Week 9 Thoughts

The Minnesota Vikings woke up in the second half to outlast the Washington Redskins 29-26. The Vikings head into their bye week with their only win streak of the season. The two-game win streak puts their record at 4-5. A half game ahead of the Chicago Bears in the NFC North. The Vikings are still looking up at the Green Bay Packers (5-3) and Detroit Lions (6-2) in the division. A lot of things have to go right for the Vikings over the last seven games of the season but they are in the mix for the playoffs.

The last second loss to the Buffalo Bills two weeks ago was a serious blow. So close to 5-4. About a second away. Each game is so big.

The Redskins team bus was involved in a traffic accident on the way to the stadium. It sounded minor but still made their arrival at the stadium later than planned. It didn't seem to hamper their early play on the field.

The big story entering this game was the return of Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III. His return was made a little bigger coming off the great game played by Colt McCoy last week in the surprise win over the Dallas Cowboys. A quarterback controversy in Washington? The media hopes so. They adore the drama.

The Vikings had another slow start yesterday. That slow start was seen on offense and defense. The offense started with a three-and-out. The defense gave up an excruciatingly long scoring drive. The Redskins controlled the ball for nearly eight minutes to open the scoring with a field goal. Drives like that are simply devastating to a defense. It was a minor victory when that long drive ended in a field goal rather than a touchdown. The Redskins got a touchdown on their second possession. This drive only took 2:22 but they went much further, 91 yards.

Just like that, it was 10-0 early in the second quarter.

The Vikings finally got something going when corner Captain Munnerly intercepted a Griffin pass near midfield with about a minute left in the first half. This big play ignited the offense and the defense.

Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater needed 23 seconds to drive to to their first score of the game. He hit tight end Chase Ford for a 20-yard touchdown. 10-7 at the half.

The game picked up in the second half. The Vikings scored 22 points. The Redskins scored 16. The Vikings scored on three of their five possessions of the half. Bridgewater found his rhythm. The defense found their rhythm as well. For the most part.

The Redskins first touchdown of the second half was a real sweet gift from the officials. On 3rd and 1 from the Vikings 24, Griffin tried to run for the first. Vikings safety Harrison Smith prevented that from happening. Griffin simply slid for a two-yard loss. Smith dove right past, not into, the sliding quarterback. The running Griffin gave up the extreme officiating protection of the pocket when he left it. The official penalized Smith for unnecessary roughness on a sliding quarterback. It wasn't. Instead of a probable field goal attempt, the Redskins had a first down on the 13-yard line. Next play. Touchdown. And a 17-14 Redskins lead.

Fortunately, it didn't last.

There were five lead changes in the second half. Griffin kept making plays for his team. Bridgewater kept bringing his team back.

Ignoring most of the first half, this might have been Bridgewater's best game. Pretty much everything went the Vikings way against the Atlanta Falcons in his first start in week four. The Vikings controlled that game and played with the lead nearly the entire game. The Vikings rarely had the lead yesterday. When they did gain it the Redskins frequently took it back. Bridgewater had to make game-saving plays throughout the second half.

Despite giving up some plays to Griffin, running back Alfred Morris, and receiver DeSean Jackson, the Vikings defense played well. They put consistent pressure on Griffin. 5 sacks. They never really let Griffin beat them with his feet. He killed the Vikings in a previous meeting with a 70+-yard touchdown run. He didn't come close to a similar game-altering play.

Defensive end Everson Griffen has been a beast over the last few weeks. He's running down backs. He's running down Griffin. 6 tackles. 1 sack yesterday. 9 sacks on the season. The speed that he shows for for a 275 lb defensive end is incredible.

Bridgewater has missed on some deep connections recently. He had Charles Johnson last week. He had Cordarrelle Patterson wide,WIDE, WIDE! open in the first half yesterday. Patterson was as wide open as any player has ever been in NFL history. Well, maybe not that open but he was really open. Johnson seemed to slow up last week. Patterson seemed to lose the ball in the sun yesterday. Bridgewater and his receivers have to start hooking up on these opportunities.

The Vikings offensive line has been a sieve most of the last several weeks. They played much better against the Redskins. It was good to see. Hopefully, the bug guys up front can build on that play. They still have a long way to go.

Running back Matt Asiata scored three touchdowns and a 2-point conversion. The announcers mentioned that those 20 points were the most scored by a player so far this season. He didn't get many yards. 10 carries for 26 yards. But, he did get 11 very important yards. Jerick McKinnon and Asiata form a nice combination in the backfield.

DeSean Jackson had four catches for 120 yards. He had a 45-yard reception in the first half and a 56-yard reception in the second half. Each set up Alfred Morris touchdown runs.

