Killing Time: Quarterbacks, HOF and Statistics

• Randball has a list of all the possible quarterback acquisitions the Vikings could make, while Defensive Indifference has a defense of Tarvaris Jackson (Seriously). I actually think he makes some good points, and I'm not opposed to the Vikings opening training camp with Tarvaris Jackson as a possible starting quarterback, providing they also acquire a real veteran quarterback to challenge him (say, Matt Hasselbeck or Jeff Garcia, instead of Gus Frerotte or Kelly Holcombe). I actually think Hasselbeck might be the best option available to the Vikings, if he's available for a 2nd rounder, even though he had his worst season this year. I think a lot of that had to do with his injury and the injuries suffered by his offense.

• Three former Vikings were named Hall of Fame finalists: Chris Carter, Randel McDaniel and John Randle. I have to say, I don't think any of them deserve to go into the Hall of Fame this year. I'm not sure Randle's career is quite at the level necessary for the Hall, and Carter and McDaniel deserved to go in last year (or, really, any year since they've become eligible.

• Advanced NFL Stats on the difficulties of measuring and modeling football statistically. I'm not a big enough statistics guy to work on this stuff on my own, but I do understand it enough to use them (and understand whether they're worth using). I think they're important because the stats that are currently used are so obviously flawed (measuring defenses by yards per game, or quarterbacks by yards per completion, or yards per attempts without counting sacks as attempts, for example). Over the past season, more statistical sites have emerged, outside of Cold, Hard, Football Facts (which really isn't an advanced statistical site as much as an alternative statistical site) and Football Outsiders. I thinks that great, because it means there's more people providing me information on football and the Vikings, but it's also important that everyone understand how hard it is figure out the NFL statistically.

• Pacifist Viking defends the Purple's defensive performance the last three years. And the man is right--the Vikings were a good defense in 2006, above average in 2007 and an elite unit in 2008, depending on how good they were at defending the pass. They were 15th in DVOA against the pass in 2006, 23rd in 2007 and 5th in 2008. The interesting thing is that the secondary may have been at it's best in 2006, because the Vikings pass rush was at its worst in 2006, when it was 31st in the NFL in adjusted sack rate. The pass rush has gotten better the past two years, going up to 28th in 2007 (but the secondary wasn't as good) and becoming elite this year, finishing 2nd in ASR.
  

• A clear message has been sent about the Vikings' 2006 draft, by the Vikings themselves (as Grant's Tomb points out). They don't think they did that good of a job with their picks.
  

• Finally, Adrian Peterson has been named a finalist for the 2008 FedEx Air & Ground NFL Players of the Year Award. The winner is determined by fan vote, and if Peterson wins, the Safe Kids Coalition in Minneapolis gets $25,000, so its definitely worth the 30 seconds it takes to vote.