Monday, September 10, 2007

Quick Glances at Future Opponents

One of the plans I have for the season (and there are three--one debuted yesterday, and the other should debut on Wednesday) is to see how the Vikings' future opponents fared during the week. And this week is going to have a big impact on the Vikings' chances.

Washington Redskins: The Redskins looked positively mediocre at home against the Dolphins, likely to be one of the worst teams in the AFC. It was a Pyhrric victory, however, considering that Jon Jenson, their best offensive lineman, dislocated his ankle, and is likely out for the season. It was a nasty injury--they've pulled the picture, but in the original, you could see Jenson's foot wass at a 90 degree angle from where it's supposed to be. As one of the radio announcers put it "It could be worse-he could have broken his leg." I'll let that speak for itself.

New York Giants: It seemed like the Giants' lost every single player on their roster to injury. In reality, only Eli Manning, Brandon Jacobs and defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who lead the Giants in sacks last year, were actually hurt. Manning's got some kind of shoulder injury, and the Giants won't say how serious it is. Jacobs' hurt his MCL, and Umenyiora has a knee injury as well. Whether or not these injuries will still be effecting the Giants in Week 12 is unknown, but if the Vikings are lucky, the loss of three key players will doom the Giants out of the gate, causing the team to quit on Tom Coughlin, and thus will only be going through the motions in an attempt to get a new coach by the time the Purple head to the Meadowlands.

Chicago Bears: Stop me if you've heard this one before: Mike Brown, safety extraordinare, tore his ACL and will miss the rest of the season. He isn't the only starter da Bears will have to do without, either, as they also lost starting defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek. You have to figure da Bears will miss Dvoracek more, seeing as how they had to expect Brown to miss games for the fourth season in a row. Also, da Bears are in last place. Losers.

Oakland Raiders: The Raiders finally signed JaMarcus Russell last night. This is big news, since it ends the longest hold out since Bryant McKinnie in 2002, and the first time since Bo Jackson in1986 that the #1 overall pick missed a regular season game. This also means that there's now a chance that the Vikings will get to face an Oakland team starting a rookie quarterback in Week 11. And if Russell is starting, I hope it means that Josh McCown has washed out of the league for good. That guy can rot in Hell.

Green Bay Packers: Some people might be excited about Brett Farve's passing Dan Marino for the career touchdown record. Not me. I'm excited for Farve passing George Blanda for the career record for most interceptions thrown. After throwing an interception against the Eagles, he's at 274, three shy of Blanda's record of 277. Now, by my math, that puts him on pace to break the record in the friendly confines of the Metrodome. I'm sure Darren Sharper is looking forward to helping his former teammate etch his name in the record books.

1 comment:

Pacifist Viking said...

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I love Dan Marino, and am very unhappy that my least favorite player is going to break his record. I was only arguing against Don Banks, who seems to think we should ignore the record.