I’m not too worried about whether Anderson has anything left in the tank. In Carolina, none of the running backs behind McCaffrey get much playing time. Oakland decided to go with Doug Martin and Jalen Richard, so Anderson became a fifth wheel there. He is talented, ran for over 1,000 yards last year. He could be a very valuable short term RB for us.

CBS 2019 draft rankings

FWIW, here is the opinion of CBS.

Hard choices to make wv. The Vikings are at the Patriots too.

I think the Rams win by 20+ points.

IMO, Stafford misses Golden Tate and now Marvin Jones went on IR after missing the last two games. Without those two WRs, he seems to hold the ball too long. Kerryon Johnson is a good back, but just “good”. Same for Golliday. IMO the Lions will struggle to score 17 points.

On defense, they have a very good corner in Darius Slay and a good DE in Ziggy Ansah who has been playing well lately. The front seven can get to the QB, but they give up big plays and points.

Cool!

nittany ram wrote:

zn wrote:

I didn’t see the “Saffold shove.”

What was the Saffold shove?

After an enraged Saffold drew the personal foul penalty, Goff tried to calm him down and Saffold sorta shoved him a little. It caught my eye at the time but Aikman didn’t mention it, but he did say Goff was doing the right thing in trying to calm him down.

Yeah, I saw that too. Saffold was pissed at the call and not having any of the pep talk from Goff.

The Packers are on TV here almost as often as the Vikings are. A lot of cheeseheads here in Minnesota.

Rodgers will find open receivers if given time, either in the pocket or on rollouts and scrambles. He can make things happen on the run. IMO one of the keys for the Rams is to pressure Rodgers up the middle and try to make him scramble to his left. He is playing on an injured left leg. Make him run and plant on that bad leg to throw.

Both Randall Cobb and Geronimo Allison missed the week 6 game vs. the 49ers and had the bye on week 7. other receivers stepped up and made some plays, but these two will still be kind of gimpy. Jimmy Graham is largely ignored by Rodgers especially int he red zone. The Packers running backs are a collection of JAGs; they haven’t had a true RB since Ahman Green. Davante Adams is the biggest threat by far. Double Adams, chase Rodgers out of the pocket to his left and I think we can beat the Packers by 15.

I watched the game last night.

I was impressed with how hard the SF offense played in the first half and into the third quarter. This was a non-divisional road game and they came out well organized and put the GB defense on its heels. They kind of choked IMO in the fourth quarter when they could not hold on to a small lead. Sherman does not add a lot to the defense; he is OK but not Legion of Boom good anymore.

I was also impressed with Aaron Rodgers throughout the game. Playing with two rookie WRs and no true #1 running back, he led another fourth quarter comeback win. The Rams better not have a two-score lead going into the last three minutes of the game two weeks from now.

Zooey wrote:

snowman wrote:

Cooks and Kupp both got concussed. Were the hits dirty?

Kupp was just a head-hitting-the-turf thing.

Cooks hit was marginal, but Cooks lowered his head right before impact, so I’m not sure it was a penalty. Close…but not flagrant, imo.

.

Thanks Zooey. I was able to read updates but only saw the last three minutes after the Viking Eagle game ended. I wish our bye week was sooner.

Some more words from local writers in the Bold North.

Local writer defends Anthony Barr

Freeeee Falllin’

Local writer drawing parallels between this team and one that flopped in 2010. Pessimistic to say the least.Viking turmoil

Vikings’ season already tinged with tragedy, troubles

There are already ominous signs that this season could be more like 2010, when the Vikings got their coach fired, than 2009, when they came within an eyelash from playing in a Super Bowl.

On Sunday, the Vikings lost at home to what was thought to be the NFL’s worst team. Thursday, they’ll face what might be the NFL’s best, the Rams in Los Angeles, and next week they’ll face the defending Super Bowl champions in Philadelphia, two places presenting challenges and locales as different as sunburn and heartburn.

This is a bad time for bad omens.

This bicoastal 10-day test could leave one of the presumably elite NFL teams at 1-3-1, which would not necessarily prove disastrous but would evoke memories of Vikings seasons lost.

We know this franchise. The Vikings don’t stub their toes. They fracture their feet. There are already ominous signs that this season could be more like 2010, when they got their coach fired, than 2009, when they came within a swollen ankle and an extra man in the huddle from playing in a Super Bowl they would probably have won.

In 2010, star receiver Sidney Rice went from being Brett Favre’s favorite receiver to a player who cared more about money than achievement. That was his right, but his passive-­aggressive approach to football helped ruined that season and perhaps his career.

