The Play of the Game (Or, "Jared Allen is Really Fast")

by Anthony21 on Oct 11, 2009 11:51 PM CDT in Vikings 2009 Season Comment 22 comments

There's your play of the week, Vikings fans. Jared Allen's 52-yard touchdown, made possible by an oncoming Kevin Williams causing Kyle Boller to wet himself and cough up the football. It's the first defensive touchdown of Allen's career, but more importantly, it set the tone for the afternoon. Turnovers would continue coming at opportune moments for the Vikings, as the Rams offense simply couldn't protect the ball when it counted.

Not only was Jared responsible for the play of the game, but he also uttered the quote of the afternoon:

"We think we're a good football team," Allen said. "The worst we can finish now is 5-11."

When Paul Allen confused Jared for Heath Farwell in his call of the above play, I initially only thought of it as the type of goof that happens to every announcer. But it displays something more than that: You can easily confuse Jared for a linebacker because the dude is really fast. Very rarely do we get to see Jared running at full speed in the open field, but when he gets the opportunity to do so like he did in this week's game, his quickness has gotta impress you.

After Allen's phenomenal performance last week against the Packers, we've been hearing his name and "MVP" thrown around in the same sentence. And we're talking at the league level -- not just MVP of the team. Hell, Brad Childress is in the early-season discussion for coach of the year, and Brett's name is being thrown out there for offensive MVP. I wouldn't advocate taking this talk too seriously, especially since we're only five weeks into the year and there are more important matters at hand than individual awards. But it does underscore the changing culture at Winter Park. I'm with Mark Craig -- this hardly feels like a team heading toward a late-season meltdown.

0 recs | Comment 22 comments | Share

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Allen for MVP?

YES!

We’ve known he’s a beast, now he’s proving it. And yes, his speed on that fumble return was better than you see from most LBs, no one was close enough to have a chance of catching up to him, and he knew it. He was arms-in-the-air before hitting the goal line and that pigskin looked almost baseball-sized in his mitts! Just beautiful.

Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!
SKOL!

by DCPurple on Oct 12, 2009 12:11 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

so disappointed I had to work today!!!!

didn’t get to see it live and they only replayed it once, but from what I saw, it was awesome!!! I really don’t see a late season meltdown happening, and while i’m thinking on it…. to all the packer fans as of late saying that the vikes being unbeaten is a joke because of the crappy teams we’ve beat, keep this in mind, the packers were one of those craptastic few, so i’d hold back a bit on the shit-giving.

I piss people off on a fairly regular basis. I cherish my right to speak my mind, whether I sound like an uneducated savage or not. I've never been accused of keeping what I think a secret, nor will I ever. Don't like it? I don't care.

by IABerserker1 on Oct 12, 2009 12:54 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

My pappy always said "Son you have to earn it, if you want it "

Not like these first round draft picks that hold out and miss camp …….and turn out to be lame ducks ,,,,,Jared continues to earn his place in the NFL from the Chiefs as a rookie to the Vikings,,,Dick Vermiel said he should of been drafted in the first round,,(Diamond in the rough) No one would look at him except for Vermiel …. but Jared taking what they give him through the years has been able to prove the critics wrong. If someone wants to motivate him tell him he cant do it……he has finally got his first round draft earnings like any good player should He’s earning it. Like I chant every game to him…. Go Get EM Jared. Go Vikes

by AHHHWoooooo on Oct 12, 2009 1:03 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Loving it

Allen has 3 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, 6.5 sacks, a safety, a touchdown and a pass deflection in 5 games. Scary stuff, he just may be in competition for league MVP if he keeps this up.

p.s. Anyone else see Stephen Jackson destroy that ref when he was chasing Jared down the field?

by Cobra312004 on Oct 12, 2009 1:56 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

didn't notice that

looked more like a (innocent) brush that knocked him off his balance though, not “destruction”

by puddnhead on Oct 12, 2009 9:06 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

true the ref got blew up

spun around couple times and fell down must be scary out there trying to ref an NFL game …..like the movie Wild Hogs ….slap the bull on the ass and run for the fences haha

by AHHHWoooooo on Oct 12, 2009 2:07 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

As Good as the Vikings Defense was.....

As Good as the Vikings Defense was against the St. Louis Rams……

There was still glaring gaps in the Passing Coverage, specially in the slot and sideline game. Minnesota is playing the Baltimore Ravens at the Metro-dome next Sunday. They will have to upgrade their run and pass coverage, or it might be all over for the Vikings before half-time! Even with the Vikings bringing their “A Game”, it is going to be a nail biter for the fans! ~Parnelli (optimistic pessimist)

“Murphy’s Law: If anything can go wrong, sooner or later it will!”
“Finnegan’s Law: What is this “sooner or later” stuff, that Murphy keeps referring to!"

