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Tarvaris (makes Grossman look elite) Jackson is key to Vikings fate...
Hear that sizzling sound? It's Tarvaris Jackson arse on the hot-seat.
A few highlights...
TO me, Jackson remains a gamble. There were times last season when he looked green as grass. And there were times when he showed the promise we had heard so much about. But those instances usually were followed by stretches on the sideline because of an injury.
Publicly, his teammates said all the right things. Privately, their eyes sometimes looked as if they would pop out of their heads. Several bit their lip so hard I swear they drew blood.
. . .
Drafting at No. 17 they had an outside chance of getting quarterback Brian Brohm out of Louisville. Brohm is the No. 2-rated QB in the draft behind Boston College's Matt Ryan. But Brohm is considered by many to be the most ready to play in a West Coast offense.
It would have been worthwhile to pass on an offensive lineman to get Brohm at No. 17. Not to play right now, but certainly to learn the system and eventually push Jackson. He could have started pushing pretty quickly, too. I hear the Packers love this kid.
Remember in 1989 the Cowboys drafted quarterback Troy Aikman first overall. Then in the supplemental draft a few months later, they took quarterback Steve Walsh first overall. Some people raised an eyebrow, but the idea was for the two guys to compete. Usually, in that type of situation they make each other better.
Jackson hasn't been competing for a job. He's just had to stay a step ahead of the old guys behind him.
. . .
Jackson is the X factor who will make or break this season. If the Vikings currently had a Daunte Culpepper in his prime, they'd be the subject of a Super Bowl buzz around the league. Even with a young Brad Johnson or a still-capable Warren Moon or Randall Cunningham, Minnesota would look like a monster.
But here we are. The Vikings made some good moves this offseason. They've really built a sleek football machine. Now it's all about whether they have the right driver.
------------------------------------------------------------
For the most part, I agree with this article in it's entirety. Except for a few key points that the Minnesota media is just plain stupid on.
For one, they say...
"In the past it has been sort of, "well, he's young and learning," and the Vikings really weren't Super Bowl material anyway"
That's just stupid. The Vikings man-handled several teams that went deep into the playoffs last year and they absolutely Monkey-Stomped the Super Bowl Champion Giants, in New York of all places. Not Super Bowl material my arse! If the 2007 Giants can win it, the 2007 Vikings could damn well win it too.
Later they say...
"Jackson's mistakes might have been frustrating to watch, but it wasn't as if he was single-handedly keeping the team out of the playoffs."
Again, not true. The Vikings only failing last year was their complete lack of a passing game. (Other than when Brooks Bollinger was under center, which is ironic.) When Jackson was playing, defenses were lining up on passing downs with 8 guys in the box. They were also sometimes cheating up a saftey and putting 9 guys in the box, that's right, NINE guys in the box! That means they had no saftey deep with one-on-one coverage on the Vikings receivers on the outside. I've never seen that kind of coverage in the NFL unless it was extremely short yardage. They were just daring Jackson to attempt to throw... and most of the time, they'd run right at 8-9 man fronts. That is just in-sane. I know people make that horribly uninformed statement about the Vikings pass defense being last in the league, but that statisitic is extremely misleading because every team the Vikings faced, had to throw on 90% of plays because they could not run against the Viking defense. So the teams "passing yards allowed" statistics are horribly skewed. Their pass defense was drastically better than they were getting credit for, and the overall defense was really the strength of the team last year.
They also say...
"The signing of Gus Frerotte gives Minnesota a solid backup."
That should have said, the signing of Gus Ferotte would give the Vikings a solid backup... if they were to stop using the WCO. Seriously, you're going to bring in a washed-up veteran to be the backup QB when he's had no (that's zip, zilch, zero, nada, none) experience with the West Coast Offense and expect him to be able to step right in and play tomorrow as the QB? What the hell kind of Alice In Wonderland world are they living in to think that? Ferotte is probably months from even being able to understand the playbook, let alone manage an offense in a game situation.
