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Vikings/Texans Report

OCinBuffalo

By OCinBuffalo
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OCinBuffalo

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Let's get into it.

 

Key #1: The first thing you notice is #84, Cordarrelle Patterson. (Yes, that was Randy Moss's #, but that's not weird. As soon as you see this guy play, you see why) You notice him because he returns the kickoff from the Titans to the 50 yard line. You also notice him in the passing game.

 

Relevance to Bills: Patterson gets big returns because MN has good special teams. Good special teams is exactly what we need to see, after we dominated the Colts ST. This will separate the guys who are good, vs. the guys who got lucky against bad last week. Speaking of separate, look at this:

Vikes_Tex_Runback1.jpg

 

The Texans are being blown up all over the field. This reminds me of a lot of what the Bills were doing in game 1. It will be a great test for the Bills to play against and beat STers like this. In fact they did everything right, and it's 84's fault he wasn't gone.

 

Ok then, Vikings ball on their 45

1st and 10. Christian Ponder MN QB throws for 15. The Vikes are in max protect = 7 guys blocking. The Vikes WR Simpson gets away with push off, and then curls back to get the ball. Nice play, even the push, because that was an NFL get away. The only way that gets called is if the DB falls down. The Bills DBs better be ready.

1st and 10. The announcer must have known something was up, because he actually said "Ponder, 1 for 1"...as if this was a stat worth mentioning. :lol: Because? Ponder INT. This throw was off the mark. It was slightly tipped. It was still off the mark because the slight tip moved it towards the WR. Had it not been tipped(had it been able to pass though the DT's arm :lol:) it would have been behind him. At best it would have been right at his helmet.

 

Texans ball on their 37

1st and 10. Matt Schaub TX QB throw to a quick comeback rout for 8 yards. Not much MN D could do on that. Another push off.

2nd and 2. Schaub throws for 6 yards to flaring RB, after looking through his reads. Viking LBs slow on that.

1st and 10. Schaub with all day to throw, hits a 14 yard pass. Great play.

1st and 10. Schaub gets rushed by the DE, unblocked. However the DE leaves his feet and jumps laterally to cut off the outlet to the RB. The problem with doing that is: now you can't change direction. Schaub just waits for the guy to fly by, then throws it to the RB, anyway. Great poise. But, the delay means the RB only gets 2.

2nd and 8. Small run, 2 yards. The Vikes D line is starting to come alive.

3rd and 6. Trent Edwards special: WR gets 4 yards, when they need 6. Everything about this play = crap for the Texans, and doesn't tell us much about the Vikes. Texans field goal.

 

Vikings ball on their 20

Hey! We know this guy! We've pummeled his ex-team 2 years in a row! Matt Cassel comes in for Ponder, Cassel throws some good passes on this drive, but it dies in the red zone. Then, on the next drive he throws a horrible pick(we've seen this before). Cassel should have just stayed where he was, instead, he steps into trouble, and then aims a ball to the sideline. Horrible. Thus:

 

Key#2 The Vikings offense looked very inconsistent in this game. Inconsistent never means bad. In this case, there were some good plays, but they were outnumbered by bad plays by the offense. Yes, we know Adrian Peterson isn't playing. However, Christian Ponder hasn't earned the right to throw 2 passes, the last an INT, and then go sit down.

 

Relevance to Bills: Ponder was bad, given his 50% INT %. :lol: I imagine we will see a lot more form Ponder this game. If I was a Vikes fan, I'd be demanding it. I expect him to play the full 1st Quarter and part of the 2nd.

 

Key#3 The Vikings O line appears to be: average. They can be beaten. Surprisingly, the Vikings only got 51 rushing yards on 15 carries = 3.4 ypc. It appears that Adrian Peterson is no Terrel Davis, or (insert Broncos RB here). Peterson is the biggest reason why he does so well.

 

Relevance to Bills: The Bills D line and front 7 in general has a chance to take a step forward in this game. It's not like the Viking's line sucks, and, if the Bills do well, they will have earned it. However, the Vikes O line is not dominant. This game will be good measuring stick for seeing exactly how much the Bills D has improved. EDIT: But keep in mind, no Kiko for this game. And, yeah, I think that's a big deal.

 

Key#4 The Vikings D line can stop the run against average RBs. And, they can rush the passer fairly well too. However, they have weaknesses in the secondary.

 

Relevance to Bills: If there ever was a game to see some long balls out of our QBs, this is it. Much depends on whether our hurry up wears them down, and, pass protection from our O line. They have to be good for that to work, because the Vikes will get them if they aren't. I don't think we will get much in the run game early on, and I expect that CJ will only be in for the first 1-2 drives again. Fred should be able to have some success. I'd also expect Chandler to make some plays, as again, the Vikes don't appear to be good in coverage. And the biggest thing: Our screen plays should be really effective in this game, because the Vikes LBs aren't fast.

 

Again, this is a great measuring stick team for the Bills O. They aren't dominant, but, they will take advantage if you beat yourself/don't execute.

 

I didn't see very much from the Texans O that translates well to our style of offense, thus, only 1 fancy pic. Sorry. I do think that we can wear the Vikings defense down with the hurry up, but that means we have to execute.

 

I am really looking forward to this game, to see where the Bills are. In fact, I'm looking forward to it so much, that I am going. :beer:

Edited by OCinBuffalo
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