Where did Adrian go in the 2nd half?!?

Beyond the game being a rematch of NFC Championship Game participants, this one didn’t really live up to the hype.

From my view of it, that’s not necessarily a bad thing as far as the Vikings are concerned.

Consider:

-Brett Favre didn’t begin practicing until late in the preseason. It’s the same thing that happened a year ago where Favre and the offense, which is a lot different looking than the end of last season, need some time to gel.

-Favre’s favorite receiver and player whom he had developed an undying confidence in, Sidney Rice, had to undergo surgery after his hip injury didn’t come around in the preseason (which is another topic to debate altogether). His absence was also very apparent in the passing game.

-The New Orleans Saints offense was supposed to chew through an undermanned Vikings secondary that dressed only 3 corners, but they never got into a rhythm. Their 14 Points, except for a meaningless week 17 game started by backup QB Mark Brunell, would have been a season low for them last season.

-Unfortunately for the Vikings under these circumstances, they weren’t playing the Browns in Week 1 again. They were playing the defending NFL Champs.

Though its still disappointing to begin the year 0-1, this was in no way a bad game for the purple even if they weren’t able to avenge a stinging loss.

There were definitely positives to take away the game:

-The first quarter played out in what I would classify as a “best case scenario” for the Vikings given the the celebration happening in New Orleans and the high level of excitement in the Superdome.

The Saints struck quickly for a Touchdown on the opening drive of the 2010 NFL season, but managed just 47 yards on their next 3 drives, all ending in punts.

-After weathering the early storm, the Vikings opened the 2nd quarter with a 16 play drive that took 9 minutes and 25 seconds off the clock. It resulted in only 3 points, but Adrian Peterson imposed his will on the Saints defense and quieted the crowd, beginning a shift in the games momentum to the Vikings favor.

-Garrett Hartley missed a Field Goal (of course he does it NOW) and Favre got the ball back with 1:19 left on the clock. I said something to the effect of “Favre has done this 2 minute drill thing a lot over the years” before he went to work, and 5 plays later he connected with Tight End Visanthe Shiancoe for a 20 yard score that took the Vikings into half-time with a 9-7 lead (because of course, the XPA was blocked).

When I was thinking about how the Vikings could win this game, this is about how I had envisioned it happening. But they couldn’t get any offense going in the second half, which brings us to the things that went wrong:

-The abandonment of the run game is inexplicable to me. Even though Favre and his quick decision passing on the 2-minute drill scoring drive got them the points to take the lead, the Vikings were in the position they were going into the half because of the legs of Adrian Peterson. His work on the long FG drive tired the Saints defense and left them vulnerable, allowing Favre to capitalize.

They gave up on the run game far too easily in my view, and it wasn’t like they needed to play catchup (which is why its inexplicable to me) because they were only behind by 1 score the entire 2nd half.

-In essence, the Saints tried to play like the Vikings (and were successful) in the 2nd half, while the Vikings tried to play like the Saints (and weren’t). New Orleans took over the time-of-possession battle with a counter-running game that the Vikings D had no answer for, and Minnesota didn’t complete a single pass in the 3rd quarter while putting together 3 consecutive 3 and out drives (and one 4 and out drive).

-Question to the Coach: Why did you not call a timeout when the gameclock had ticked down to under 3 minutes, you needed a stop, and your defense on the field was visibly gassed? I’m watching the game whispering “timeout”, “timeout”, “timeout”, over and over and over again, but it never comes. The Saints then pick up the last first down they need to allow them to run out the clock…and then you call the timeout. Explain to me how that makes sense?

With that all said, what I take away from this game as a whole, is that the Vikings are still a very good team, just one that is currently missing on a couple of cylinders. As soon as all of them start firing, the purple will be just fine.

’til next time…Skol Vikings!

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