Flying under the radar
by mjmrad on Nov 3, 2009 8:02 PM CST
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PrintFor the last few years, the Super Bowl champion has often been a team that goes undefeated gets talked about a lot flies under the radar during the regular season...
Thus far, the following teams seem to be getting most of the press:
New Orleans--Wow, what an amazing story. Never been to a Super Bowl (bla bla bla). Already won all of their tough games (bla bla bla). This team could go undefeated (bla bla bla).
Indianapolis--No one can stop Peyton Manning (even though he almost always chokes in the playoffs). This must be his magical year (to make another quick playoff exit)!
Baltimore--Wow, after three weeks we've beaten Kansas City, San Diego, and Cleveland. Well, look at that, ESPN has us (HIGHLY OVERRATED) #1 in the polls! Three losses bring them back to reality, but one good week against Denver, and here comes the talk again... Pathetic.
Dallas--Wow, look how unbeatable they look (when they play at home) now...
Philadelphia--Wow, look how unbeatable they look (except when they play the Raiders, Saints, etc.) now...
The following teams seem to be flying under the radar:
Sleeper #1: NY Giants--Quietly working through some of their issues
Sleeper #2: San Francisco--Quietly sitting at 3-4, with close losses against Minn, Indy, and Houston.
Sleeper #3: New England--Seriously, why is no one talking about them? I predict they waltz into the Super Bowl over Indy and Denver with little or no resistence (watch out, New Orleans, your first loss is coming up soon).
Sleeper #4: Cincinnati--Has anyone watched this team lately? They are really good! I am already fearing that December home date coming up.
The following teams are somewhere in the middle:
Minnesota--Perhaps one of the quietest 7-1 seasons I've ever seen - everyone's talking about Brett Favre's return, but where's the love for Percy? How about Peterson (even if he is just a decoy)? Special teams?
Denver--One loss and now everyone's forgotten about them
This FanPost was created by a registered user of The Daily Norseman, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the site. However, since this is a community, that view is no less important.
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No press is good press.
Formerly known as "Andersklasen."
Check out the best Twins' blog on the web: TwinsTarget.com.
The Vikings? With Brett Favre?? One of the most quiet 7-1 teams??? What are you smoking? haha
Last time I checked the last 4 out of 5 vikings games were nailbiters, with highlight reals of Brett, AP, JA, and Percy looped ad naseum on sportcenter. Some people have been doubting the vikings ability against quality opponents, but I’d hardly say this was a “quiet” season or team.
Yeah I agree. We’re one of the most talked about teams so far. no flying under the radar going on in vikings nation.
Were that big blip on the radar
Its to late we have been discoverd hiding under a big white dome in Minneapolis.
Yeah the Saints look good & so do the Colts. It really doesn’t matter at this point. We just need to be playing our best at the end. The Saints schedule is pathetic. It is what it is. It would be nice to get the #1 seed but we might have to settle for #2 Its to early to predict but playing the Saints at their place with a chance to go to the Superbowl is a win we can get.
Agreed
I think we might actually be the most talked about team in the league. Which, in my opinion, is a very bad thing. For starters, it makes the team cocky and could possibly lead to “we’re better than everyone so we don’t have to try” syndrome. Second, I think we might be on the verge of league wide hatred pretty soon. Our success and subsequent praise is starting to annoy people, even beyond Green Bay. The Favre drama is getting old and overblown. I would never wish a loss on the Vikings (unless your talking critical draft status) but I think it might be beneficial to lose a close game coming up here (Cardinals? Bengals?)just to relieve the pressure a bit.
to add to that… Percy is a media darling. Many analysts are already considering him a favorite to win offensive ROTY honors. I live in indiana, but with all the publicity this team is getting, I feel like I’m right there with you guys in the twin cities.
He is the ROTY.
Barring an injury, He is got to be the favorite. If he matches what he has done in the 1st half of the season he will win it going away. I think we can get him the ball even more in the 2nd half.
Hmmmm
I simply must disagree…
Sunday night, I TIVO’d SportsCenter, the Blitz, Deion Sanders’ analysis…
Monday morning I TIVO’d Mike & Mike, Around the Horn, and PTI.
95-99% of the stories were about Favre.
Now, albeit, this was a huge story – but, come on, obviously this is a team effort. I agree with the individuals that say: “If Favre and Rodgers switched sides, the outcome would probably still be the same.”
I’d give a slight edge to Favre for evading the pass rush better, but Rodgers looked pretty tough throwing the football down the stretch…
Actually, AP had a really good game...
However, nobody’s going to talk much about AP anymore, because he has already set the bar SO HIGH in his first few seasons.
