OH WELL

[united jigsticker]

After seeing the schedule, it looks like a 3-13 season for "Chili the "Poindexter" Childress.

[zepman]

It does look ugly for the Vikes this year.

[mnvikingsfreak]

watch out for the vikes in 2012....oh wait a minute the LA vikings

[fishin58]

Why?? we return almost all of our defensive players, E.J now with experience, Greenway in the line-up, a sound d-back group, and the D-LINE nuf said...As far as the Offense, we will have a major upgrade at the QB, chester is still chester, I think Memo should start though, we Will have the best O-line in the game this year. gellin you gelling??The recievers are the only sub-standard unit we have and I am looking for only good things out of them this year. We will be better then last year! SKOL Vikings!!

[james_walleye]

Where is the major upgrade at QB? You arent going too win anything with this recieving core. And the D line needs a bonifide pass rusher too be a legit top defense. 31st in the league against the pass doesnt cut it.

[Caesarfishinguytoo]

31st against the pass does suck - no question about it, but what really counts is points scored and points against.

Our defense was a respectible 14th in the NFL in points allowed - Indy was 23rd - hmmmm??

On the other hand - Our offense was a dismal 26th in the NFL in points scored - Indy was 2nd - hmmmmmmmx2??

Lets not let Peterson fall any further than 7th in that draft. If he ain't available how about Quinn? Otherwise if they are both off the board then I say trade down or pick the best defensive player at 7.

I still believe our first priority has to be getting that offense better somehow!!!!

[CNY Tim]

Peterson is going to Cleveland you can bank on it.

[fishin58]

Could we have done any worse last year at QB?? I think Tarvaris will be a great QB this year. Granted the pass rush sucked but with the injury last year to a very key D-End hurt us really bad. Erasmus and Kenechi hopefully will tear things up. I still have faith in T-will..We have to.

[james_walleye]

There is no reason whatsoever too believe T-Jack will be great this year. For one thing you have too have some recievers to throw too if you want too be great. Second you have too have a coach that allows you too be great and if Chilly doesnt change alot of things from last year we wont see this happen. Maybe he would open things up if he had something other than a bunch of 2nd and 3rd rate recievers. And third hes a guy with 2 games of expierience. He might be great at some point but it will not be this year. Way too many things standing in the way of that.

As far as a pass rush Kenechi will never be that guy. And its still not clear if James will be 100% yet this year, so you cant bank on him.

[WCT]

Re: Viking offensive line

Being the highest paid does not make them the best.

Old Sneller

[WallyGator12000]

I have to disagree, unless Russell and Quinn are the top two picks, I think Quinn is going to be a Brown next year. Peterson to the Vikes is very, very feasible, and I am crossing my fingers that it does happen. The two headed monster of Peterson and Chester would be amazing, think the Saints with Deuce and Reggie. Though, I wouldn't be opposed to trading out of the spot with Peterson available, and getting someone like Jarrett in the middle of the first, while getting another pick or two. This would allow us to come out of the draft with two wideouts taken in the first few rounds, something I think this team needs to consider. Besides that, I really have a lot of optimism for the Vikes this year, our defense is going to be solid again, and the Kenechi sack total is a fluke, the kid is a player with a high motor, the sacks will come. Our offense is in need of upgrade, but don't write off this coaching staff just yet, I am all for giving Childress another year to prove himself before calling for his head...heck if the only legacy he leaves is creating a "culture of accountability" for this team, then I applaud him for it, he has done an excellent job in that department...

[CNY Tim]

Quinn is a smoke screen by Cleveland, Savage and Stoops are good friends and if you look at our drafts especially at secondary and receiver you will find that we love Oklahoma, were not given up on Frye and we shored up deficiencies in the offensive line in the off season now if we could ever get Bentley back I like the look finally... Letting Droughns go I didn't like but adding Jamal Lewis till Adrian get's his feet wet is the smart move. He's an animal..

[WallyGator12000]

Now here is something I highly respect, someone who knows their own team. One of the things I can't stand about the so-called "draft experts" is that they look at a team they don't know that well, and assume they know what they need. Case in point, many of the mock drafts that had the vikings going for a corner, like Leon Hall, with the #7 pick. We have two great, starting caliber corners, and another solid one coming back from injury. But they look at our poor pass defense numbers and assume corner must be the problem. I confess to not know much more about the browns that what I read in the headlines, so I am assuming they would take Quinn or Russell as an upgrade over Frye, instead of Peterson to compliment Lewis. However, by this same logic, you could argue that the Vikes will draft Quinn as an upgrade over Tarvaris, but as a Vikings fan I would argue that this isn't likely, and that the team is committed to Jackson. So all this to say, that I really hope by some miracle the Vikes trade up for Calvin Johnson (.001% likely), and if that doesn't happen, that the Raiders draft him so that the Browns face a quaterback dilemma and perhaps pass on Adrian, sending him to the Vikes...

[bottomfeeder]

At least we can all take comfort in that the PACK WILL BE BACK IN '07!!!! You can take that on to the bank .

[james_walleye]

I dont know if going a full season without a sack is a fluke.

[CNY Tim]

Saw a draft poll last night on ESPN that backed up my assumption that AP would go at 3 to Cleveland and Quinn was picked by the Vikes at 7. Smoke screens do work...

