Minnesota Vikings @ Denver Broncos

[cdumler7]

Awesome stuff cd. It's also awesome to hear the progression of Roby, that kid is going to be a stud

Yeah that stat actually surprised me a little. I mean I know there haven't been a ton of completions on him this year but I didn't realize he was doing that great.

Just to throw anther stat out there the Broncos have only allowed 1 touchdown pass compared to 6 interceptions on the season. That has been good for a total QB Rating of 58.0 for the year for the entire team. Only the Cardinals are close to that stat as they have a QB Rating of 58.6 this season against them.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

To me looking at the 2 sides of the ball...

Defensively--We are going to have to trust Talib and Harris even more to lock up 1-on-1 in this game. More bodies will be needed to make sure that AP doesn't beat us. We need to force Bridgewater to be the one that has to make some plays. OL blocking wise for the Vikings they rank 10th in the league so again this is the area that has to be stopped. I would also say that most would point out that the area the Broncos are weakest at would be runs up the middle or at least a perceived idea that this is true. We are very undersized for a 3-4 defense up the middle so I could see us having an extra body up the middle such as Ward stepping up to help out. Pass blocking wise they are 28th in the league so this is an area that if we can force them to have to get into passing downs our defense can really take full advantage of them.

Offensively--We need our offense to produce and I would say early on to get the Vikings in a hole. They are ranked right now DVOA wise 26th on defense as a whole. Pass defense they are 16th and rush defense they are 29th so again another week that our run game needs to produce. There are two areas in the passing game though that Minnesota is very vulnerable. They are not that great against #2 WR's so Sanders could have himself another big game. The other is passes to the RB. I haven't seen us do a RB screen yet so maybe this is the game we see that happen.

To me if we keep Peterson under 100 yards we win this game by 10 points or more. Peterson has a big day then of course all bets are off.

Off the top...I picked DEN in this game, but I think this will be closer than 10 pts. After a slow start they have looked good in two games at home. With AP back in the fold, they are wisely taking some pressure off Bridgewater...if MIN is smart they take a shot deep every so often, but feed AP and playaction pass off it...keep this game in the 20s.

Now, if they get behind by two possessions early and Ware and company can tee off on TB...all bets are off indeed.

 

[Draft Crazy]

Any updates on Bolden and Webster on the injury report. Both tell me they are "OK". Banged up. I can't never get good injury information from players.

 

[cdumler7]

Any updates on Bolden and Webster on the injury report. Both tell me they are "OK". Banged up. I can't never get good injury information from players.

Both were full participants today in practice from what I understand. That usually means they are good enough to play.

 

[ducky]

As a Vikes fan, I just hope they have the talent to keep it somewhat close this weekend.

I just can't see our offense generating any points against your D unless somehow Peterson goes off for 200+. Your edge rushers and secondary is going to make our passing game look silly. We have terrible OT's. Our rookie RT has held up only OK so far but he hasn't sniffed anyone with the same stank of Von Miller so far in his career. I wouldn't be shocked to see a 3+ sack game from that side. And Kalil on the other side is going to struggle big time with Ware. If we pass for over 200 yards when factoring in what is going to be all the sacks, holding calls and false start penalties, I will be floored.

Defensively I hope we give a somewhat slow starting Denver O some problems though. We can apply pressure and Manning makes for a sitting duck back there. Zimmer's defense gives a lot of interesting different looks that might be able to trick Manning a couple times and most certainly will have him really pushing to get the ball out of his hand. He hangs in that pocket with the ball too long and he might not see week 5. Our D is banging up QB's lately.

 

[cdumler7]

As a Vikes fan, I just hope they have the talent to keep it somewhat close this weekend.

I just can't see our offense generating any points against your D unless somehow Peterson goes off for 200+. Your edge rushers and secondary is going to make our passing game look silly. We have terrible OT's. Our rookie RT has held up only OK so far but he hasn't sniffed anyone with the same stank of Von Miller so far in his career. I wouldn't be shocked to see a 3+ sack game from that side. And Kalil on the other side is going to struggle big time with Ware. If we pass for over 200 yards when factoring in what is going to be all the sacks, holding calls and false start penalties, I will be floored.

Defensively I hope we give a somewhat slow starting Denver O some problems though. We can apply pressure and Manning makes for a sitting duck back there. Zimmer's defense gives a lot of interesting different looks that might be able to trick Manning a couple times and most certainly will have him really pushing to get the ball out of his hand. He hangs in that pocket with the ball too long and he might not see week 5. Our D is banging up QB's lately.

