preseason look at our schedule
by montana vikes fan on Jul 22, 2010 3:40 PM CDT
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Printhttp://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/min/schedule
That is our schedule now we can compare to the the recent preseason rankings
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/NFL-pre-camp-power-rankings-2010
week 1 1 NO
week 2 16 Dolphins
week 3 31 Lion north
week 5 4 Jets
week 6 6 Dallas
week 7 7 GB north
week 8 10 NE
week 9 19 AZ
week 10 21 CHI north
week 11 7 GB north
week 12 17 RedSkins
week 13 29 Bills
week 14 22 Giants
week 15 21 CHI north
week 16 13 Philly
week 17 31 Lions north
so the average rank of our division is 20 but that does not really count because it is so tough to win out against your division.
Average rank of non division opponents 13.7 pretty tough! This does not give us a lot of room for errors or flat games. The Philly game and a much improved Detroit at the end of the season will be critical.
Thoughts (of course preseason rankings mean almost nothing, but what else do we have to work with now?)
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They're all important this year
With the early bye-wk, we’re gonna need HFA and an extra bye-wk for the PO’s.
But to answer the question, beating the Saints and Packers is probably the most important. It would be nice to kill the Cowboys again too. :)
19-0
I will be there in person to see some REVENGE on Sept 9th,2010!
Brett Favre is the Greatest QB in NFL History, Bar None!
Brett Favre will be back in 2010, Guaranteed!
Brett Favre will lead the Vikings to a Victory in Super Bowl XLV, Guaranteed!
That first month out of the bye looks nasty
Four teams that look solid, each rating in the top ten according to this ranking at least, and three out of the four away. Ouch.
looks to be pretty cold at the end of the season too
a lot of outside games in cold climates. I turn 40 this year and I don’t wan to go outside in the winter and play with the kids so I can’t imagine our grandfather QB will be too excited either.
"If you've got them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow."
John Wayne
by just another viking on Jul 23, 2010 9:58 AM CDT reply actions
Outside games?
There is only 1 outside game in the last 5 games of the season, and that is at Philly.
from mid november
we also have Chicago and Washington. Although they could be fairly warm they are usually cold (below 32) and windy. That is a big deal to an older player. I know that 32 is not that cold but when Favre is at the end of his career and toward the end of the season he will be a little beat up and that just makes it a tough game. Not that it is that big of a deal but it is a consideration. Chicago is always a tough game. And I’m sure it will be again.
"If you've got them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow."
John Wayne
by just another viking on Jul 27, 2010 10:59 PM CDT up reply actions
The only thing that I see that kind of suprises me
is that the back end of our schedule is so soft. Really Philly is the only team there that could push us and they will be working with a brand new QB against the defense with the most sacks. The nice news is against the Bills and a couple of the other teams we may be able to rest some of our older starters. As well injuries shouldn’t affect us as badly as we’ll be playing a softer schedule.
It does stink that it’s out doors for a good chunk of it though. We did fairly horrible last year on grass and out doors, which is weird for a supposed running team.
It's a lot easier to love the Vikings when they win...
redskins
probably may not be that bad of weather but McNabb and company may be tougher then their 17 ranking at that time. Besides that if we stumble early it looks like we should be able to develop some momentum going into the playoffs.
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 Jul 23, 2010 11:14 AM CDT up reply actions
1st half
If we can come out of the first 8 games with a winning record we stand a good chance. I hate that we have such an early bye week, so we have to go into the playoffs with a first round bye. Plus Grime makes a good point about resting the older starters later in the season, hopefully the younger guys will have enough game time under thier belt to step up.
I think we need a 12-4 record minimum to win the division
I figure we are likely to split the GB and Chi series ( historically). Anything better is gravy. That only allows 2 more losses. It will feel like a long climb up the hill if we get off to a bad start.
The positives are that we play three out of four tough games and then get a week off to fix anything wrong. Go into a couple more tough ones and then spend 10 weeks just fine tuning things for the play-offs.
It will not be easy for any team in the NFC to win their divisions.
It might as well be the Vikings.
"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
I second that
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 Jul 23, 2010 2:39 PM CDT up reply actions
The most important game is always the next game!!
This season is definitely a tougher schedule. We’ll be tested early and regularly, but if we step up to our capabilities I think homefield is definitely within reach.
Brad would break it down into four seasons .
At New Orleans and At NYJ both are with time to prepare . The noise at home will decide the Lions and Miami .
DAL-GB-NE will be a real test . But to have them all by Halloween is great for Brett . ARI without Kurt is a help . More so the big pieces lost on a Defense that baffled Brett last year .
CHI-GB will deflate all the speculation of a new king of the North . At WAS is interesting . It shouldn’t be too cold . Time to pound the ball on the ground . BUF will have problems again with Turf & Noise .
NYG-CHI at home in Dec. that is nice . Philly and their new QB will be a bizirre game . And then comes DET . Is it #4’s last ….blaahblaah . Same scheduled time as GB AT CHI . Interesting ??? FOX will have it’s hands full deciding that game .