[WallyGator12000]

I have heard reports, (scout.com especially) talking about how if you watch on tape, Udeze had several sacks "stolen" from him, where he was the one to collapse the pocket or the QB scrambled from him right into another player's arms. Now I admit I haven't watched tape and tried to back this up myself, but I trust that he probably should have had a sack total around 5 or 6, not great, but remember he is an incredible run stuffing DE and an essential part of our great run D...

[james_walleye]

Ummm, you could say that about every defensive end in the game. Are you going too add 5 or 6 sacks too every defensive end?

[kaz2611]

they may have gotten more sacks if the vikings wouldnt have only rushed 3 or 4 guys and rarely blitzed that also explains why we ranked towards the bottom in pass defense.

[WallyGator12000]

I disagree, you couldn't say that about every DE in the league. Collapsing the pocket and getting pressure on the QB is something that a DE is supposed to do, but obviously the talent level even in the NFL is stratified from team to team, and there is a sharp drop off from players like Julius Peppers, Jason Taylor, Dwight Freeny, etc. However one characteristic of these guys is they make the whole team better, they flush the QB out of the pocket to get sacked by a Linebacker, or another teammate who isn't as close to the pocket because they aren't getting the same penetration. Would I add 5 or 6 sacks to every DE in the league? No, of course not. But is it clear that Udeze is far better and more valuable than his 0 sack total indicates? Absolutely. Kenechi is a solid DE, with the potential to be great, do you remember what he did to Iowa in the Rose Bowl a few years back, it was incredible. Stats don't always tell the true story, we've witnessed this hundreds of times in sports, and in this case, I think Udeze is taking a lot of flak that he doesn't deserve.

[james_walleye]

Ok listen i hope he becomes a superstar. What he did in college means nothing, we see dozens of college studs every draft do nothing in the NFL. This teams weakness on defense was a lack of a pass rush and it is defensive ends that create a good, consistent pass rush. It wasnt there at all last year. Collapsing the pocket from time to time is not the consistency thats needed. The front 4 has too create a pass rush on its own for a pass defense too be effective. You cant rely on 6 guys coming at all times. There were games last year when teams completly abondoned a run game. One because the run defense was good, but two because you could walk up and down the field on the pass defense. Games in which the defensive ends didnt have too play the run game at all because teams abandoned it and they still couldnt put consistent heat on. Thats not good. And with uncertainty and this point on whether James will be close to 100% and nothing but inconsistency at best out of Udeze too this point reguarding a pass rush it will be an issue again this year if its not addressed. If Udeze was the answer this team wouldnt be flirting with drafting a Gaines Adams if hes available.

[WallyGator12000]

The team is flirting with Gaines Adams because Erasmus is hurt and not progressing fast, and Ray Edwards didn't show that much last year, plus Scott seemed to "over-value" his role on the team a bit much...don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind Gaines Adams, I just don't think we really have a strong need at DE though either. We should let Erasmus come back, and give Edwards another year, we can find a speed-rush end like Quentin Moses in the 3rd round and beyond...

[james_walleye]

James at least showed something before he got hurt. He showed he could turn the corner and actually get too the QB once in a while. No one else has shown it. If lack of a pass rush wasnt the problem with the pass defense than what in your opinion was??

[WallyGator12000]

lol, I would never argue with the fact that our pass rush was less than ideal...and that our ends were partly to blame for that. However, Pat only had 1 sack last year, Kevin had 5 after having 10.5 and 11.5 in his first two years with us. So I would agree with the fact that our D-line didn't get enough pressure, and that our pass rush wasn't good. However, the lack of a good Nickel back really hurt us, and the fact that our linebackers struggled in coverage as well hurt our pass defense. What this comes down to is I completely agree, our D-Line needs help, I just don't think it needs that much, and that blaming Udeze as the only issue is ignoring the larger problem. I can't wait to have Erasmus back, I think he is going to be a stud as well. I really hope we can develop Ray Edwards into a speed pass rush type, and I hope that Pat, and to a much larger extent Kevin can get to the QB more often as well. I am excited about Greenway because I think he could be a linebacker that actually can cover a tight end. And I think Griffin and Winfield have the potential to among the best starting corner tandems in football. If our offense would be able to sustain a few more drives our defense wouldn't be as tired, also helping our D-linemen. I hope you don't think I am upset about this discussion or with you or anything, I just love talking Purple and can't wait for the draft next weekend. Do you make it up to games much?

[james_walleye]

No i'm the same way i like talking football as well. Im not blaming Udeze for all the problems. I dont think bringing in a defensive end is the cure all making the defense the tops in the NFL. Williams is facing constant double teams though because the tackles can take care of our ends singlehandedly. If your singled up constantly on the outside you have too get too the QB. This will also free up Williams and i think make a drastic impact on the effectiveness of the overall pass defense. My hopes coming into the offseason was too see the WR issue addressed by picking up a Drew Bennett Kevin Curtis type reciever as well as nabbing one in the 2nd round. Thus getting one the the stud D ends with the 7th pick. Its been publicized that WR and DE are the two biggest needs facing this team and this scenario would have addressed them both. But now after signing no DE's and basically nothing but two 3rd string recievers and the fact that they might draft Quinn or Adrian Peterson, it leaves some severe holes. Holes that may get filled with the June signing period but you cant count on that. And too top it off you have no expierience at QB which leads me too believe this team might be brutal this year as a whole. I hope im wrong, but some severe aquisitions need too be made to change this.