The week after my last post, Vikings running back "All Day" Peterson drew the national spotlight back on the Vikings following a record-setting day. Suddenly, the mediocre Vikings are looking at a potential play-off spot ... I decided I better not jinx anything with another post!
But we struggled with Oakland! We only beat the Chargers because they paid no heed to our "unstoppable" running back ... but then, the next three games we struggled to do anything on offense - our one-trick pony had met it's match. We barely beat a struggling Chicago team (what a great day for Urlacher, though!), and that was pretty much all she wrote for any post season hopes.
Two things kill us - penalties on the defense, and a lack of coordination on the offense. While I would have preferred starting the season with a veteran QB, Jackson is showing signs of improvement - at this stage, I think it would be a huge mistake to back away from Jackson. He's there, he's capable - let's start building a solid offense around him. Wade and Ferguson seem pretty solid. Allison might not be bad, but why is he in number 84?!? That number is WAY to big for him! And speaking of numbers, what happened to #40 this year? I know Childress has his own game plans on offense, but hey - Kleinsasser gets yards and points! Granted, he's a good blocker, especially when running the ball, but he needs to have the ball in his hands more often.
Lastly, there were a lot of comments from the announcers about Jackson "telegraphing the ball". I saw that too - but can that be fully blamed on Jackson, or the less-than-accurate receiving staff? You can read where he's looking - but I swear you can read his eyes, too: "Are you going to catch this damn ball, or make me look foolish again?!?".
