Moderator: Moderators
Oops! I forgot to include it. Here you go:dead_poet wrote:Nice. Do you have a link to the rest of the column?
I do too.I really want a championship with Adrian Peterson on the roster.
“I’ve been watching the offense the last few games, and it’s like, ‘Man, they don’t even need me,’ ” he said. “Teams are going to have to play more honest. If they do stack the box, we’ll beat them with the passing game.
Of course, there's a bit of a downgrade from '09 Favre and 2014 Matt Cassel. There's a lot of pressure on the offensive line this year in pass protection. What we've seen so far in the preseason hasn't given me a lot of optimism. Zimmer has noticed it too, so hopefully it's something that can and will be corrected. We really need the pass offense to finally pay for continually stacking the box. Hopefully that will make the offense even more lethal. I do expect an improvement in points scored/game from 2013, a year that surprisingly saw them rank 13th in total yards and less than a point away from being ranked in the top-10 in points/game.“This is going to be the best offense I’ve played in. This is the offense I’ve been waiting for. We’ve got the pieces to facilitate moving the ball around. When Brett Favre was here, listen, when I saw those deep balls going up and guys making big plays, I was like, ‘Yeah!’ That makes your team very scary.”
"There's some lateral parts to the run game," running backs coach Kirby Wilson said. "It's a little bit different read for him -- his eyes are probably at a different spot and location than they have been in the past. Any time you're running lateral, there's a degree of patience that comes with it. I think that will help grow his game; he's already got a tremendous package of things he does really well. I think this will just add to it."
I know I'm eager to se how much they'll incorporate him into the passing game but my lack of faith in the OL leaves me a little worried about running Peterson laterally more often. I think that gives the defense more of an opportunity to pursue, string plays out and seal off the edge. On paper, asking Peterson to be patient and rely on his blockers makes sense. In reality, I'm not sure how reliable those blockers are and I think he might be at his best when he can run inside, make one or two players miss and then GO.Said Wilson: "He's had good days, but there are some days where he's been spectacular in those areas. I'm excited to see what the new and improved Adrian Peterson is going to look like when the opener starts. I think this whole team is excited about what he could bring as a dual-threat player."
Kind of like Robert Smith's premature retirement.Eli wrote: What do you mean: "let alone"? It's either he plays for the Vikings or he retires. There is no "let alone".
If Adrian Peterson were to retire now (or next season, or the season after, or any year while he's still under contract) it would be the single biggest condemnation of the organization in the teams' 50+ year history. It would be the single most damning action ever taken by a Viking player. It's not going to happen. He's more likely to go play for the Raiders or the Dolphins when his contract expires and he's still capable of 2 1/2 yards per carry.
Yep. A couple of times, most recently on Monday.Mothman wrote:Has he commented on it?
http://www.vikings.com/news/article-1/Z ... 5b058de278Offensively, obviously, the 97-yard drive was a great starter coming out. We’ve got to do better in our pass protection than what we have been. The quarterback is getting hit too much and that includes the running backs, we’re not just talking about the offensive line. We have to as a football team, we have to continue to be smarter than what we are. We tried to run the ball out of the end zone and we gave up field position. I talk to our football team all the time about being a smart football team, field position, and so when we have field position we have to keep it.
It's really surprising, given the issues we had (Rudolph injury, Kalil playing hurt, Peterson playing hurt). Probably one of the biggest knocks was his hesitation to put Patterson out there for more snaps earlier. Looking back, that certainly looks like an oversight, of course we don't know if maybe Patterson just wasn't ready to be out there (for all we know it may have looked like the WR equivalent of Freeman's debacle). Personally I still would've liked to have seen him utilized more earlier.Musgrave doesn't seem to get much respect at all as an OC but for a team that experienced genuine issues at QB, the Vikings were pretty productive on offense over the course last season.
With all of the other teams' offensive firepower (Saints, Packers, Bears, Broncos, Eagles, Lions, Falcons, Cowboys) I'd bet against a top-5 offensive performance. Top-10 is doable I think.It will be interesting to see what the offense does this year. Will they finish around the same position? Will they jump up into the top 5?
