Special teams will have their work cut out

**Marrdro** · 10-31-2008, 06:59 AM

The Vikings have given up special-teams touchdowns in seven games and rank last in the NFL in opponents' punt return yardage.

That's good news for Houston's Jacoby Jones, who is second in the league to New Orleans' Reggie Bush with a punt return average of 14.7 yards. Jones also has two returns for touchdowns.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/33616964.html

Couple of other little nuggets in there......

The Vikings, who are 30th in the league in kickoff coverage, should get a boost with rookie safety Tyrell Johnson playing on all phases of special teams beginning Sunday

First phase of Ferg getting cut.
OHHHHHHH HAPPY DAY.
;D

Chris Kluwe, who dropped a snap that led to a touchdown in the Vikings' 48-41 loss at Chicago, has continued to work on his directional punting.

If he is still working on it, obviously he hasn't got it down yet after how many weeks?
Looks like Vinny and the boys in the middle aren't gonna get a chance to tackle Jones as we will see the gunners in the wrong spot all day long allowing Jones to get outside.

Standby for more yutz football fans mistakenly getting on Vinnies ass for that one.
:-

**Marrdro** · 10-31-2008, 07:01 AM

ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â¢ WCCO (Ch. 4) agreed to purchase the last "several hundred" tickets to the Vikings game Sunday against Houston, meaning it will be televised locally on the CBS affiliate. The station will donate the tickets to local military personnel and their families, according to Vikings vice president of sales and marketing Steve LaCroix.

WHEW, I was worried about our fake, pretend, and highly over exaggerated sell out streak was in jeopardy there for a spell my friends.
:

**ejmat** · 10-31-2008, 07:23 AM

"Marrdro" wrote:

The Vikings have given up special-teams touchdowns in seven games and rank last in the NFL in opponents' punt return yardage.

That's good news for Houston's Jacoby Jones, who is second in the league to New Orleans' Reggie Bush with a punt return average of 14.7 yards. Jones also has two returns for touchdowns.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/33616964.html

Couple of other little nuggets in there......

The Vikings, who are 30th in the league in kickoff coverage, should get a boost with rookie safety Tyrell Johnson playing on all phases of special teams beginning Sunday

First phase of Ferg getting cut.
OHHHHHHH HAPPY DAY.

;D

Chris Kluwe, who dropped a snap that led to a touchdown in the Vikings' 48-41 loss at Chicago, has continued to work on his directional punting.

If he is still working on it, obviously he hasn't got it down yet after how many weeks?
Looks like Vinny and the boys in the middle aren't gonna get a chance to tackle Jones as we will see the gunners in the wrong spot all day long allowing Jones to get outside.

Standby for more yutz football fans mistakenly getting on Vinnies ass for that one.
:-\

It's all Vinny's fault my friend.
;D
Can we blame Smoot too?

In all seriousness it's not all Vinny's fault but he does share some of the blame.
With Farwell out he is supposed to be the main man on STs.
He doesn't do that well.
But I think he takes a lot of the blame for how he has done on the defense more than anything else.
Honestly he has looked like EJ Henderson looked like in his first couple of years when he looked clueless.

**Marrdro** · 10-31-2008, 07:30 AM

"ejmat" wrote:

"Marrdro" wrote:

The Vikings have given up special-teams touchdowns in seven games and rank last in the NFL in opponents' punt return yardage.

That's good news for Houston's Jacoby Jones, who is second in the league to New Orleans' Reggie Bush with a punt return average of 14.7 yards. Jones also has two returns for touchdowns.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/33616964.html

Couple of other little nuggets in there......

The Vikings, who are 30th in the league in kickoff coverage, should get a boost with rookie safety Tyrell Johnson playing on all phases of special teams beginning Sunday

First phase of Ferg getting cut.
OHHHHHHH HAPPY DAY.
;D

Chris Kluwe, who dropped a snap that led to a touchdown in the Vikings' 48-41 loss at Chicago, has continued to work on his directional punting.

If he is still working on it, obviously he hasn't got it down yet after how many weeks?
Looks like Vinny and the boys in the middle aren't gonna get a chance to tackle Jones as we will see the gunners in the wrong spot all day long allowing Jones to get outside.

Standby for more yutz football fans mistakenly getting on Vinnies jiggly butt for that one.
:-\

It's all Vinny's fault my friend.
;D
Can we blame Smoot too?

In all seriousness it's not all Vinny's fault but he does share some of the blame.
With Farwell out he is supposed to be the main man on STs.
He doesn't do that well.
But I think he takes a lot of the blame for how he has done on the defense more than anything else.
Honestly he has looked like EJ Henderson looked like in his first couple of years when he looked clueless.

