I’m extremely pleased with how the Vikings looked in their season opener. I was upset that they didn’t go out and draft a quarterback, but Adrian Peterson looked very impressive indeed and Tarvaris Jackson showed that although he might look like a Cunningham-Stewart-Vick clone, he’s capable of doing a pretty good Trent Dilfer impersonation and making sure that he doesn’t give the game away. I’m still concerned about his accuracy, but his judgment is better than I’d expected thus far. And it’s already clear that Sydney Rice can hold onto the ball, which is a step up from Troy Williamson in his rookie year.
The defense was stout against the run, but what was different yesterday was that the line generated a decent pass rush and blitzing linebackers actually made it to the quarterback on occasion. There was even a coverage sack towards the end, something that hasn’t been seen in the Metrodome for years, at least not when the defense was wearing purple. The six sacks recorded yesterday equal 19.3 percent of their TOTAL sacks in 2006. The only thing that was worrisome was their continued inability to get off the field when faced with third-and-long; when excellent special teams play puts the other offense deep in their own red zone, you simply can’t let them march out the hole like they did in the first half yesterday.
I still don’t think the Vikes can seriously be considered playoff material, but they look as if they’re capable of taking a big step towards becoming one next year. 8-8 would be a successful year, while anything less than 6-10 bodes ill for the continuation of the Childress era.
As for the rest of the league, I’m not at all surprised at Randy Moss’s resurgence. He’s still a great player, but he has always been a front-runner, not a die-hard competitor. New England is a great situation for him and I expect him to do very well there. The only real surprise was Detroit. I expected them to get hammered by the Oakland defense, but even if he’s a B-level quarterback, John Kitna is a high quality human being and it’s nice to see him get off to a good start.
What did you think of your team’s performance?