Minnesota Vikings @ Arizona Cardinals

[zamboni]

EJ's injury shows you why pro athletes make the big bucks. 9/10ths of them limp or have excruciating body aches until the day they die.

[gopher_nation]

Seeing the replay I would say that E.J. Henderson's career is over. Tough loss, but in the NFL everyone but a few are replaceable. It's too bad he will go out on an off year.

[fishersofmen]

We destroyed Arizona last year and they went on to the Super Bowl. I want a rematch in the second round of the playoffs in our house!! The Saints were outplayed today by a 3 win team, this is why the NFL is so great.....

[harvey lee]

I small set back on our way to the play offs.

[Jim Uran]

New Orleans will also have a hay day with the Vikes.

The same thing you said about the Twins, you give up too easy Harvey Lee.

We didn't even look like the same team last night... not even close.

[FISHINGURU]

we got away from the running game way to early, it seemed we were in hurry up mode the whole 2nd half and we were only down by 2 scores....i was hoping we'd stick to the run a bit and slow the game down.

favre is the bomb but i don't like when we have to depend on his arm the whole game....no qb in the league does very well if the running game doesn't get going at all.

can't win them all...the other handful of best teams in the league lose too...just a matter of time before the saints and colts lose....the saints look bad more then they look good...they are easily the luckiest team in football if you watch thier games...reminds me exactly of the pats when they used to get every single lucky break.

[Scott M]

O line was pretty bad and Favre wasn't reading the D particularly well. The game was dictated to the Vikes, not the other way around.

Enjoy the season. It didn't look like they were going to get the #1 seed (remains to be seen I guess) anyway. Go on a playoff roll and all is forgotten. Don't jump off the ship yet. They have weaknesses but so does every team.

[SkunkedAgain]

The lack of a running game this season is puzzling. Favre was supposed to make the offense go, not be the focus point. Peterson better stop reading the magazines and get back to being an MVP running back. They may not be one of the better pass blocking lines (Favre makes 'em look good), but they are one of the better run blocking lines. When you've got that O-line, Favre keeping the defense honest, you've GOT TO MAKE the plays on the ground.

I hope that this is just one of those games that most teams have in a good season. If not, it will ruin my fantasy of seeing the Vikings and Saints square off in the NFC Championship game.

[FISHINGURU]

they needed to get peterson some different cleats also....everytime a hole opened and he went to make his cut he slipped.

[DTro]

Anyone else notice how big the holes were when they ran the play action pass? They weren’t biting on anything. Which leads me to believe they had some inside info, or someone on the offense had “a tell”.

Need to make big changes next time they play.

[Wadinator]

I noticed. The gaps in the line were HUGE on play-action-pass plays. But when we actually tried to run the ball, there wasn't a gap to be found.

[lawdog]

Interesting reading here. I was disappointed with the game thought we looked very flat and honestly I can't name a single guy I would say played well while I was watching (went to bed at 10:13 and missed the last part including EJ's injury). I also am concerned as this is the first good team we've played in a while and this is what happened. I'm also quite concerned with our inability to run lately. The last several games we've gotten away from our run dominance. And DTRO I noticed the same thing, they were not honoring play action at all on that defense, but that goes lock step with not being able to run, what's to fear??? Better get back to work or Cincy will thump us too...

[zepman]

Nice call on the "tell" DTRO. Watch our two mountainous offensive tackles...they give it up every time. On a true run play they will be down with heavy pressure leaning forward...on pass plays they barely have a hand in the grass or sometimes go from an "up" position. Easiest "tell" in the world and every defense knows it. They're big men and I don't think they or anyone else could handle the speed rush without giving this away.

[thatoneguy]

A lot of teams will have their O-line (especially the tackles) in a two-point stance when they're going to pass, it's not just MN. And it's not that big a deal anyway - you can run screens, draws, delays etc like that.

The problem (as mentioned above) was the MN was completely unable to get any ground game going, so AZ had no reason to respect the threat of the run anyway.

Put this clunker in the rearview mirror, and look forward to Cinci on Sunday.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

The fix is in! Take everything you have and put it on New Orleans!

Favre literally looked like he was trying to throw pics last night. Ya gotta love his no look pass that got picked! (roll eyes)

Really too bad about E.J..... just think of what he could have been minus last seasons injury and if he finished this season. Hopefully he can play again, but I seriously doubt it.

[DTro]

I’m sure Ventura would have an opinion on this , but it’s hard to believe that Favre could throw that bad of passes. EVERYTHING was underthrown and yeah I thought “no looks” were saved for point guards

Oh and here is another one that was pointed out to me.

Check out what happened when the ‘skins missed that late FG. The Saints were actually “awarded” about 10 mystery yards. Kick was from 12 or 13 and then they started the drive on the 20. hmmm

[zepman]

I wondered about that too.

[LMITOUT]

They get the ball where it was spotted for the FG attempt.

[gregg52]

maybe not inside the 20 ?????

[PierBridge]

LOL.... how about a FM sticky of basic NFL rules that many struggle with so often in here!

Whats the big suprise we got ARSE handed to us by a team that should have won the super bowl last year.

I think one factor was not knowing if Warner was going to play or not...well he did and we lost big!

love Jesse!

[gregg52]

peterson should round around in circles in for awhile then try

to run foward

hes to fast for his own good runs into the most opponents jersys he can see...lol

[DTro]

The ball was spotted at the 13 and everything I can find says the next drive was 80yrds.

[PierBridge]

Maybe you do get the ball at the 20 on a missed field inside the 20, you rarely see any missed from that distance and in.

Still, I guess I don't know where or how that could be construed as the NFL and their on-site game officials trying to fix a game even if they did give the Saints 7 extra yards making them go 80 instead of 87.

I'm trying to look objectively from the conspiracy theorist view...but I find that particular angle a bit of a stretch!.

[LMITOUT]

Field Goal

All field goals attempted (kicker) and missed from beyond the 20-yard line will result in the defensive team taking possession of the ball at the spot of the kick. On any field goal attempted and missed where the spot of the kick is on or inside the 20-yard line, ball will revert to defensive team at the 20-yard line.

[Buck12]

The rule is on any missed field goal less than 20 yards spot on the 20. I wonder if Landry found his jockstrap yet?