Fire brad childress NOW
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HandoEX;186790 wrote:
I guess that touchdown catch that was ruled incomplete changed the outcome. We settled for a field goal because of that call and would have won 14-13 if the correct call would have been made there. I honestly don't understand how that was not ruled a catch. Replay clearly showed that the ball never touched the ground.
Good teams counter those mishaps.Vikings aren't a good team.
But i guess that doesnt make me a real fan, according to brian anyways.
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Associated Press
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- In the rush to judge Tarvaris Jackson's last start, we've forgotten how, well, forgettable the receivers are he has to throw to.
If you play fantasy football, you saw them all sitting on the board at the end of your draft a few weeks ago. Sure, Jackson's inexperience and the inability the Vikings had last year to gain yards by passing had a lot to do with the disinterest. But put Bobby Wade, Troy Williamson, Robert Ferguson or Sidney Rice on different teams, and they'll still be ignored.
Visanthe Shiancoe? Um, if you're able to spell his name and interested in writing his biography, base the book on his days as an information technology major at Morgan State. Don't wait for more material from the NFL on this nondescript tight end.
You can run the ball all you want and dominate every afternoon on defense, but success in this league requires at least some interest in and capability of completing a pass or 20 down the field.
Jackson has the arm to do it, but he's told not to try it very much, and even when he does the target often isn't there. Williamson, of course, is the one guy who has the speed to beat the secondary and find a seam, but his fingers are still drying out from the vats of grease somebody dumped on them last summer.
Wade is a natural leader, a smart player and an effective man in the slot -- precisely what a good team wants from a No. 3 receiver. Ferguson has underperformed to the point he fell out of favor with the Packers and Brett Favre, who once helped Bill Schroeder hit the 1,000-yard mark. Rice has shown flashes of intrigue as a rookie, but if he was really that good he'd have been drafted in the first round and not the second.
Coach Brad Childress hates what he calls long foul balls, deep throws that fall incomplete when teams are trying to catch the opponent off guard on first or second down when there's a lower risk.
But the less you show you can go long, the more the defense is going to take away the middle part of the field. Then you're simply left with short throws to the running backs, which is exactly the way the game against the Lions played out.
Exactly half of the 20 passes completed in last Sunday's game went to the backs, including four each to Adrian Peterson and Mewelde Moore. Peterson's powerful style and breakaway ability have clearly upgraded this offense, but he's not enough.
If the West Coast system that Childress wants to use is going to work here, there have to be some guys running down the field who can not only get open and catch the ball consistently but provide enough production to draw occasional double teams and make the defense actually perceive him as a threat.
It really doesn't matter if the receivers are insufficient or if the play calling is too predictable and unimaginative. This is the bottom line: Through 18 regular-season games with Childress in charge, there has been no time in which anyone not getting paid to wear purple has believed this team could pass for 300 yards and beat somebody by throwing the ball.
You can almost hear the announcement at the next game: "With that catch, Troy Williamson has tied D'Wayne Bates for 59th place on the Vikings' all-time receiving list with his 65th career reception!"
Jackson might be too erratic to succeed in the NFL. We don't know yet. But Childress didn't err in thinking his young quarterback was ready to start. He erred in believing he could thrive with this group of receivers. Brad Johnson was an accomplished veteran with a penchant for making the right play and keeping his team out of trouble, but he had the worst touchdown-to-interception ratio of his starting career because he got so out of rhythm trying to find somebody able to get open AND catch the ball.
There has been criticism toward Childress and the front office for leaving the Vikings short on capable backups for Jackson in case he's still too raw for the job. But if Johnson failed last year, then what available quarterback could actually do better? Maybe Kelly Holcomb will have a good game this week against the Chiefs when Jackson is too stiff to play, but Holcomb is like Gus Frerotte was in 2003 -- an intriguing alternative but not a solution for more than a couple of games.
There are two ways to improve this deficiency for next year: Finish with one of the worst records in the league and draft the best receiver available, and swallow some pride and throw all the money under the salary cap at Randy Moss when he becomes a free agent in the spring.
Young Tarvaris deserves a better opportunity.
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they shoulda drafted a quarterback 2 years ago when there were some good ones in the draft.
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jackson suck childress sucks even more............. other then that they have a decent team
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GarageAlchemist;186882 wrote:
they shoulda drafted a quarterback 2 years ago when there were some good ones in the draft.
We failed to trade up like always, snag cutler or leinart, whoever. -
i agree i was really hoping for cutler last year
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probably a reason why he couldnt make it to a real college.
definately not worth wasting a 2nd round pick on either
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over 90 minutes with out a td.
care to explain that one, brian?
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I say keep childress around, i rather like him.
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nice catch.....even if I must say so
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HandoEX;188016 wrote:
Bandwagoners.
Hows that make us bandwagoners? -
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lol, gotta love them one in a million players
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