Thread: Things are looking great, and they're only going to get better

Is it just me, or did anyone else have to double check and make sure it was the Minnesota Vikings we were watching play on Sunday?

I must give it to Childress, he had those guys ready the 2nd half.

Was it not nice to see a QB who could read a defense, throw the ball with touch, audible, actually make his throws, and find open receivers? You take away Berrians drop and Gus has no turnovers and you erase Shiancoes butter fingers and we have an extended drive. In other words - Gus looked good. I know we don't need a super star QB to compete this year and win, so if Gus can play like he did Sunday we should be in position to win every time we step on the field.

Now, keep this in mind -

* AD was banged up
* Sidney Rice was out
* McKinnie still is suspended
* M. Williams is not playing yet

Imagine when Peterson is truly 100%, Rice can have a chance to show he is good, Williams can give us some extra cover and McKinnie can bolster our running game.

Plus, did anyone notice how the defense went off in the 2nd half when they seen we can score? It is like they had a new sense of confidence. Like if they were not playing for nothing. Even Childress opened up the playbook and Frazier made some great calls by throwing in a nice stunt, some blitzes and of course the CB blitz with Winfield.

If, IF Gus just stays at this level and our defense can ride this wave, we should definitely make the play offs.

Of course Childress needs to keep that playbook open and make the necessary changes, but I must admit that I feel a whole new level of hope myself after watching Gus in there.

Well, it was great to see the win... and our defense should lead to some "W's" this season.

However, I wonder if 37-year-old Ferrotte can do this week-in and week-out.

We should get a pretty good test going up against Tennessee this weekend.

"C" wrote:

Well, it was great to see the win... and our defense should lead to some "W's" this season.

However, I wonder if 37-year-old Ferrotte can do this week-in and week-out.

We should get a pretty good test going up against Tennessee this weekend.

I think so man. Carolina has a pretty good defense.

The biggest thing is what I mentioned above - He does things Tarvaris can't

Gus checks all of his receivers, he throws the ball with touch and doesn't just bullet every thing, he reads a defense, he calls audibles, and he actually makes his throws.

Yeah he isn't a star by any means, but with a team that has a 1-2 RB punch like us and a solid defense, we just need a game manager who will make the throws he is expected to and keep us driving.

I do feel good about this move. Either that or we have been deprived of a real QB so long that I forgot how good it is to watch even an average one play

I think that the biggest thing we saw out of the Carolina game was an open playbook.
We had sets that I have never seen from Childress's Vikings.
AD and CT on the field together.
A LOT of play action.
Several deep routes where I would guess Berrian was the called WR, but he was covered and Gus checked down (seriously, he didn't get a lot of separation deep).

Plus we came out passing, which forced Carolina to decide between putting 8 men in the box to try and stop AD, or keep the secondary honest.


All in all I thought it was a very good game from the play calling perspective... and I think THAT is what made the biggest difference.
It furthers my belief that the playbook was thin because of TJack.

"NodakPaul" wrote:

I think that the biggest thing we saw out of the Carolina game was an open playbook.
We had sets that I have never seen from Childress's Vikings.
AD and CT on the field together.
A LOT of play action.
Several deep routes where I would guess Berrian was the called WR, but he was covered and Gus checked down (seriously, he didn't get a lot of separation deep).

Plus we came out passing, which forced Carolina to decide between putting 8 men in the box to try and stop AD, or keep the secondary honest.


All in all I thought it was a very good game from the play calling perspective... and I think THAT is what made the biggest difference.
It furthers my belief that the playbook was thin because of TJack.

Maybe that is the main reason we went with Gus is so we could open the Play book up.
The playcalling kept Carolinas secondary honest and didn't let them focus on the run.
If AD was a 100 %
the O may have scored more than 13.

"NodakPaul" wrote:

I think that the biggest thing we saw out of the Carolina game was an open playbook.
We had sets that I have never seen from Childress's Vikings.
AD and CT on the field together.
A LOT of play action.
Several deep routes where I would guess Berrian was the called WR, but he was covered and Gus checked down (seriously, he didn't get a lot of separation deep).

Plus we came out passing, which forced Carolina to decide between putting 8 men in the box to try and stop AD, or keep the secondary honest.


All in all I thought it was a very good game from the play calling perspective... and I think THAT is what made the biggest difference.
It furthers my belief that the playbook was thin because of TJack.

