That's right, in a manner eerily reminiscent of Peter King's prediction for the 2005 season, Paul Zimmerman, Dr. Z himself, has picked the Vikings to go to the Super Bowl this year. Color me unexcited.
You may remember what happened after King's prediction set the land of Purple abuzz with dreams of the Super Bowl--the Vikings started out 2-5 and Daunte Culpepper began ruining his legacy as the second best Vikings' quarterback ever by throwing interception after interception and then got hurt and burned every bridge he could on his way out of town. Also, Mike Tice ended up getting fired at the end of the year even after the Purple finished 7-2. And there was that whole "Love Boat" thing. So yeah, sorry if I'm not excited about Dr. Z picking the Vikings to make the Super Bowl.
Of course, Peter King's choice came after what was probably the worst offseason in the Vikings' history. The Vikings traded Randy Moss for the 7th overall choice and Napolean Harris, used their first round choices on Troy Williamson and Erasmus James, along with a whole host of other players that also failed to last more than three years in Purple and signed Fred Smoot. That's a lot of mistakes. Thankfully, the Vikings did make one move that didn't hurt the team, signing Darren Sharper, who may have single handily prevented the 2005 offseason from being the worst ever.
In comparison, Dr. Z's pick comes after what looks like a good offseason for the Purple. Jared Allen is no Fred Smoot (hopefully) and was a much better player than Smoot was with his first team. Bernard Berrian is much more likely to upgrade the receiving corps than Troy Williamson was, and while Madieu Williams may not quite have the same track record as Darren Sharper, he should still be as big an upgrade over Dwight Smith as Sharper was over Brian Russell. Oh, and the Vikings didn't trade away the most talented wide receiver in the league.
That being said, the only reason King was wrong was because he evaluated the Vikings' offseason moves incorrectly. His three other reasons for choosing the Vikings-- that the Eagles (a better team) couldn't keep winning, because they had an easier route to home field than his two other favorites (the Eagles and Panthers) and because the NFC Champion had been in the middle of the pack the previous year--all applied to the eventual NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks.
So while I don't think Dr. Z is wrong about the Vikings' offseason moves, or about Tarvaris Jackson's ability to step up and be a decent quarterback, his pick still scares me, because I didn't think King's reasoning was all that flawed at the time. If Dr. Z is wrong about the Purple's offseason? Well, let's just say that this next offseason will likely be as tumultuous as the 2006 offseason was.
Showing posts with label Previewing the Season. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Previewing the Season. Show all posts
Friday, June 20, 2008
Monday, June 02, 2008
Madden '09 Likes the Vikings
The ratings for the new Madden are out, and EA has high hopes for the Purple. They have the Vikings with an overall rating of 90, 2nd in the NFC North (behind the Packers...obviously, the EA folks can make mistakes), 6th in the NFC and 11th overall.
Of course, that makes sense when you consider how stacked the Vikings are on defense (and how much their offense talent skews toward the running game). The Purple have three defensive starters with ratings of 97 or higher (Jared Allen and the Williams, as you probably guessed) and three other starters with ratings over 90 (Darren Sharper, Antoine Winfield and E.J. Henderson). Six of Eleven starters with 90 or better ratings? That's not bad, especially when you factor in that two other starters in the high 80s (Chad Greenway and Madieu Williams) and the rest all have ratings above 80. Personally, I would have given Ben Leber a better rating than an 81, but that's about the only problem I have (well, that and the fact that Ray Edwards won't have a chance of setting the sack record with a rating of 83--that's Madden for you--always crushing people's dreams).
Then there's the offense, which, unsurprisingly, isn't as stacked with talent as the defense. Steve Hutchinson matches Pat Williams rating of 98, but aside from Bryant McKinnie's 96 (wonder if he'll be suspended for the first four games of the Madden season as well) and Matt Birk and Adrian Peterson's rating of 95, there isn't another player on the offense with a ranking higher than 88. The passing game is full of average players, with Bernard Berrian and Sydney Rice getting ratings of 85 and 83 respectively, and both Visanthe Shiancoe and Tarvaris Jackson fail to crack eighty. Tarvaris' 79 is the second worst rating of any starting quarterback, tied with Joe Flacco (Really? He's going to be as good as Tarvaris in his first year out of 1-AA?), Josh McCown and Trent Edwards. Only the Chiefs' Brodie Croyle is worse, with a 78. So don't expect to be able to air it out 1998 Vikings style this year in Madden. That being said, it still should be better than last year's game, when Rice was the best receiver on the team with a 78, and Tarvaris had a rating of 76.
Of course, that makes sense when you consider how stacked the Vikings are on defense (and how much their offense talent skews toward the running game). The Purple have three defensive starters with ratings of 97 or higher (Jared Allen and the Williams, as you probably guessed) and three other starters with ratings over 90 (Darren Sharper, Antoine Winfield and E.J. Henderson). Six of Eleven starters with 90 or better ratings? That's not bad, especially when you factor in that two other starters in the high 80s (Chad Greenway and Madieu Williams) and the rest all have ratings above 80. Personally, I would have given Ben Leber a better rating than an 81, but that's about the only problem I have (well, that and the fact that Ray Edwards won't have a chance of setting the sack record with a rating of 83--that's Madden for you--always crushing people's dreams).
Then there's the offense, which, unsurprisingly, isn't as stacked with talent as the defense. Steve Hutchinson matches Pat Williams rating of 98, but aside from Bryant McKinnie's 96 (wonder if he'll be suspended for the first four games of the Madden season as well) and Matt Birk and Adrian Peterson's rating of 95, there isn't another player on the offense with a ranking higher than 88. The passing game is full of average players, with Bernard Berrian and Sydney Rice getting ratings of 85 and 83 respectively, and both Visanthe Shiancoe and Tarvaris Jackson fail to crack eighty. Tarvaris' 79 is the second worst rating of any starting quarterback, tied with Joe Flacco (Really? He's going to be as good as Tarvaris in his first year out of 1-AA?), Josh McCown and Trent Edwards. Only the Chiefs' Brodie Croyle is worse, with a 78. So don't expect to be able to air it out 1998 Vikings style this year in Madden. That being said, it still should be better than last year's game, when Rice was the best receiver on the team with a 78, and Tarvaris had a rating of 76.
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