Flea Flicker Week 4 Predictions

It’s Week 4. Here are some guesses at the games. 

Minnesota Vikings @ New Orleans Saints

Pick: Vikings

This is the first of this year’s London games. The Vikings and Saints were tapped for the disruption to their weekly schedule and season. This game is often determined by which team best handles that disruption. 

Cleveland Browns @ Atlanta Falcons

Pick: Falcons

I wouldn’t be disappointed if the Browns lose all their games.

Washington Commanders @ Dallas Cowboys

Pick: Commanders

If the Commanders can protect Carson Wentz, they have enough playmakers to shock the Cowboys. It’s a big “if.”

Seattle Seahawks @ Detroit Lions

Pick: Lions

These Lions are a feisty team. They have more than enough to handle the Seahawks.

Tennessee Titans @ Indianapolis Colts

Pick: Colts

The Colts looked like they found themselves against the Chiefs. That’s bad news for the rest of the AFC South.

Chicago Bears @ New York Giants

Pick: Giants

It’s truly shocking that both teams are 2-1. I’m just going with the home team.

Jacksonville Jaguars @ Philadelphia Eagles

Pick: Eagles

The Jaguars have beaten a floundering Colts team that routinely starts slow and a Chargers team depleted by injury. The Eagles are rolling right now. 

New York Jets @ Pittsburgh Steelers

Pick: Jets

The Jets complete their tour of the AFC North. I can’t recall ever seeing a team open a season with four games against another division. I have a feeling that the Jets split those four games. 

Buffalo Bills @ Baltimore Ravens

Pick: Bills

This game should be a blast. 

Los Angeles Chargers @ Houston Texans

Pick: Chargers

The Chargers are hobbling but they should have enough against the Texans.

Arizona Cardinals @ Carolina Panthers

Pick: Cardinals

Neither team is playing well. The Cardinals are the more talented team.

New England Patriots @ Green Bay Packers

Pick: Packers

It’d be tough to pick the Patriots even if Mac Jones was healthy. 

Denver Broncos @ Las Vegas Raiders

Pick: Raiders

The Raiders should get their first win of the season.

Kansas City Chiefs @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Pick: Chiefs

The Chiefs should win this game no matter where it’s played. 

Los Angeles Rams @ San Francisco 49ers

Pick: Rams

The Rams should roll. 

All -Time New Orleans Saints Team

The New Orleans Saints have been around since 1967. Most of their 55 years haven’t been great. Thanks to head coach Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees, their best years have been recently. The duo brought a Lombardi to New Orleans in 2009. The Saints have an interesting history with the Minnesota Vikings. The two teams have had notable playoff meetings. From the blowout in 1987 to the Minneapolis Miracle, the Vikings have often booted the Saints from the playoffs. Unfortunately, the biggest playoff matchup between the two was taken, actually stolen, by the Saints. The 2009 NFC Championship. The Vikings were the better team. The Saints won the Super Bowl. On the eve of tomorrow’s Vikings-Saints game in London, here’s a look at some of the best players in the history of the New Orleans Saints. 