With this being a home game for the Broncos I definitely have a hard time seeing Minnesota pull this one out. They are definitely a better team than they have been and stand a chance but I would say some turnovers have to go in their favor for this one. I still need to go back and watch some of the Vikings games to see what they look like as I am just going off of what I have read and heard but I have heard Bridgewater has been struggling some with the switch to him playing under center since Peterson is not as big of a fan of running out of the shotgun. Again going to have to go watch this for myself.

 

[Mingo]

The Bronco offense is getting to be like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to have to defend.

 

[Draft Crazy]

Both were full participants today in practice from what I understand. That usually means they are good enough to play.

Thanks- So this time they weren't just saying "ok" for nuttin!

 

[cdumler7]

Thanks- So this time they weren't just saying "ok" for nuttin!

Unless they lied to doctors/trainers and the coaches I think they will be ok. Probably not 100% but what player at this time is. Sounds like right now Sambrailo is the only player in jeopardy of missing the game. Which that would be huge as we don't really have anybody that can play his position right now.

 

[Mingo]

Any updates on Bolden and Webster on the injury report. Both tell me they are "OK". Banged up. I can't never get good injury information from players.

Perhaps you are confusing them with double negatives in your sentences.

 

[Draft Crazy]

Maybe.

 

[cdumler7]

Just another quick fact. The 21 pressures by Ware and Miller have only been done in a 3 game stretch by a linebacker once in the last 8 years by Matthews. The Broncos had two players in the same 3 game stretch do it. Should show just how ridiculous the pressure is that the Broncos are bringing.

Also I was listening to an interview last night and they were talking about the difference in this defense this year compared to under Del Rio. Von Miller was talking and said the biggest difference is Phillips lets them be them. He trusts them to do great things and tells them at least 25 times a game to not even worry about gap integrity but that their only job to worry about is go hit the QB. He just tells them I don't care how you get there but do whatever you have to do to get home. Del Rio on the other hand in fear of giving up the big play was always worried about gap integrity with these guys.

 

[ducky]

Just another quick fact. The 21 pressures by Ware and Miller have only been done in a 3 game stretch by a linebacker once in the last 8 years by Matthews. The Broncos had two players in the same 3 game stretch do it. Should show just how ridiculous the pressure is that the Broncos are bringing.

Yeah I have seen a couple of the Bronco games this year. The outside rush from the Denver team has been fantastic.

....and my Vikes have no way of slowing it down with the players they have on the field other than just refusing to pass. Teddy might want to think about a little extra padding this game.

 

[cdumler7]

Yeah I have seen a couple of the Bronco games this year. The outside rush from the Denver team has been fantastic.

....and my Vikes have no way of slowing it down with the players they have on the field other than just refusing to pass. Teddy might want to think about a little extra padding this game.

There are 2 issues teams are really running into. 1) Double teaming these guys while a little effective still hasn't slowed them down. Von Miller was doubled the entire Detroit game yet still was getting close and would have if Stafford wasn't releasing the football as quickly as he was. 2) While yes our best pass rush is from the outside the guys on the inside are no slouches either and is a big reason that outside pressure is still successful because a QB has no room to step up. It is why the Broncos pass rush is getting pressure on 50% of all drop back passes this year. By far the highest in the league.

Anyway I am actually watching the Vikings games right now as have a bit of a break this morning at work. I'm watching the 49ers game and about 1/3rd of the way through. So far looks like Bridgewater really regressed so far this year. He has had some passes missing by 5-10 yards. He also has really struggled with any kind of pressure in his face which does not bode well. Now maybe this game wasn't his best showing so looking forward to watching the other two but right now I'm seeing him have a pretty bad day against the Broncos.

 

[ducky]

Anyway I am actually watching the Vikings games right now as have a bit of a break this morning at work. I'm watching the 49ers game and about 1/3rd of the way through. So far looks like Bridgewater really regressed so far this year. He has had some passes missing by 5-10 yards. He also has really struggled with any kind of pressure in his face which does not bode well. Now maybe this game wasn't his best showing so looking forward to watching the other two but right now I'm seeing him have a pretty bad day against the Broncos.

Yeah that 49er game was just nuts. Even Zimmer said there were plays that were called that he had no idea what Bridgewater was even trying to do.

The other two games he has looked somewhat solid. Not great but not bad either. The biggest problem he has had is that the offense hasn't changed a single bit from last year in terms of the passing game. How offensive coordinators think they can run the exact same sets and plays from them from one year to the next just shocks me especially when the offense has been dumbed down for a rookie QB. It totally lets the defense know EXACTLY what the offense is going to do. (This is why there have been so many stories about opposing teams knowing the other teams plays. DC's had all year to study what the offenses did the year previous and these idiots come out and run the EXACT same thing they were doing last year...and yet the offenses still seem dumbfounded about how the defense has figured it all out).

Norv Turner I think only woke up and realized he was still coaching in the NFL sometime around halftime of the 2nd game. Hopefully now that he is awake he can actually start to cobble together a couple of decent game plans before the season is over and he goes back into his slumber.

 

[cdumler7]

Some more stats...The Broncos 11 Sacks and 10 Turnover combo has only been done 4 times in the last 10 years with the 2010 Steelers doing it, 2006 Bengals, and 2006 Ravens (Obviously all the AFC North teams getting in on the action). The Broncos also rank 3rd in the 1970 NFL merger when the league formed the AFC and NFC in non-conference wins with 96. Only the Steelers and surprisingly the Dolphins rank better than the Broncos.

Also one of the stats that did not get a ton of attention is Manning is the fastest ever to 6,000 completions. Brett Favre is the only other player to have reached the 6000 completion club but it took him 27 games and 522 more passes than Manning to get there. Manning would most likely need another season to pass Favre's passing attempts record as he is still 522 behind that.

Just another interesting fact as Wade Phillips has said he isn't a great HC but he did actually have a winning record. He has an 82 wins/64 losses record as a HC. Just to compare John Fox has a 119 wins/92 losses record. Winning percentage wise Phillips is at .569 and Fox at .564 so I don't think Phillips is as bad a HC as some have made him out to be. Right now just very very happy to have him as our DC.

I might be a little biased on this last one but very frustrated that Steven Gostkowski won Special Teams player of the month over McManus. He only made 1 more field with a long for the season of 50 where McManus had all 3 of his first field goals of the year longer than that and with a little more pressure on them. He hasn't made as many extra points but again to me pressure field goals are worth more than blow out game field goal and extra point kicks.

 

[cdumler7]

The Broncos have added Tyler Polumbus to the roster. Small chance he could be starting at LT for us this Sunday. They have released Josh Bush to make room for Polumbus on the roster.

Today will be a huge showing of what this roster move means. If Ty is back at least in a limited fashion then it probably means the team has figured out that they just don't trust Schofield as the back up Swing Tackle. If Ty is once again sidelined though it could mean the team realizes that Ty could be out for a week or two or maybe even more and know they need to make a move now to get somebody in the building and get going.

 

[cdumler7]

Well injury update for the day. We now have 3 starting OL players either limited or not practicing with Vasquez being limited today and Mathis and Sambrailo both missing practice today because of injury. Not the best case scenario for a team already struggling OL wise and now missing valuable practice snaps together.

Owen Daniels was given a veterans day off today and James Casey did not practice but is not listed with an actual injury. Not sure what was going on with him.

 

[cdumler7]

Ok so I was wrong a little bit earlier on the injury report. James Casey did miss practice because of a knee injury. This might have happened during practice. Same with Todd Davis as he did practice yesterday but did not practice today. Vance Walker went from full practice to limited today. Not sure if they had a full pads practice as they are allowed to have something like 14 in a season. We had a lot of guys though go from full or limited practice to no practice today. So full list of guys who did not practice today are Todd Davis, Owen Daniels (veterans day off), James Casey, Evan Mathis, and Ty Sambrailo. All but Sambrailo are almost certain to play on Sunday. Everybody else was full except Vance Walker. Good to see Bolden, Thompson, Webster, and Anunike all full participants.

For the Vikings the ones who did not practice are Charles Johnson, Andrew Sendejo, Justin Trattou, Jabari Price, and Jarius Write. Not sure on their statuses for Sunday yet. Limited today was Audie Cole. Xavier Rhodes surprisingly has been a full participant this entire week after sustaining a concussion last Sunday.

 

[Draft Crazy]

Really surprises me about Rhodes but also great for him. I was pretty nervous for him when he first went down motionless.