michael’s seen in the past month, because otherwise, he’d realize that it’s laughable to even suggest that Tarvaris be benched. Anyone who thinks Bollinger or Holcomb are better options at quarterback than Tarvaris needs to do their homework. Hell, I might go with Spergon Wynn before I played Brooks or Kelly.

OK, that might be an exaggeration, but you get my point.

Has Brooks been effective when he’s played this season? At times, yes. Would I trust Brooks in a big game? Absolutely not. And I’ve seen more than enough tentative, hesitant quarterback play from Holcomb this season–barring an injury to Tarvaris, I see no reason for him to be on the field in these final weeks.

The main point here, though, is that Tarvaris played solid football for four consecutive weeks. Don’t lose confidence in him because he struggled on Monday night…right now, I can say without a single doubt that Tarvaris is 100% the best quarterback option for the Vikings, as they make their final playoff push.

12/22 updates:

This news from Anthony Brown, MVN’s Redskins writer, kind of caught me off-guard:

Yes, Washington overlooks Minnesota. That includes every talking head I hear on the local sports talk radio stations and cable TV Redskins show when they preview the Redskins-Vikings game. It isn’t just that they pick the Redskins to win. That’s homerism and it’s expected. But, they are dismissive of the Vikings. That’s dangerous. I hope Redskin players are not listening, because like the Twin Cities, the Vikings are full of surprises.

This really surprises me…I thought five-straight wins would’ve earned the Vikings a little more respect in the eyes of the Washington media. But I can only hope that the Redskins’ players are hearing the talk from the DC media, because a complacent Washington team means the Vikings will likely walk away with a decisive win.

Maybe that weak Monday night game will help our cause this Sunday…although I think that poor performance is the exception to the rule for this team, it could cause the ‘Skins to be a little overconfident as they enter the Dome.

Some advice to the DC media: Tarvaris Jackson isn’t a quarterback to be taken lightly. Yes, he played poorly last week, but he’s a kid with a strong, generally-accurate arm who (with the exception of the Bears game) has been playing smart football over the past month. Don’t assume that the Washington secondary will have several gift-wrapped interceptions in this week’s game, because chances are, they won’t.

If Tarvaris can regain the composure he played with in November/early December, the Vikings will be in pretty good shape. Combine an efficient passing game with our game-changing running back tandem, and you’ve got yourself a dangerous offense.

For the T-Jack, the key to this game is performing like he did against the 49ers. I’m assuming the Redskins will stack the box to stop the run, so Tarvaris needs to play mistake-free, efficient football, as he did against San Fransisco. Don’t force anything, and keep “dinking and dunking” down the field…a six-yard pass on one play, a ten-yard pass on the next. That’s how the Vikings can score if a defense puts eight men in the box to stop our running back duo. Just keep working that short–intermediate passing game.

Of course, just because Washington may stack the box doesn’t mean our running game should be ineffective. First, efficiently moving the ball through the air would serve to loosen the pressure on AD and Chester…and second, Chilly must mix things up with his playcalling for our running backs. Draws, screens, sweeps, misdirection…those will all give our backs a little room to work with. And if we can get them into the open field, we’ll see some big plays.

Just look at that misdirection we ran for Adrian last week. It got him into the open field, he made a few people miss, and AD ultimately ended up with a 30-yard gain. This week, Chilly’s #1 responsibility is finding ways to get Adrian into the open field…as we’ve seen lately, sending him up the middle against a stacked box ain’t gonna cut it.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 21st, 2007 at 10:47 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.