Truth is, though – his “mediocre” play this year is still one of the best in the league…
Peterson's mediocrity
I noticed this too. Isn’t it amazing that Peterson is having a very average and quiet year by his standards and yet he is still like 3rd in the league in rushing and 2nd in TDs? I mean, you can’t ask for much more. What is amazing me the most this year about Peterson is his ability to remain at least moderately productive in every game this year. He seems incapable of having some of those duds he used to have in the past. He has rarely seen 100 yards yet his season totals are still ridiculously good. You’ve got to appreciate that consistency, even if it isn’t as flashy and dominant.
Bottled up
Yeah AP. isn’t tearing up the league but he has been a steady eddy every game.
The great thing is that you never know with this guy. I think he will get a few games in the second half of the season where he will get 150yds plus. Teams aren’t forgetting about him which is key. If teams start dropping back to play the pass more he is just going to gouge them. I like the fact that the Vikes keep running him even though alot of times he gets minimal gains. Its why the passing game has opened up for us. Pick your poison. Stack the line and Brett gets you. This team is about getting to the promise land & AP will be a big part of it even if he is a decoy at times.
AP's receiving game has gone viral this year...
He is doing a much better job as a receiver out of the backfield.
GREAT for his overall numbers!
I BELIEVE...
by ArizonaVikingsFan on Nov 4, 2009 3:15 PM CST up reply actions
Most of the press hasn't been about the VIkings
95-99% of the stories were about Favre.
It’s been about Favre. Favre coming to Winterpark, Favre’s un-retirement, Favre against his old team, Favre returning to Lambeau. But who cares? As long as we keep winning like we have as a team, I couldn’t care less about any national media attention.
"Is it normal to wake up in the morning in a sweat because you can't wait to beat another human's guts out?" -Joe Kapp
by less cowbell, more 'neau on Nov 4, 2009 7:44 PM CST up reply actions
Yeah
i have to disagree. We have been talked about way more this season than in any seasons past.
by All Day, All Night on Nov 4, 2009 11:03 AM CST reply actions
I agree, and I disagree
“We have been talked about way more this season than in any seasons past.”
I agree with this.
However, I think that no one is really giving us a chance to beat a NO, PHI, or DAL team come playoff time. Everyone thinks Brett will choke.
I agree with you.
We are being hyped up this year but come playoff time, everyone will talk about how much wear and tear Favre will have suffered and how he will revert back to being the ol’ gunslinger.
In the end, I could care less whether the media believes the Vikings are SB contenders. I’d much rather be the underdog.
by All Day, All Night on Nov 4, 2009 11:21 AM CST up reply actions
Press can be good
I really enjoyed seeing a photo of Favre hugging Sullivan on the front of the Star’s sports section. The Vikes may have had a similar photo during the Culpepper-Moss era, but I don’t recall that happening since the Chiefs were also good at the time.
We are getting press but it's not football press
We’re getting press like Paris Hilton or someone along those lines. Not because of our accomplishments but because of who we are.
Saying this I do think you are on to something as a foot ball team people will still underestimate us. They will see the stories and realize that 1% of them actually talks about us as a football team instead of a day time soap.
Personally, I truly believe on any given sunday we have at least an even chance of winning the game against any team right now. Yes I believe we can beat the pats’, steelers, dolts, and saints.
Yeah we are the under dog.
If you good back and look and who was picked in most of our matchups it is rarely us. Look at this last game against the Pack. Everything i heard said if Winfield played we would win, if not the Pack. We were not supposed to win against the 49’s, the Ravens, or the Pack either time. So we are definitaly an underrated team flying under the radar. The only real press coverage we get is of Brett and what he is doing.
Rather be the underdog than the pre-ordained victors
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!
That's the Spirit
Let’s suppose you had a couple billion bucks to spend on a weapon and you wanted something capable of delivering up to 16 packages with up to over a megaton of ionizing, thermonuclear death a piece.
Would you decide to paint the thing with some day-glow orange bullseye on it and cover it from head to toe with a special coating that would make it glare on enemy radar screens like a flashing, highway emergency flare on steroids?
I don’t think so (and neither did Northop Grumman).
Real assassins don’t send out a blimp over your house with a billboard message to let you know that they’re coming over tonight.
History is written by the winners, not from old press releases.
(To hell with ESPN talking heads or the weekly power rankings: Skol, Vikings, let’s go.)
