AD, AD, Wherefore Art Thou?????
by JasonAve6413 on Dec 6, 2009 11:56 PM CST
31 comments
Alrighty, folks, I do love me some Adrian Peterson. The guy is an animal, without question. But I do have enough concerns that I'm not so sure he's the best running back in the NFL anymore. The fumbles are obviously one issue, though he didn't fumble tonight.
Tonight he dropped a pass or two that should've/could've been caught, and he didn't go out of bounds on the two minute drill (doesn't everyone who plays football learn to go out of bounds during hurry-up unless there's a clear field in front of you? WTF, AD????). That was only one small play of the game, but I think, along with not keeping the ball in the outside arm, the fumbles, etc, just denotes a lack of overall solid football play.
Tonight he ran for 19 yards on 13 carries. His longest carry was 11 yards. That means he only got 8 yards on 12 other carries? Really, Adrian??? On several plays, I only counted 7 in the box. The best RB in the game should be able to tear that up! What do you guys think - am I missing something? Were there still 8 or 9 in the box on most plays?
If there were only 7 in the box, does it turn to the coaches being at fault for throwing 45 times and only running 20? Did the coaches fail to adjust? What the heck is going on with our run game????
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The main problem
Is our line is very average at best in run blocking. Nearly every time he gets the ball, AD is faced with at least 1 person in our backfield. Add that to the fact that the cut back, AD’s bread and butter, has been figured out by teams via sending a spy to secure the backside of the play. Does not look good for our running game if our line doesn’t stop playing grab ass out there. I’ve even seen Hutch miss a few blocks.
by Jepp The Viking on Dec 7, 2009 12:11 AM CST reply actions
Reasons for the poor run blocking
There are a couple of reasons for this that I can tell.
First, Hutchinson’s ability has begun to decline, although he is still good. Second, Sullivan does not block the right people a lot of the time. Third, the offensive line as a unit is not blocking in sync. Injuries just compound the situation.
The only real solution here is to pass a lot more, and to throw it to AD and Taylor out of the backfield more.
Becoming one dimensional is not a solution.
Visit:
http://www.vikingvigil.com
Skol Vikings!
Woot Woot!
Jon Cooper
The other possibility is to bench John Sullivan and play Jon Cooper at center. At this point, it’s worth a try.
i am almost to the point of saying AD officially overrated...
…seems whenever chet gets a carry, he can go north/south efficiently and almost always get positive yardage.. ap seems to get just abount one loss for every gain..hope im wrong, but if AP can continue to be easily contained w/ 7 in box, that will also make favre force throws into coverage like yesterday more.. and things will start to unravel… if teams dont need to fear AP anymore.. so much for the dream season… we need back our run game NOW!!
+1
We have one the best O lines in football. Coaching has got shore up run packages for varied defensive scemes to get AP into the secondary. If he can’t go up the middle, trap block, vary the speed of the hand off, delay, spread the line, something. If he can’t get around the end, pull the guards, tackles, add a 2nd tight end, keep trying. Favre is one of the best throwers of the screen pass that I have ever seen, how is it that he sucks at it now. Come on coach, get that screen pass going and spread the field on these defenses and get our boy out in open air. We use the play action pass to get recievers opens, use the play action draw to get our backs open.
To the lines credit, they aren’t getting the burst of speed from AP off the handoff that they are getting from Taylor either. Tay seems to hit the hole faster and is at least getting into the linbackers faces before being tackled. If AP can get past the line he can then use his slide step and strength out in air to work his magic.
I think it is a combination of both, AP hitting the line faster and the coaches working scemes to get him free. It’s like we are just ok with the if he has a good game, cool, if not, oh well bad game mentality. Not SB caliber thinking if you ask me.
Also
AD had 6 catches for 46 yards. So, technically he got 19 touches all together. Since the running game sucks right now at least they are trying to get him the ball in space and see what happens.
I honestly think we throw too much
And Childress make it seems like Peterson has a lot of touches by giving him the ball in the 4th quarter instead of the entire game!
Why Do People Question The Vikings' Status?
by UnBannedVikingholic on Dec 7, 2009 12:50 AM CST reply actions
I see very little holes and running lanes being created by the offensive line if any as of late. Right when he gets the ball its all closed up he could improvise a little more but still no running lanes tonight or lately.
"If at first you don't succeed - Skydiving isn't for you"
+1
Worse, the play that’s called has him running straight into those non-existent lanes. The result is that he slams into the back of our front line almost every time he’s supposed go up the middle.
