9.29.2005
Thursday Football
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NO- This game was a battle of quarterbacks who don't know how to throw the ball on time. Devery Henderson took advantage of the Vikings' lack of depth at corner for 6 catches on 7 targets and 137 yards. Joe Horn had a hard time against Antoine Winfield. Horn had just 1 catch on 6 targets. Donte Stallworth was covered up pretty well too. He didn't catch any one of the four passes thrown his way. Stallworth did have a punt return TD called back on an illegal block. Ernie Conwell is still the most consistent receiver on this team. Aaron Brooks clearly trusts his tight end. Conwell picked up 8 more targets, but he dropped a few and ended up with just 3 catches. Also, Duece McCallister doesn't look as quick as I remember him being.
MIN- Don't be fooled. The Vikings are not back yet. Daunte Culpepper is having problems in the pocket. He's playing like a first year QB, at times running with the ball way too much and at other times holding on to it too long. And I don't think it's so much that he can't read the defense during the play, but maybe he just doesn't have confidence in either the offense's design or his receivers or both. Bottom line, he's not confortable. The Vikings need to give him more check down options. A couple times they used Mewelde Moore as a swing out option, like how Norv Turner does in Oakland, and they need to do more of that. Mewelde isn't the best blocker anyhow, so they're better off getting him to chip on someone before flaring out as a safety valve. With the way the Saints were turning the ball over in their own territory, if Minnesota's offense was truly fixed, the Vikings would have made this game 28-0 after the first quarter.
What big plays Minnesota did have were just as much at the fault of the Saints as they were to the credit of the Vikings. Minnesota's first and third touchdowns were simply a case of the receiver beating a corner in man coverage without much help from a safety. Dwight Smith, in particular, had a terrible day against the Vikings.
Still, there are some areas where a little optimism isn't misguided. Moore looked like he can make a difference out there as this team's featured back, as long as he can stay healthy. The OLine did a good job blocking for him and despite the seven sacks the stat book shows, they weren't awful in pass protection. A lot of those should be put on Culpepper.
Also, the Vikings' defense did a good job forcing the Saints into third and longs, and then brought a myriad of blitzes on third down.
With Atlanta coming up for the Vikes, I'm not too confident that this team has turned the corner on their problems. They easily left around 20 points on the field in week three. They also threw for just 30 yards in the second half, and this wasn't a blow out either. At one point, the Saints were down by just 8.
As for the targets, Jermaine Wiggins led the team with 7, with Travis Taylor right behind him with 6. Troy Williamson did some good with the four passes thrown his way, but Marcus Robinson was a non-factor, except for one long play down the sideline that Dwight Smith left him wide open for. This team has too many perimeter receivers and will miss Nate Burleson dearly for as long as he's out. And the bottom line is that Culpepper doesn't have too much confidence in anyone right now. He'll throw to them if they're running free, as they were against the Saints. But against the Falcons, I think they're going to continue to struggle.
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ARZ- Anquan Boldin led the team with 12 targets, and he has 30 on the year. Larry Fitzgerald had only 6 passes thrown his way, as he's clearly the guy opposing defenses want to stop first. Adam Bergen is the starting TE for this team right now, but his chances have been limited. Marcell Ship had another good game running the ball, but his playing time was again limited. This game was 10-9 Seahawks at the half and then 24-9 Seahawks 5 minutes into the third and 31-12 Seahawks after three quarters. The Cardinals defense is very vulnerable up the middle and the only thing they do well (rush the passer) can be partially negated when they play a team like Seattle who uses mostly three and five step drops. Kurt Warner's groin injury is a serious one, so look for Josh McCown to start more than just this week. I think the Cards are better off with him in there anyway. Arizona has been terrible inside their opponents thirty yard line this year.
SEA- As I mentioned above, Seattle's strengths on offense really played well into Arizona's problems on defense. Bobby Engram again had a fine game, catching 5 balls on 8 targets. Darrell Jackson was the team leader with 13, as Arizona played their DBs 10 yards off the line for much of the game. Jerramy Stevens getting chances as the lone TE threat. He picked up 3 catches on 4 targets (including one in the red zone to set up a Alexander TD). Seneca Wallace and Peter Warrick hooked up on a nice 42 yard pass play. It was the first ball thrown to Warrick all season. PDub did a nice job returning punts as well.
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KC- Tony Gonzalez had a tough time against the Broncos' linebackers. He did get a season high 9 targets, but caught just 5 of them for a lowly 29 yards. As I expected, he is way behind last year's pace. Eddie Kennison is still the receiver leader. He picked up 8 catches on 11 targets. The Chiefs tried to get the ball to Sammy Parker too. He got 9 passes, but caught just two of them. KC gets the Eagles at home this week.
DEN- With 17-0 first quarter lead, the Broncos ran the ball for much of the game. They are still a two WR team though, and Rod Smith led the team with 8 targets. After a couple of poor outings, the tight end has temporarily disappeared from this offense. Jeb Putzier did not get one pass his way and Stephen Alexander got only one. The Broncos' schedule doesn't get any easier on their short week. They travel to Jacksonville and I hope they saved some real good plays for the Jags. Actually, I'll be picking against them. So I hope the didn't.
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NYG- Depsite missing the first quarter, Plaxico Burress led the team in targets for the third straight week. He had 5 catches on 11 passes. David Tyree was active as well, with 5 catches on 6 targets. Amani Toomer had his biggest game of the year, with 8 targets, but clearly he's Eli Manning's third favorite receiver on this team. Jeremy Shockey went 6 for 9, but he didn't get any red zone chances. Those went to back up Visanthe Shiancoe (two).
SD- The Chargers got back to doing what worked for them last year. Antonio Gates caught six more passes on six targets. And LT picked up 7 targets to go with his 21 carries and 1 pass attempt. Keenan McCardell saw his targets fall to just 4, but he made the most of them, catching each for a total of 80 yards and two scores.
- posted by jrf @ 9/29/2005 11:43:00 PM