Agree completely
Let’s look at history/here and now…
This team is better than the 98 team by far IMO….absolutely the highest number of very talented players we have ever had on one Viking team at once….from Favre, Peterson, Hutch, Winfield, the Williams, Allen, Harvin, etc. they have it all and can hit you from many directions….Offense in the 90s was good, D less so…more balance now than in those years…
Moving back in time, the Viking teams of the 70s were good, and the D from those years absolutely worthy of the Purple People Eater title, but the O side and the ST side were not as robust as what we are enjoying this year (sorry Fran, it takes more than a QB and some great WR, running backs to win it all, as evidenced by our L’s in SB matches in the 70s)…still I say this lovingly, I really was there every game and every year with the teams of those years, and loving most of the games…
Our current makeup as an O powerhouse plus above average D more than makes up for the somewhat lesser reputation our current D has, compared to the 70s D/team combined with the O of those years…We now have more balance, more potential, more explosiveness, more MOJO…I believe Brett did not mis-speak when he mentioned that this was the best team he has ever been on…Sorry GB, his words ring true…Again this is IMO…
Anyway, enjoy the bye week all! Who do we watch this weekend…Chicago, NO, GB, etc.? Decisions, decisions….LOL!
SKOL!
I would rather be IN the Arena than watching from the stands...That is my life!
* Read Teddy Roosevelt's "Man in the Arena" if you need further explanation...
by vikingfanfrom afar on Nov 7, 2009 2:01 PM CST up reply actions
Musing
I pretty much agree with your conclusion, but I got there a bit differently….
The Original Purple People Eaters from the ‘70s were far more dangerous than the 2009 Vikings D, both on the line and in the secondary. Jared Allen is a true beast, but he’s the only one who would fit in with that ‘70s team and perform on their level. Much respect for the Williams Wall, they’re as good at run-stopping as their ‘70s counterparts, but I think I’d rather have Eller, Larson, Page, and Marshall reaching out to grab passes and RBs, or ‘meeting at the QB’.
Doug Sutherland? Fred McNeil? Matt Blair and Wally Hilgenberg?!? Come on, EJ at his best might have measured up to those guys, but EJ hasn’t been playing at his best. Leber might qualify now, I think he’s tremendously underrated.
No punter, or kicker, ever went up against the ‘70s Vikings D without a certain amount of fear, and that’s something which is totally lacking today. Irritating, that.
And then there’s the secondary….. Bobby Bryant. Nate Wright. Shutdown corners, both of them, playing man-to-man hardball coverage. Then at safety we had a guy named Paul Krause, who, amongst other things, happens to have been the INVENTOR OF THE NERF FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!! Man, what can top that?!?! :))))
We have a great D right now… but it’s nowhere as good as the Purple People Eaters of the early-to-mid 70s. I don’t seem to recall the total collapses in the second half the games that we see commonly happening today, back in the ’70s Purple People Eaters.
On the offense…. Tarkenton was a gunslinger but a very different sort of gunslinger than Favre. Tarkenton was all business, as much fun to watch as Favre is but Tark didn’t have as much fun as Favre does. Tark took things more seriously, I think, while Favre has never lost the fun-factor. I’d give it a push there.
Running game has to go to the 2009 squad; there’s no question that AP and CT are a very special backfield, and with Albert Young waiting in the wings, we aren’t afraid of much of anything. Chuck Foreman was a very special RB too, a game-changer and he changed the paradigm of the sport, but Adrian Peterson’s passing game is getting up to speed so he takes that comparison with ease.
Receivers… I’d say it was a push, maybe with the edge going to the ‘70s Vikings (Stu Voigt, Steve Craig, John Gilliam, Ahmad Rashad and Sammy White!) but we picked up Harvin this year and Harvin shifts the balance to the 2009 squad. Harvin’s just too potent a receiver weapon, too explosive if he gets the ball in space, the ’70s squad had no one like that.
O-Line…. Sully isn’t a gnat’s ass-hair on Mick Tinglehoff’s ability. The right side was a freaking rock with Ron Yary and Ed White; as much as I like Loadholt, he’s not there yet. The left side goes to the 2009 squad, Hutch and McKinney are monsters. Tinglehoff’s the tie-breaker (who should absolutely be in the HoF!!), so I’ll give the O-line to the ‘70s squad, but it’s close.
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!
Paul Krause, who, amongst other things, happens to have been the INVENTOR OF THE NERF FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!! Man, what can top that?!?! :))))
Wasn’t that Fred Cox?
I BELIEVE...
by ArizonaVikingsFan on Nov 9, 2009 1:36 PM CST up reply actions
Did I get my Vikings mixed up? I thought it was Krause, now I’m going to have to look it up! Yep, you’re right, Cox is cited for that, a kicker I should have mentioned up above. Man, we loved those nerf footballs as kids, they fit kid-hands perfectly and we could play anywhere without fear of breaking windows, lol!
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!
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