An Overlooked Facet of the Vikings

by BrandonK on Jan 6, 2010 7:57 PM CST

With all the firepower on offense (Favre, Purple Jesus, Rice, Harvin, Berrian, Shank, and Hutchinson, one tends to overlook one player who has had a great season for the Vikings... Ryan Longwell.

He is 26 of 28 (92.9%), with 132 points on the season. One has to wonder if he deserved to be the ninth Pro Bowler for the Vikes over David Akers of the Eagels, who was at 86.5% for the season.

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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Wow i forgot about how great of a season he was having

But David has the “Name” people know David Akers is

"A bad day over here is better than a good day over there"~ Jared "The Mullet" Allen

by Percy Harvin My Fav! on Jan 6, 2010 8:44 PM CST reply actions

I never take Longwell for granted

He doesn’t have the longest leg and can be weak on kickoffs but there are not many kickers I would trust over him on a clutch 40+ field goal.

http://vikingsmashfootball.wordpress.com/

by BeardedAxe on Jan 6, 2010 11:10 PM CST reply actions

He doesn’t have the longest leg

I don’t know what you’re talking about. He kicks long well….

crickets chirping

If you can't laugh at yourself... Who can you laugh at?
The Packers, that’s who.
-- The almighty Manimal

by TheViking83 on Jan 7, 2010 8:37 AM CST up reply actions

That is truly terrible.

you should be ashamed.

by Grime on Jan 7, 2010 8:44 AM CST up reply actions

lmao haha

"A bad day over here is better than a good day over there"~ Jared "The Mullet" Allen

by Percy Harvin My Fav! on Jan 7, 2010 3:36 PM CST up reply actions

He

would have been a great 10th – as Percy became 9th. The only short side of Longwell has been kickoffs, which have been a little short of late…

by jshep on Jan 7, 2010 1:02 AM CST reply actions

Longwell is the man

He’s just consistant.. I wish we’d had him in 98…

Doh did I just say that?!

by Grime on Jan 7, 2010 8:01 AM CST reply actions

Ugh..

I hope thats the last 98’ reference we have for a while…o god, i just got nervous.

by Spartan99 on Jan 7, 2010 12:28 PM CST up reply actions

You need to go outside turn arround and spit and curse immediately

by just another viking on Jan 7, 2010 10:35 PM CST up reply actions

Kickoffs were poor in Chicago

Usually, Longwell has done a good job on kickoffs, but he had some poor ones that day.

by medicineball on Jan 7, 2010 8:42 AM CST reply actions

It didn't help that we could not tackle

by SouthernNorseman on Jan 7, 2010 11:09 AM CST via mobile up reply actions

Kickoffs have been poor all year.

It’s PARTof the reason that thier special teams play is so bad on kickoffs. 3 keys to succes in NFL (Defense, Ability to run the ball, and Special Teams). Ask any NFL coach they will tell you good special teams alone can’t win you everygame. Bad special teams can lose you ANY game even when you do everything else right on the football field. The Vikings could use more touchbacks.

by Phat Cowboy on Jan 7, 2010 11:12 AM CST reply actions

Your three keys...

I would kinda disagree. I’d say passing the ball is by far more important than running. It’s a passing league now. Any Vikings fan can tell you that based on this year.

Visit:
http://www.vikingvigil.com

Skol Vikings!
Woot Woot!

by Manimal on Jan 7, 2010 12:08 PM CST up reply actions

Let me explain

The ABILITY to run the ball. Replace AP with a lesser back and our OL with lesser run blockers. Then tell me defenses don’t play different agianst the Vikes. Passing has a lot to do with the Vikes success this year I agree. It got us 2 more wins. Ever notice how often Taylor actually ends up with the ball even though he only comes in a play or 2 every series (usually on 3rd down). Why? Because teams back off into coverge and leave him open. They force them to hand it off on a draw or dump it off the Chester coming out of the back field. 1st downs they don’t back off they stay inside and play the run. Result Berrian/Rice 1 one 1 outside or Shiancoe on the inside with a favorable matchup agianst a shorter linebacker which has to catch up to him because he is run first focused. Balance is the key. Another little stat. Farve is thriving on play action this year check the numbers there unbelievable.

by Phat Cowboy on Jan 7, 2010 3:23 PM CST up reply actions

I can accept that.

