Game Day Thoughts

Minnesota Vikings vs. Pittsburgh Steelers in London. The Vikings are the home team. That's a tough sell.

When the Vikings play the Steelers, I can't help but think of Super Bowl IX. My Vikings passion was just taking root back then.

With Christian Ponder nursing a fractured rib, Matt Cassel gets the call at quarterback for the Vikings. They also get Pro Bowl fullback Jerome Felton back from a three game suspension. This should help open things up for Adrian Peterson. He's been running into too many opposing players before he even gets to the line. Hopefully, Felton can clear that crowd out of there.

It's never good when starters are among the players named as inactive for a game. Ponder isn't the only one out today for the Vikings. Corner Chris Cook, safety Jamarca Sanford, tight end/fullback/little bit of everything Rhett Ellison are all out. That secondary is looking a little thin.

The NFL's endgame in playing games in London is apparently to have a team in London. I don't care much for that idea. I don't think that the players will like playing over there. That should be a significant voice in the discussion. It would complicate taxes. The team would be too isolated. Teams on the west coast of this country would have a tremendous trip to make. There's just too many issues. The league is always trying to expand the brand. They can do that without sending a team overseas.

There's a decent chance that Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman has a new home soon. Rookie Mike Glennon has already replaced him as the team's starter. Not only that, Freeman isn't even the next man up. He's been demoted all the way to #3. Jason La Canfora speculated that the Vikings could be a team that is interested in Freeman. That match doesn't feel right to me. I think that this season is Ponder's season to show that he can be the guy. Now, he has to get that rib healthy. The last thing anyone wants for a young quarterback trying to gain confidence is to bring in another quarterback. It's true that an NFL quarterback shouldn't be shaken by a little competition. It just strikes me as a situation that is best avoided. Freeman and the Buccaneers have been a real puzzle for me. Only a few years ago, it looked like head coach Raheem Moore had the team on the brink of something great. Freeman looked like he might be the best of the three first round quarterbacks selected in the 2009 NFL Draft. Better than Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez. Then, it all fell apart. Freeman has had some terrific moments since but they never really lasted. He's been something of a mess this year. That hasn't helped his trade value. It also doesn't help that his contract makes him a somewhat expensive acquisition. So much so, that the Buccaneers might just end up releasing him.

Philadelphia Eagles kicker Alex Henery was fined $15,750 for his horse-collar tackle of Kansas City Chiefs returner Quentin Demps. Two things about this minor news stands out. A kicker getting fined for a tackle is the big surprise. The amount of the fine is the other. Fines in the tens of thousand of dollars being broken down to fifty dollars is ridiculous. Their league should re-calibrate their fine equation.

Thanks to the pissing match between Directv and the Pac-12 Networks I was again unable to watch the Cal football game. Those clowns really have to stop acting like selfish little kids and do what's right. Make the Pac-12 Networks available to anyone with a television. Come on! As for the Cal-Oregon game, I might have been lucky that I was unable to actually view the mess. Cal fumbled the ball to Oregon on their first four possessions. That's never a good start to a game. It sounded like the weather was terrible. Rain and wind. I wouldn't know. I couldn't see it. Cal had five turnovers before the first quarter was done. That fiasco led to a 55-16 Oregon victory. Cal plays Washington St. next week. Washington St. lost to Stanford last night by a score of 55-17. That game mext week looks like a pretty good match-up. Something's got to give there..

USC head coach Lane Kiffin was fired after the Trojans 62-41 loss to Arizona St. His greatest crime as head coach was leading a talented, highly-ranked team to mediocrity last season. I was never quite sure why USC AD Pat Haden hired Kiffin in the first place. He pretty much screams pain-in-the-ass. Although there was never any doubt, father Monte Kiffin was the smart one in the family when he bolted USC, and his son's side, to be defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys last winter. Senior Kiffin never did junior any favors by naming him Lane. It's fun for most fans of the other Pac-12 teams to see USC in chaos. They have it now. It's speculated that defensive line coach Ed Orgeron and defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast are the top two candidates to replace Kiffin for the rest of the season. My hunch is that it's Orgeron due to his experience as head coach at Mississippi and his brilliant portrayal of himself in The Blind Side. Plus, Orgeron is a gas in interviews and press conferences.

Outside of the Steelers-Vikings battle, the best games this week look like the Prime Time games, of course. Patriots-Falcons tonight. Dolphins-Saints tomorrow night is one that I really like. This Saints defense doesn't look anything like the hot mess that they put on the field last year. Rob Ryan is showing again why he is one of the best defensive coaches around. Among the day games, Seahawks-Texans is interesting. The Seahawks still look like a very different team away from Seattle. Eagles-Broncos and Cowboys-Chargers are a couple more that intrigue me.