Favre had to be talked into playing and did so mostly for the money, admitting himself during his first news conference after signing the contract that the team would not be the same.

Brad Childress lost the locker room and his job, and in an act of God or sublime satire, the Metrodome collapsed.

This is feeling like then.

There is no comfortable way to blend real-life tragedy with analysis of a team’s fortunes, but the former does affect the latter, and two important figures have passed — highly regarded offensive line coach Tony Sparano and beloved team historian Fred Zamberletti.

Nine days into the season the Vikings released the rookie kicker that they had traded up to draft after he cost them the victory the franchise covets most — at Lambeau Field.

In training camp, cornerback Xavier Rhodes sparred with receiver Stefon Diggs so often that coach Mike Zimmer banished them to the locker room. Sunday, during what may have been the least-explicable loss in franchise history, Zimmer and Rhodes bickered on the sideline.

Last week, star defensive end Everson Griffen missed practice because of a knee injury, and Sunday Zimmer said Griffen was dealing with a personal matter. Now we know that Griffen has been dealing with mental health issues and is being treated.

The offensive line, the weak spot of a powerhouse roster, lost guard Nick Easton before the season began and rookie center Pat Elflein missed training camp and the first regular-season game before returning to limited action last week. Sunday, Buffalo overwhelmed the offensive line, and Thursday the line will face the great Aaron Donald, the intimidating Ndamukong Suh and the wizardly defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.

The Vikings’ choice of cornerback Mike Hughes added an exceptional athlete to an important position but, just as the drafting of kicker Daniel Carlson, ignored the team’s position of need in a win-now season.

Zimmer stood at the lectern after the Vikings beat San Francisco in Week 1 and chortled about everyone who wanted him to take an offensive lineman in the first round. Hughes had played well, returning an interception for a touchdown. Zimmer didn’t chortle Sunday, when his offensive line may have cost the Vikings a victory.

All of the apt disclaimers apply here, of course. The Vikings could win one or both of the next two games and set themselves up for another successful season. They could lose the next two and rally to win the division and enter the playoffs as a stronger team than the one that was exposed by the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game last year.

But atmosphere matters when you’re dealing with humans, and this Vikings season is already seasoned with sadness and concern.

I found a Tom Pelissero tweet saying Pat Elflein will start at center against the Rams.

I don’t tweet, and I don’t know how to post them here so I’m linking to Tom Pelisseros’s twitter for news about the Vikings injuries, practice and possible starters on Thursday.Pelissero tweets

• This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by snowman.

The Vikings loss to the Bills was a big surprise out here. Offense was inept, defense was a step or two behind the play, and they didn’t even use their new kicker. The highlight of the game, up to the garbage time touchdown, was a 70 yard punt.

Zimmer was livid. I’m of the opinion that the coaching staff prepared them for the game but the team came out flat and stayed flat. It’s worth noting that the team’s halftime adjustments, whatever they were, had no effect. Fans here are typical Scandinavian; stoic and pessimistic.

The Vikings have a few key injuries and one big distraction. DE Everson Griffen was in an incident at a downtown Minneapolis hotel and allegedly at a teammate’s house, and is undergoing a mental evaluation. Everson Griffen He will not play on Sunday but his replacement, I don’t know if this kind of thing will affect their locker room.

The Vikings’ offensive line is a patchwork of decent talent, but mostly playing out of position. They recently acquired Brett Jones from the Giants to play center; he is their fourth starting center since the preseason began in August. Pat Elflein has been healing from an ankle injury. He played against Buffalo, but it didn’t help much. He was a good center in his rookie year. They lost their starting left guard early in the year too. The two starting guards and tackles are two UDFAs, one claimed on waivers and another taken from Jacksonville’s practice squad; three of the four were acquired within the last year or so.

Defensively the Vikings are about the same as last year, except Griffen is out but his replacement, Stephen Weatherly, is a good player. They played so badly against the Bills I don’t know what else to say about them. I think they will prepare very hard for us on Thursday.

I hope this is the game where the Rams turn Donald loose and Suh too. Pressure Cousins, clog the running lanes between the tackles, and force the defense back onto the field. Wear them out on defense and the Rams could open up a big lead in the second half. Make the defense run, don’t expose the receivers to big hits from the Vikings’ safeties and throw a couple of home-run balls against CB Trae Waynes.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by snowman.

I like it too Jack.

I guess that Donald is getting a new contract starting in 2018 and not an extension starting in 2019.