THE BLUEPRINT
Tedy Bruschi will, no doubt, be watching the Vikings/Saints matchup intently in hopes that the Saints implement The Blueprint he so desperately wants them to implement.
The Blueprint, of course, is the defensive gameplan Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams implemented against the Vikings for the NFC Championship game, the aim of which was to injure Brett Favre.
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert gets as close as you’re going to see a mainstream media reporter acknowledging that.
Coach Brad Childress clearly believes that. He reiterated that belief during his press conference yesterday that the Saints deliberately tried to hurt Favre.
Favre came out afterward and said he was fine with the way the Saints played.
But what else is he going to say? He can’t complain about it or he’ll be whining.
This whole drama is being played out for the benefit of the game officials and the powers that be in the NFL. Childress is sending a message that the refs better be on their A-game and throw the flag to protect Brett Favre from what they allowed during the Championship game.
Given the TV ratings Favre drives, you gotta think that powers that be in the NFL want Favre protected. And I have no doubt the officials will be on this game like flies on feces but I also suspect that might not matter.
I suspect the Saints will be perfectly willing to take penalties along with shots at our quarterback.
As much as I hate to say it, because the game shouldn’t be played this way, but if the Saints implement The Blueprint, the only recourse the Vikings will have is to go after Drew Brees in the same fashion. If the Saints understand that we’ll go after their franchise quarterback, then maybe they’ll let up on ours.
If we need to resort to that tactic, then we must. In order to protect Favre and in order to send a message to the rest of the league that we won’t tolerate that crap.
But Brees should be fine with it. After all, it’s just a “style of play.”
PRACTICE SQUAD
So what do I know about waivers?
I thought we’d be lucky if rookie fullback Ryan D’Imperio got through waivers unclaimed but there he is, on our practice squad. In fact, a lot of our guys escaped claims. The Vikings signed seven players who were in camp this preseason and one guy who wasn’t, guard Seth Olsen (who is from Wilmar), a fourth-round pick of the Broncos in 2009, in place of tackle Patrick Brown, who was claimed by the Jets.
The full Vikings practice squad:
- Colt Anderson, safety
- Thomas Austin, offensive guard
- Tremaine Johnson, defensive tackle
- Freddie Brown, wide receiver
- Logan Payne, wide receiver
- Ryan D’Imperio, fullback
- Marcus Sherels, cornerback
- Seth Olsen, guard
HARVIN’S GOOD TO GO
The Star Tribune‘s Chip Scoggins quotes Percy Harvin extensively on his migraines and potential causes, revealing much more than we’ve know heretofore:
“Different people get them for different reasons. You have to kind of manipulate everything you do leading up to the headache and try and backtrack to see what you ate different or something you did different. We’re trying to find just the little things that I don’t pay attention to like different salts in foods.”
Stress can also cause migraines, which makes sense but is also troubling because, you know, preparing for and anticipating playoff games could get, I imagine, quite stressful.
My buddy Rick, who suffered from migraines as a youth, wonders whether Harvin’s migraines help his concentration at all. His reasoning is that you can’t put your life on hold indefinitely due to the pain of migraines; that eventually you need to force yourself to concentrate through them in order to get things done.
Does the practice of focusing your concentration help with something like catching a ball in a crowd over the middle, where you hone in on the ball and ignore the defenders around you?
Good question.
DREW BUTERA
Vikings coach Brad Childress got a bit testy yesterday during his press conference when asked about Tarvaris Jackson “beating out” Sage Rosenfels for the backup quarterback spot.
“I’m done with the backup quarterback. I’m done with it. You guys, if that’s all you’ve got to write, good Lord. We’re talking about the two highest scoring offenses in the league last year playing each other. Let’s talk about the game, instead of Joe Mauer‘s backup,” he said.
That would be Drew Butera and here’s the thing: Drew Butera can play himself some ball.
EGO
My take on the Rosenaud trade is that it was all about Brad Childress‘ ego.
The guy came into town hanging his hat on the Offensive Genius peg; specifically, as a Developer of Quarterbacks on the strength of his work with Donovan McNabb.
He traded up into the second round only to reach deep into the sixth to pick Tarvaris Jackson out of obscurity as the Vikings franchise quarterback of the future. He talked early on about how you want to “mold” a quarterback.
Any mold associated with Jackson has more to do with him sitting on the bench and any influence of Brad Childress.
There has simply been no evidence to justify the belief that Jackson is starting material. Or even backup material. He’s had five years to learn to play quarterback and to execute this system and it appears he has regressed.
Remember how Childress refused to give his quarterbacks any leeway in calling audibles within his “kick ass” offense prior to the arrival of Favre? The man’s got a stubborn streak.
I think the Rosenaud trade is Childress refusing to acknowledge he made a mistake by picking Jackson. Doing so would suggest that McNabb was a remarkable quarterback despite Childress.
I don’t mean to be hating on Childress.
He’s clearly a good coach. He took us to within a play of the Super Bowl last year. And one look at the Vikings roster shows there’s no denying he’s got a great eye for talent. Except, maybe, when it comes to one quarterbacks.
We all have our blind spots.
7
The round we will possibly get a pick in for throwing Darius Reynaud into the Sage Rosenfels trade with the Giants, depending on how Reynaud performs.
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