Greetings from a Falcons Fan

[MikethePurple]

Well said and I do think this football team can win some games still. I don't think we're getting to the 10-6 I predicted before the start of the season but I do think Zimmer has it right when he says "the guys who make the fewest mistakes and play the best as a team will win the games". We simply won't have the talent to be a powerhouse but I could see us playing some fundamentally sound football in the future where we grind out some wins and are the better TEAM. How many really comes down to how good Teddy will be, if he's amazing he could carry us pretty far, if he's worse than Cassel they'll be few and far between.

As for this upcoming game against the Falcons, I think it's a toss up. If we can get pressure like we did in week 1 against the Rams I think we can control the Falcons offense and the course of the game. We looked absolutely beast against STL's offense and the Falcons looked fairly bad against what is basically Mike Zimmer's defense (although with more experience and probably talent at this point)

Teddy should be able to move the ball but since it's his first NFL start it could go either way. Not groundbreaking logic or anything there but bleh, got a lot on my mind lately! haha.

Yes, it really shows how difficult it is to predict records at the beginning of the year with injuries or other issues that always end up as important factors. But year after year there are always unexpected things happening in the NFL which is probably an influence in getting fans to tune in.

I'm not sure how many wins to expect and honestly that's not really my focus this year. I thought we could be a marginal playoff team if we had all the breaks go our way and our younger players were developing nicely this year but with all that's happened in the first few weeks that seems like a pipe dream. My focus more will be how the team begins to gel together under the new schemes, whether younger players show that they are progressing and what direction this team seems to be heading in by the end of the season. These factors will be what I focus on rather than the W/L record as this team is not ready for serious contention yet. Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised this season

[tleiviska]

Welcome, PrimeTime!

I am looking forward to this game. Given the sloppy play of our team the last couple games, I see this week as a lot of hard work and a big turn around.

Defensively, I'm very nervous about Ryan. How well does he pick up a blitz? Are your TE's/RB's good a picking up a free runner? One thing about Zimmer is your guys are never going to know where the pressure is coming from, so it needs to be picked up quickly. If Ryan is good at getting the ball out and on target quickly, then we could be in for a long day at the office. I suspect your OC will be game planning a lot like the Pats and Saints did against us, which is to drop back short and quick and get the ball out on the quick short routes and pick us apart that way. They all know the Zimmer pass rush is going to be aggressive, so if you can get back and get the ball out quickly, that's your first key to beating it. On the back end of our offense we need tighter coverage to close off those short routes and pick the balls that are thrown even slightly off target. If we can tighten up our pass coverage and get to Ryan, I think we have a chance. If not, that 450+ passing yards is going to really hurt.

Offensively, if our coordinators can show our OL how they were blocking all preseason, maybe we have a chance. The saving grace is that Teddy has MUCH more escapability than Cassel ever has, and if you leave a running lane open, he will take it and most likely take a first down on his own. Passing wise, he is a pure quarterback. He knows how to move within the pocket, step up and make good accurate hard throws. I expect big things out of him this week and hereafter.

This should be a very good game. If Asiata steps up and takes advantage of what should be a good matchup for him against your run defense, I see us pulling it out somewhere around 24-20. If we have no running game and give your offense the ball too much and have no defensive turnovers, we lose easily 35-10.... So here's to hoping for the first scenario!

Cheers, and good luck to your A-town boys.

[PurpleHalo]

So wheres Georgia guy at, he hasn't checked back at all.

[PrimeTime]

Welcome, PrimeTime!

Defensively, I'm very nervous about Ryan. How well does he pick up a blitz? Are your TE's/RB's good a picking up a free runner? One thing about Zimmer is your guys are never going to know where the pressure is coming from, so it needs to be picked up quickly. If Ryan is good at getting the ball out and on target quickly, then we could be in for a long day at the office. I suspect your OC will be game planning a lot like the Pats and Saints did against us, which is to drop back short and quick and get the ball out on the quick short routes and pick us apart that way. They all know the Zimmer pass rush is going to be aggressive, so if you can get back and get the ball out quickly, that's your first key to beating it. On the back end of our offense we need tighter coverage to close off those short routes and pick the balls that are thrown even slightly off target. If we can tighten up our pass coverage and get to Ryan, I think we have a chance. If not, that 450+ passing yards is going to really hurt.

Offensively, if our coordinators can show our OL how they were blocking all preseason, maybe we have a chance. The saving grace is that Teddy has MUCH more escapability than Cassel ever has, and if you leave a running lane open, he will take it and most likely take a first down on his own. Passing wise, he is a pure quarterback. He knows how to move within the pocket, step up and make good accurate hard throws. I expect big things out of him this week and hereafter.

This should be a very good game. If Asiata steps up and takes advantage of what should be a good matchup for him against your run defense, I see us pulling it out somewhere around 24-20. If we have no running game and give your offense the ball too much and have no defensive turnovers, we lose easily 35-10.... So here's to hoping for the first scenario!

Cheers, and good luck to your A-town boys.

