On Griffin and Holt

Cedric Griffin Extension
The Vikings signed Cedric Griffin to an extension over the weekend, locking him up through the 2015 season for $25 million, $10 million of which is guaranteed. I think it's likely a good deal, so long as the Vikings realize that Griffin has yet to show he can be the #1 cornerback on a good defense.

First off, the money isn't a big deal because most of it is probably going to count against this year's cap, a necessity since the Purple seem to be near the salary floor. Secondly, it assures that the Vikings have at least one of their two starting cornerbacks under contract after this year, which they couldn't have said before. And that means that when they aren't forced to throw money at cornerbacks next year (whether that be Winfield and Griffin or free agents) because they already have a solid one. Now they can choose to cut bait on Winfield if his production drops in the final year of his contract (like they did with Sharper) or they can re-sign him if they feel he's worth bringing back, but they don't have to make the decision while trying to retain or replace their other starting cornerback at the same time.

The only thing that worries me about this contract extension is that the Vikings might decide that Griffin is good enough to be their best cornerback. While Griffin played well at times last year, he wasn't consistently good enough last year to be counted on as the top corner on the roster (you might recall talk of benching him in favor of Charles Gordon before Gordon got hurt). He might take that next step this year, but he might not, which means the Purple have to continue to pursue corners in the draft and in free agency.

Glenn Holt
The Vikings continued to upgrade their special teams by signing Glenn Holt, the kick returner for the Cincinnati Bengals. Holt is a massive upgrade over Maurice Hicks (who isn't?). Unlike Hicks, who, in 185 kick returns prior to joining the Vikings, had returned exactly one kick for more than 60 yards (his career long was 64 yards) and only 8 for more than 40 yards, Holt has shown the ability to break a long one. He's returned one kick for a touchdown already, and has 8 of 122 returns for more than 40 yards and was tied for the 7th most kick returns for more than 40 yards last year.

Now, Holt's not exactly Devin Hester, but he's a solid returner with the ability to break one. He's also going to give the Vikings a better chance of starting with good field position. Last year, the Vikings returners (excluding Jimmy Kleinsasser and Naufahu Tahi) only returned 48% of kick offs (27 of 56) 20 yards or more. Of the 122 kicks that Holt has returned in his career, he's taken 78 of them 20 yards or more (64%). And last year, he returned 61% of the kicks he fielded 20 yards or more.

So while the Holt signing may not be all that sexy (like a Terry Holt signing would be), it definitely upgrades the Vikings' roster and provides a quality veteran kick returner to compete for the position with Darius Reynaud and Aundrae Allison. And upgrading the kick return game will help the Vikings' run first offense score more points (and help the defense prevent points) by giving the Vikings' good starting field position after kickoffs, something they couldn't count on last year.

Cornerbacks and The Window

As I've been saying, the Vikings need to do everything they can to win now, because while they have Super Bowl caliber players throughout their roster, they won't have them for long. Their window of opportunity is starting to close.

Now, I know that the Vikings have a host of young stars--Visanthe Shaincoe, Kevin Williams, E.J. Henderson and Bernard Berrian turn 29 this season, Madieu Williams turns 28, and Jared Allen, Adrian Peterson, Chad Greenway and Brian Robison are all going to be 27 or younger. The Purple's roster has a young core that is supremely talented.

Here's the thing though--it's not enough to just have a good core if you want to win the Super Bowl. You need to have depth and you need to be very good at almost every position. And there are some key positions that the Vikings are not going to be good enough at if they don't act this off season, specifically cornerback. First off, if nothing is done between now and the beginning of free agency next year, the Vikings are going to lose both Cedric Griffin and Antoine Winfield, since both are unrestricted free agents after this year.

Secondly, while Antoine Winfield's play was clearly good enough to get him into the Pro Bowl this year, he's also turning 32 this year. While he might be the type of player that can continue to play at a high level into his thirties, he might not be, which means that committing to him long term at 33 years old is risky, especially if the Vikings are going to be counting on him to be their top corner.

