Henderson, MN Forums General Bleeding Purple Vikings Talk

All ten 2014 draft picks are now signed SKOL

Big tilt tomorrow night as the Vikes try to keep their preseason record perfect. It will be a good chance to see which offensive lineman might be a backup - very exciting stuff. And if the preseason is any kind of precursor, which it usually is, the Vikes will win 75% of their games and be 12 & 4 at season’s end. Super Bowl Homeboy!

The big news today – Ravens sign DB Derek Cox, who was one of the early cuts for the Vikings this preseason. That must mean the defensive backs are going to be very good this year – arrrgggggh Captain!

Nice win by the purple this past Sunday - a road win none the less. Offensively it was nice to see them get Corduroy Patterson involved more in the offense than the past regime, but I was expecting a little more from Norm Turner (Norm!). I don't know that one should get too excited with Cassel at QB as it will be one good game and a couple bad, or vice versa, he is very inconsistent. At some point Teddy will probably make an appearance - the sooner the better.

Defensively it was nice to see an aggressive defense versus the ol' Cover 2. The defensive line looked pretty good which helped get the interceptions.

Special teams looked pretty good minus the blocker on the punt return that blocked the guy into 35. It looked like 35 might not ever get back up - jeepers. The most concerning point was how the clown jumped around after the flag was picked up, like he just won the Super Bowl. I was really hoping a Viking would have walked up to him and pointed to the scoreboard. Anytime a team has players more concerned about one individual play, than they are about the score, are in for a long season. With that said and the QB situation in St. Louis, they might be lucky to win one single game.

I had this weekend's game versus the Patriots as a "loss" on my wall-sized Viking schedule, however, after reviewing the film of both teams from the last weekend and running simulations on Madden NFL '05 on the XBOX (I haven't picked up the latest version), I'm changing my pick to the Vikes. Brad Johnson plays an efficient game, and Fred Smoot (smooooooot!) picks off Tom Brady to seal the deal.

Vikes 27
Patriots 23

Book it!

I'm not really into weekly predictions or breaking down film or Madden Box simulations. That's old news. The only real question mark remaining for the season is WHERE WE'LL WATCH THE PLAYOFF OPENER!!!!

It should be a fun game to watch this Sunday with a couple of the greatest football minds matching wits - Billicheck's defense versus Norm's offense - this should be a real chest match. Past matches has Billicheck winning 10 out of 12. Take that and couple it with the fact the Pats are 13 and 1 coming out of a loss, use Henderson math and it looks like an 11.5% chance the Vikings win. (So you're saying there's a chance?!)

Another fun thing to watch will be Goldy, being it's a home game at the U, I'm sure our favorite Gopher will have the crowd just a buzzin'. Off topic, not sure why the Vikings couldn't just call that stadium home is beyond me. Watching the Arizona Cardinals play Monday night it looks like they have a good thing going there with the local college, University of Phoenix, as they both share the same field, but enough stadium talk.

The other thing to watch will be how the Vikings defense matches up to the Pats' offense, Billicheck is all about mismatches so I expect a lot of 4 and 5 wide to exploit the Vikings defensive backfield. The D line will have to have a great game for any chance of a win. If the Sheriff and Xavier don't play it might not end well for the Purple.

On the betting side, those that followed my betting advice last week and took their $100 betting roll and laid it all on the Vikings now have $200 in their pocket. Pats are favored by 3 so take 50% of that and bet it on the Vikings to cover.

I wonder whose chest looks better - Billicheck's or Norm's?

Now for today's version of....What NFL player is in trouble now? Answer is...Jerome Simpson

Geez will we ever get to enjoy to read about NFL hits and have it pertaining to football and not domestic violence or child abuse?

The thrill is gone this week (queue up the B.B. King) - what a mess. Maybe after the blow out his week we'll see Teddy start next week. Cassel will either look great or like last week - I'm banking on the latter against Ryan's defense.

After the betting loss last week we're back to the original 100 bucks so in a - I don't care play - Saints favored by 10 - put it all on the Saints to cover.

Big news on the QB front from Winter Park - the resilient McLeod Bethel Thompson has been resigned. Just too bad there isn't a defensive guy named Hugh, and if there was and if he tackled McLeod in practice one could spin into.......Hey hey Hugh Hugh, get off of McLeod.

And then there is OH no but oh yes, the injury bug has hit. Nothing against Cassel but it's going to be fun to watch Teddy. He actually didn't look too bad last week, actually didn't looked scared a bit. But no running game - oh my.

Now for the bet - gut feeling Vikings plus the 2 (home dog?). The Falcons have like 3 sacks all year. Reality - the Vikes have no run game, no pro bowl tight end, no starting right guard, left tackle looks like horse apples, Greenway with bad ribs (probably won't play, the Sheriff is dinged up, one corner is dinged up and a rookie QB. Taking half the pot and betting $100 on the favored Falcons.