Finally got this done.  Sorry for the delay, but life and such.  Enjoy. 

... what did I miss?  I was jacked up to see the Vikings beat the Bucs, but was it as dominating a win as it looked?

What's going on with Bradford?  I'm hearing bone bruise?  Any time line for when he'll be back?

I feel so out of the loop...  can I get a cliff notes version of what's happened here while I've been out of the country the past two weeks?

Do you think he will get suspended? Do you think he should? 

hey, im a Vikings fan -- i am always worried. coming out of a great showing against the Bucs, i still have significant concerns:

1. first down productivity. it has been bad, particularly first down runs. The good news is that the offense has been good at overcoming the deficit (particularly in games 1 and 3). if it doesn't improve, it will bite us.

2.  defense has given up a lot of yards. The Bucs mostly moved the ball at will , but penalties and turnovers did them in. the defnese has been above average, but not what it needs to be for this team to be a true Super Bowl contender. there is time, and the run defense has been very good. 

3.  Keenum is not Bradford. want to see the difference?  look at two throws in the Tampa Bay game -- both of which were successful. First was a flag route to Theilen, i believe in the second quarter. he's wide open, but Keenum puts too much air under the ball, causing Theilen to make a great toe-tapping catch on the sideline.  Bradford throws that ball on a rope for a routine catch and possible extra yardage.  Second throw is a touchdown that Diggs goes up and gets.  Again, Keenum puts air under the ball when he shouldn't, making this a great Diggs play, where Sam likely throws a bullet making this an uncontested catch.  

3.  The Bucs were too injured on defense to effectively follow the blueprint the Steelers used to terrorize our OL and neutralize Keenum.  The Steelers had a great defensive gameplan for an OL that had basically 0 time together as a unit -- they stunted like crazy and blitzed.  The Vikes OL messed up the exchanges on the stunts and did nit slide protections. Keenum did not check out of plays doomed to failure.  Expect the Lions to follow the Steelers blueprint, and we shall see if the Vikings line has improved with a few weeks under its belt.  

i still think the Vikes pull out a close win -- but the above concerns me for a crucial NFC North matchup. 

I was struck by this picture of Hill next to Remmers (Remmer is listed as 6'5" and 310).



The NFL lists Hill as 6'6" and 313 but he looks substantially bigger than Remmer in this picture.

Picture is from this article:  http://www.1500espn.com/vikings-2/2017/0...-practice/

#Vikings RT Mike Remmers, who was ill yesterday, is back at practice. So cross off one panic point for Sunday vs. #Lions.

Game Preview for Vikings vs. Lions
This week our 2-1 Minnesota Vikings are home again at U.S. Bank Stadium against our NFC North rival the Detroit Lions.  After last years losses to Detroit you can bet a different attitude is direct…

Read the full story here

The win vs the Bucs was fun, and pretty dominant.  No one lie, the Case Keenum performance was surprising to all but his Mom.  

But, the win vs the Texans was dominant too last year, so let's not get ahead of ourselves.

If anyone thinks the Lions are predominantly the shitty Lions of the past 3 decades, look again.   Stafford is Pro Bowl level and can give fits, and the defense is adequate.   That does not mean that the Lions are a 12-4 team, but doesn't mean they are a 6-10 team either.   

I have never been a big Jim Caldwell fan, but his team does play for him, and I applaud him for how he accepted a defeat last week with a clock runoff that had to be hard to take - he has some class.

It is an NFL North contest, and rarely are those easy "W's"  I hope Keenum is the 369 QB, not the 167 yard QB we saw in Pittsburgh.  We all want the Vikings to win, but we beat a bad Saint team on a record night for our QB, lost to what looks like an average Pittsburgh team (could have been distracted by all the "will same play or won't he" talk).  How are the Bucs?  Hard to say.

Maybe we blow the doors off of the Lions, but until we do, this team has proven nothing other than when the defense plays well and the offensive line blocks decently, we can win, and sometimes dominate.  Let's see more from this sample size before we fire up the printing press for our playoff T-shirts.

http://www.fox9.com/entertainment/minnes...-corn-maze

“I think they’re both very fine receivers,” offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said. “We’ve seen them make plays on the outside and the inside. We’ve seen them make plays down the field and crossing the field. They’re two legitimate NFL receivers that are making plays for us. That’s important. They’re doing it in all kinds of ways. It doesn’t get talked about much, but when we’re running the ball, they’re doing a very fine job of blocking as well. So it all ties together.”
Their importance to the Vikings’ offense is easily seen in their stats.
http://www.twincities.com/2017/09/28/vik...op-wr-duo/