Post-Game Wrap-Up: Week Four Vikings @ Saints-Double Doink

Welcome to Skoloholics! The Vikings-Saints game, game four of the season, is in the books, and the Vikings are now 3-1. You can access the game thread, in all its glory, here.

First Half:

Offense: The Vikings had a great first drive, but after that, there wasn’t much to get excited about. After that first touchdown, it was all Greg Joseph until much later, as we didn’t see another touchdown until the fourth quarter. Kirk managed to rack up 150+ yards passing, but the production wasn’t really there.

Defense: These guys are frustrating to watch. I think Donatello needs to go back to Splinter for more training, because our defensive scheme is broken. We are getting ZERO pressure, and we’re allowing the opposing WRs to make very easy catches most of the time. It’s not a recipe for success. We forced a fumble toward the end of the half, which is huge.

At the end of the half, it was 13-7, good guys.

Second Half:

Offense: Again, the offense sputtered most of the half. We finally managed to put together another touchdown drive in the fourth quarter which was mostly penalty yards. We had a great fake punt play that worked, which was great to see. Kirk made some plays at times and helped to get his team the W. We saw quite a few drops today, which didn’t help Kirk out. We also saw a lot of pressure from the *aints (must be nice), which hurried throws and caused some incompletions. Greg Joseph was money, with the exception of the missed PAT, which could have been HUGE if the Vikings hadn’t managed to come back.

Defense: See my first half analysis, nothing has changed.

Summary

Here is the game summary, stats, and highlights, courtesy of ESPN.

The offense sputtered at times, and they couldn’t get the ball into the end zone often enough. However, they managed to move the ball, and they finally managed to win the time of possession battle. The defense was not fun to watch, and Donatello needs to make a lot of adjustments to what they are doing currently, because it isn’t enough to compete into January (and February). They allowed a huge play at the end of the game to give the *aints a shot to tie the game (again), so they didn’t get the save today. Greg Joseph was money for the most part. He missed a huge PAT, but he also added 5 field goals on 5 attempts and helped his team get the W. I’m glad I have him on my fantasy team.

I’d love to see us be more aggressive on both sides of the ball. We get a good first drive, and then it seems like they feel that 7 points will be enough, because they seem to lose the edge that made the first drive successful. The defense needs to get pressure, and/or they need to tighten their coverage. No pressure on the QB + loose coverage = success for the opponent. That being said, the team did enough to get a W on the road, they defeated the hated *aints 28-25, and the Vikings are now 3-1 and sit atop the NFC North. SKOL!!!!