the official **** the vikings thread

[Forward To Death]

@Gil_Brandt: Hearing @DenverBroncos attempting to trade for Jared Allen. @Seahawks inquired. Deadline is 4p ET

[Sparky]

not kicking that field goal deserves frazier removal. Doesn't make sense. Too many games lost due to bizarre coaching calls.

[Thom Yorke]

Frazier has been a complete disaster. It's not like that call puts him over the top or anything. Still, Spielman seems to want to support him, which blows my mind.

Anyways, that game worked out great. They played better than they have in a while and they lost, which improves their draft stock. I'm actively rooting against them every week for a better pick, but I still like to take some positives away at the same time.

If you look at the bottom third of the league, Jacksonville seems like the only team that would definitely take a QB with their top pick.

Baltimore - committed to Flacco
Buffalo - just took Manuel in the 1st last year
Oakland - possible, but may stay with Pryor; they're 3-5 anyways
Pittsburgh - committed to Ben
Houston - Keenum is looking very good right now, and the team should improve this year still
Washington - obviously committed to RG3
St. Louis - Bradford is a first overall pick
Atlanta - committed to Ryan
Giants - committed to Eli
Tampa Bay - possible, but Glennon has stepped in very nicely

The only other teams that could tank and would be looking for a QB are Tennessee (4-4), Arizona (4-4), and Cleveland (4-5). I don't think that would be very likely though.

You've got two big name QBs this year with Bridgewater and Mariota (if he declares, of course), and I'm really liking the Vikings chances at landing one of them.

We'll of course probably still be going with a Freeman/Ponder combo though...

I wouldn't say no to Clowney either, of course. He'd be a great replacement for Allen. Still, you gotta have a franchise QB in this league.

[Forward To Death]

Leslie Frazier will win Coach of the Year in 2014.

Christian Ponder will absolutely light it up against Washington this week.

The defense will clamp down on RG3's running ability by maintaining control of their gaps, and he will throw 3 INTs.

Absolutely loved what I saw. But they lost! No, the Vikings played a helluva game, and they probably should have walked away with a victory. No-huddling early on was brilliant and Ponder seemed very comfortable with it, while the defense was able to hold Dallas to 1 TD until for some reason the coaches went into prevent mode. Could have been better. The Vikings should have put up at least 26, and the Cowboys basically got 2 TDs for free.

not kicking that field goal deserves frazier removal. Doesn't make sense. Too many games lost due to bizarre coaching calls.

I don't think it matters though. Dallas scored a TD and would have won regardless. I think he also said in the press conference that Walsh's injury played into the decision not to go for the FG, and that he wasn't content settling for a field goal so he opted for field position. I think it was a smart move, but a coach like Bill Belichick would have gone for the 1st down rather than put the game into Dallas' hands.

Not going for it ended up costing the Cowboys last week against the Lions, and it ended up costing us this week. If you have a chance to put the game out of reach, absolutely 100% go for it.

[Forward To Death]

Originally Posted by Thom Yorke

Frazier has been a complete disaster. It's not like that call puts him over the top or anything. Still, Spielman seems to want to support him, which blows my mind.

Anyways, that game worked out great. They played better than they have in a while and they lost, which improves their draft stock. I'm actively rooting against them every week for a better pick, but I still like to take some positives away at the same time.

If you look at the bottom third of the league, Jacksonville seems like the only team that would definitely take a QB with their top pick.

Baltimore - committed to Flacco
Buffalo - just took Manuel in the 1st last year
Oakland - possible, but may stay with Pryor; they're 3-5 anyways
Pittsburgh - committed to Ben
Houston - Keenum is looking very good right now, and the team should improve this year still
Washington - obviously committed to RG3
St. Louis - Bradford is a first overall pick
Atlanta - committed to Ryan
Giants - committed to Eli
Tampa Bay - possible, but Glennon has stepped in very nicely

The only other teams that could tank and would be looking for a QB are Tennessee (4-4), Arizona (4-4), and Cleveland (4-5). I don't think that would be very likely though.

You've got two big name QBs this year with Bridgewater and Mariota (if he declares, of course), and I'm really liking the Vikings chances at landing one of them.

