One and done
January 4th, 2009 – 11:08 PM by Chip ScogginsThe Vikings season is over after a 26-14 loss to the Eagles. Lots to talk about and dissect starting with the play of their quarterback.
Tarvaris Jackson’s first playoff game was not very good to say the least. He completed only 15 of 35 passes for 164 yards with an interception returned for a touchdown and a 45.4 passer rating.
Jackson had seven straight incompletions during a stretch in the fourth quarter when the team was trailing 23-14. The Eagles brought a ton of blitzes when the Vikings were forced to throw and Jackson looked skittish.
On his INT that was returned by Asante Samuel 44 yards for a touchdown, Jackson said he threw too early and with not ewnough zip to Sidney Rice. Samuel read it and had an easy interception. Jackson led the Vikings on a TD drive the next series, but that interception put the Vikings in a hole.
Jackson’s future will be a hot topic this offseason. He played well initially after replacing Gus Frerotte late in the season, but his performance the last two weeks raises more questions about what the team will do at that position entering next season. Jackson declined to speculate on his future after the game and Brad Childress was noncommittal when asked about Jackson.
– The defense played well until that screen pass to Brian Westbrook in the fourth. The Vikings shut down the run, had kept Westbrook in check and were getting pressure on McNabb. But Westbrook took the screen, weaved through traffic and scored on a 71-yard touchdown to put the game out of reach.
– Childress’ decision to decline a holding penalty in the first quarter seemed curious. The Eagles had an incomplete pass on third-and-9 from the 26, but they were called for holding. Rather than back them up to the 36 with a third-and-19, Childress declined the penalty and allowed David Akers to kick a 43-yard field goal.
Childress’ reasoning was that the coaches felt Akers also could make it from 53 yards so they didn’t want to give the Eagles offense another chance.
“I talked to our special teams guy and he said, ‘He’ll make it from there — he’ll make it from back here, too,’ ” Childress said. “So, rather than give them another swing at that down, we kind of have an idea of where he can knock it in from — it’s a sterile environment from the standpoint that there is no wind and he has a strong leg.”
Asked later to further explain his reasoning, Childress said, “The point is they would have played the down again. You’re basically giving something to get something and nothing says that you’re going to stop them for zero yards and it’s going to be a 52-yard attempt. It’s glass half-full, glass half-empty.’’
– Adrian Peterson had only 17 yards rushing on eight carries in the second half. He rushed for 66 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. Peterson said the difference basically came down to execution and the fact they fell behind and were forced to throw more.
– How good was Donovan McNabb? He definitely was the difference in the game. McNabb never seemed rattled, even when he was standing in the end zone looking downfield when a rush coming at him. Linebacker Ben Leber said McNabb recognized their disguises and did a good job working the ball to receivers in the middle of the field. Several Vikings also said anyone who thinks McNabb isn’t mobile any more is crazy.
– Jared Allen capped a very good season with another huge performance. He had two sacks, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hurries, a pass broken up and forced fumble.
– Darren Sharper missed the second half after suffering a high sprained right ankle.
– The players will be at Winter Park tomorrow morning packing up. We don’t have access to Childress on Monday, but we will check in after we have locker room access.
38 Responses to "One and done"
First!
I say give T Jack the offseason, but try very hard to get a Warner/Garcia or someone that is proven to be good. T Jack is a back up until further notice.
Oh and by the way, can we finally fire Brad Childress?! The man cant coach, yourun screens to beat blitzes, and sometimes you have to go for it on fourth down, or pay the consequences.
Brad is a failed experiment, I would love to see Shanahan here next season, helll I would rather have Frazier coach this team than Brad. The last D coordinator we lost has been alot better coach than Chilly.
I feel sorry for Birk if he has to live with that fumble, in possibly his last game as a Viking.
Thanks, Chip. Looking forward to having you around for the offseason this time.
How did the Vikings win the North this year after not making the playoffs last year? Simple… Chip Scoggins was keeping the Vikings faithful up to date on AV instead of that PackerBacker Siefert.
