Sunday, November 11, 2007

Game Recap! Minnesota Vikings (3-5) at Green Bay Packers (7-1)

I'm excited. I was listening to Dave Sinykin on his Packer Preview show in the Twin Cities and there was a casual prediction of Packers 34 - Viqueens 17. I'm not even sure he was the person who made the prediction. It doesn't really matter. The point is, I think we might have an easy win today. I don't know why it didn't occur to me until someone mentioned it but it put a tingle in my bathing suit area so I'm gonna go with it.

There are many reasons for this; the lack of a legit player for the Vikings at QB being one part of it. The lack of professional quality wideouts being another. Or a tight end. Or a right guard, tackle, etc. Or a pass defense. The inability of modern science to provide 21 more Adrian Petersons through cloning so Minnesota could actually field a team with talent. Okay, why the hell would I not expect an easy win against this team? Other than a very good running back and a history of tight games what is there? I mean, the history doesn't even mean much when you break it down.

Brian Baldinger and Sam Rosen are in the booth for Fox today. I couldn't stand Rosen when he worked with Bill Maas the last few years but he's actually tolerable with "Baldy". Also, Baldy has the weird ass Larry McCarren deal with one finger just shooting off in it's own direction. Anything that reminds me of Larry's hands is a good thing. That last sentence is really, really bad when taken out of context.

Injuries - Bubba's out, Nick Collins is out. Antoine Winfield is out for the Vikings. That is huge. He's a decent cover guy and he's big in the run game. Without him they don't have much in the secondary. Tarvaris Jackson. Brooks Bollinger gets the start. Frankly, it doesn't matter. TJack is awful in a very specific way, which is "rookie/inexperienced guy". Bollinger and Kelly Holcomb are awful in the traditional "career 3rd stringer" way. The Vikings have no options here so even mentioning this as a potential point of interest is awkward and strained.

As always, when the opponent has the ball the comments are italicized.

1st Quarter

13:58 - First good sign of the day. On third and 1 the Swarmin' Mormon sticks Adrian Peterson for a loss. A punt shall be coming. From now on I'll be referring to Peterson as "AP". I do this for two reasons. One, he's their entire offense so I expect to write it often. Two, he wants to go by the nickname of "AD" for "All Day." I refuse. I mean, why go by a nickname like "AD" when your initials are "AP." That's just dumb. If you want to go by "All Day" then do it, but don't shorten it up to something that is very similary and actually rhymes with your initials. It's confusing for those of us who hang out with poor enunciators.

8:15 - The Packers have a nice drive going. They threw the ball 4 straight times to open the game and then Ryan Grant switched jerseys with AP. It's now 4th and 3 on the MN 35. We're going for it. 5 wides. My wife has discovered a dead mouse. Not ideal timing woman. I think Tivo was created by a guy who had to deal with this exact scenario...Ok, we're back, mouse is now amongst the mouselike angels in mouse heaven and KoRo just made a sweet diving catch of a wild pass from Favre. He then jumped up, moved exactly the 1 yard he needed for the 1st down, and got tackled. Heady play.

7:18 - Ryan Grant bursts through the right side for 30 yards and a touchdown! Great blocking, great running, nice little spin move to break a tackle at the end. That was cool. Man, if this team can run like that (44 yards on this drive) then we're legit.

GREEN BAY 7 - MINNESOTA 0

5:29 - On third and 6 from the GB 42 Bollinger fires a pass at absolutely no one. I rewound the Tivo and I still have no idea who it was intended for. I see the hamster running in your head there, how did the Vikings get to our 42? Mason Crosby learned a bad habit from Dave Rayner last week and kicked off out of bounds. One decent AP carry later and the Vikings were on our side of the 50. Fortunately Brooks realized he's terrible and ended the drive before any more hijinks could ensue.

1:15 - Seriously, what is going on? Grant has 8 carries for 81 yards thus far. He's had wide open holes and done something with them 4-5 times already. The drive stalls on a Jennings drop but it's nice to see us moving the ball completely balanced. It's also nice to see pretty cheerleaders on the sidelines. I'm not saying the camera showed them, I'm just saying it's nice when it does happen, whenever that may be. Cuz they're pretty, they pretend to be interested (or actually ARE interested), and uh, well... I'm gonna stop talking for a while.

2nd Quarter

15:00 - Wow. How have I not been called for a tryout with the Vikings yet? Bollinger whiffed again on a throw to their TE Shiancoe on 3rd and 6. Holcomb missed his receivers badly in our first game against them and now a totally different guy is missing the receivers. I just checked the stats, their best wideout is Bobby Wade according to catches, yards, TD's. He'd be lucky to be our 5th guy.

9:30 - 3rd and 8 on the MN 40. There was a false start on Spitz that pushed us back. Other than that the O-line has done a great job protecting Favre and getting the running game going. Favre hits Ruvell Martin for 25. 5 wides again. I'm liking this. My tv is too small to verify they're all wideouts (maybe Don Lee's in there somewheres) but the fact Ruvell made the catch is a good sign he was out.

7:00 - The running game reverts back to form and we're facing 3rd and 10. Donald Driver has the ball tip off his hands. Would have been a first down on the 5. He'll get the next one. Donald Driver is so dang dreamy. Crosby from 39.

GREEN BAY 10 - MINNESOTA 0

2:45 - That was a hell of a sequence. The Vikings pick up a first down on a carry by AP. Then the following occurs. Birk gets called for a false start. 1st and 15 - AJ Hawk sticks AP on a swing pass for a gain of 1. Great coverage. 2nd and 14 - Kampman chases AP all over the left side of the field for a 2 yard loss. 3rd and 16 - Meek draw call results in a punt. Nice work D!