Everyone we meet in life give us happiness, some by their arrival, others by their departure!

by Parnelli on Oct 12, 2009 9:27 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Quick breakdown of the tamp2 Zone D

which happens to be what the vikes play. The tampa 2 Zone, otherwise called the cover 2 is weak in the middle and most zones are weak in the flats. Unfortunately, the only play calling I have disagreed with is blitzing as much as we do. When you blitz, you leave the middle more exposed (for intermediate slant routes) and leave yourself open to the dump off pass just over the rush to someone up the middle or in the flats.

The vikes have been burned all year on these. I see no reason why we need to rush more than 4. We are not a successful blitzing team and we seriously need to stop. If we stop our overall D becomes much stronger.

by TheEvilProfessor on Oct 12, 2009 12:08 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I've been sayig the same thing

Also, our linebackers need to stay further off the line of scrimmage. We were getting rushed on the outside because our linebackers were getting caught up in the middle. I say put them a couple yards further back and spread them out a little more so they can protect the edge better.

‘And the wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws’.

by SippyCup on Oct 12, 2009 2:59 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

LBs about another yard back

and our CBs should probably try to jam their receivers. Kind of gives Allen and Co more rush time and keeps them in positions to play the run. If they let you make contact…you should.

by TheEvilProfessor on Oct 13, 2009 2:48 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Also

Murphy’s Law: Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.
O’Doyle’s Law: Murphy was an optimist.

by TheEvilProfessor on Oct 12, 2009 12:09 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

O'tool's comentary

Murphy was an optimist

All kidding aside I think we can win this game.
GO VIkes

it is better to be thought of as dumb then to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Ben Franklin

by montana vikes fan on Oct 12, 2009 9:07 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Jared would have speared anyone that stopped from getting into the endzone

like with a spear!

by Hjorvarthr on Oct 12, 2009 10:29 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Hell cooled another 38 degrees this week.

I BELIEVE...

by ArizonaVikingsFan on Oct 12, 2009 11:55 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm generally a nice guy, but....

The way the ref gets knocked down towards the end of this play is absolutely hilarious!

by Medcity on Oct 12, 2009 1:27 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs

what happened

our run defense has not been good overall this season,yes we have done good against one runners but collectively as a team we got beat for over a 100 unacceptable.people been talking about the ravens offense the last two weeks has looked like the ravens offense of old.ap needs to start running the ball a lot better and don’t tell me it’s cause there putting more in the box they have always done that o-line do your job and come on ap hit the holes and breack some tackles and ray lewis puts a cheap shot on one of our guys like that you better believe there will be consequences.

by clinton p on Oct 12, 2009 1:54 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Still some areas to work on

Right now I think that Minny is probably the fourth best of the five teams that are unbeaten right now, with the Giants, Saints, and Colts ranking ahead of us and the Broncos right on our heels. Had we played anybody good in the first three weeks, we’d probably have one loss, so the next three weeks are going to be crucial to the rest of the season.

Some other notes:

We’ve had a real issue with running the football the past two weeks. Both Green Bay and St. Louis were able to bottle up the run game pretty well, forcing Favre to throw a lot more than I’d like him to as we head into the meat of our season. Counting on Brett to put up 250 and 2 TD’s every week isn’t good for this team.
Why do we blitz so much? We’re a Tampa 2 team that has two of the better pass rushers in the league in our front four, so why not drop 7 every time and let Allen and Williams get after QB’s? Seems like a lot safer defense to me and they’d give up a lot fewer big plays like they did to Green Bay last week.

"I just wish that the late Harry Caray were still around so I could hear him mispronounce 'Kosuke Fukudome' every fukun' night" -- Dennis Miller

by fourstick on Oct 12, 2009 2:49 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

The problem with only bringing 4, is the Williams Wall doesn't handle mobile QB's very well.

They’re too-phat, so they get tired quick…lol
They’ll definitely need EJ in there too, to help close the gaps. You’re right though, we blitz too-much and it’s killing us.
This defense is awesome, but they’re getting to be predictable. It’s time to make some adjustments.
Go Vikes!

by chaosg on Oct 12, 2009 4:11 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

But if the

CB’s jam the receivers more and the LBs don’t get too close to the line of scrimage then the D can compensate for moble QBs because the LBs and CB’s will be closer to the action.

by TheEvilProfessor on Oct 13, 2009 2:52 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

whaaaaat?

Counting on Brett to put up 250 and 2 TD’s every week isn’t good for this team.

he’s throwing less than 30 passes per game… I think it’s just right.

GO VIKES!

I BELIEVE...

by ArizonaVikingsFan on Oct 12, 2009 4:48 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Tahi

Did anybody else see Tahi catch a pass that gained (SHOCK) over 20 yards???? When plays like that happen, you can’t help but have a bright outlook for this offense.

by purplegrey on Oct 12, 2009 10:29 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs