Tag: sports

Since the Vikings are unlikely to be handed a W by the officials, they’ll just have to go out and earn their one-game advantage in the NFC North. Fortunately, this game against Seattle looks considerably more winnable than it did at the beginning of the year.

Crazy week. How do the Packers beat the Vikings on the road, then lose at home? Ah, that’s right, the officials were giving them do-overs on every play that didn’t go their way in Minneapolis.

Anyhow, assuming the referees actually let them play, this should be the week when we find out if the Vikings are for real or not. They have to be able to beat a 6-4 Falcons team if they’re a legitimate playoff team. If they can’t, then they’re just not ready yet. And by “they”, I mean Teddy Bridgewater.

Better get your fantasy teams adjusted….

Vikings (7-2) vs Packers (6-3). Who expected THAT at the beginning of the year, or even after Week 1? This game could settle the NFC North, although the Vikes have a harder schedule going forward. I am dubious that an injured Rodgers behind a weak offensive line can keep the ferocious Vikings pass rush in check for long. Either way, it is the must-see game this week.

Also, perhaps the Packers fans can help me on this one. For years, even decades, I have heard the national media talk about the big Packers rivalry with the Bears. Recent case in point:

While the Packers’ long historic feud with the Chicago Bears commands as much or more attention in Wisconsin’s population centers (Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay) as the team’s rivalry with the Vikings, there’s no team in Minnesota as reviled as the green and gold.

Now, I lived in Minnesota and so it’s natural that the many Packers fans I met there – including my Packers-owning mother-in-law- consider the Vikings to be their primary rival. But the thing is, I have not met a single Packers fan who considers the Bears to be their primary rival anywhere in my entire life. I’ve met Packer Backers from Florida to Florence, Italy, and the moment they hear you have any connection to Minnesota, it’s on.

And on the online sites like ProFootballTalk, the Packer Backers are always going after the Vikings and the Vikings fans. They never have much to say about the Bears, not even in the comments on an article about an upcoming Packers-Bears game.

So, what is the deal? Is this simply the national media assuming that the two old NFL franchises must be rivals while not paying any attention to the real deal? Are there really many Packers fans who wouldn’t mind losing to the Vikings twice this season so long as they beat the Bears again?

Into the world of an NFL quarterback. It’s not hard to see why the athletically gifted, but less intelligent or less dedicated college stars reliably fail once they find themselves in the deep end:

In a conference room on the second floor of the Cardinals’ Southwest-motif headquarters in Tempe late Tuesday afternoon, Garver and assistant tight ends/special teams coach Steve Heiden sit at a long table, looking up at the whiteboard. Arians is seated at the end, wearing his trademark Kangol cap, pondering his practice plan for Wednesday. He wants to make sure every play counts in his three practices this week. Not only will the game plan be about 20 plays longer than the usual 150-play catalog he uses—Cleveland’s “rolodex of coverages,” as Palmer says, makes Arizona want more options in the game plan—but Arians will be coaching a team in a hurried week, against an opponent few on his team and staff are familiar with.

Observing Arians as the plan is being finalized, you realize there is no secret to the plays that are his pets. There is a section smack dab in the middle of the white board headed HOME RUN. It means exactly how it sounds: big shots, far downfield.

Arians picks out six Home Runs per week. This week, one of the Home Runs stands out above all: Pistol Strong Right Stack Act 6 Y Cross Divide. “I love the play this week,” Arians says.

Pistol means Palmer will take the snap four yards behind center. It’s a short shotgun snap. Strong tells the fullback (backup center A.Q. Shipley, in this case) to line up to the tight-end side of the formation. Right is the side the tight end will line up on, assuming the ball is spotted in the middle of the field or the right hash. Stack tells the two wide receivers on the play to line up in a stack to the opposite side of the formation from the tight end. Act 6 is the protection, telling the two backs which linebacker to block if the ’backers rush; the fullback will seal the tight-end side, while the running back will take the blitzer from the middle or weak side, if there is one. Y Cross Divide comprises the two routes run by the wide receivers. The Y, or slot receiver, will run a deep cross through the formation and hope to take a safety with him, while the split end in the stack will run a divide route; that means the split end, likely Larry Fitzgerald, will run a stutter-and-go, running maybe seven yards downfield, faking toward the sideline, then sprinting downfield. The route is divided into two segments, the first ending in the deke to the right, and then the go.

Just one of 171 plays the Cardinals installed for their game with Cleveland.

“You pretty sure you’ll run it this week?” I ask.

“Oh yeah,” Arians says. “It ties into what we did last week running the ball. We’ll take one of the runs they’ve seen with A.Q. in the backfield, and we’ll run play-action off it instead of a run. It’s a concept, a play, our quarterback and receivers know, but we haven’t run it out of this formation or this set. Larry’s really good on the [divide] route. Plus, it’s a seven-man protection, so we’ve got probably 3 to 3.5 seconds for Carson to get rid of it.”

The play stands out for several reasons. One: Cleveland safety Donte Whitner is very aggressive. If he sees Shipley in the backfield, his study of the Cards is likely going to lead him to think it’s a running play. So Whitner could cheat toward the line, thinking it’s a run, or he could blitz to cram the line of scrimmage, or he could stay back in coverage. “He’s all over film, getting his eyes in the backfield when he never should,” Palmer says. Two: The Y receiver would be either of the two young Arizona speedsters, John Brown or J.J. Nelson, and the likelihood of one darting across the formation would cause the remaining safety, Tashaun Gipson, to shade toward helping the Cleveland cornerback over the top on Brown or Nelson. Three: Arizona tight end Jermaine Gresham, running a short cross opposite and underneath the Y cross, would likely be picked up by a linebacker and be open. Four: Fitzgerald isn’t the fastest receiver on the field, but as Arians says, he runs a heck of an out-and-up; if Palmer has the time, Fitzgerald on a corner would be tempting, because he’d likely gain half a step on the corner with the fake.

It’s very cool to see how little is left to chance… and yet how big a role chance nevertheless plays with regards to the eventual outcome. There are several important life lessons to be found there. Be sure to read both parts.

Contrast Manning’s reported behavior with Brady’s when he was injured. No wonder Brady ended up with more Super Bowl rings. He was the better quarterback because he is more of a team player.

If this is indeed the end for Peyton Manning, it may be even uglier than we thought.

While the product on the field has been difficult to watch (nine touchdowns, 17 interceptions), it has apparently extended off the field, too.

According to NFL Network’s James Palmer, with Manning not playing this week due to what the team is calling a left foot injury, the future Hall of Famer has not even been near his team or coaching staff this week.

Manning “hasn’t attended any practices or meetings this week and hasn’t had a single conversation about Sunday’s game plan with Brock Osweiler,” according to Palmer. Mark Haas at CBS Denver has reported the same.

Everyone has assumed that Peyton Manning would become a successful OC or head coach someday due to his high football IQ, but I wonder if his personality won’t sabotage him there too.

This is your weekly NFL Open thread. Big game in the NFC North today. Skol Vikings!

UPDATE: All Day does it again! 30-14 over the Vikings West (seriously, Del Rio, Tice, and Musgrave?), and AD ties OJ’s record for the most 200-yard games with six.

Today should also definitively settle the Manning-Brady question. Brady is better. Great finish in New York.

This would be your open thread. Skol Vikings!

This would be that. Skol Vikes!