All -Time New Orleans Saints Team

Offense

Quarterback

Drew Brees

Running Back

Deuce McCallister

Fullback

Chuck Muncie

Wide Receivers

Michael Thomas

Wes Chandler

Tight End

Jimmy Graham

Offensive Tackles

Willie Roaf

Ryan Ramczyk

Offensive Guards

Jim Dombrowski

Jahri Evans

Center

LeCharles Bentley

Defense

Defensive Ends

Cameron Jordan

Wayne Martin

Defensive Tackles

La’Roi Glover

Derland Moore

Linebackers

Pat Swilling

Sam Mills 

Rickey Jackson

Cornerbacks

Marshon Lattimore

Dave Waymer

Safeties

Malcolm Jenkins

Roman Harper

Special Teams

Kicker 

Morten Anderson

Punter

Thomas Morstead

Kick Returner

Tyrone Hughes

Punt Returner

Reggie Bush 

Across The Pond

I’m not a fan of the NFL playing games “across the pond.” As soon as I say that or think it, I hear about UK fans of the Minnesota Vikings thrilled to finally see their team in person on Sunday. I know how they feel. I’m thrilled when the Vikings come to California. They did that twice last year and it was glorious. The overseas games are just so grueling and disruptive for an NFL team. The travel, the time change, the culture change, the routine change, everything. If playing in these games were easy there wouldn’t be so much debate as to how to deal with the disruption to a team’s weekly process. The Vikings play the New Orleans Saints in London on Sunday and each team is going about it differently. The Saints left on Monday. From Charlotte. They didn’t even return to New Orleans after playing the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. They’ve already been away from home for about a week. The Vikings arrive in London this morning. No one knows how best to handle these disruptive games and that’s the problem.

The London issue is such an issue that the Vikings made Tyler Williams, executive director of player health and performance, available to the media on Wednesday. He was peppered with questions. 

“The goal is to keep them on Central time as much as possible.” -Tyler Williams

The players sound like lab rats. Williams wants to minimize the toll, the disruption. He wanted this week to be as much like the other 16 game weeks as possible. Everything this week was routine until the end of yesterday’s practice. The team then boarded a plane bound for London at 6:30 pm CT. Nothing’s been routine since. Things won’t return to the routine until some time next week.

“Our goal is to hopefully get the players to sleep on the flight,” Williams said. “Get there, wake them up, move them, get the flight off us, go through what would be quote-unquote a normal Friday for these guys.”

The sleep part is key. They’ll do what they can to encourage sleeping on the plane. Cutting out screen time, limiting light exposure, and, if needed, take melatonin to encourage sleep. Not everyone can sleep on a plane. Only a few might get anything close to a restful sleep. 

Today is supposed to be a normal Friday for the Vikings. Just a normal Friday “across the pond.” 

“We’ll have an activation session with them right away, get some light exposure,” Williams said. “Maybe some caffeine, some tea, as they call it in London, some espresso.”

A normal Friday. 

Get plenty of sleep tonight. A normal Saturday. Walk-through. The normal Saturday evening. A normal Sunday. A normal game day. Beat the Saints. Come home. 

That normal game day is for a game that starts at 8:30 am CT. Normal.

Nothing is normal about any of this. 

Next week, the Green Bay Packers will experience a regular season overseas game for the first time. The league has been scheduling these games since 2007. It’s ridiculous that the coddled Packers have dodged this disruption for 15 years. They are the only team to be so “lucky.” This is the Vikings third trip across the pond. The Jacksonville Jaguars have played eight games in London. They are an outlier as their team’s owner wants his team in these games.  He wants the London market. The Las Vegas/Oakland Raiders and Miami Dolphins have played five games in London. The St. Louis Rams have played four games. I recently asked a Packers fan his thoughts on his team dodging these games for so long. He reacted as if it’s perfectly normal for his team to be given annual passes on the London games. He said that the Packers don’t want to lose a home game. No team does. He added that the Packers are such a draw on the road that opponents don’t want to lose a home date with them. No team wants to lose a home date with any team. Packers fans apparently believe that it’s perfectly normal for their team to be treated differently than the other 31 teams. No surprise there. 

I’m truly thrilled for the UK Vikings fans. If there’s a good thing about the team traveling to London, it’s them. Perhaps it’s the first time seeing the Vikings for some of the fans. I remember well the first time I attended a Vikings game. It was in Oakland in 1978. The Raiders won but it was one of the best days of my life. Maybe some little kid will be getting that experience on Sunday. Hopefully, with a better result. 

I’ll be watching on TV. At 6:30 in the morning. 