Ohhhh, I'm not giving him a free ride here my friend, just pointing out that like most fans, they miss the mark when blame is given.

What troubles me the most is that it seems that over the last couple of years that most FA's brought in to replace fan favorites seem to bare the brunt of it.

Simply amazing my friend.

**ejmat** · 10-31-2008, 07:50 AM

"Marrdro" wrote:

"ejmat" wrote:

"Marrdro" wrote:

The Vikings have given up special-teams touchdowns in seven games and rank last in the NFL in opponents' punt return yardage.

That's good news for Houston's Jacoby Jones, who is second in the league to New Orleans' Reggie Bush with a punt return average of 14.7 yards. Jones also has two returns for touchdowns.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/33616964.html

Couple of other little nuggets in there......

The Vikings, who are 30th in the league in kickoff coverage, should get a boost with rookie safety Tyrell Johnson playing on all phases of special teams beginning Sunday

First phase of Ferg getting cut.
OHHHHHHH HAPPY DAY.

;D

Chris Kluwe, who dropped a snap that led to a touchdown in the Vikings' 48-41 loss at Chicago, has continued to work on his directional punting.

If he is still working on it, obviously he hasn't got it down yet after how many weeks?
Looks like Vinny and the boys in the middle aren't gonna get a chance to tackle Jones as we will see the gunners in the wrong spot all day long allowing Jones to get outside.

Standby for more yutz football fans mistakenly getting on Vinnies jiggly butt for that one.
:-\

It's all Vinny's fault my friend.
;D
Can we blame Smoot too?

In all seriousness it's not all Vinny's fault but he does share some of the blame.
With Farwell out he is supposed to be the main man on STs.
He doesn't do that well.
But I think he takes a lot of the blame for how he has done on the defense more than anything else.
Honestly he has looked like EJ Henderson looked like in his first couple of years when he looked clueless.

Ohhhh, I'm not giving him a free ride here my friend, just pointing out that like most fans, they miss the mark when blame is given.

What troubles me the most is that it seems that over the last couple of years that most FA's brought in to replace fan favorites seem to bare the brunt of it.

Simply amazing my friend.

I hear ya.
You know that I know that as much as the next person, ya know?
;D

As far as Vinny is concerned he hasn't impressed me at all and IMO I would have rather them re-sign DT to begin with.
But I understand he was supposed to be a ST guru that is able to come in and play to a decent standard.
Unfortunately, he hasn't really done much to prove that.

**Marrdro** · 10-31-2008, 07:54 AM

"ejmat" wrote:

"Marrdro" wrote:

"ejmat" wrote:

"Marrdro" wrote:

The Vikings have given up special-teams touchdowns in seven games and rank last in the NFL in opponents' punt return yardage.

That's good news for Houston's Jacoby Jones, who is second in the league to New Orleans' Reggie Bush with a punt return average of 14.7 yards. Jones also has two returns for touchdowns.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/33616964.html

Couple of other little nuggets in there......

The Vikings, who are 30th in the league in kickoff coverage, should get a boost with rookie safety Tyrell Johnson playing on all phases of special teams beginning Sunday

First phase of Ferg getting cut.
OHHHHHHH HAPPY DAY.
;D

Chris Kluwe, who dropped a snap that led to a touchdown in the Vikings' 48-41 loss at Chicago, has continued to work on his directional punting.

If he is still working on it, obviously he hasn't got it down yet after how many weeks?
Looks like Vinny and the boys in the middle aren't gonna get a chance to tackle Jones as we will see the gunners in the wrong spot all day long allowing Jones to get outside.

Standby for more yutz football fans mistakenly getting on Vinnies jiggly butt for that one.
:-\

It's all Vinny's fault my friend.
;D
Can we blame Smoot too?

In all seriousness it's not all Vinny's fault but he does share some of the blame.
With Farwell out he is supposed to be the main man on STs.
He doesn't do that well.
But I think he takes a lot of the blame for how he has done on the defense more than anything else.
Honestly he has looked like EJ Henderson looked like in his first couple of years when he looked clueless.

Ohhhh, I'm not giving him a free ride here my friend, just pointing out that like most fans, they miss the mark when blame is given.

What troubles me the most is that it seems that over the last couple of years that most FA's brought in to replace fan favorites seem to bare the brunt of it.

Simply amazing my friend.

I hear ya.
You know that I know that as much as the next person, ya know?
;D

As far as Vinny is concerned he hasn't impressed me at all and IMO I would have rather them re-sign DT to begin with.
But I understand he was supposed to be a ST guru that is able to come in and play to a decent standard.
Unfortunately, he hasn't really done much to prove that.

More of the guru stuff....... ;D

I think he was signed because together with Heath, we would have a good one two inside on returns.
Unfortunately the loss of Heath (bigger impact than I thought) along with poor kicks and horrendous gunner play has severly impacted our guys in the middles ability to do their job.

Again, kick the ball to the right spot and seal the edges with the gunners and our coverage teams will look a hell of alot better IMHO.

**ejmat** · 10-31-2008, 08:24 AM

"Marrdro" wrote:

"ejmat" wrote:

"Marrdro" wrote:

"ejmat" wrote:

"Marrdro" wrote:

The Vikings have given up special-teams touchdowns in seven games and rank last in the NFL in opponents' punt return yardage.

That's good news for Houston's Jacoby Jones, who is second in the league to New Orleans' Reggie Bush with a punt return average of 14.7 yards. Jones also has two returns for touchdowns.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/33616964.html

Couple of other little nuggets in there......

The Vikings, who are 30th in the league in kickoff coverage, should get a boost with rookie safety Tyrell Johnson playing on all phases of special teams beginning Sunday

First phase of Ferg getting cut.
OHHHHHHH HAPPY DAY.

;D

Chris Kluwe, who dropped a snap that led to a touchdown in the Vikings' 48-41 loss at Chicago, has continued to work on his directional punting.

If he is still working on it, obviously he hasn't got it down yet after how many weeks?
Looks like Vinny and the boys in the middle aren't gonna get a chance to tackle Jones as we will see the gunners in the wrong spot all day long allowing Jones to get outside.

Standby for more yutz football fans mistakenly getting on Vinnies jiggly butt for that one.
:-\

It's all Vinny's fault my friend.
;D
Can we blame Smoot too?

In all seriousness it's not all Vinny's fault but he does share some of the blame.
With Farwell out he is supposed to be the main man on STs.
He doesn't do that well.
But I think he takes a lot of the blame for how he has done on the defense more than anything else.
Honestly he has looked like EJ Henderson looked like in his first couple of years when he looked clueless.

Ohhhh, I'm not giving him a free ride here my friend, just pointing out that like most fans, they miss the mark when blame is given.

What troubles me the most is that it seems that over the last couple of years that most FA's brought in to replace fan favorites seem to bare the brunt of it.

Simply amazing my friend.

I hear ya.
You know that I know that as much as the next person, ya know?
;D

As far as Vinny is concerned he hasn't impressed me at all and IMO I would have rather them re-sign DT to begin with.
But I understand he was supposed to be a ST guru that is able to come in and play to a decent standard.
Unfortunately, he hasn't really done much to prove that.

More of the guru stuff....... ;D

I think he was signed because together with Heath, we would have a good one two inside on returns.
Unfortunately the loss of Heath (bigger impact than I thought) along with poor kicks and horrendous gunner play has severly impacted our guys in the middles ability to do their job.

Again, kick the ball to the right spot and seal the edges with the gunners and our coverage teams will look a hell of alot better IMHO.

I totally agree with you Marr.
I know where the "real" deficiency is on STs.
We can only hope the rest of the players are able to make up for it.
Vinny shouldn't bare the entire blame but he definately is a part of it.
Losing Heath was big.

**jargomcfargo** · 10-31-2008, 08:43 AM

Regurgitated post.

See this is where I respectfully disagree. The gunners were every bit as bad last season, and Farwell made tackles.
In fact he led the NFL in special teams tackles. Vinnie was out three games with injury and made about half as many special teams tackle as Farwell.

Shouldn't Vinnie make tackles before the return man gets to the outside?
If not, how did Heath get his tackles?

Vinnie is even worse on defense. Bet he's gone next year.

**V4L** · 10-31-2008, 12:02 PM

"jargomcfargo" wrote:

Regurgitated post.

See this is where I respectfully disagree. The gunners were every bit as bad last season, and Farwell made tackles.
In fact he led the NFL in special teams tackles. Vinnie was out three games with injury and made about half as many special teams tackle as Farwell.

Shouldn't Vinnie make tackles before the return man gets to the outside?
If not, how did Heath get his tackles?

Vinnie is even worse on defense. Bet he's gone next year.

You got it man

Most of the time the runner stays inside or runs to or barely outside the hash marks

Meaning Farwell and Circiu should get most of the tackles.. But since Farwell is gone its up the Curciu to get in there and get them.. But he doesn't

Which allows the runner extra time and lets him bounce outside.. Which should never happen on a return.. NEVER NEVER NEVER

I blame the whole special teams.. But Curciu has done nothing.. Nothing at all.. And I was excited to bring him in as a back up LB and ST'er.. But he can't do either effectivly