2:09 - 3rd and 7 from the GB 23. Favre hits Driver over the middle for 17. Nice little scramble from BF. I've written his initials in my notes every week for two years and I've yet to do a BFF/Best Friends Forever joke. Sadly, this is because he returned the locket I made for him with my picture on one side and his on the other. I was pretty bummed out until Ingle Martin made me a locket. Now I can laugh about it. Ingle says hi. Oh, Favre also went over 60,000 yards in his career on that pass.

1:45 - 3rd and 10 from the MN 43. 5 wides again. Since the Vikings can't cover two wides this makes sense. Unfortunately no one bothered to block EJ Henderson on a blitz. Favre somehow managed to avoid the sack and pass to KoRo for a 9 yard completion.

:17 - Favre hits Driver for the 1st down but it eventually stalls on the 6 yard line with just enough time for a field goal. Crosby from 24. Still, that's the third scoring drive of more than 80 yards today.

GREEN BAY 13 - MINNESOTA 0

3rd Quarter

12:15 - Ryan Grant picks up seven off the left side. He's over 100 yards on the day. He's the first guy to do that against the Vikings this year. I failed to see this coming. I suck at life. Fortunately Ingle Martin is here to cheer me up by singing an ABBA song.

12:10 - Greg Jennings makes a great catch! 34 yards with his man draped all over him, he pulls in the jump ball and takes a hit from Sharper coming over to help out. Great play. We're down in the red zone again. Also, I regret to inform you that Ingle is not singing me an ABBA song, it's his own composition. It is not good. It is also very, very long.

9:29 - 1 yard TD pass to Don Lee. Playaction had to be honored thanks to Grant's domination today. This is looking way too easy.

GREEN BAY 20 - MINNESOTA 0

2:28 - The D forces another punt very quickly. Nothing of note happened except that Atari stripped the ball from Purple Jesus. PJ recovered however. KGB picked up a sack. These guys are playing fantastic and I'm not even bothering with them cuz the rest of the game is going so well. After yet another smooth drive of 60+ yards the Packers face a 3rd and 8 from the 8. Touchdown Ruvell Martin! He got behind Dwight Smith on a slant.

GREEN BAY 27 - MINNESOTA 0

2:12 - Bobby Wade just made a 10 yard reception. It was the first completion to a Minnesota wideout all day. He was called for offensive pass interference. On an unrelated note, the Vikings suck. If AP isn't setting a league record that day they ain't winning.

1:28 - Robert "Fergie" Ferguson beat Al for a 35 yard completion. The 1st of the day for Minnesota. Hey Vikings fans, you may want to enjoy that while you can. He won't make another play for at least 5 more weeks. AP gets hit on a short pass over the middle by Al. He's badly shaken up. Looks like he's holding his knee. I hope he's okay. The kid's got talent and it's fun to watch him. He's out for now. Hey, coach Childress, why is your only talented player in the game at 27-donut?

4th Quarter

14:44 -Hey! It's Jon Ryan! The Punter for the Packers! What the heck is he doing here? Oh, I guess he's...punting? Huh. Curious.

11:30 - Chuck Woodson has a pick. Mewelde Moore batted it into the air and Chuck grabbed it at the GB two yard line. Minnesota had been moving the ball once the Packers started laying back more but they can't punch it in.

5:38 - When mocking an opposing QB and daring him to throw it deep on you it's best to remember that your best days are behind you. Sharper, who did some talking because if he didn't talk he'd probably die, swatted an easy INT away from Ced Griffin and directly into the hands of Ruvell Martin for an easy TD. He's talked a lot and yet his D gives up 350 yards in the air every week, he doesn't make plays and he actually hurts his teammates in some cases. Yeah, you've been missed around here buddy. Enjoy playing in Suckville for Coach Sucksalot.

GREEN BAY 34 - MINNESOTA 0

5:31 - Because the Packers have some class and some brains they pull Favre. This game was over after the 1st drive. It was fun to watch the Packers pick up an easy win, break the backs of the misguided Vikings fans who thought their win over the Chargers last week meant they had a team worth following, and look good in the process. I can't wait to wake up tomorrow and read about "blown chances" and "bad luck" from the Vikings coaches. This win is a gift that keeps on giving.

AP looks like he'll be okay, the Packers are sitting on top of the world and the only negatives I can think of have to do with Ingle Martin living on my couch. Not a bad day.

FINAL
GREEN BAY 34 - MINNESOTA 0

3 comments:

Butch said...

Nice recap. I feel bad for Peterson, also for the mouse. RIP.

MF said...

The mouse had it coming. You don't know the whole story. That thing had no regard for proper toilet procedure.

Hopefully Peterson's okay. I guess he has an MRI today. I wonder if he didn't get one yesterday because he felt okay or because they felt Green Bay didn't have a good enough medical facility? He's the franchise, I wouldn't delay that sort of thing.

Anonymous said...

My guess is they wanted to let any swelling go down beofre they scanned it....either that or they only have an in-house HMO....

What a great game that was !! I loved the systematic way that Mike M took down oaal the things those queeens had been hanging their hats on, from "AD" and his uncontrollable running, to the "impregnable" (interesting word, that) run defense, to totally shutting off the MN $100 million O-line.....
I'm not sure how Coach Childress -and admit it, he DOES look like Mr Burns from the Simpsons-manages to not be killed down there in the Twind Cities, but I'm hoping the Wilfs extend that contract forever !!