Thanks for a fun season Chip and Judd!
This team is ready to win now. I’m against bringing in Warner or Garcia. They would only be around for a year or so. Not worth it. The Vikings need a franchise QB. The only question is where to get one. Draft? Maybe, but there’s a 50/50 chance they would be any good. Free agency? Depends on who’s out there. Cassell has a franchise tag on him now. Not sure who would be available that would be a lot better than T-Jack. Trade? I think that would be the best option. Although who would be available? And what would they cost?
Too bad Derek Anderson played horribly. I wouldn’t mind having Brady Quinn in the purple and gold!
We were going to trade two first round picks for Qunn. Why not just use them on QBs anyway. Their is a decent chance they will be better than Quinn anyway.
I think T Jack can do it, the Warner/Garcia fix, will give Jackson the time he needs in order to improve. If he can learn to cope with a blitz, and run when it is aproppriate, I think he will be a good NFL QB. He has three weakneses. He cant throw deep very well, he can not take the blitz very well, he needs to slide more often on runs.
The guy can run the west coast offense all day, but he can not go deep with any accuracy. He is a good running QB, but the blitz sends him straight to a panic. He also needs tolearn to slide, or be used to getting injured. I like him in the future. Im NOT against bringing in someone to take over for now, or a rookie to compete with him/beat him, but I think he just has to fix a few things, and he will be a good QB. We all knew he was a project, and Im just as mad as anyone he is not ready after 3 years, but watching him late this year, I know he has improved. He avoids sacks 10 times better than Frerotte, and he does not throw as many picks, but he just can not go long at all.
I think our real problem lies at Head Coach, and of course Ryan Cook, and his moronic penalties.
If we get a real head coach, our Defense could possibly be alot better, and our offense would not look like a joke. I watch teams like Dallas every sunday down here, and they have an offense. We NEED a QB NOW, and a passing game, then Defenses will ease off AD, and we will be amazing, but no one still trust our passing game, and we wear our backs down, and can not come back in games.
To helll with childress. Worst clock manager ever. Worse than denny. If you choose to run the clock down at the half, at least run it down right. Jackson lost whatever confidence if gained. Allen was a beast even without big pat. We’ll do well next year. Since cowher won’t coach, shanahan is the best option. Any qb is an upgrade, probably even booty. I want to keep our team in mn, so upgrade please, Zygi.
Go Vikes!!!
I agree we need a QB now. I was really hoping it would be T-Jack. Maybe it still could be. But the only problem with bringing in a veteran QB for a year or 2 max is you never know what you’re going to get.
How about this for a compromise with Ziggy. Move Childress to GM. We all agree his play calling and game management suck, but his evaluation of talent is good, and he could still be involved with the team. That way we could bring in good coaches without hurting Chilly’s feelings. Just a thought
T-Jack will develop into the next Montana/Elway/Favre if we sign him to a long term extension and give him a chance! He has a ton of upside and is an extremely intelligent player. You can tell that by his interviews that he’s probably even smarter than Peyton Manning, but without the goofy Gomer Pile look.
The TJack experiment is officially over. Don’t kid yourself. 15 of 35 is not good enough. This is his THIRD year. A third year NFL QB should not be throwing up floaters hoping someone in Purple catches it. He was lucky he wasn’t picked 2-3 more times.
I thought the team played as good as they could except at QB. Actually, that is probably as good as TJack can perform. The Defense was awesome. If anyone layed an egg it was Kluwe and the punt coverage team. If you watched the San Diego game you can see what a huge difference the punting game can do for field position.
I thought the teams played even except at QB.
TJack is a back-up QB. The Vikings need to get a proven veteran QB. Garcia is NOT the answer. I would be happy to see the Vikings solve the Jets problems and put Favre in purple. The Patriots are possibly franchising Cassell, so, there goes that dream. With McNabb and the Eagles getting hot…he is not coming. What is the status with Carson Palmer?