Finally, I'm not even sure that losing Cedric Griffin is that big of a deal. While he played well in spurts this year, he hasn't shown that he can be counted on as the Vikings' second corner, let alone their top corner. In fact, I'd be a lot happier with the secondary if he was the nickleback, instead of a starter.

Luckily for the Purple, there are some options out there. There are two top corners who are unrestricted free agents: Nnamdi Asomugha of the Raiders, who is generally considered the best cornerback (if not the best defensive player) in the NFL and Dunta Robinson, of the Texans, who returned from knee and hamstring injuries five games into last year and proved that he was still an elite cornerback. Of course, both Asomugha and Robinson are likely to remain with their teams, with the Raiders franchising Asomugha (what, you think he'd resign with them? He's not stupid) and Robinson either signing a long term deal or getting franchised. If either of them makes it through to the free agency period, the Vikings should do what they can to bring in a young shutdown corner to pair with Winfield next year and take over from him as he gets older.

If not, they'll be in a good position to pick up a corner in the first round of the draft. D.J. Moore of Vanderbilt, Vontae Davis of Illinois and Sean Smith of Utah all look like they might be available to the Purple with their 22nd pick (and I'll be previewing all three of them in the run up to the draft). We saw what a rookie corner can do this year, as Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Mike Jenkins, Antoine Cason and Aqib Talib all contributed to their teams after being picked in the first round last year. The right choice could provide the Vikings' with a shut down corner for years to come.

But no matter how they do it, the Vikings need to bring in a quality cornerback this off season, because if they don't, they'll be forced to scramble next off season to replace or resign their starters, and if they fail, they'll have allowed their young star's window of opportunity to shut through their inaction.

3 Stars in Dallas

Even though the Vikings let another winnable game slip through their fingers, that doesn't mean there weren't stand outs. Of course, the standouts tend not to stand out as much in games like Sunday's. There were a number of players, like Ben Leber, who made a nice play, but didn't really do anything else notable. Leber made a nice pitch to spring Cedric Griffin for a touchdown after recovering a fumble, but only had six tackles. Keneci Udeze is another example, notching his third sack of the year, and causing a fumble the Kevin Williams returned for a touchdown (ignoring the holding penalty on Ray Edwards).

But enough about those who came close to joining the ranks of the stars--let's talk about the real three stars:

3rd Star: Adrian Peterson

He didn't perform a miracle today, but he still had a nice game, aside from the fumble that removed any doubt about the outcome of the game. He had almost 40% of the Vikings' offensive yards, rushing for 63 yards on 12 carries and catching a pass for 12 yards. He also had converted a key fourth down on the drive that lead to the Vikings' only offensive touchdown, which, of course, he scored, on a twenty yard run. Averaging 5.25 yards/carry and scoring a touchdown against one of the better rush defenses in the NFL is nothing to be ashamed of. The fact that it seems like an off day for the Purple Jesus says something about both the expectations surrounding him and what he's been able to accomplish in the Vikings' first five games.

2nd Star: Antoine Winfield

Winfield had another big game for the Vikings today, making eight tackles (tied for the second most) and causing the fumble that almost won the game for the Vikings. One of the most frustrating things about this team's inability to win is the fact that the defense is continually making game changing plays, like the one Antoine Winfield made, turning a nice Dallas drive at the end of the half into seven points and the lead for the Purple. There a few plays that can shift the momentum as much as the play Antoine Winfield made and it was wasted by the Vikings.

1st Star: Cedric Griffin

Griffin had five tackles yesterday but that's not why he's the first star. He's the first star because he took a lateral from Ben Leber, fumbled it, picked it back up and then high stepped his way into the end zone. Just a ridiculous play. If you haven't seen it, the video is right here--the high stepping alone would have been amazing, but the fact that Griffin managed to fumble the ball on his own and then recover? Awesome.

A Final Look

It's hard to do in depth analysis of a game like Sunday's. The five turnovers by the Vikings overshadowed everything else, which actually might be a good thing, because there were a lot of other issues that need to be addressed. At the end of the day, however, the Vikings are still in the playoff hunt (you'll notice that I had yesterday's game as a "Should win", not a "Must win"), if they address the problems from Sunday.

