Obviously, when a team starts out 0-3 and blows a combined 47 points worth of halftime leads, there's a lot of blame to go around. Lots of fingers are going to be pointed, lots of blame is going to be assessed. . .I get that.
But there are a few players on this team that are performing exceptionally well, too. . .and, quite frankly, it's time to point them out. After all, we do have to give out a Game Ball this week (poll for that coming up tomorrow), so we could just as well talk about it.
Who are the guys that have been playing well this season? Let me tell you.
Adrian Peterson - Duh. It's really not his fault that he averaged six yards per carry in the first half today, and was only given five carries in the second half. For my money. . .and pretty much everyone else's. . .he's still the best running back in the National Football League, and he's one of those guys that you're happy is on our side.Kevin Williams - Because. . .well, he's only played one out of the first three games. I thought he played pretty well this afternoon, to be honest, considering he has the foot issue and hasn't seen any action since Week 3 of the pre-season.
Jared Allen - Hey, remember this past off-season when people said that Allen was slowing down and that he was overrated and all that other stuff? Yeah. . .he's currently tied for the NFL lead in sacks with 4.5. (I thought he had 5, but NFL.com has him with 4.5.) The people who said those things obviously have their heads jammed in their asses.
Brian Robison - Hey, remember when people thought that letting Ray Edwards go was going to be an awful idea? Yeah. . .Robison has played awfully well for the first three games of this season. Much better than Edwards, from everything I've seen.
Michael Jenkins - Yeah, he wasn't the flashiest signing of the off-season, and he won't ever be mistaken for Jerry Rice or Cris Carter, but he's caught pretty much everything that's been thrown his direction this season, and is a pretty underrated possession option for the Vikings. He's a really good blocker on the outside, too.
Percy Harvin - Still a great playmaker. . .you know, when he's not on the sideline puking into a trash can. At least his migraines really do seem to be gone, which is nice.
Special Teams in general - Ryan Longwell is still deadly accurate, Chris Kluwe continues to be one of the best punters in the league, and Marcus Sherels has provided a real spark in the punt return game. Without going back through all of the game books and stuff, I can't think of any huge returns allowed off the top of my head. . .which is pretty good, since a lot of us thought that Longwell's shorter kickoffs might still be an issue, but he's really let it rip on a few kickoffs this year, and the coverage has been relatively good, all things considered.
I'm sure that there are other folks that fall under this heading, too. . .I just wanted to put some folks out there that should sort of be spared the wrath of Viking nation thus far. What do you folks think?