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Let's start with an obvious point -- I feel different about this team. In years past, I would have been pulling out my hair, terrified that the Vikes were going lose. But I didn't feel that way yesterday; I felt confident that the Vikes would find a way to win.
- Offensive Line: What a difference a year makes. The line is growing more cohesive and there is depth that was not there a year ago. This is evident on many plays but the one that may me think about it was the Thielen drag route about 10 minutes into the second quarter. He had to run across the entire field and the blocking was good enough to wait for him to do so. This also shows Keenum is very good in the pocket and finding the protective areas.
- Running Backs: As I have written previously, AD's is the only Vikes jersey I have ever owned. I really enjoyed him running the ball all those years. But I am really enjoying having running backs who run decently, block well and can catch the ball. One of my all time favorite Vikes was Chuck Foreman and I loved watching him catch the ball out of the backfield. Now, it is really enjoyable watching both backs and it really a treat watching them pick up blitzers in a competent manner.
- Rudolph: Love, hate. Right after i write down a note about how i think he is highly overrated, he makes the terrific touchdown catch. He is an enigma to me. What is his ceiling and what is his floor? After catching the ball, he is like Kliensasser -- however, his blocking in average at best. He has great hands but sometimes loses concentration.
- Coley/Sherels: I absolutely believe that at the highest level there is a game with the game within the game. I think the best teams show things during games sometimes just to make upcoming opponents waste valuable preparation time. I think this is especially true with teams with a lot of coaching and player continuity. For instance, because the Vikes ran the wildcat last year, it is easy to roll out a wildcat play every few weeks. Again, opposing teams will then have to plan for it. Yesterday, the Vikes ran out Sherels and Coley together on punt returns (a couple of times). I certainly don't think the Vikes would waste a trick punt return on a lowly opponent like the Browns. I do think it is an easy way to waste another team's special team prep.
- McKinnon: Tough SOB, nuff said.
- McKinnon's touchdown: Morgan threw an absolutely monster of a block on the touchdown run. First time all season i really sat up and took note of Morgan. Morgan had a really solid game yesterday - which is why I am awarding him the Vikings PEE award for this week.
- Fight or Flight: I have been thinking about this for a couple of weeks, mostly in the context of Thielen. I think one of the most valuable attributes of any player is whether their instinct if fight or flight. It is like the old Tyson quote: "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." It is not the adversity, it is how one reacts to the adversity. So, you take certain players who have easily perceived god given physical talents -- someone like Troy Williamson. These players have dominated at the high school and college levels. How will they react when, instead of facing 2-3 players their athletic equals -- they are facing whole teams of athletes. Will they fight or will they take the money or run? What is their instinctual reaction to adversity? On the other hand, you have players like John Randle -- someone who passed through the draft because of his measurables. He has had to fight at almost every level -- so he has already proven that he has the right instinct (fight) to make it in the NFL. I think this applies to three (maybe four) recent draft picks, UDFA: Thielen, Cordarrelle Patterson and Treadwell. Patterson and Treadwell are first round draft picks -- they have obvious physical gifts (albeit different). But they are both being outplayed by the UDFA who has had the scrap his way onto his college team and then the Vikings. When Thielen is faced with adversity, he works his ass off to perfect his craft. It would be great to know whether the scouts actually try to rate a college players fight or flight instinct because I think that would correlate highly with success in the NFL. It especially works highly to differentiate between two physically talented players (think Manning v. Leaf).
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