Cheers man. As for Ryan, He is one of those QBs that will read everything at the line, call everything out, Audible if need be and then snap. He can normally sniff out a blitz. As for our RBs, We have Steven Jackson who while he may be on the downside of his career in terms of running the rock, He is still as good as they come in terms of blitz pickups.

The bigger worry would be which RT shows up to play Sunday. Will it be the one that looked good vs the Saints and Bucs or the one who fell flat on his face all game vs the Bengals. Last thing we need is to have to constantly leave an extra blocker or someone to chip every play because he is getting embarrassed all game.

And I agree 100%, We cannot let Asiata have a career day. Its no secret our run D is suspect so they need to shut down the run game and make Bridgewater beat us. And not just beat us, But make him beat us in the Air. Do not let him run wild and pickup easy 1st downs on scrambles. At the end of the day this is his 1st career start and we need to throw everything we can at him and try and force some turnovers.

[Mothman]

This might be where the Vikings best chance to seize a win this week lies:

Falcons have a case of the turnover blues

[Gemfow]

Prime time:

I've been a Vikings fan since 87 and they've handed me a lot of letdowns during that span. This game won't be one of those times because I never expected the Vikings to win. The Vikings have way too many things going against them this season.

Peterson: it really kind of tickled me that some Vikings fans even before the child abuse charges talked about trading Peterson. Why? Peterson was approaching 30. It's terrible thinking because everyone ages differently. Some guys might show a downward slope at 30 and some may not show it until 33. Peterson's down years have netted him in the 1200's in yards for the most part. Those are great seasons to most other backs. Now we see how special he is when you have a guy like Asiata who can't run. No matter if this is becoming a passing league, you don't take great players lightly like a lot of Vikings fans have taken Peterson. Some of these same people thought you could trade Randy Moss and. We received nothing in return. Troy Williamson was garbage. The only thing mitigating the loss of Harvin is the drafting of Cordarelle Patterson.

Injuries: losing Fusco hurts, losing Greenway hurts, losing Cassel may be addition by subtraction. The Vikings kidded themselves by thinking they could compete and already anointed Cassel the starter and it was never an open competition at QB. Cassel is almost as stationery as Brady and Manning but isn't as gifted a passer. Teddy being in there may be a bonus because he's not a statue but I feel he will make rookie mistakes, it's part of the process and Atlanta will capitalize.

Ryan/Jones/white: it will be hard to overcome those guys because I don't feel our line gets pressure without a blitz and that's a concern of mine.

I say Atlanta wins 24-14/ 31-14. Something like that.

[frosted]

You really don't know the Vikings, do you? This team might score 20 total points by, say, the end of October the way things are going. Most NFL teams have to actually attempt passes into the endzone to score and the Vikings refuse to do that. If they do score it will have to come on short yardage plays that go for big yards due to either herculean individual efforts (see Patterson, Cordarelle), big special teams plays (see Patterson, Cordarelle), or big defensive plays (see Smith, Harrison). "Touchdown" Teddy will likely NOT be the main reason should the Vikings rack up 20 or 27 points this Sunday.

Good luck to the Falcons too.

*Cough*

*Fart*

You must be fuming right now.

[Purple bruise]

*Cough*

*Fart*

You must be fuming right now.

[Montanavike]

Might be a little crow eating needs to happen from most on this post.

[Leafman]

My math says Falcons win a squeaker, 27-26, turnover neutral.

Vegas is expecting a little more play on the Falcons, putting them at -3, compared to last week when my math matched the Vegas math nearly perfectly for the Vikings-Saints matchup ... they are also expecting a lower scoring game than I am (Vegas is Falcons 24-21). This is probably because Vegas expects the home team's style of play to dictate the scoring as it did when Atlanta went to Cincy a couple weeks ago ... I'll probably take the over instead, as Norv Turner gets a full week of prep with Teddy against one of the league's worst defenses.

I only found 3 scoring factors in the equation this week, which is highly unusual (normally there are 5-8 factors that alter the relative scoring profile):

1) Home field advantage (more like Away field disadvantage)
2) Atlanta's top-ranked passing offense against Vikings 9th-13th ranked defense
3) Atlanta's slight special teams advantage on punting/punt coverage and punt return game

The weak Viking offense and the weak Atlanta defense cancel out, as does the above average Viking Pass Rush versus the above average Falcon pass protection. All other factors also neutral ... running games/defenses, kicking games including kickoffs and returns, coaching, penalties.

Turnover margin should determine the outcome of this one.

LEAFMAN THE PURPLE FAN

This game will alter my model considerably going forward, unlike the Saints game which only upped the math slightly for the Vikings defense. Although we had two turnovers, only one really mattered, so 30-27 Vikings was the adjusted result of my model (versus 41-28 actual). The Vikings scoring 41 points with a balanced offense and no defensive or special teams scores will reduce a chunk of the negative coeffecients for the offense going forward.

Expect a high-scoring, close affair in Green Bay on Thursday....

LEAFMAN THE PURPLE FAN