Thanks for posting. It's definitely a good primer in gearing up for the upcoming season. Everything I read just gets me excited.
Wallace is a bum, but he has loads of talent as a deep threat.
My best friend is a Miami Dolphins fans and I found myself saying almost exactly this to him quite a bit.
I'm hoping the circumstances this time are better for Wallace and he shows out. I also think Zimmer is a better leader for him than Philbin as the article alludes to.
One player who has definitely lived up to his contract thus far is defensive end Everson Griffen, who was handed a 5-year, $42.5 million deal an offseason ago. It was a criticized move, given that Griffen had previously been unproven, but he made the front office look brilliant;
I'm a big fan of Griffen. He's done nothing but work hard to prove himself. I don't think he'll ever be recognized as great, but that's okay. He's a just a perfect fit, it seems, and a huge piece to
this defense.
Blair Walsh took the league by storm as a rookie in 2012, drilling 35-of-38 tries, including a perfect 10-of-10 from 50-plus. However, he has regressed each season, and he was just 26-of-35 in 2014, though he did go 5-of-9 from 50-plus.
Jeff Locke is a mediocre punter. He finished in the middle of the pack in terms of net yardage in 2013, and he ranked 21st last season.
Both of these worry me. We talk about Locke's struggles often here, but not as much about Walsh. They really need these guys to be good to round out the progression we expect to see everywhere else. If the Vikings want to win the close games that they would have lost last year then these guys need to step up because the kicking game can often swing the pendulum of momentum to your favor or against you just like that.
Minnesota has a very balanced schedule. It seems like easy and difficult opponents rotate every week. For example, the year begins with: San Francisco (easy), Detroit (hard), San Diego at home (easy), Denver on the road (hard), Kansas City at home (easy), Detroit on the road (hard), and so on.
This doesn't really mean much to me at all right now. I wouldn't say KC at home will be easy, although it's very winnable. San Diego is a weird team. You never know if you get the lights out or the lights off version. Division opponents can and will always be tough here and there, but I'm not really sold on Detroit being a "hard" opponent. Losing Suh was killer and Stafford is prone to errant passes, which I think Minnesota will exploit to the fullest. At least, they should.