Other than those things, this piece was pretty well on the money.
$0.02,
--Z
A few highlights...
TO me, Jackson remains a gamble. There were times last season when he looked green as grass. And there were times when he showed the promise we had heard so much about. But those instances usually were followed by stretches on the sideline because of an injury.
Publicly, his teammates said all the right things. Privately, their eyes sometimes looked as if they would pop out of their heads. Several bit their lip so hard I swear they drew blood.
. . .
Drafting at No. 17 they had an outside chance of getting quarterback Brian Brohm out of Louisville. Brohm is the No. 2-rated QB in the draft behind Boston College's Matt Ryan. But Brohm is considered by many to be the most ready to play in a West Coast offense.
It would have been worthwhile to pass on an offensive lineman to get Brohm at No. 17. Not to play right now, but certainly to learn the system and eventually push Jackson. He could have started pushing pretty quickly, too. I hear the Packers love this kid.
Remember in 1989 the Cowboys drafted quarterback Troy Aikman first overall. Then in the supplemental draft a few months later, they took quarterback Steve Walsh first overall. Some people raised an eyebrow, but the idea was for the two guys to compete. Usually, in that type of situation they make each other better.
Jackson hasn't been competing for a job. He's just had to stay a step ahead of the old guys behind him.
. . .
Jackson is the X factor who will make or break this season. If the Vikings currently had a Daunte Culpepper in his prime, they'd be the subject of a Super Bowl buzz around the league. Even with a young Brad Johnson or a still-capable Warren Moon or Randall Cunningham, Minnesota would look like a monster.
But here we are. The Vikings made some good moves this offseason. They've really built a sleek football machine. Now it's all about whether they have the right driver.
------------------------------------------------------------
For the most part, I agree with this article in it's entirety. Except for a few key points that the Minnesota media is just plain stupid on.
For one, they say...
"In the past it has been sort of, "well, he's young and learning," and the Vikings really weren't Super Bowl material anyway"
That's just stupid. The Vikings man-handled several teams that went deep into the playoffs last year and they absolutely Monkey-Stomped the Super Bowl Champion Giants, in New York of all places. Not Super Bowl material my arse! If the 2007 Giants can win it, the 2007 Vikings could damn well win it too.
Later they say...
"Jackson's mistakes might have been frustrating to watch, but it wasn't as if he was single-handedly keeping the team out of the playoffs."
Again, not true. The Vikings only failing last year was their complete lack of a passing game. (Other than when Brooks Bollinger was under center, which is ironic.) When Jackson was playing, defenses were lining up on passing downs with 8 guys in the box. They were also sometimes cheating up a saftey and putting 9 guys in the box, that's right, NINE guys in the box! That means they had no saftey deep with one-on-one coverage on the Vikings receivers on the outside. I've never seen that kind of coverage in the NFL unless it was extremely short yardage. They were just daring Jackson to attempt to throw... and most of the time, they'd run right at 8-9 man fronts. That is just in-sane. I know people make that horribly uninformed statement about the Vikings pass defense being last in the league, but that statisitic is extremely misleading because every team the Vikings faced, had to throw on 90% of plays because they could not run against the Viking defense. So the teams "passing yards allowed" statistics are horribly skewed. Their pass defense was drastically better than they were getting credit for, and the overall defense was really the strength of the team last year.
They also say...
"The signing of Gus Frerotte gives Minnesota a solid backup."
That should have said, the signing of Gus Ferotte would give the Vikings a solid backup... if they were to stop using the WCO. Seriously, you're going to bring in a washed-up veteran to be the backup QB when he's had no (that's zip, zilch, zero, nada, none) experience with the West Coast Offense and expect him to be able to step right in and play tomorrow as the QB? What the hell kind of Alice In Wonderland world are they living in to think that? Ferotte is probably months from even being able to understand the playbook, let alone manage an offense in a game situation.
Other than those things, this piece was pretty well on the money.
$0.02,
--Z
or a 3rd next year straight up.
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