Minnesota Vikings @ Denver Broncos

[Draft Crazy]

Discuss.

 

[TDs3nOut]

I was looking at some team stats and the Vikings stats are pretty similar to ours in the sense that they are much better defensively than offensively.

Would love to finally see our run game get going a little bit. Great to win, but I have to think that establishing the run game is going to be critical down the road.

 

[MileHigh64]

Stop AP. That is all.

 

[Draft Crazy]

I am guessing Xavier Rhodes will be out this week after the injury he sustained last week. Not that I like seeing a guy get injured but if he is gonna miss a week, good week to miss.

 

[Broncosr0k]

I think AP is the only thing that worries me. If he has a bad day the broncos can dominate this one.

I hope that we can see the o-line continue to gel and we see the run game get going.

 

[Mingo]

I think the Broncos will run better on home turf and home cooking.

Looking forward to the game once again.

 

[DownSetHutch]

This is likely going to be a tougher game than what I thought it would be before the season. The Vikings soundly beat the Chargers who are pretty solid. I could see them giving us a tough game and maybe even sneaking out with a win. I don't think it will happen, but with a few breaks their way and some good running by AP you never know.

However, if the Broncos continue to improve on offense, and keep up the stellar play on defense, we should come out on top by more than a TD.

 

[58crash]

Mile High and Opie ..not a good combo for success for opposing teams !

 

[TDs3nOut]

This is likely going to be a tougher game than what I thought it would be before the season. The Vikings soundly beat the Chargers who are pretty solid. I could see them giving us a tough game and maybe even sneaking out with a win. I don't think it will happen, but with a few breaks their way and some good running by AP you never know.

However, if the Broncos continue to improve on offense, and keep up the stellar play on defense, we should come out on top by more than a TD.

The way that the first three games have gone makes me think that another close game is likely, but who knows?

MN's defensive stats suggest that we might have an opportunity to finally get our running game going (we rank 31st in the league in rushing yardage and 32nd in yards per attempt). While the Vike's D ranks 4th in the league in passing yards per attempt (6.4), that unit ranks 25th in rushing yards per attempt (4.3).

 

[cdumler7]

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.

 

[Nosferatu]

I think the thing that will get in the Vikes way of winning are the officials. The officiating has been terrible this year and being the league loves Manning i'm sure the officials will be quick to toss PI and illegal contact flags all day long.

I think it will be a pretty good game, we both beat the Lions by about the same score although we did it at home. If Rhodes don't play that will really hurt, I don't like relying on a rookie and a 50 year old Terrance Newman. I don't think the Broncos will be able to run it on us enough to make this game a blowout. 60 - 80 yards is probably what the end up with. The secret for the Vikings is simple, establish AD and get pressure on Manning if they do those two things I think the Vikes have a shot if not the Broncos win.

 

[cdumler7]

I think the thing that will get in the Vikes way of winning are the officials. The officiating has been terrible this year and being the league loves Manning i'm sure the officials will be quick to toss PI and illegal contact flags all day long.

I think it will be a pretty good game, we both beat the Lions by about the same score although we did it at home. If Rhodes don't play that will really hurt, I don't like relying on a rookie and a 50 year old Terrance Newman. I don't think the Broncos will be able to run it on us enough to make this game a blowout. 60 - 80 yards is probably what the end up with. The secret for the Vikings is simple, establish AD and get pressure on Manning if they do those two things I think the Vikes have a shot if not the Broncos win.

The Vikings are the type of team that honestly can give the Broncos fits. They are a team that loves to establish the run which can really take away our greatest weapons with our secondary and pass rushers. We are still very good against the run but we did show especially against the Chiefs we are susceptible to the big run because our defense is so aggressive.

Offensively it is strength on strength with the Vikings being much better against the pass than the run. Broncos in my opinion have to at least have the threat of the run game to get the offense going. They cannot average 2 yards per carry and continue to win.

If this game were in Minnesota I think I would be very nervous about this one. Having it as a home game though makes me feel just a little better of our chances of staying undefeated. Good match up though.

 

[Nosferatu]

I think the Vikes are a little better against the run than most folks think, don't let the 49ers game form your opinion if I ever thought the NFL was fixed that game would have been prime example 1...

 

[Mingo]

I think the reason the Chiefs ran as well as they did - was because they cleared the middle zone out with TE and RB pass catching threats - this is not a capability the Vikings have shown. I think AP gets swarmed for the most part in this game. Bridgewater's escape ability is a bigger concern in my opinion.

 

[TDs3nOut]

I think the thing that will get in the Vikes way of winning are the officials. The officiating has been terrible this year and being the league loves Manning i'm sure the officials will be quick to toss PI and illegal contact flags all day long.

LOL Manning's teams have routinely won games due to bogus PI calls.

 

[Draft Crazy]

I think the Vikes are a little better against the run than most folks think, don't let the 49ers game form your opinion if I ever thought the NFL was fixed that game would have been prime example 1...

Judging from our run offense I am not sure you have to be even average to stop us.

 

[Nosferatu]

LOL Manning's teams have routinely won games due to bogus PI calls.

You have been paying attention...

 

[TDs3nOut]

You have been paying attention...

Think so? I'm not so sure that you have. Don't you need to modify your conspiracy theory to hold that "the league loves Manning in the regular season, but not in the playoffs, except the year it let his Colts win the SB" in order to keep your narrative consistent with the observed evidence? LOL

 

[cdumler7]

Think so? I'm not so sure that you have. Don't you need to modify your conspiracy theory to hold that "the league loves Manning in the regular season, but not in the playoffs, except the year it let his Colts win the SB" in order to keep your narrative consistent with the observed evidence? LOL

I would also add that in this last game they called Pass Interference more on the Broncos than they did on the Lions. If Manning gets all the calls then the league must really want Stafford to win.

 

[cdumler7]

I think the Vikes are a little better against the run than most folks think, don't let the 49ers game form your opinion if I ever thought the NFL was fixed that game would have been prime example 1...

I'll have to go back and watch their games here in a bit and see. I do know that first game definitely hurt them run defense wise.