And that could be it too. Bottom line either way is that with Gus in there we are a whole different team.

"baumy300" wrote:

"NodakPaul" wrote:

I think that the biggest thing we saw out of the Carolina game was an open playbook.
We had sets that I have never seen from Childress's Vikings.
AD and CT on the field together.
A LOT of play action.
Several deep routes where I would guess Berrian was the called WR, but he was covered and Gus checked down (seriously, he didn't get a lot of separation deep).

Plus we came out passing, which forced Carolina to decide between putting 8 men in the box to try and stop AD, or keep the secondary honest.


All in all I thought it was a very good game from the play calling perspective... and I think THAT is what made the biggest difference.
It furthers my belief that the playbook was thin because of TJack.

And that could be it too. Bottom line either way is that with Gus in there we are a whole different team.

A whole different team that scored 13 points and had under 330 yards of offense?
Wow... that's an interesting way of categorizing "whole different team".
The only differences I saw were the receivers made a few tough catches (Berrian over the shoulder deep and Rice sliding) and the coaches threw the ball more in the 1st half, especially the 1st quarter.
If you want to believe putting our back up QB in there "allowed' that go ahead, but that's simply not logical.
What's more logical is they realized the previous offensive game plans didn't work and in addition to changing QBs, they also changed the way they called the game.
Don't get me wrong, Gus played fine, but lets not get carried away.

"baumy300" wrote:

If, IF Gus just stays at this level and our defense can ride this wave, we should definitely make the play offs.

I don't know about "definitely." Have you seen how good the NFC is this year (excepted for the NFC West)? It's a good thing that we're playing the NFC South this year and not the NFC East; that's all I can say. It's entirely possible that the latter conference could produce three playoff teams this season.

In any case, I think that to make the playoffs this year in the NFC, you'd better be looking for (at least) an 11-5 record if you want to be guaranteed a spot. Unless of course you're in the NFC West, in which case you could probably win the division by going 8-8.

"BleedinPandG" wrote:

"baumy300" wrote:

"NodakPaul" wrote:

I think that the biggest thing we saw out of the Carolina game was an open playbook.
We had sets that I have never seen from Childress's Vikings.
AD and CT on the field together.
A LOT of play action.
Several deep routes where I would guess Berrian was the called WR, but he was covered and Gus checked down (seriously, he didn't get a lot of separation deep).

Plus we came out passing, which forced Carolina to decide between putting 8 men in the box to try and stop AD, or keep the secondary honest.


All in all I thought it was a very good game from the play calling perspective... and I think THAT is what made the biggest difference.
It furthers my belief that the playbook was thin because of TJack.

And that could be it too. Bottom line either way is that with Gus in there we are a whole different team.

A whole different team that scored 13 points and had under 330 yards of offense?
Wow... that's an interesting way of categorizing "whole different team".
The only differences I saw were the receivers made a few tough catches (Berrian over the shoulder deep and Rice sliding) and the coaches threw the ball more in the 1st half, especially the 1st quarter.
If you want to believe putting our back up QB in there "allowed' that go ahead, but that's simply not logical.
What's more logical is they realized the previous offensive game plans didn't work and in addition to changing QBs, they also changed the way they called the game.
Don't get me wrong, Gus played fine, but lets not get carried away.

Play calling was different. This excerpt, from the press conference with Frerotte when they made the qb change, explains why.

Q: Where are you at in this offense right now?

A: I have great confidence in [the offense]. Obviously this isn't the first time I'm in it so that helps a lot. I think with Coach Bevell he understands what I like to do. I've expressed those things, not just today but through training camp and things like that. It is a long season and you never know what can happen so I wanted to express to him what I like to do in a game and what are my strengths and weaknesses, obviously, because everybody has them.

Here qwas the major differences from yesterday's game:

1) Shiancoe caught the TD pass
2) WRs were confident in Gus.

All in all Gus did a good job and made plays TJ wasn't making.
However, it wasn't a huge difference.
He missed two easy screens (one to Berrian that he bounced and one to Taylor).
He forced the ball at least 2 times I can think of.
However, I did like the way the O was opened up and about mid way through the 3rd quarter Carolina's defense actually started respecting the pass.
There 8 and 9 men in the box decreased to 7.


I was upset with the amount of penalties.
That has to stop.
In fact when Cook had a false start I counted 9 men in the box from Carolina's defense.
That's ashame because someone could have been open for a big play.