Three Stars--Maturing before our eyes

Last night's game was a tale of two halves and of two units. In the first half, the Vikings offense played like the young team they are, making silly mistakes. In the second half, aside from the one interception Tarvaris threw, the Vikings offense played a lot more like the playoff team they might be, scoring two touchdowns and racking up 183 yards of offense.

On the other side of the ball, the Vikings defense played like the veteran, playoff caliber unit they are, holding the Bears to 32 yards on 17 carries (an average of 1.9 YPC) and holding Kyle Orton to only 184 yards on 38 passing attempts. Not to mention Darren Sharper's interception, which sealed the game with under two minutes to go. The defense didn't succumb to the pressure of the national lights and they didn't get too "amped up" like the offense. Rather, they dominated an offense they should have dominated, shutting them out in the second half and only allowing one drive longer than 14 yards in the first half (and that 35 yard drive by the Bears ended in a punt).

We also saw a special teams unit shut down the best returner in the game, as Devin Hester was held to a 14 yard average on kick returns and 7 yards on punt returns, and his longest return was only 17 yards. Of course, we got to hear Tirico, Jaws and Kornheiser scream hysterically every time a kickoff or punt came near Hester. It was so annoying (especially on kickoffs--I mean, what are the Vikings supposed to do? Kick it out of bounds?) that it actually negated the best analysis I've heard out of an announcing crew in a long time, when the three of them discussed the Vikings' pass defense. All three agreed that the fact the Vikings are last in passing yards allowed was misleading, with Kornheiser pointing out that it hadn't translated into points allowed and Jaws mentioning that opponents yards per passing attempt was quite low, something we saw on the field, as the Bears averaged a paltry 4.5 yards per pass attempt.

And it was that defense that won the game for the Purple and that will be reflected in Three Stars this week. While Adrian Peterson's two touchdowns and 78 yards rushing were important, it was his fumble that short circuited what should have been a scoring drive. And while Bobby Wade continues to show why he'll be a great third receiver next year (here's hoping the Purple can sign a real #1 to teach Sidney Rice and take the pressure off of Wade), his six catches for 70 yards wasn't the dominating performance that one would like to see out of the leading pass catcher on the team, nor was Robert Ferguson's 71 yard reception enough to make up for coughing up a pass for Brian Urlacher to intercept (though I would probably reconsider if he'd run at full speed the entire way, rather than slowing up so he could be tackled).

But enough about the Vikings offense. Let's talk about the real Three Stars, all of which come from the defense:

Third Star: Darren Sharper

With the game very much in doubt (something one score games will always be to me, thanks to the Vikings pass defense from 2000-2005), the Bears line gave Kyle Orton some time, leading to him chucking a deep pass to an open Bernard Berrian. Thankfully, Kyle Orton has the accuracy of a drunk (probably because he is a drunk). And thankfully, Darren Sharper was there to pick the pass off and put the game away. There's a very good possibility that Darren Sharper was at least as good a signing as Pat Williams in 2005, which says a lot about Sharper has accomplished for the Purple.

Second Star: Pat Williams

1.9 yards on 17 carries. The Bears were not a great rushing team coming into the game, averaging only 3.18 yards per carry, but that doesn't diminish how dominant a rush defense has to be to hold an offense to 1.9 yards a carry. And the credit should go to the big man in the middle. Pat Williams lead all of the Vikings' defensive linemen with four tackles and he once again dominated Pro Bowler Olin Kruetz.

First Star: E.J. Henderson

He might not get invited to the Pro Bowl, but E.J. Henderson has certainly been playing like one. He was all over the field last night, racking up a team high seven tackles, all of them unassisted. He brought down everyone on the Bears, from Greg Olson to Garrett Wolfe to Adrian Peterson. He knocked down Kyle Orton multiple times and knocked down his passes. Quite simply, he played the way that announcers think Brian Urlacher plays. And aside from the Williams, there is no player who can claim as much credit for the Bears 1.9 yards per carry.

In Case You Missed It...

Darren Sharper was on PTI today for Five Good Minutes. It's a solid interview and Sharper talks about Adrian Peterson, the defense and his INT return against the Giants.

Three Stars and Some Hope

Well...who saw that one coming? I did (well, sort of). The Vikings pressured Eli Manning all day and, well, as we saw against Philip Rivers, when you pressure an error prone quarterback, good things happen. Four interceptions later, the Vikings walked out of Giants Stadium with a victory and with a renewed sense of hope, only one game out of the final Wild Card spot. I'll have more on the Vikings' playoff hopes later this afternoon, because this post is about the players that made the Vikings' fifth victory happen. First, the honorable mentions:

• Chad Greenway picked off his second career pass and outran Plexico Burress for his first career touchdown that ended any thought of a Giants comeback.
  

• Ben Leber picked up a sack near the end of the game, which he deserved, because he helped keep the pressure on Eli Manning all day. He also contributed to the play of the game, by tipping Manning's pass at the line so that it was nice and easy for Dwight Smith to pick off and return for a touchdown.

