Sunday, August 20, 2006

Purple Pants!

I wasn't able to watch the entire game on Saturday night, but, through the Miracle of Tivo, I'll be able to go through it later this week. That being said, I still have a few thoughts on Coach Childress' "first victory":

  • Tarvaris Jackson is the truth. He's going to be the backup quarterback this year, and he's earned it (Also, Mike McMahon and J.T. O'Sullivan suck. There's no other way to describe their "play"). He's accurate, has a cannon, and he's mobile. So far this year he has a 95.8 QB rating and he's completed 16 of 24 passes for 140 yards and one touchdown. He should have another, but his pass was dropped at the goal line. More importantly, he's done this against semi-real and real defenses, not third and fourth stringers. And, unlike Brad Johnson last year, he was actually successful against a good defense.
  • Of course, railing on BJ isn't called for yet, since he's played so well this preseason. It seems the Brads were made for each other. BJ has been doing a great job with Childress' West Coast offense, finding the open man and getting it to him where he can do something with it. He even aired it out against the Steelers, connecting with Travis Taylor for 34 yards on the Vikings' second drive.
  • I like the Tampa 2. I liked it when Tony Dungy was running it for the Vikes, and I like it now that Mike Tomlin is wearing the headset. Aside from the first drive, which can be chalked up to not being prepared for a no huddle, the Vikings defense looked great. Of course, if they can't figure out how to adjust to a no huddle offense, it's going to get ugly. Tomlin, however, seems prepared to deal with the problem, judging by his post game quote, "We need all the situations we can get. We need all the adversity we can get. That's part of why we're here. We need these kinds of things. I can't wait to see what happens next week." It's kind of nice having a competent coaching staff.
  • I'll admit it--I thought the Vikings were going to look stupid in white jerseys and purple pants. And I was wrong. The combination works. I know I'm probably in the minority, but I like the new jerseys and, surprisingly, I like the purple pants. Hopefully the Vikings will have the same kind of success they had the last time they wore purple pants, in 1964, when they went 8-5-1.

"Now don't get me wrong Brad, I like this look on you. But you have GOT to get socks that go all the way up to your pants. You're setting a bad example for Tarvaris."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tbird, man you are so wrong about those pants! Maybe they would look alright if they had kept the CLASSIC look, but those new rags are for circus freaks! They are so bad, I betcha Bud Grant is crying. I didn't think it was possible for anyone to make the Broncos unis look good, but my gawd! Having said that, the new helmet horn decal looks good.

TBird41 said...

The more I look at that picture, the more I agree with you. It's the white thing on the side of the pants that's throwing me. I didn't notice it as much during the game, but it's really obvious there. And it's pretty ugly.

I still like how the jersey's look. I wasn't all that wedded to the other look and I like the idea of new jerseys for the new Wilf-Childress era. I'll probably have a full post about this sometime before the season starts.