It’s obvious that the front line isn’t able to open the lanes that are supposed to be there for AP.
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!
Has anyone noticed...
…how long and drawn out Favres handoffs are?
No
I saw him hand off to Harvin, in the first series, so fast that I did a double-take. Never seen a hand-off that quick, especially to a back who’s cutting across the backfield.
I saw him do a ‘shovel pass’ to AP which was extremely quick and should have resulted in good yardage, except that as usual, AP then proceeded to run directly into the back of a Viking lineman, where he was stopped and then gang-tackled by the opposing D.
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!
It seems to me...
that he telegraphs his handoffs and they take a long time to develop. As soon as the ball is snapped and into Brett’s hands he turns around holding the football out signaling a run/handoff.
Your title makes no sense
“Wherefore art thou” “Why are you?” not “Where are you?”
+1
people who think this means “where are you” are those that read “Romeo & Juliet” in HS English, but were half asleep when their teacher explained the meaing :)
hey, this is just a football blog
…not english lit class….so, who wherefore thou whilst cares??
Missed Blocks
Time after time the O-Line doesn’t make the correct block. Now I realize they are banged up. So are most lines this time of year. But that doesn’t mean you can’t execute properly. I can’t find one guy to blame it on. It seems that on every play someone blocks the wrong direction or doesn’t get the push up the middle. Last night I saw the fullback completely miss his man. I mean completely. This is an issue we thought would go away as the line worked together. So far it has not gotten better. Lets go back to fundamental blocking and see if we can’t open up some holes.
And Tackling
Really. Tackling would be good.
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!
Two minute drill
In the two-minute drill at the end of the first half, AD caught a pass and turned up field, instead of going to his left two yards and getting out-of-bounds.
AD is good, but he is not the best back in football. He has to play a lot better.
Rushing
Teams are still going to play run first, if you notice when the ball is snapped, 8 or the 11 players on defense take a step towards the line of scrimmage. They may not have 8 or 9 in the box, but that is the first thing they look for, along with every defense tho.
+28
When AP is on the field there is usually 2 spies on him. The SS and a LB. Even when he gets dump offs or screens you’ll notice that most times someone is right there as soon as he touches the ball.
If you check back you will see that they give CT a little more room (last week’s redzone plays are a good example). Remember the roll-out to the right and Favre hit AP and a LB hit AP for about a 4 yd loss. Then the next time the same play went to CT for a touchdown.
The Cardinals have the luxury of having good DBs where actually their safeties can play CB actually they were CBs in college.
They just matched up well against the Vikings this game. They played like they were hyped to the max.
by midnightwonder on Dec 7, 2009 10:43 AM CST up reply actions
so much negativity
Honestly, I figured this would happen with a loss but come on people, we are still 10-2 and atop the NFC North and still in second place in the conference. Even if we would have won, we would still be in the same position, first in the North and second in the NFC. Vikings are still one of the best teams in the NFL and we will pull through! Theres no doubt in my mind that Brad Childress won’t have this team ready to roll next week at home against Cinci! I can’t wait to see that game! I’d really hate to be the Bengals next week and playing us after a tough loss like we just had! Vikings will be fine people! Lets quit all the negative talk and look at the positive! It’s ONE loss! Who cares, theres only been TWO teams in the history of the NFL that have gone undefeated in a season! This loss only takes some added pressure off the Vikes and now we can concentrate on the Bengals next week and Minnesota Vikings Football! Skol vikes!
On a side note, lets all say some prayers for EJ! Lets hope he can recover from that brutal hit and injury and come back next year and be the dominating LB that we’ve grown to love and see every Sunday after noon!
The seven in the box ..
Was that perchance (continuing the literary theme here) late in the game, when we were down by three TDs, and/or when we were in one of our many 3rd & long downs?
If so, I hope you understand why Bevell did not call running plays down the middle in those situations …
Well, I didn’t timestamp the times I counted only 7 in the box, hence my question on whether or not I was missing something. It seems from your second sentence you already have your mind made up about when I counted. Kind of like asking someone if he’s still beating his wife.
Yes, I understand when a team is up by 3 scores late in the 4th quarter, they’re not going to load the box.
EVERY TEAM HAS WEAKNESSES
The key is to exploit them. Coming up with a game plan that works. Then if it doesn’t work then making the proper adjustments as we go along. We have as much talent as any team in the league. The key is to use them correctly. The Cards have lost 4 games so they can be beat. It just didn’t look like it Sunday night. Our coaches look great when we are beating up on Da Bears & the like. Good coaches make proper adjustments when things aren’t going your way.
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