The Redskins have some tremendous offensive talent. Griffin, running backs Morris and Roy Helu Jr., receivers Jackson, Pierre Garcon, and Andre Roberts, and tight end Jordan Reed. If Griffin can get and stay healthy, this offense can be fierce. Griffin just has to get back to the dynamic play that he showed as a rookie. He looked good yesterday but he didn't seem quite as fast as he was a couple of years ago.

I was surprised and impressed with the Redskins defense. I hadn't seen much of them until last week and yesterday. They are missing injured linebacker Brian Orakpo. He's their best player, at least their best known player. They can pressure the quarterback and they can defend the pass with a secondary that will only improve.

This was the Vikings best win of the season. The Redskins may have only three wins but they were coming off that huge Cowboys win. They were hitting their stride and feeling pretty good about themselves. The Vikings took some serious punches and kept coming back. They enter their bye on a high note and a two-game win streak. They visit a struggling Chicago Bears team in two weeks. After that, four of their final six games are at home.

The surprise of the week has to be:
San Diego Chargers  0
Miami Dolphins       37
How does that happen? Three weeks ago the Chargers were 5-1. Five straight wins had many thinking that the Chargers might be the best team in the league. Quarterback Philip Rivers was playing better than he had ever played before. A possible MVP. Now, the Chargers are 5-4. Blanked by a Dolphins team that took their foot off the gas and coasted to an easy victory. The Chargers need to get it together but it may already be too late.

The Arizona Cardinals keep winning. Their surprising 7-1 record might not be all that surprising anymore. They are a very good team with excellent coaching. They are missing a lot of talent on the defensive side of the ball but coordinator Todd Bowles keeps plugging in players and turning them loose. The Cardinals defeated a Dallas Cowboys team that was missing quarterback Tony Romo.

I wonder if  people expect these Manning-Brady games to determine which quarterback is the best. I doesn't and it didn't yesterday. Manning-Brady 16 wasn't much of a contest. The New England Patriots did just about everything right. The Denver Broncos didn't do much right. Even Wes Welker's usually sure hands tipped a pass rather than caught it. The tipped pass conveniently landed in the hands of Patriots corner Brandon Browner. These are throws and catches that Manning and Welker can make in their sleep. The Patriots won the 16th meeting 43-21.

The media rarely stops honking about Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Who's better and all that? It's rarely mentioned that Manning has played for four head coaches and Brady has played for only one. These matchups between the quarterbacks are really matchups between the respective quarterback and the defense that each faces. More specifically, it's the quarterback against the opposing coach. The Patriots have always had the better coach.

The Patriots dipped into their bag of tricks in an attempt to convert a 4th down in the 4th quarter. They had their punt team on the field. Then ran out their offense. The Broncos acted accordingly. So, there was a riot of about 44 football players either running on the field or off. Silly stuff. The Patriots couldn't get set and were penalized. They had to punt. All of this chaos and trickery was done with a 22 point lead. It did bring a smile from Bill Belichick. A small one. That's not seen very often on a football field.

It sure looked like San Francisco 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree scored the likely game-winning touchdown with about 19 seconds left in their game against the St. Louis Rams. That call didn't go their way. Sometimes I wonder what exactly the officials look at when they confirm or deny these replay reviews. It's a mystery. The Rams received a further break when 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick tried to score from the 1-yard line after Crabtree's touchdown catch was denied. Kaepernick may or may not have lost the ball before he was down in the pileup in the endzone. Rams linebacker James Lauranaitis came out of the pile with the ball and the officials let him keep it. The Rams got the win. The 49ers are playing at an uninspiring 4-4 clip. They are better than that and they should beat this Rams team at home. The Cardinals are making things tough on the preseason favorites 49ers and Seattle Seahawks in the NFC West.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Anthony Fasano caught a tipped pass while sitting on his ass. He lunged, from his ass, into the end zone. You know that things are going your way when you can score while sitting on your ass. Or, you're playing the New York Jets.

The Baltimore Ravens had three penalties on their defense on a single play. Holding. Personal foul-horse collar. Personal foul-roughing the passer. The Steelers accepted the last one. It set them up nicely at the Ravens 10-yard line and then a game-tying touchdown pass to LeVeon Bell.

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has thrown 6 touchdown passes in each of the last two games. That's inconceivable!

The Steelers have done a terrific job of drafting receivers recently. They've done an especially fine job of finding those receivers outside of the first round. Mike Wallace(3rd round), Emmanuel Sanders(3rd), Antonio Brown(6th), Markus Wheaton(3rd), and rookie Martavis Bryant(4th). The Steelers even let Wallace and Sanders walk in free agency. They just draft and plug in the new guy. Bryant has scored five touchdowns in his first three NFL games.

The Pittsburgh Steelers retired the #75 worn so well by Joe Greene. It was fairly surprising that this hadn't been done long before this but the Steelers don't retire too many numbers. Ernie Stautner's #70 is the only other number retired by the team. Stautner was also a defensive tackle.

Congratulations Joe Greene.