Sunday, December 31, 2006

Evaluating the Goals: 1st Half

Like most Vikings' fans, I wasn't expecting a victory today, but I did have a five things I wanted to see prior to the season end. So how are the Vikings' doing so far? Sadly, not so well.

1. Unlike the last nine games, the Rams have not completely abandoned the run. And behind Stephen Jackson's 62 yards on 15 carries, they've been more successful than any team in a long time. If the Rams keep this up, they will surpass 153 yards, since they've already rushed for 78 yards. Not only that, but Stephen Jackson will also be the first running back to break the century mark against the Vikings' this year.

2. Childress is still calling the short plays on 3rd and long, but there have been a number of plays where he's put Tarvaris in space on rollouts. Also, Childress has clearly gotten the message through to Tarvaris that it's ok to run the ball,since he's rushed five times for 23 yards, including a nice bootleg play on 3rd and goal that Tarvaris pulled down and ran for his first career rushing touchdown. The Vikings need more of that, and less 3 yard drags on 3rd and 8.

3. The performance of the Tarvaris Revolution has been mixed so far today. Yes, he has two awful interceptions. But he's also been accurate on his passes, made a lot of good decisions and led a beautiful touchdown drive. In the first half, he's 11-18 for 107 yards, a solid performance which has included some nice runs. Thankfully, he's showing that he has the ability to be really good once he stops making rookie mistakes.

4. I'm pretty sure that of the 16 times Marc Bulger dropped back, he only faced pressure from the Vikings defence once. And that's despite numerous blitzes. If the Rams weren't dropping the ball, he'd pretty much be perfect. Another poor performance by the defensive front seven.

5. As you can probably tell, the game wasn't blacked out. So we've got that going for us. Which is nice.

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