Preseason v Bills Game Thread

[Johnson14]

Mistral Raymond and Harrison Smith made a decent pairing out there last night..

What he said.

Liked what i saw from Raymond last year and looks to have progressed nicely.

Liked Walsh, kid has a good leg and didn't look flustered at all. Got a glimpse of what Simpson is going to bring, I'm glad he is aboard here.

[singersp]

3 plays worth re-watching....

Jumpin' Jerome!
http://www.vikings.com/media-vault/v...7-d72aa8776c59

Audie Cole's 1st Pick Six
http://www.vikings.com/media-vault/v...0-6a7c485f6493

Audie Cole's 2nd Pick Six
http://www.vikings.com/media-vault/v...3-91a7a9875a5c

[singersp]

I wonder If they'll hand out free programs ever again

Here's our video of it that Joy took.

[Freakout]

Ponder looked good & even though all but 1 of his completions were short passes, it was good to see decent YAC as opposed to our receivers being tackled on the spot of the catch.

Walsh kicked & made 2 out of 3 45+ YD FG's & drilled 3 others.

Audie Cole made two nice INT's for TD's right in front of us after most of the fans left the stadium.

The defensive line played much better after doing their "Homework" and allowed only 68 yards rushing, without adding the "war pig" Marrdro desires. Looks like I'll have to bump him down a notch on the ole spreadsheet.

Although better than last year, I'm still not comfortable with our starting OL. Despite playing behind our 1st string line, Ponder had to run the ball more times than Webb "the runner" did & was sacked more as well.

Sendejo, who had a decent game last week, put a nice lick on the Bills receiver & prevented him from scoring the TD.

Webb didn't have a good game, but he looked better than Sage. He didn't take off running unless he had two, which to me further shows they are working with him & trying to change the way he plays.

The other thing I noticed was that Ponder threw the ball deep on 2 passes out of 13 where as Webb threw the ball deep on 4 out of 15. Not sure if there's any significance behind the difference.

I like seeing the young guys like Sendejo standout. Last week against the 49ers we blitzed him though I cannot remember if he sacked the QB or not. Makes you wonder why we would keep Frampton over him.

Tydreke Powell has moved up the depth chart. Last week he was 4th string. Last night he and Evans took the majority of the snaps at NT. He had a good spin move / qb pressure on the first Audie Cole interception.

[2beersTommy]

personally I'd like to see them give up on the Webb Qb project & make him a WR..isnt that we drafted him out of college as? Havent been a big Ponder fan, but he looked good last night. The refs..that was a different story..where the F*** did??? they find them?? I never saw so much holding that didnt get called. Ron Yary would have loved those guys!!!

[Ohjay]

personally I'd like to see them give up on the Webb Qb project & make him a WR..

I couldn't agree more. Trying to change his natural way to play into an unnatural way will not be the best way to preserve the talent in him. In my opinion he lacks the skill set needed as a "traditional" NFL QB, so make him a WR or RB and set up a few option plays for him as QB to surprise the opponent(a wingback/Wing T double-/triple-option comes to mind).
I'm not sure Webb is cut out for a WR role either to be honest, but I haven't seen much of his catching ability to form an honest opinion.


I do like what we were shown in this 2nd preseason game, the OL is better than last year, Ponder gets more time and has improved a lot in his decision-making. If he can stay healthy through the season I think he'll be just fine for years to come for us.
The D-line looked better as well when the starters were playing, but there's still work to be done there.
Audie Cole... just wow!
I hope it wasn't just flukes and he can have some more good plays in the next game, not necessarily more pick-6s, but solid D-line work, we need it.

And refs... *facepalms*
The NFL better sort out the situation fast, regular season with the replacements will not be fun.

[mountainviking]

WoW! What a game!! IF we can get that kind of play out of our starters AND keep them HEALTHY...this team can do some damage and surprise several opponents!!!?!!


BAAAAHWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Sure, our depth is lacking at many places, but that is to be expected on a young, rebuilding team...at many positions, our best depth is who is starting at this point! You look at the 49ers, and you see one of last year's best teams with the best record in the NFC, who got better during the off-season, no wonder their depth looks better than ours, it is. To take that a step further, much like Dungy's Bucs, nobody wants to give Singletary any credit for building that team...if he'd had a decent OC while he was there, he might still be their HC.