2009 VIKINGS OFF-SEASON:
Vikings players no longer under contract:
Matt Birk
Jimmy Kleinsausser
Darren Sharper
All three players are un-restricted free agents
I would hope to re-sign Birk at least, we don’t really have a back-up, and he has been around for a while, he made a mistake tonight, but forget about it, he is solid still.
Sharper is iffy to me, he did not really have a “great” season, he is pretty old, and Johnson will hopefully fill in nicley once Sharper is gone.
Kleinsausser played well today, but I dont care. We have WAAAAY to many TE/FBs and the only ones I like are Shiancoe and Mills, Kleinsausser has been around for a while too, but he is simply surplus at this point.
Positions to be fixed:
Right Tackle (Ryan Cook)
Quaterback (Tarvaris Jackson)
Fullback (Nafu Tahi)
could use CB, and WR as well
Interesting Free Agents:
QB Kurt Warner (Cardinals)
QB Jeff Garcia (Buccaneers)
WR TJ Houshmanzedah (Bengals)
WR Bobby Engram (Seahawks)
OT Jordan Gross (Panthers)
OT Mark Tauscher (Packers)
CB Nnamdi Asomugha (Raiders)*
CB Chris Gamble (Panthers)
S Mike Brown (Bears)
S OJ Atogwae (Rams)
S Brian Dawkins (Eagles)
* = likley to be franchise tagged
I would hope Minnesota would make a run at at least two of the guys on this list. We really dont have many holes, so this falls on the coaching staff when we finish badly. If I had a say, I would try to get either Warner, Garcia, Houshmanzedah, Gross, Tauscher, or Atogwae. We could use a good QB NOW. We also could use a person with a brai at RT, and if we got a QB give him Houshmanzedah,and we may be in buisness. Atogwae is young, and that would give Tyrell Johnson depth to a thin Safety position.
NFL DRAFT: (likley pick around 23)
this will change alot before draft day, as to whom may be available at 23-ish, so I will just list some good picks if they fall to us:
QB Matthew Satfford (Georiga)
QB Sam Bradford (Oklahoma)
WR Michael Crabtree (Texas Tech)
OT Michael Oher (Ole Miss)
OT Andre Smith (Alabama)
C Alex Mack (California)
OT Jason Smith (Baylor)
OT Eugene Monroe (Virginia)
CB Malcom Jenkins (Ohio State)
CB Vontae Davis (Illinois)
Some notes:
Matt Cassel is likley to be franchised tagged, but I dont really want him anyway. He has plenty of talent around him in New England, and we would give him less. AD is an upgrade, but our right side of our O Line is weak, and the WRs are not that great either, so Cassell is a risk/reward thing.
I think we need a DT soon, Pat is pretty old, and I like our D Line’s dominance, plus the Williams’ get winded, and are already often replaced, but we dont need a starter just yet.
Free Agency begins around March 1st, and the draft is in April, so I hope we will all be pleasently suprised with our team’s offseason moves, but for now I will have to settle with a playoff berth only. Even though Minnesota has beaten every team left in the NFC, except PHI. 
Well you can at least say this about Childress;
He’s consistent.
He has consistently seen to it that we have no QB, no pass D, poor O-line and terrible ST’s. Throw in his constantly poor coaching and there you have it;
CONSISTENCY!
When will Wilf wake up and fire this dolt?
Daunte, I gotta disagree with you about Birk. He was playing horribly this entire year. And the Vikings drafted his replacement. If the Vikings go RT in the first round, Cook would also slide to C, which would make a good positional battle and depth on the O line.
And Kleinsasser has been one of the few bright spots coming from the TE/FB position. He can do it all. And he’s a North Dakota boy, so I’m sure he’d be willing to play for 100 bucks and a bowl of cereal to stay with the Vikings. The Vikings would be retarded to get rid of him.
I like the idea of Cook at C, hopefully he will not fire offsides every three plays when he has to snap the ball first. But Imstill not sold on Kleinsausser, yeah he would be cheap, but do we really need 5 TE/FB’s. They rarley get injured, and Shiancoe is looking good now.
