Sunday VS Lions

[King James]

The whole "Strength of schedule" bulls*** is soooooo overated, because it's based on a year ago. Last year at this time the Vikings counted as an easy game to it's opponents, only 10 times teams found out differently. I get a kick out of how much people put into it. The NFL is the most volatile league in professional sports has far has team's fortunes changing from one season to the next.

[PurpleHalo]

The whole "Strength of schedule" bulls*** is soooooo overated, because it's based on a year ago. Last year at this time the Vikings counted as an easy game to it's opponents, only 10 times teams found out differently. I get a kick out of how much people put into it. The NFL is the most volatile league in professional sports has far has team's fortunes changing from one season to the next.

Good friend of mine is a Vikings fan from Bama too, what part you in? Well he's from here, but lives in Bama.

[King James]

Good friend of mine is a Vikings fan from Bama too, what part you in? Well he's from here, but lives in Bama.

Montgomery.

[PurpleHalo]

Montgomery.

I bet you find yourself watching games at a bar with Saints fans everywhere.

[PacificNorseWest]

Peterson should run for 300 yards against Detroit. Once he gets into the second level of Detroits defense, who is going to stop him?

[The Breeze]

Peterson should run for 300 yards against Detroit. Once he gets into the second level of Detroits defense, who is going to stop him?

I was actually thinking this last night. AD just coming out and running for multiple 50yd TDs like a man possessed.

The crazy thing is, that it's not entirely out of the question.

[King James]

I bet you find yourself watching games at a bar with Saints fans everywhere.

It's funny because down here you can catch every Atlanta Falcons game on TV. If ATL is not playing then we might see a New Orleans game or Titans game. But me I don't go to the bar to watch games because the Vikings are never on unless we're playing Green Bay or it's Sunday/Monday night game. I watch all of the Vikings games online, in the comfort of my own home.

As for fan bases, there's a mixture of Steelers, Falcons, Saints, Patriots, Ravens, and 49ers fans.

When T-Joke was playing for the Vikings, there were a lot of Vikings fans here because Montgomery is his hometown and everybody wanted to support him. I remember every sunday night, the news would bring up the Vikings score, especially if he was playing that night.

[Purple bruise]

I am predicting a Viking win. AD will go for 140 rushing and 30 receiving. Ponder 225 yds 2tds passing one running and 1 int.. Rudolph with 7 receptions with one TD. Walsh 2 fgs. In a 7-10 point win.

[Mothman]

Ben Goessling and kevin Siefert discuss the Vikes/Lions game:

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_ ... s-at-lions

While there are always a number of keys to any game, from a Vikings perspective I think the two biggest deciding factors in this one will be the how the Vikes o-line performs and how their secondary holds up against Calvin Johnson. They obviously can't let Pettigrew or Bush shred them either but if they can contain Johnson, that should go a long way toward notching a win.

I think the Vikes OL is the biggest key to this game. There's a lot of talk about Ponder but opening holes for Peterson and giving pass plays sufficient time to develop will be huge. If the Vikes can't handle Detroit's front 7, it's going to be a long day.

[Eli]

The offensive line is what it is. Same personnel as last year and hopefully no worse for the wear. Just as important are the questions of how Ponder will handle the pressure and what Musgrave will do to work around it.

If Detroit's offense clicks and this game becomes high scoring, then the Vikings are sunk. We could see another of those frustrating games where Peterson gains 100 yards in the 1st half and then has something like five carries in the 2nd half.

[King James]

What's the big worry now? A couple of months ago, a lot of you claimed we had one of the best O-Lines in the division.

[The Breeze]

The offensive line is what it is. Same personnel as last year and hopefully no worse for the wear. Just as important are the questions of how Ponder will handle the pressure and what Musgrave will do to work around it.

If Detroit's offense clicks and this game becomes high scoring, then the Vikings are sunk. We could see another of those frustrating games where Peterson gains 100 yards in the 1st half and then has something like five carries in the 2nd half.

I'm looking for a huge impact from our D-line. They have to keep us in games early on. This will put a big pressure on the LBs to cover up the middle and support the run defense.

But I agree we are toast if we are forced to out score our opponent. We will do it from time to time, but this team starts and ends with it's ability to keep it's offense on the field consuming the clock.

There's no real reason to think they can't succeed at that. Even the 3-13 season was decided by a slew of games that were 7pts or less.
^^Except for the back end of the D(youth) and the overall regression in run defense.

That has me concerned for sunday.

[Mothman]

The offensive line is what it is. Same personnel as last year and hopefully no worse for the wear. Just as important are the questions of how Ponder will handle the pressure and what Musgrave will do to work around it.

I'm not sure I see your point about the o-line. It's the same personnel as last year so... ?

I agree that how Ponder handles the pressure and how Musgrave works around it will be important. As I said, there are always a number of keys to any game. I just see the o-line's performance as particularly significant in this one because Detroit's' defensive front should be a strength.

If Detroit's offense clicks and this game becomes high scoring, then the Vikings are sunk. We could see another of those frustrating games where Peterson gains 100 yards in the 1st half and then has something like five carries in the 2nd half.

Maybe but I wouldn't rule the Vikes out in a high-scoring game. They showed the capacity to compete in a high-scoring contest against GB in the final game of last season and they put 34 points on the Lions the last time they played them. Those were both home games though so I realize it would be a tougher task on the road. Nevertheless, the Vikes scored 35+ twice in their final 3 games last season.

[mondry]

High scoring or not doesn't really matter much, the lions defense, especially the secondary will never be able to close a game for them. Sure the front four are solid but it's the same guys from last year that we shut down pretty easily. Anzah or whatever his name is might be a stud but it's too early for him in his development to make that much of an impact, he's their cordarelle patterson in that sense.

[Eli]

I'm not sure I see your point about the o-line. It's the same personnel as last year so... ?

The point is... They could play above themselves, but don't expect miracles. We (including Musgrave and Ponder) know pretty much what to expect from this offensive line because we watched them all of last year. It's going to be rough. Don't expect Charlie Johnson to turn into Carl Nicks for three hours on Sunday.