T-Jack, we hardly knew ya! Two days after assuring Minnesota fans that Tarvaris Jackson's job was secure, Coach Potatohead has pulled the rug out from under him and named Gus Frerotte the starter for the rest of the season. I've got to figure this was an ownership decision, not a coaching decision. As a Packer fan, I find this news somewhat discouraging, because Frerotte is probably marginally less terrible than Jackson. But my disappointment is more than offset by the sheer amusement of watching the Vikings launch their annual circus of self-destruction, and this year we only had to wait two weeks for the wheels to come off. :rofl::smile:
I still don't understand why the Vikings didn't go after Pennington as soon as he was released, and why he didn't jump on the chance to play there. Meanwhile if the Fins lose their next two games against NE and SD, Pennington might end up sitting on the bench for one of the worst teams in football.
here's an excerpt from an e-mail I sent to friends this evening- I was wrong. Tarvaris Jackson will not get the job done this year. He has been benched for Gus Frerotte. Unless Frerotte gets injured or fucks up, Jackson will likely not play meaningful football the rest of the year. I noticed that the Vikings offensive line cannot pass block for shit, tight end Visanthe Shiancoe cannot hold onto the football, and the wide receivers have not played well yet. Furthermore, the playcalling was ridiculous at times. Jackson is still too raw to overcome those problems. A mediocre veteran like Frerotte likely would have more success at this point.
Now you now I loved Chad, but Miami? Miami?! I'll be crying me a river...you? Pennington will become a QB Coach at some point. And I suspect a good one.
Yeah I agree with you. Tarvaris Jackson does have an amazing running game that he can rely on, but his receivers have been giving him no help at all. Bernard Berrian has probably one catch so far and he's dropped several that would have been touchdowns or large gains. Jackson does seem to be inaccurate at times though or maybe his receivers are extremely poor route runners? Either way at times he looks as if he could be a quality starter and then the next play he looks as if he's a rookie. If he had more time to develop perhaps he could be good. He did come from a division-IAA school I believe so he probably needs more time to develop than the average division-IA QBs.
I don?t get this. Childress called two overly conservative games, and only let Jackson throw, when everybody knew, that they would throw, because they had to. Now after loosing to two of the better teams in this League he benches him. Jackson didn?t loose those games, and he wasn?t really given a chance to win them. You sure can argue about the decicion to hand him the Job in the first place, but if you do, you can?t take it away from him at this point. I wouldn?t be surpriesed, if they would go after Garcia. I also wouldn?t be shocked, if Childress is replaced soon.
I think it's pretty unfair that Jackson got benched so quickly into the year. He showed good progress at the end of last season and he's got a strong arm. The FO has just given him no support to succeed. A young QB's best friend is a TE and the starter in Minnesota is just horrible. Also there are no receivers to speak of. So I don't know how you can really pin the losses on Jackson. So far the acquisition of Allen has also been a bust. If the FO had gotten some talented receivers on this team instead it probably would have been much better off.
Granted, Jackson's not getting a lot of help from his receivers (and no help at all from his so-called "coach"), but it's still his job to get the ball on target when he does have someone open - and he's not getting that done. He gets rattled too easily and throws the ball at the receiver's feet or ten feet over his head. I guess Childress figures Frerotte, for all his limitations, will at least be somewhat more consistent, and that may be the best they can hope for right now. But be that as it may, I think the Vikings made a huge mistake building such a juggernaut and not making sure they had a quarterback worthy of the rest of the team. They sure put a lot of eggs in the T-Jack basket. I would imagine that when they were doing all that pre-season blustering about Super Bowls and that sort of thing, they were never considering the possibility that Gus Frerotte was going to be the quarterback they'd be counting on to get them there. That might have dampened their great expectations just a tad.
We got Brett Favre for a conditional 4th rounder, do you think they'll get a 2nd for the weakest arm in the NFL? If Parcells pulled that off it would be pure genius on his part.
Jackson has been up-and-down. He put some throws right on the money in the opener and the receivers didn't make the catches. Then, on the next pass, Jackson would throw it at the receiver's feet. Berrian will get better as the season moves along. Frerotte throws a good deep ball. This is good for Berrian because he specializes in catching the deep ball. He is quite ineffective on underneath routes. The Vikings blew a 15-0 lead at home partly due to unimaginative offensive playcalling, but primarily due to awful pass defense. The Vikings have to figure out how to stop the pass or they will not make the playoffs. Cedric Griffin has been pathetic and Darren Sharper is at the end of the road.
Whoever is taking snaps for the Queens this Sunday may have an even steeper hill to climb. ESPN is reporting that Adrian Peterson suffered a serious hamstring injury while piling up all those first-half yards against the Colts the other day, and may miss this week's game. Could be a damned long day for ol' Gus if he doesn't have Peterson to keep the defense honest.
So you're saying that when you go from Adrian Peterson to Chester Taylor, there's no significant dropoff?
Are you kidding? Watch a Minny game closely, and compare how much closer the safeties are to the LOS when Adrian Peterson is in the backfield than when Taylor is on the field. Most NFL teams are smart enough to know who to fear and they all fear Peterson. That is a huge factor in the effectiveness of the passing game. Adrian Peterson is the sole reason Favre wanted to play for the Vikings. Just like he wanted to play with Moss last season. He wanted a superstar to make him look good.
