Well, it was just about this time yesterday that the Vikings' demolition job against the Seahawks was wrapping up. Yesterday's game was pretty sweet to watch in every conceivable way. A few things I want to look at here. . .
--If I hear or read so much as one more person whining about how E.J. Henderson intentionally rolled up on Matt Hasselbeck, I'm going to scream. Yeah, John Clayton, I'm talking to you. Yeah, Skip Bayless, you too. Shut up. . .just shut up already. Every replay from every angle shows that Mack Strong clearly blocked Henderson into Hasselbeck. Not one iota Henderson's fault. But hey. . .if it gives people something to whine and cry about, more power to them.
--If I hear or read one more thing about how Hasselbeck's presence was the difference between the Seahawks winning or losing, I'll scream again. From the play after he hit the 72-yard pass to Darrell Jackson to the time he went out with his injury, Hasselbeck went a blistering 6-for-16 for 55 yards. Last time I checked, that was relatively horrible. Oh, and after the first 4 minutes of the game, the Seahawks didn't even sniff the end zone.
--Teams aren't going to be running on Minnesota. At all. Granted, I understand that every member of the Seattle O-line not named Walter Jones can charitably be described as "below average," but that doesn't matter. The Minnesota Vikings. . .yes, the Minnesota Vikings. . .are now the #2 defense in the NFL against the run. And there's a good chance that by tomorrow morning they'll be #1 against the run after Tiki Barber gets through with the Cowboys. This defense is that good.
--For all the talk about "Seattle's 12th Man blah blah blah Crowd Noise blah blah blah". . .I couldn't help but notice how quiet Qwest Field was yesterday. In fact, I've managed to snag an exclusive picture of the Seahawks' fabled 12th man prior to yesterday's game:
Hmmmm. . .no wonder it was so quiet.
To wit, the Vikings came into the game as the most penalized team in the NFL. Surely they'd be rattled by the raucous Seahawks' crowd, right? Here's a list of all the Vikings' penalties.
-2 penalties for holding (1 of which was on a kick return)
-1 penalty for hands to the face
-1 penalty for defensive offsides (which came with under 2 minutes left)
-1 penalty for roughing the passer (which came almost immediately after the aforementioned offsides penalty)
5 whole penalties. No false starts. One defensive offsides penalty that came after the game had already been decided. Twelfth Man, Schmelfth Man.
--"48-10, Seahawks" guy hasn't bothered to register an account to apologize or anything. Are you as surprised as I am?
--Peter King has moved the Vikings up to #6 in his "Fine Fifteen," despite not having them ranked anywhere in the top 15 for the past few weeks. To think. . .all it took was a trip to the West Coast, breaking a team's double-digit home winning streak, and punking the defending NFC champs in their house to get someone to take this team seriously.
--Hang on a second. . .yes, Chester Taylor is still running. And the Seahawks still can't stop him.
--Shaun Alexander was the NFL MVP last year, yes. But I think it was obvious to anyone that was watching yesterday that Seattle's real 2005 MVP was wearing #76 in purple and gold yesterday afternoon.
I think we're in for one hell of a game next Monday night in Minneapolis.