Here are some further takes from Thursday’s game after having had a chance to watch it again on DVR.
TODAY’S TWITTER CHAT
I am going to be at an event all day today, so today’s #VikingsChat will have a guest host: Super Vikings Fan and Friend of Vikings Chat, Rick Birmingham, will host today’s chat. Rick tweets all things sports at @MNSportsCrap. [#VikingsChat DEETS.]
EVEN MORE AWESOME THAN I THOUGHT
Upon further review, Adrian Peterson was even more awesome than I thought.
- His timing was great hitting the holes.
- He was making people miss all over the place.
- He’s as powerful as he’s always been.
- And he was bound and determined to hold onto the ball.
Looks like he’s got his burst back.
The offensive line, all things considered, did a fantastic job, too, opening holes for Peterson and keeping Brett Favre off his back.
Sure, John Sullivan got blowed up a couple times and Bryant McKinnie fulfilled his quota of slow-off-the-ball plays, but as a first effort, I’ll take it.
OPEN YOUR EYES
So I might’ve figured out what’s wrong with Nafahu Tahi. He tends to drop his head as he’s going into a block, sorta like the little kid who closes his eyes and flinches away as a baseball is tossed to him.
I wonder if he really has a good idea of where his defender actually is when he’s blocking them? I’ll keep an eye on the situation, so to speak.
But if Tahi suddenly turns his game around and becomes the second-coming of Tony Richardson, well, you’ll know who to thank.
CONGRATULATIONS
To Hussein Abdullah for beating out Tyrell Johnson and Jamarca Sanford for the starting strong safety position. Abdullah had a rough go at it for his first start at safety, finding himself out of position on several plays.
It was tough to surmise what, exactly, he was thinking on the Saints’ opening touchdown. He was drifting to his right as the play developed even though there was no apparent action in that direction while there clearly was to his left.
It looked like he was following quarterback Drew Brees‘ eyes on the play, which happens, especially with a quarterback who knows what he’s doing. But still, Hussein has got to make better use of his peripheral vision so he can keep tabs on the whole field.
THE BLUEPRINT, CONFIRMED
Chris Collingsworth added another morsel to the Plan To Hurt Favre story. During Thursday’s broadcast, he relayed that Brad Childress said a former Saints player confirmed to the coach that the Saints were deliberately trying to hurt Brett Favre last year.
NO, IT’S BECAUSE HE DOESN’T HOLD ONTO THE BALL
Al Michaels said early in the game after an Adrian Peterson run: “He’s such a tough runner and that’s why he fumbles so much.”
UM….UM…
Did’ja notice the pregnant pause between when Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey said his name and the school he attended during disembodied-head-introductions when the Saints offense first took the field? He couldn’t remember his alma mater. It was Miami, Jeremy.
EEEW….
Don’t click if you’re squeamish: here’s a photo left tackle Bryant McKinnie tweeted of the dislocated finger he suffered during the game: [Look.]
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