Whoops. I think I somehow made it look like you responded to yourself. I feel like Spiderman when he just got his powers. I don't know my own abilities yet.Mothman wrote: Yep. A couple of times, most recently on Monday.
http://www.vikings.com/news/article-1/Z ... 5b058de278
It's really surprising, given the issues we had (Rudolph injury, Kalil playing hurt, Peterson playing hurt). Probably one of the biggest knocks was his hesitation to put Patterson out there for more snaps earlier. Looking back, that certainly looks like an oversight, of course we don't know if maybe Patterson just wasn't ready to be out there (for all we know it may have looked like the WR equivalent of Freeman's debacle). Personally I still would've liked to have seen him utilized more earlier.
With all of the other teams' offensive firepower (Saints, Packers, Bears, Broncos, Eagles, Lions, Falcons, Cowboys) I'd bet against a top-5 offensive performance. Top-10 is doable I think.
dead_poet wrote:Whoops. I think I somehow made it look like you responded to yourself. I feel like Spiderman when he just got his powers. I don't know my own abilities yet.
I'm having the same problem. I keep accidentally hitting the "edit" button instead of the "quote" button. Perhaps they shouldn't be next to each other.Thanks for the info. I'm glad Zimmer's "on the case", not that I would expect anything else. I always assume that if we're seeing issues, NFL coaches definitely see them.dead_poet wrote:Yep. A couple of times, most recently on Monday.
http://www.vikings.com/news/article-1/Z ... 5b058de278
I would too and for all we know, Musgrave would have liked to utilize him more early too. He must have has his reasons for holding back. Maybe he felt Patterson was too much of a liability as a route runner earlier in the season and needed a better grasp of things. We'll never know for sure if that choice prevented costly mistakes, left points off the board or both. Patterson was certainly an explosive weapon when they started getting the ball to him later in the season and Musgrave wasn't shy about doing it then.It's really surprising, given the issues we had (Rudolph injury, Kalil playing hurt, Peterson playing hurt). Probably one of the biggest knocks was his hesitation to put Patterson out there for more snaps earlier. Looking back, that certainly looks like an oversight, of course we don't know if maybe Patterson just wasn't ready to be out there (for all we know it may have looked like the WR equivalent of Freeman's debacle). Personally I still would've liked to have seen him utilized more earlier.
Cynic.With all of the other teams' offensive firepower (Saints, Packers, Bears, Broncos, Eagles, Lions, Falcons, Cowboys) I'd bet against a top-5 offensive performance. Top-10 is doable I think.
@SeifertESPN -- Wow. Jerry Jones confirms that Adrian Peterson called in June to say he wants to play for Cowboys 1 day. From @DVNJr: http://es.pn/YYxJO0
@SeifertESPN -- Debatable whether call from Peterson to Jones is tampering. But enough to ask whether Peterson is laying groundwork for eventual departure.
http://www.espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_ ... nts-cowboy@SeifertESPN 12s --Here is the news story on the Peterson-Jones phone call. Jones says he has to speak "pig Latin" on topic:
That's nice.
I will cut him a bit of a break because I can see things from his perspective (I think). I'm clearly a huge Vikings fan. If I was drafted by the Packers (assuming my skin wouldn't burn the first time I put on the jersey) I'd love the opportunity to, at some point in my career, play for the team I loved growing up. That would obviously enrage a lot of Packer fans, which would be awesome. I think that's a natural thing. From what I understand, Peterson was/is a Cowboys fan from birth. I think AD has been a great/loyal Viking throughout his career.Dirtyswabby wrote:This really gets under my skin, the vikings have been nothing but fair to AP, they gave him a mega contract, made hm the face of the Franchise. I am beyond irate that he would call Jerry Jones. Seriously I feel like that is a serious stab in the back. I guess if you have to play for a #### team might as well be your home team? "I want to win a championship" So he wants to go and join a team that wont be winning one while Jones is in charge.
I agree. Furthermore, fleecing Dallas at the end of AD's career would be a wonderful move by the Vikes. If we can get any sort of revenge for the Herschel Walker debacle it would be fantastic.dead_poet wrote: I will cut him a bit of a break because I can see things from his perspective (I think). I'm clearly a huge Vikings fan. If I was drafted by the Packers (assuming my skin wouldn't burn the first time I put on the jersey) I'd love the opportunity to, at some point in my career, play for the team I loved growing up. That would obviously enrage a lot of Packer fans, which would be awesome. I think that's a natural thing. From what I understand, Peterson was/is a Cowboys fan from birth. I think AD has been a great/loyal Viking throughout his career.