First off, the Vikings' play calling needs some work. There seems to be a general consensus around the Vikings' internet community that, on 3rd and short, the Vikings should hand the ball to the Purple Jesus and let him bowl his way to a first down, rather than counting on their second year QB making his fourth start to complete a pass to one of the young and/or mediocre receivers. This accounted for one of Tarvaris' mistakes, as they ran a play on 3rd and short similar to the one that led to his interception against the Falcons, which led to an interception. This is what is known and a "teachable" moment, and I hope whoever called that play gets taught not to call anything like it again.

Secondly, the offensive line needs to get their act together. Tarvaris was constantly under pressure and sacked twice. All of his interceptions came when he was under pressure, with one being under thrown because his arm was hit, and two others coming when he panicked on a roll out while facing a stiff rush. Defenses are going to take note of the Revolution's problems handling the blitz on Sunday and they are going to keep coming at him. The line has to do a better job of buying him time. He's still getting comfortable in an NFL pocket and the last thing he needs is to have defenders in his face every play while he's trying to figure out how to run an NFL offense.

Brad Childress and Darren Bevel also need to do a better job of incorporating all of their offensive weapons into the game plan. There aren't a whole lot of them, so it really shouldn't be that hard. In this case, it means finding room for Mewelde Moore. I wrote that Moore needed to be utilized more often after last season and the same thing still applies. Mewelde had 50 yards rushing on 6 carries and 36 yards receiving on 4 receptions. While a lot of the rushing yards came at the end of the half against a dime defense, Moore almost single handedly got the Vikings into field goal range, but was thwarted by penalties. And his 20 yard screen play was what enabled Ryan Longwell to have a shot to win the game at the end of regulation. Moore is, quite simply, a play maker, something the Vikings' offense is lacking in. Quite simply, not only should Mewelde Moore never be deactivated for a game, he should get the ball more often because he's good.

Finally, the defense struggled against the pass again. Jon Kitna carved up the Vikings in a manner similar to what we became used to last year, dropped back to pass 34 times despite sitting out almost the entire second half. And even when he was sitting out, the Lions still called 26 pass plays despite the fact that J.T. O'Sullivan was their quarterback. They ran a pass play on 78.6% of their offensive plays, more than Vikings' average of 64%, but in line with opposing teams ratio starting with the Patriots game. And it worked pretty well, with only an amazing Darren Sharper interception and a play where Jon Kitna managed to kick the ball out of his own hand preventing the Lions from scoring in the first quarter. When Kitna didn't screw up, the Lions scored relatively easily. A lot of that had to do with the fact the Lions receivers were abusing the Vikings' secondary in general and Marcus McCauley in particular. I'm not sure how Mike Martz did it, but it seemed he always managed to line up Roy Williams so that McCauley ended up covering him, which is why Williams had 7 catches for 111 yards and a TD. I expect McCauley to be a quality player for the Vikings this year and to eventually turn into a really good cornerback. That doesn't mean, however, that I want him covering a Pro Bowl quality receiver in his fourth game. Leslie Frazier is going to have to figure out a way to ensure that either Antoine Winfield or Cedric Griffin are matching up with opposing teams best receivers from now on. I can live with a quality #3 receiver beating McCauley (and the Lions do have a quality #3, and he beat McCauley as well), but I have a problem with a #1 receiver running all over the Vikings' nickelback who's in single coverage on him.

[I know it sounds like sour grapes, but, Cedric Griffin got abused by the refs on Sunday. That pass interference call on him in the first quarter where he barely touched Roy Williams when the throw was clearly uncatchable was awful, and Calvin Johnson's push off on his touchdown catch made me wonder whether Johnson would have to shoot the defender ala the Last Boy Scout to get called for offensive pass interference, or if the refs would still give him a Michael Jordan style no call.]

Obviously, questionable play calling, poor offensive line play, misuse of Mewelde Moore and problems with the pass coverage were a big factor in the Vikings' 6-10 season last year. They're going to big factors again this year, but, because I am an eternal optimist, I think they can be addressed, or at least addressed enough for the Vikings to pull out a playoff spot. If Childress and his staff are going to fix the problems, however, they better do so now, before the Vikings let any more winnable games go to waste.

