My View From The Top Of Qualcomm Stadium

and i agree whole heartedly with your assessment of the game. I was very excited to see Joe Webb on the field, but i agree with you in the fact that, “what the hell” where they thinking running it two plays in a row after they had all the momentum off the pick and with Adrian running all over the chargers on that drive. From a defensive stand point, we could only hold off the chargers for so long, i mean Norv Turner is not a very good play caller, but geez eventually you knew he was going to figure out that they should probably pass on every down. And if he couldn’t figure it out by himself the fans sure helped him out at the end of that second quarter. It was definitely a mixture of mcnabb not having enough time to throw, musgrave not drawing up enough deep plays and just mcnabb not looking to be as sharp as we expected, that really hurt us. It was very disappointing to see, since the vikes only come to San Diego once every 8 years and now i have to wait another 8 years to see them play just south of my hometown. But overall, I am very hopeful for this vikes team we were 9 pt underdogs coming into the Q and no one, outside of this site and the team, thought we would give them a fight. Not only did we give them a fight, we nearly won it without even passing for 40 yds. Fix up the pass offense and we have a real good shot at playoffs and beyond. Just a little bit of venting I guess haha and in no way am a good writer, but i just had to get what was off my mind. Overall i had a great time at the game, the Charger fans were very good and gracious hosts. SKOL and let’s go get those Bucs next week at home.

and that the fans were hospitable. Its always nice to be in a place where they aren’t beating you into a coma or shooting at you, but then again, I’ve always found San Diego to be a pretty tame city. There are a still a few of those around, despite some of the terrible fan experiences this past year.

I expected the Chargers to come out firing. I think they were disrupted from the start due to Harvin’s return and probably felt like they were in come-back mode from the start, being the home opener with high expectations.

Obviously its a disappointing loss, but AP looked good (as if that was any surprise) and McNabb will have some good games. The biggest question I had, as well as some writers after the game, was: Why didn’t he use the TE’s more? Shaincoe has been one of the better TE’s the past couple of years, and with a new receiving TE like Rudolph, I assumed they would be targeting them more than people like Berrian. It was McNabb’s first real game with the team, and after a stagnant offensive start (from the passing side at least) it seems like they would incorporate more safety nets into the offense than try gimmicky Wildcat-type plays with Webb. If McNabb isn’t the guy, then fine, but I have never been a fan of taking your QB off the field if you think he is your best offensive leader.

I expected the Vikings offense to be okay. I expected the defense to get dominated. I expected that the score wouldn’t be close but expected that the teams would be more evenly matched than the scoring let on. I suppose it might be safe to say that my expectations were not met.

Here’s the irony. We had a shot to win the game, but I am depressed about the way the team performed overall. First, I think we were outcoached. Sorry. My disappointment in some of the coaching decisions actually began at the end of the pre-season when Berrian and Tyrell Johnson were retained by the team. I knew seeing Berrian on the field would be a constant reminder of that awful decision. Despite his earlier statements, I never really believed that Frazier would truly rotate Sanford and Johnson at safety. He did though. Wow! Johnson had a couple of decent plays but mostly sucked as usual. Berrian had a couple of opportunities to make plays but mostly did what he always does.

However, I’m more concerned about the coaching from the perspective that everyone else is. I disagree that the Vikings didn’t give the game away (and that the Chargers simply took it from us). The Vikings offense rolled over in the 2nd half. Had Berrian caught McNabb’s pass then maybe we’d be talking about things differently. The drive would have continued. However, that’s not the way things played out.

The play on the field did remind me of a Chilly-esque outing. I only recall one 3 TE line up (on the right side) during the game. It turned into a Harvin run for a little gain. I expected to see a lot more TE formations like that. If the O-line isn’t holding up, then why not replace Berrian with a TE and use him for blocking or catching out of the backfield? Very disappointing.

As disappointing as the overall passing attack was, I don’t agree with people who say that Ponder should replace McNabb. I’d be more sympathetic hearing people say Webb should go in for McNabb. Ponder had two good series this pre-season. That’s it. McNabb looked much better in pre-season. So did Webb. If the pocket is going to break down as it has with McNabb, then Webb’s the guy. However, I think it’s too soon to give up. Let’s see what happens the next two games. The O-line won’t get better, but I think McNabb will.

Here’s a question for you: At what point in the season, does McNabb pull a Favre and start ignoring Berrian on the field? My guess is it started yesterday in the 2nd half. Go get Jaymar or Iglesias or Arceneaux and be done with it.

I tend to defend BB too when I tink the criticism is unfair. But the problem here is BB did not aggressively adjust to the arc of the ball to get better body positioning and thereby preent the DB from getting in the way. Great deep threats, especially MOss but others like Steve Smith who is tiny by comparison, excel at using their body on long balls to catch those passes.

I believe that IS a fair criticism of BB. Especially on that particular throw.