Last night's Vikings-Giants game had to be one of the worst, if not the worst, ever in the storied history of Monday Night Football. Maybe the history of the Vikings franchise too. Both teams spent much of the night playing musical flubs, each in turn trying to hand the game to their opponent. When the music mercifully stopped the Giants had walked off with the 23-7 win. It was so bad it's kind of hard to know where to start.
I guess we can begin with the offensive line. Last year they dominated just about every team they played. This year they seem to be getting manhandled instead. We'll get to Josh Freeman in a minute, but note that while Freeman was only officially sacked once for 14 yards, the Giants defense racked up 13 hits on him. And that's with Freeman getting rid of the ball fairly quickly most of the game. At the same time, they seemed unable to open any holes for Adrian Peterson, who finished with only 13 carries for 28 yards. However, part of that might go back to the inexplicable play calls of offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave.
Getting the rushing game going has been a challenge the last two weeks, but part of the problem has been Musgrave hasn't stuck with it. When you have a weapon like AP it's ridiculous to give him only 10(the week before) or 13 rushes. Sometimes you have to let your line and a tough guy like AP pound away on a defense before they break, especially when your opponent is only leading by a field goal at the half. There was no reason to go away from the run so quickly and push Freeman so hard. Musgrave called 53 passing plays with a QB who had been with the team for only two weeks. 53 pass plays! Can anyone explain that to me?
Then there were the individual momentary lapses of reason. Marcus Sherels had a great punt return for a TD last night, but then he managed to get tackled by the ground and fumble the ball away. And he dropped an easy interception that my 7-year-old nephew could have caught. Freeman's horrible throw for an interception as the Vikings were driving was just as ridiculous. About the only redeeming individual play came from Jared Allen with one of the most amazing QB sacks I've ever seen. Check this out:
When I saw that it was from a different angle and at first it looked to me like Allen was giving Manning a wedgie. Obviously he didn't, but it was still an awesome sack. Check out Eli's expression here:
Talk about a "Great Moments in WTF?" expression. That and a couple shots of bourbon didn't make up for such a dismal game, but they helped.
So where to from here?
First, Frazier has to stick with Freeman for a few more games. I still think it was a mistake to start him last night, but what's done is done. Now he has to give Freeman a chance to show he can grow into the position, or not.
Second, Frazier has to have a talk with Musgrave and get AP back into the game. Part of the way to do that, besides actually handing him the ball, is to get the 5-20 yard passing game going. Forget the deep stuff for now. Greg Jennings and Cordarelle Patterson are both excellent after the catch runners, work on Freeman connecting with them. And if they are still stacking the line, don't forget the short pass to AP as well. He caught one for 6 yards and peeled off 22 yards on another.
Third, the Vikings have got to get their offense going because three and outs on that side are going to kill the defense against better teams such as Green Bay this coming Sunday. Aaron Rodgers is going to carve them to pieces next week if Freeman and Musgrave can't get some drives of their own going. And defensive coordinator Alan Williams is going to have to figure out a way to get to Rodgers, because his secondary right now might just be the worst in the NFL.
That's about it for now. I think the best that can be hoped for is to build for next year and maybe be competitive in some games this year. Hopefully last night was the low point of the season.
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