Even the Vikings Aren't Perfect

Before I go into some of the negative aspects of last Friday's let me a take a moment to welcome Robert Ferguson to the Vikings. I wrote about his potential earlier, and while he's not quite a "good" receiver, that doesn't mean he won't be able to contribute. Hopefully, he'll also be able to impart some veteran wisdom to all the young'ins the Vikings have at the position.

Now, back to Friday. First off, the Vikings need to address their kick off units. Alex Reyes is awful at kicking off. His inability to kick it past the fifteen yard line played a large role in the Jets' great field position, but the coverage team should share the blame as well. It seemed like the Jets' kick returner was breaking into the second and third levels of the coverage almost every time. Not good. And the Vikings' kick (and punt) return games looked about as mediocre as last year's.

Now, this might seem tremendously important, but it is. Field position has a huge impact on a teams' ability to score and it's ability to prevent the other team from scoring. This is especially true when you consider the way the Vikings' offense and defense work. Every fewer yard the Vikings' offense has to go to score makes it that much more likely they'll actually get into scoring position. It works the same with the Tampa-2 defense the Vikings employ. Every additional yard the opposing offense has to go makes it more likely that they'll screw up their drive somehow, something the Tampa-2 is designed to lengthen anyway. This concept has been part of the conventional wisdom for awhile, and the Football Outsiders have done some work with it as well (Scroll Down to "Field Position is Fluid"). Add in the fact that the Vikings are clearly trying to emphasize the importance of field position by their style of play and it's not a good sign that they spent most of last year losing the field position battle and will likely continue to do so this year.

The other concern that arose from Friday's game was the Jets' focus on attacking Cedric Griffin. Obviously, his half hearted "attempt" at tackling Justin McCareins was inexcusable, but it was the Jets' obvious desire to throw to his side of the field (and by obvious, I mean even the announcers noticed) that worries me. Eric Mangini is a pretty good coach and if the Jets were throwing left every time, you can be sure there was a reason for it. I'm not worried about Griffin's abilities however. He earned that starting position last year by playing well. The Pro Football Prospectus had him as the 14th most successful defensive back in coverage, breaking up 58% of passes thrown his way. While he was only thrown at 61 times, that success rate was better than Antoine Winfield's, who successful defended 56% of the 91 plays in his coverage area (oh, and don't worry too much about Darren Sharper--he was the 4th best defensive back in coverage last year, successfully defending 69% of the plays targeting his coverage).

So why were the Jets so focused on throwing at Cedric Griffin? The Star Tribune postulated that it was partly due to a respect for Antoine Winfield's abilities and partly due to the Jets' success last year against Griffin last year. To be honest, I don't really buy the first rational. Make no mistake--I think Winfield is a tremendous cornerback (I even have his jersey). A lot of that is due to his ability to stop the run (PFP had him as the best corner in the NFL at stopping the run by a long shot). He's good at coverage, but he's not Deion Sanders. And something about the second reason bothers me. Griffin is a good corner, possibly as good as Antoine Winfield in coverage. And it's not like any of the other teams the Vikings played after the Jets really went out of their way to target Griffin.

So is the benefit in targeting him so great that it outweighs the benefits of throwing to all parts of the field? I wouldn't think so. But the last time a good coach decided to focus on one part of the Vikings' defense, the Patriots waltzed out of the Metrodome with an easy win and in the process created the blueprint for success against the Vikings' defense.

That's Just Embarrassing

SI.com headline: "Refusal to pull up pants leads to Viking's arrest".

Let's all applaud Cedric Griffin for being the first Viking to tempt the wrath of the Commissioner. I'm sure the Vikings would love to spend time without one of their starting corner, seeing as they have so many capable backups. Unless the reason that players become safeties rather than corners is because they can't cut it at corner. Then the defense might have some problems.

[Editor's note: Griffin's problem stemmed from wearing pants too low, not because he was undressed or in the act of undressing. So he's got that going for him. Which is nice. Still gotta love the headline though.]