We'll of course probably still be going with a Freeman/Ponder combo though...

I wouldn't say no to Clowney either, of course. He'd be a great replacement for Allen. Still, you gotta have a franchise QB in this league.

I don't know. 2 months ago, 1 month ago, hell even a week or maybe closer to 2 weeks ago I would have said the same thing. But watching that Dallas game, seeing the no-huddle offense and how much command Ponder had over it really changed my mind. I saw him run it against the Redskins last year and he looked very comfortable then, but this time they let him run it early on. Imagine when they take the training wheels off and let him run the offense by himself.

I always figured they knew something when Spielman and Frazier both said that Ponder has "a bright future for the Vikings", and maybe that's what we're going to see. I think Rick's going let the coaches cut him loose a little bit this year, and then let him run the offense in 2014.

With that said, I'd definitely pick a solid backup for him in the middle or even early rounds, but definitely not in the first. They need a NT, 3rd down back and offensive linemen more than they need a QB.

[Thom Yorke]

Ponder actually is pretty incredible on his feet. He's not a burner like Kaepernick or anything but he's really smart about when he runs and has great vision and awareness in that regard. As a passer though, I've seen more than enough. He makes so many mistakes for a guy who's seen as a game-manager and he's very sub-par on short routes. I feel more secure with him at the helm than a guy like Freeman, but we're not really going to win anything with him as our QB. I'm shocked that any Vikigns fan could be comfortable going forward with him as the starting QB, to be honest.

As for the game against Washington, RG3 is starting to look more like himself and this team has had a ridiculous amount of trouble with mobile QBs, even when they were a solid unit. This defense will probably be in for a world of hurt on Thursday with the way they've played this year.

[Forward To Death]

Originally Posted by Thom Yorke

Ponder actually is pretty incredible on his feet. He's not a burner like Kaepernick or anything but he's really smart about when he runs and has great vision and awareness in that regard. As a passer though, I've seen more than enough. He makes so many mistakes for a guy who's seen as a game-manager and he's very sub-par on short routes. I feel more secure with him at the helm than a guy like Freeman, but we're not really going to win anything with him as our QB. I'm shocked that any Vikigns fan could be comfortable going forward with him as the starting QB, to be honest.

As for the game against Washington, RG3 is starting to look more like himself and this team has had a ridiculous amount of trouble with mobile QBs, even when they were a solid unit. This defense will probably be in for a world of hurt on Thursday with the way they've played this year.

He really didn't make many mistakes yesterday though, or against Green Bay. He looked so much better running the offense last week that I can't even consider the previous performances the same way. This is a completely different look that completely changes my opinion on him, and I'm shocked that so few Vikings fans saw that. Hell, that's all anyone was talking about yesterday was how much better he looked when he was allowed to call the shots on offense.

I'm not content with him just yet, but how can you see that and not be impressed? Maybe you didn't notice, but I think the last time I've seen a Viking call an audible that early in the game was when Brett Favre was QB. He's only 25, and like I said about the talent evaluators, I'll take Spielman's opinion, Frazier's opinion and Bobby Bowden's opinion over any fan's opinion any day. No offense.

Maybe RG3 burns us, but I sincerely hope that Frazier has a plan to contain him after last year.

[Forward To Death]

Good win. Beat Seattle now.

Nice game by Ponder too. 17/21 and 2 TDs, looking good while continuing to use that no-huddle offense.

[Thom Yorke]

Great second half, especially by the D. First half was brutal defensively though. That time of possession seemed even worse than usual.

Ponder did look good, although I'm still not convinced of anything.

And even with a win, the coaching staff still manages to screw up big time. I still can't wrap my head around calling that timeout with 40 seconds left.

[Forward To Death]

Originally Posted by Thom Yorke

Great second half, especially by the D. First half was brutal defensively though. That time of possession seemed even worse than usual.

Ponder did look good, although I'm still not convinced of anything.

And even with a win, the coaching staff still manages to screw up big time. I still can't wrap my head around calling that timeout with 40 seconds left.

Frazier said it was to give his special teams a chance to make something happen. I understand it 100%.