But Buffalo isn't all that bad either. As I recall, they started off winning, posting a 5-2 record before going downhill. And they added a lot of pieces to defense...did you hear PA talking about their DL? They have 5 guys who at some point led their team in sacks for a season!! Given the talent there, I'd say our OL held up pretty damn well despite the 2 sacks early.

Ponder is progressing very nicely! 10 of 13 is almost 77% completions to 8 different recievers, and with a 13.6 average!!?! Those are better stats than anyone in the league posted over last season! And, at least one of those incompletions was a throw away due to busted protection (leaving the other 2 as sacks?) I don't think he's made a mistake yet this preseason...has he???

Gotta love what Gerhart is doing! Kid does it all and well. We can take our time with AP and make his health our number 1 priority and that is an awesome luxury to have!!!! I actually hope we keep Toby involved when Peterson is back to full health...we signed him to another five years, why not try to keep him effective over the long haul!!?

SO IMPRESSED with the way our starting Safeties played! Raymond was a real nice surprise and Harrison Smith continues to show us "That he is who we thought he was!" NICE! The talking heads say we havn't had good safety play since Sharper, but I keep thinking Joey Browner, and that's along time ago!

Seems like, sooner or later, we'll see some Audie Cole at starting MLB. Brinkley better bring it up a notch, cuz that kid is coming on strong! Both INTs were impressive in the fact that not only did he read the play spot on, but then backed his decision up with leaping-reaching finger-tip catches and ran them home!! WOW!

Webb has a cannon! And runs like he's shot out of one!!
I'm not so ready to call his QB skills crapped out...both of those throws to Aromashadu were just slightly too far out of bounds. Just a tad more touch, and we're raving about Joe's long throws. Lucky for us, he's the backup, so we still, hopefully, have time to develop him into a more complete QB.

STs looks so much better with Walsh kicking! And, the way he nailed most of those FGs, makes me think he'd have a decent shot at a 60 yarder if we needed to take the chance.

SKOL VIKINGS!!! Me thinks we may enjoy this season a bit more than most of us, including me, were originally thinking...I'm starting to think 8-8 is a possibility with a mostly healthy/lucky year.

[singersp]

Ponder is progressing very nicely! 10 of 13 is almost 77% completions to 8 different recievers, and with a 13.6 average!!?! Those are better stats than anyone in the league posted over last season!

Love your enthusiasm, but lets not crown him better than anyone in the league just yet. It's pretty easy to take a QB' stats from a small piece of a football game or even 1 select game and have it be better than any other QB has done over the course of a season.

Several QB's, including Webb &Tarvaris Jackson have had a game with 77% or better completion with a 13+ yard avg.

BTW, his average was 10.5 & not 13.6.

[NodakPaul]

Love your enthusiasm, but lets not crown him better than anyone in the league just. It's pretty easy to take a QB' stats from a small piece of a football game or even 1 select game and have it be better than any other QB has done over the course of a season.

Several QB's, including Webb &Tarvaris Jackson have had a game with 77% or better completion with a 13+ yard avg.

Oh for crying out loud.

The kid had a good game - be happy for once. This has nothing to do with TJack or Webb (who BTW, never posted a game with 77%+ and 13+ avg). This is about Christian Ponder - the guy who happens to be the starter for your favorite NFL team. He went out and played a good game. Yes it was preseason, and yes, it was against an admittedly bad team... but it was also a very good performance by Ponder, who spread those 10 receptions to 8 different receivers and was 80% on first and second down passing attempts. Enjoy it!

Why must we be so cynical? It's football season baby! And as of right now, we are all tied for #1.

[marstc09]

Why must we be so cynical? It's football season baby! And as of right now, we are all tied for #1.

Maybe cause he knows Aaron Rodgers and the Packers are and will be #1. Our only chance is a wild card and the Lions look damn good too. Oh and lets not forget about the Bears. That is only the NFC North. I agree he looks much better than last year but it is hard to get excited when that is in everyone's minds. Judging by the lack of activity here....I feel I am not alone.