• Tarvaris Jackson had another efficient day, completing 10/12 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. He also ran 5 times for 38 yards, including a 19 yard run that converted a 3rd and 4 and an 11 yard run that picked up a first down on 2nd and 11 on a drive that ended with a Ryan Longwell field goal that pushed the Vikings' lead to 27-10. He was sacked four times, however, and fumbled once. The juries still out on Tarvaris--his accuracy has come around the past two games, but most of his completions are on short patterns. He's shown he can air it out (his 60 yard pass to Sidney Rice today being a good example), but he hasn't shown that he can do much more than be an efficient (his career high is 213 passing yards).

• Chester Taylor didn't have as good a game against the Giants as he did last week. In fact, he wasn't all that effective, gaining less than 2.5 yards per carry on 31 carries. That being said, his eight yard touchdown run in the second quarter was a thing of beauty. He ran left, broke a tackle behind the line of scrimmage and then ran into two Giants defenders at the line. He ran through them, bounced outside and then dragged another two Giants into the endzone with him. He earned that touchdown.

Those were the honorable mentions--now it's time to move onto the Three Stars of the Game:

Third Star: Sidney Rice

Sidney Rice continues to prove the Vikings' personnel people right--his 23 receptions is tied for fourth amongst rookie recievers, his 312 receiving yards and his three touchdowns are tied for third and no receiver has more receptions for 40+ yards than he does. And he made a great catch on a deep sideline pattern that opened the scoring for the Vikings. Everyone that thought he was another Troy Williamson should apologize.

Second Star: Darren Sharper

The game was tied. The Vikings had been forced to punt just shy of field goal range. The Giants were facing a third down play that, if they converted, would have swung the momentum completely in their favor. Eli Manning dropped back to pass, felt the rush, stepped up, threw and Darren Sharper stepped in front of Jeremy Shockey, picked off the pass and dashed for the end zone. The Giants wouldn't score again until the third quarter. Sharper's touchdown was his tenth, and he became the fifth defender in NFL history with ten defensive touchdowns, behind only Rod Woodson (13) and Aenas Williams (12).

First Star: Dwight Smith

Hopefully, he doesn't choose to celebrate this like he celebrated last preseason. If he does though, can you blame him? He had two interceptions, one which set up Chester Taylor's eight yard touchdown run and one that he returned 93 yards for a touchdown himself. His 112 yards on interception returns were only 17 yards less than Tarvaris Jackson threw for and more total yards than any none quarterback. Not a bad game for a safety who'd been battling hamstring issues all season. Not a bad game at all.

Three Stars--Gotta Stay Positive

After an ugly loss, I find that it's important to focus on the positive things. Which is why it's good that I'll be picking three stars from each game, no matter the outcome. This week, there were quite a few Vikings who came ohsoclose to making that game changing play that would have landed them a position in the 3 Stars, but they fell just short, whether it was because they couldn't quite get by that last tackler, like Troy Williamson and Aundrae Allison, or whether they clanged a game winner of the goal post, like Ryan Longwell.

There were also a few players that that were thwarted by their teammates, such as Mewelde Moore, who gained 80 yards during the last drive, which started on the Vikings 17, only to watch it go for naught, due to three penalties which kept the Vikings on their half of the field. Moore also took a short pass from Tarvaris near the end of regulation and turned it into a twenty yard gain, putting the Vikings one play from field goal range. But without that capstone, it isn't enough to get Moore a star. However, it should be more than enough to ensure that Childress never leaves him on the inactive list again.

But enough about almosts and not quites. It's time for the three stars:

3rd Star: Purple Jesus

His stats weren't as impressive as last week's, but Adrian Peterson continued to show why he's the Purple Jesus. His 24 yard reception to set up Tarvaris Jackson was a thing of beauty--he avoided tackles, he broke tackles and he leveled defenders. Any linger concerns one might have had about his ability to be effective as a reciever can be put to rest. And while the blocking wasn't there for him today running, but he still made the best of it, almost always gaining yards that he shouldn't have. And if you want football instincts, his tackle prevented a possible touchdown on a Tarvaris Jackson interception in the third quarter.

2nd Star: Ray Edwards

While he turned in a sold performance last week, Ray Edwards wasn't able to get to the quarterback, and on a day when your team gets six sacks, you need to do more to stand out from the crowd. That wasn't an issue today, as he returned a J.T. O'Sullivan fumble for a touchdown to tie the game in the third quarter. He was also a pas rushing force today, combining with E.J. Henderson on a sack, dropping O'Sullivan in the fourth quarter, and then knocking down a pass on the Lions final drive in regulation.

1st Star: Darren Sharper

At the bar I was at, I was able to see a few other games, including the Broncos-Raiders game. And during a commercial, CBS put up a graphic with the list of players who had the most interceptions since 1999, when the Broncos two quarterbacks, Champ Bailey and Dre Bly entered the league. While Bailey and Bly were both in the top five, neither was the leader. Darren Sharper was. And he showed why on Sunday, picking off two passes, including a beautiful interception in the end zone while dragging his feet to stay in bounds. It was an amazing play, something only the best receivers can do. Sharper had no problem doing it, which is why he has 49interceptions since 1999, more than any other player. He's also second on the team in tackles after leading the team on Sunday.

[Standings: 1st Stars-Darren Sharper, Adrian Peterson. 2nd Stars-Ray Edwards, Kevin Williams. 3rd Stars-Adrian Peterson, E.J. Henderson.]