Monday Night Vikings Link Dump

Let's take a look around the Interweb to see what kind of Vikings' related stuff we can find, shall we?

The good folks from Cold, Hard Football Facts have taken a look at the Vikings as part of their "32 Teams in 32 Days" feature.  There are a few pretty interesting little tidbits in there.  First off. . .

Wow, someone that's not ripping on the Berrian signing.  That's pretty nice.  And I was surprised to see that the Vikings finished as high as they did in Passing Yards per Attempt.  It seemed like a lot of their passes were of the shorter variety, but they did have some pretty lengthy plays mixed in there, too (Peterson vs. Atlanta, Williamson vs. Chicago, Rice vs. the Giants, Ferguson vs. Chicago).  But Berrian, Rice, Wade, Allison, and (insert mid-round draft pick here) will be a HUGE improvement over last year's WRs, and that's going to bring about a big improvement to the 2008 Vikings' offense.

Speaking of which. . .

Well, why wouldn't the passer rating improve?  Better receivers, fewer guys in the box, which would bring about greater susceptibility to play-action, a more seasoned quarterback, and the best 1-2 running back tandem in the NFL. . .sounds like a recipe for improvement to me.  More production out of the TE spot would be nice, but I think we're going to get some of that out of the draft, too.

I don't want to say that we should start printing playoff tickets quite yet. . .but there are far, FAR more reasons for optimism than there are for pessimism.

Oh, and one last one that should be obvious to just about everybody:

Yep. . .there's not a 2007 NFL Draft class that I'd trade Minnesota's group for.  Hopefully Rick Spielman, Scott Studwell and company will hit the jackpot again in 2008.  Is there a reason for me to think that they won't?  Well. . .no, no there's not.

Some other linkage for you to peruse. . .

Football Outsiders has a "Four Downs" for the NFC North.  Take in mind that this was written prior to the insignificant events of last week, so modify them in your mind as you wish.

Vikings' War Cry muses about the Beloved Purple's backup QB situation, and the possibility of J.P. Losman coming to Minnesota.  I'd rather spend a #3 or #4 on Josh Johnson and get someone like Quinn Gray in here to back up Tarvaris Jackson, but I'm not in charge of the team.

The Viking Age takes a look at how we've done thus far in free agency.

A new site called Viking Vision has joined the nation of blogs devoted to the Beloved Purple.  Check out the "VikeTube" section!

Smilin' Jimmy Souhan. . .get this. . .IS actually smiling for a change.  Sort of, I guess.  Ah, well, it's better than nothing.

Zygi Wilf's younger brother, Mark, is a very generous guy.

The Kool-Aid is looking awfully purple up Michigan way, too.  And with good reason.

Enjoy, everyone. . .we'll be back tomorrow with more!