Wow! This Daunte11 guy is both delusional and must have a lot of time on his hands. Perhaps his Mom doesn’t make him clean the basement of her house that he lives in. I’m not sure if you saw the Post Game wrap-up on Fox, but even with Sharper and Birk not being re-signed, the Vikings are very tight against the cap next year. They might only be able to afford T-Jack or they’ll have to cut Berrian who is still WAY overpaid to be a #2.5 receiver. Obviously that won’t happen, so who should they cut to free up cap room?
I did not watch the post-game, too depresed after T Jack’s play and Childress’ coaching job, I was not aware we were tight in cap space, but we can always franchise tag at least one guy. And guess what, it is 12:30, what do you do at 12:30, I mean with all this free-time on a Sunday night?
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You have to have the cap room to franchise somebody. Who are they going to franchise, Birk? Yeah, he’s going to make a huge difference!
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- Childress must go. Today.
if Zygi is satisfied with this .500 coach, then I guess he stays.
Chances are Childress will never lead the purple to the promise land.
- The offensive coord. needs to go.
absolutely horrible play calling.
To have a lousy QB with lousy play calling and no outlets when the heat is on = a change must be made.
what a vanilla offense. good lord.
- SPECIAL TEAMS coach needs fired immediately. (should have happened long ago).
- great snap Birk JC ..
- wideouts. gotta improve here. these receivers aren’t causing any opposing coaches to lose sleep.
- QB. never have thought Jackson is the guy. Gus gettin gray. Man this is gonna be painful this area. The team is pretty talented NOW and needs a QB NOW.
- I knew they would not win the game and had predicted they would score 14 points.
- no one knows this team and tendencies better than the fansince1061.
have seen it all baby.
Chili = easy to see why the team goes nowhere. things MUST CHANGE.
1961 that is . . . .
again to put in perspective
the vikings lost by 12 pts (at home)
to a 9-6-1 team.
.500 coaching record zygi/childress is just not good enough.
who in the hell wants average.
if average is wanted, then keep things as is - don’t change a thing. jc
Asked if they’ll be moving on without moving out coach Brad Childress or anyone else from the coaching staff, Wilf said, “Absolutely.”
Yippeeee!
Anyone else notice how big a game Robison had? He was an animal. It probably didn’t show in stats but he was after McNabb all night. I say keep him right where he is and it will be a great compliment to Allen and keep that sissy Ray Edwards on the bench with his goofy haircut and panties quotes!
I would hope that the T-Jack experiment has finally come to an end…
You got Ray all wrong, SoDa. This is from Ray’s official Website:
Ray was also a great basketball player in high school. He is the all-time leading rebounder in Woodward H.S. history, and the second all-time leading scorer at the school. When he graduated, Woodward retired his high school basketball number. Ray was recruited by a number of colleges for basketball. Ray was also a top student and he was the Salutatorian of his high school graduating class.”
To all you people who are going crazy when you don’t see Peterson in the game at the end when they are in pass mode, here’s something to gnaw on.
“And then there was Adrian Peterson, who proved on the game’s first play that the only thing more dangerous than him rushing the ball is him trying to block a pass-rushing opponent.
A scout from a playoff team said near game’s end: It’s too bad Peterson is so terrible at picking up a blitz. He’s so bad that he can’t be on the field when the Vikings are in a throw mode.”
I think Adrian more than makes up for mistakes with his dynamic game changing plays, IMHO. Gotta get him the ball.
poll: which is the bigger embarrassment, the Vikes upper management or Franken?
well my fellow viking fans what we have here is homer simpson and his son bart coaching and playing qb both are super underachievers
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[…] Access Vikings: » Blog Archive » One and done […]
[…] Access Vikings: » Blog Archive » One and done […]
[…] Access Vikings: » Blog Archive » One and done […]
[…] Access Vikings: » Blog Archive » One and done […]
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Join Vikings beat writers Judd Zulgad and Chip Scoggins on a usually informative and often irreverent journey inside the Vikings.
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