Respecting the run. I agree. Touche, sir.

Visit:
http://www.vikingvigil.com

Skol Vikings!
Woot Woot!

by Manimal on Jan 7, 2010 4:26 PM CST up reply actions

It's all good

We obviously needed a passing game in order to take it to the next level. It’s funny cause the slackers changed there defense to a 3-4 so Ap wouldn’t run all over them anymore. They really didn’t want the Vikes to get a QB especially Farve. Now he’s hucking the ball all over there confused linebackers hahaha!!! I love it!!! So lets take the Super Bowl

by Phat Cowboy on Jan 7, 2010 4:40 PM CST up reply actions

Well with the changes in how DB's can cover

Passing was destined to outshine running…

Also sad to say it looks like someone did replace our line with linemen who can’t block quite as well as they used to…

Dang.

by Grime on Jan 8, 2010 9:12 AM CST up reply actions

I agree on your ST's analogy.

The Vikes need to kick the ball deep, and make opposing teams take the touch-back. Force opposing teams to take the ball at the 20yrd-line. The Vikings have had the worst ST’s kick-coverage for the last 3yrs… It’s safe to say that “The Vikes need to boot ’it deep, and make ’em take it at the 20”. :)

The 06’ Bears are a great example of how far a solid defense, and great ST’s can carry a team. If the 06’ Bears would have had a decent QB/offense, things could have ended differently for the Bears.

Field position is key, especially in the playoffs where even FG-points are HUGE. The Vikes should have lost this last Bears game after the Vikings ST’s allowed two Huge run-backs, (back to back) They were lucky the Bears missed that FG.

by chaosg on Jan 7, 2010 7:24 PM CST up reply actions

Your right

Also they need to work on staying in there lanes and making tackles. Aside from kickoffs. They got Kluwe he’s been in the Pro Bowl so ya know he’s good. YET we almost gave up 3 punt returns to Reggie alone last year in the Saints game. It was embarassing to watch. That’s evidence to me that they just haven’t worked on it enough.

by Phat Cowboy on Jan 8, 2010 3:37 PM CST up reply actions

That’s been a minor peeve of mine all year; Longwell never boots it into the end zone. But I wouldn’t want to give up Longwell for that, it’s not a deadly sin. Just a minor one.

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 Jan 8, 2010 10:45 PM CST up reply actions

Special Teams

Good post. I think the Vikes gave up 8 special teams TDs last year. Going into this season a greater emphasis was put on hang time and direction as opposed distance. I was on here all off season ripping the special teams. To the Vikings credit the special teams have been 100% better this year in all facets. Farwell coming back was huge for our coverage units and recently Ive seen the rook Sanford making plays. Good coverage units really complement a solid Vikings defense.

*I would really like to see some statistics on starting field positions for and aginst vs. last season. Think one of you stat heads can make that happen?

On the return side, Reynaud has been great when he’s played, it was a real nice decision by the staff to dump Bobby Wade and keep Jaymar Johnson and Darius Reynaud. I thought Percy would assume PR duties when we drafted him, but the way Reynaud has played there really isnt a need for that. Obviously Pro-bowl Percy has made the KR unit very scary.

Special Teams Note* Erin Henderson sucks, bad angles and misses tackles. He is definitely getting some slack from from the personel guys. Probably because EJ didnt come into the league an awesome player. EJ is a guy I really admire, he improved every year and became a linebacker I considered to be one of the best in the NFL before he hurt his foot last season. So I think Erin gets some slack in hopes he will improve like his big bro.

by Spartan99 on Jan 7, 2010 12:56 PM CST reply actions