All in all tougher than last year slightly . A better layout of games . The four EastCoast games will tell the tale . Health again will be key . Especially at OL and LB . I hope Brad opens up the Offense even more . And sends a few more blitz packages . We face some tough run Defenses . That will favor Adrian . And some good QB’s and that will favor Jared . If you can believe it with an even deeper DL .
Excellent analysis Gothic. Can not disagree with anything you said. ( I can't believe I said that)
I am looking forward to week 8- New England
I suspect that New England will end up on top in the NFC east. The Jets have a lot of new parts to make work. Miami still has unresolved issues. But NE is still NE. Tom v.Brett
I want the season to start NOW!
"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 lifelongvike on Jul 26, 2010 11:08 AM CDT up reply actions
I can't see Minn and Det making the national market
By the time we play them we’ll be locked for home field through out the playoffs. While Chi and GB will be figting for a wildcard spot.
It's a lot easier to love the Vikings when they win...
I really hope so
that would be a best case IMO
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 Jul 26, 2010 12:29 PM CDT up reply actions
Here is my view:
I have roughly 4 games that our outside of our division that scare me, because it won’t seem or feel easy.
N.O. Saints: Why? Because we all want our team to win that game, really really bad….. You know the Vikings players will really want that win, but, will their head be in the same place or will they try to hard. And you know if we lose, we’ll be eating crow for at least 1 week by the NO fans.. And, we don’t want that. Best case scenario, we go score-frenzy on them and nearly goose egg them, worst case scenario (the opposite of best case scenario).
NY-Jets: Another old former team of BF. Some of the benefits of this, BF may be more aware of how their defense works/runs… Did it help him w the Packers? maybe……. But, maybe not. This is going to be a team that has a great defense.. it’ll be hard to score a lot of points. I believe, if the Vikings can get more than 26 pts in that game, we should be in the clear for a win. (I’ll compare that game to the 2009s Bengals game… Because they had a great defense, but didn’t do a lot of scoring offensively).
Dallas Cowboys: Only because, they’ll want to beat us just as bad for the same reasons we want to beat the Saints just as bad. Luckily, we are at home. And the difference, the Saints game was close, for Dallas, they got blown out of the water. Also, both last year’s case in each situation was loser goes home.. this year, losers still play next week.
NE Patriots: Probably the least of the 4 that I woudl be scared of… Mostly because I believe that they are on a decline. Brady doesn’t seem to be as good as he once was… And they lost their first round playoff to the Ravens by taking an early deficit. Their defensive secondary is rather good, and they do have some good offensive weapons.
Bears, Packers, Lions…
It’s hard to sweep all the teams within a division.. I know the Bengals did it last year, but they still missed out on their home field advantage. I could see a potential split w/ GB this year possibly in Lambeau. I think the personel change and new additions to the Bears make them more questionable. I would label them as hit/miss.. And we can’t take the Lions for granted as much as we used to, but, I still wouldn’t consider them a huge threat.
I’m sure that we’ll have a few games we should have won that we don’t end up winning. Or games we should of lost due to the way it was played that we actually won. But, just like most ppl tend to call it.. I still think we’ll have a game where we are thinking.. WTF? I call it the WTF-game.. In 2009, it was obviosly the Cardinals game.. Not much went right there.
These are all pre-season guesses.. Some of these teams could later to prove extremely weak (i.e., Bears at bottom of division, NE taking a huge dive, etc. etc).
OR
as is always the case some of these teams could be a lot tougher then they would appear from this vantage point. Who knows Buffalo could win four in a row before we play them. This always happens at some point in the season, Denver last year for example. I believe that as long as we keep mistakes to a min, we can out distance any team, we have two many weapons to be held in check for to long and the DL will get their due.
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 Jul 26, 2010 2:45 PM CDT up reply actions
When you use the Bronco's as an example....
Don’t forget to include the NY Giants. They were a team that was undefated up until they played the Saints. Than they lost like 42-21 (somewhere in that range).
I think both the Broncos & Giants were the first teams to go, 6-0 & miss the playoffs. They were comparing them to the Vikings and how they went 5-0 & missed the playoffs.
Sort of crazy when you take such an early successful jump only to fade away for the 2nd 1/2 of the season.
W/ that said, like they all say, it matters if your running hot going into the playoffs… That’s why people were starting to favor the pack, because they seemed to be on a pretty good streak.
Kinda happened with San Fran
And who would have thought the Ravens would be as tough as they were. Now however teams are looking for them.
It's a lot easier to love the Vikings when they win...
The hope is also that we have a healthy OL …plus we will not have 2 1st year starters…this will make for a better running game as well s pass protection…IF Ole#4 comes back…giving him any more time with the ball will have a bigger impact on opposing D’s….as will a better running attack…I see and improved O taking the field…one even more Dangerous than last years.
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