Football Outsiders/Fox Sports WR Rankings

by Gonzo on Jul 18, 2007 8:23 AM CDT in News Comment 3 comments

The folks from FootballOutsiders, via Fox Sports, have their wide receiver rankings for this season posted. To nobody's surprise, they placed the Vikings at #32 with the following commentary:

32. Minnesota (17)

The Vikings and Scott Linehan are developing the Eagles-style West Coast Offense, where wide receivers don't matter (but quarterbacks do, which apparently is a memo Linehan forgot to steal). The result? Troy Williamson's struggling to run nine-yard out patterns while the Vikings started acquiring guys like Billy McMullen and Bobby Wade to prove to college receivers with average speed everywhere that you, too, can be the 52nd or 53rd man on a 5-11 team. The potential breakout player here: Martin Nance, whose 6-foot-5 frame and excellent speed once made him the target of passes from Ben Roethlisberger at Miami of Ohio, but he suffered a knee injury that lingered as he entered the NFL. Rapidly rising up the depth chart, Nance is likely to have a big role in the offense by the end of the year.

Now, normally I love FootballOutsiders. Still do, quite frankly. But it's kind of hard to this analysis seriously when the person doing said analysis can't even be bothered to get the name of the head coach right. Scott Linehan hasn't been part of the Vikings franchise since early 2005 after the Vikes got knocked out of the playoffs.

I will go way out on a limb and predict that both the Vikings' quarterbacks (also ranked #32 by FootballOutsiders) and the Vikings' receivers will perform better than FO.com has them ranked. . .if for no other reason than, mathematically, it's impossible for them to be any worse. I'm sure FootballOutsiders.com articles insulting the Vikings' running backs and offensive line will be coming in the relatively near future.

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uhhhhh

Time to send in those nasty emails gonzo?

by FSUViking on Jul 18, 2007 9:49 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

experts?

I'm so sick of reading these self appointed "experts" view's on the NFL....

I'm taking on a whole new strategy for this year...instead of blowing my horn and predicting great things for a team with a lot of potential, I'm keeping my piehole shut, and let the record speak for itself...

in all honesty, I'm looking at a solid 9-7 this year...hopefully we can sneak out a couple more wins and really surprise...

I still consider this a crucial rebuilding year, and by year three, Chilly should have these boys knocking on the door...

I hate the Bears, laugh at the Lions, and wipe my butt with a Packers towel.

by lowcountry viking on Jul 18, 2007 1:32 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Correction

Just read the article. They "corrected" their mistake in the first sentence with Brad Childress, but then still left Linehan in later in the article. Piss poor journalism.

Plus, how can we be worse than Tennessee?

by VikesnTerps on Jul 18, 2007 3:16 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs