Week 17 Thoughts

The Vikings are in the playoffs!

Minnesota Vikings 37
Green Bay Packers 34

Playoffs!

The same two teams play again next week. This time in Green Bay.

3-13 in 2011 to 10-6 and playoffs in 2012.

Vikings running back Adrian Peterson finished with 199 yards rushing. He was 9 yards short of breaking Eric Dickerson's record of 2,105. Peterson's last carry nearly got it. Instead, it set up Blair Walsh's playoff clinching 29-yard field goal. One year ago yesterday, Adrian Peterson had reconstructive knee surgery. He responded with 2,097 yards rushing. Simply amazing football player.

I should have a vote for MVP. For whatever reason I don't. I've heard a lot of arguments for/against Peterson and for/against Peyton Manning. Tom Brady pops up too. In all those arguments I've yet to hear any one mention that Peterson has rushed for nearly 500 more yards than #2 Alfred Morris. If you judge Peterson's season against the rest of the league there really is no comparison. He nearly lapped the field.

Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder made some plays. He even hit Jarius Wright on a deep throw. Something that his many critics said that he couldn't do. He's playing much better. They need him to be even better in the playoffs.

It looked easy at first with the Vikings marching down the field and scoring on their first three possessions. Unfortunately, two of those scores were field goals so the lead was only 13-0.

Aaron Rodgers took care of that fairly quickly

The Vikings defense nearly disappeared when cornerback Antoine Winfield left when he aggravated his broken hand. Rodgers and receiver Greg Jennings took advantage of Marcus Sherels. It was ugly. The Vikings really need Winfield on the field. His talent and leadership is crucial.

Blair Walsh started and finished his rookie season with game winning field goals. He's been fantastic.

The Vikings seemed to catch a break with receiver/kick returner Randall Cobb sitting out this game with an injury. Jeremy Ross took his place on returns. I enjoyed his big returns a whole lot more when he was doing it for Cal a few years ago. Ross was a nice pickup for the Packers. He's always been an electric returner.

Cobb will be back next week. He's dangerous.

Actually, I'd be a dangerous receiver with Rodgers throwing the ball. Really, I would.

The Vikings defense has to be a lot better next week. Rodgers had his way with the defense late in the game.

I don't understand why coaches can't grasp the simple fact that turnovers are automatically reviewed. Packers coach Mike McCarthy challenged a Vikings fumble recovery when he should have known that it was going to be reviewed anyway. It cost his team a 15-yard penalty. It cost the Vikings more. Jordy Nelson showed that he had a better understanding of the basic rules than his coach when he tried to grab and hide that red flag.

It's a stupid rule. It's one that will be changed in the offseason but it's inconsistent handling was a huge break for the Packers. It nearly cost the Vikings the game. When Packers receiver James Jones tried to reach the ball across the goal line, he fumbled. The Vikings recovered in the end zone for a touchback. That was the ruling on the field. Turnovers are automatically reviewed. Read after me, Mike McCarthy. Turnovers are automatically reviewed. Instead of waiting for that automatic review, McCarthy, with emphasis, threw the red challenge flag. The problem with this rule and the reason why it will be changed is that this "illegal" challenge should negate any review at all. The Packers are also charged with a 15-yard penalty. The play on the field should stand. At least, that is how it's been handled up until this call. The Vikings should have had possession of the ball at the 35-yard line. Instead, replay showed that Jones had broken the plane with the ball and it was, in fact, a touchdown. The Packers got that touchdown and the Vikings were screwed. The good thing is that the correct call was made. The bad thing is that the wrong call was made on the field under the rule that applied to that game. Unless, of course, the NFL changed the rule, because it's a stupid rule, and didn't tell anyone. The better thing is that the Vikings still won and are in the playoffs.

With the AFC playoff picture pretty much set at the start of the day most of the morning games were little more than amped up exhibition games.

Congratulations to Cincinnati Bengals rookie receiver Marvin Jones on his first career touchdown. Jones is one of my favorite Cal receivers ever. Great kid. Terrific football player. Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton should be happy for a while with A.J. Green, Jones, fellow rookie Muhamed Sanu, Andrew Hawkins and tight end Jermaine Gresham catching his passes.

The Dallas Cowboys visited the Washington Redskins for the NFC East title. Neither team played like they wanted to win the game in the first half. The Redskins decided that they wanted to play next week and took over in the second half.

During the telecast of the Washington-Dallas game Al Michaels mentioned that Redskins dynamite rookie back Alfred Morris was drafted with the pick that they obtained from Minnesota for Donovan McNabb. There's no doubt which team got the better of that trade.

Morris and Robert Griffin III are just rookies. Rookies!

Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints defense. Based upon yards surrendered, the 2012 Saints are the worst defense in NFL history. Nicely done.

So the playoffs are set with:
NFC
1. Atlanta Falcons
2. San Francisco 49ers
3. Green Bay Packers
4. Washington Redskins
5. Seattle Seahawks
6. Minnesota Vikings

Matt Ryan, Colin Kaepernick, Aaron Rodgers, Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson and Christian Ponder are the starting quarterbacks of those six teams. 4 have never played in the NFL playoffs before. Ryan's never won in the playoffs.

AFC
1. Denver Broncos
2. New England Patriots
3. Houston Texans
4. Baltimore Ravens
5. Indianapolis Colts
6. Cincinnati Bengals

Andrew Luck is the only quarterback in that group that's not been  in the playoffs. Actually, I'm not sure if Matt Schaub has ever been healthy for a playoff game.

Next week is really bad news for the Packers.