The Pro Bowl Is No More

The Pro Bowl has been around since 1951. For nearly all of those 70+ years, it was a fun way to end the NFL season. It was fun until the modern football player turned the annual all-star game into a joke. The effort put forth by the players over the past decade made walk-throughs look like the Super Bowl. It was embarrassing and the NFL had seen enough. 

Enter the “Pro Bowl Games.” 

A flag football game will replace whatever it was that the players were doing in pads. That game will take place in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, February 5, 2023. Hopefully that field will be in excellent shape. It’d be wild if the league re-imagines their half-century old all-star game to make it safer and joints are ruined while scampering around on a shitty field. 

The flag football game will be the culmination of a week of football fun. And games. There will be a week of skills competitions and games. There will be precision passing and best catch competitions. Races. Maybe Micah Parsons can beat Tyreek Hill again. That was a twist. There will also be the always fun dodge ball game. Other fun competitions are sure to be added. 

I get that this change was inevitable. The Pro Bowl game as it’s been played for too long could not continue. It was a joke. The NFL looked like a joke for continuing with it. The problem that I have with the game’s elimination is all about nostalgia. I grew up with the Pro Bowl and there was never an issue with effort. It was never the effort of even a mid-season game. It was never going to be. It was an all-star game. But it was a fun football game. The players of my youth cared about the Pro Bowl. They had a respect for the game. They wanted to win the game. They competed. It was a different time. I also don’t remember a player ever sustaining a significant injury in the game. Actually, the only significant Pro Bowl injury that I can recall was Tyler Eifert’s knee injury in 2016. Not only did that injury occur during the grab-ass days of the Pro Bowl, it was a fluky, non-contact injury that could easily happen in a flag football game. As player salaries skyrocketed, the effort put forth in the Pro Bowl plummeted. Unfortunately, change was necessary.

Minnesota Vikings Week 3 Superlatives

The Minnesota Vikings pulled out a thrilling 28-24 win over the Detroit Lions in Week 3. They overcame at 14-0 first half deficit and a 24-14 second half deficit. The only score that matters is the one at the end of the game. It was a big, division win. Here are some of the players that helped make it possible. 

Offensive Player of the Game

K.J. Osborn, WR

K.J. Osborn gets the nod over Adam Thielen, the offensive line, and Dalvin Cook on the basis of his two big catches on the game-winning drive. The first was a 28-yard catch that put the Vikings in position to strike from the Lions 28-yard line. The second was the 28-yard touchdown that won the game. That’s a lot of 28s to make the score 28. 

Defensive Player of the Game

Josh Metellus, S

I’m giving this to Josh Metellus for his solid game in place of Harrison Smith. He made tackles that he was supposed to make. He had the interception that sealed the game with seconds to play. 

Special Teams Player of the Game

Ryan Wright, P

I’d like to give the special teams award to Brian Asamoah for his terrific tackle on a kick return. I can’t. Rookie punter Ryan Wright keeps booting the ball 50 yards and flipping field position. 

Flea Flicker Week 3 Power Rankings

Here’s a look at how the 32 NFL teams rank after three weeks of football. 

1.   Philadelphia Eagles (3-0)

2.   Buffalo Bills (2-1)

3.   Kansas City Chiefs (2-1)

4.   Miami Dolphins (3-0)

5.   Los Angeles Rams (2-1)

6.   Minnesota Vikings (2-1)

7.   Green Bay Packers (2-1)

8.   Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-1)

9.   Baltimore Ravens (2-1)

10. Los Angeles Chargers (1-2)

11. Cincinnati Bengals (1-2)

12. Indianapolis Colts (1-1-1)

13. Cleveland Browns (2-1)

14. Detroit Lions (1-2)

15. Dallas Cowboys (2-1)

16. Arizona Cardinals (1-2)

17. San Francisco 49ers (1-2)

18. Tennessee Titans (1-2)

19. Las Vegas Raiders (0-3)

20. Denver Broncos (2-1)

21. Pittsburgh Steelers (1-2)

22. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-1)

23. New York Giants (2-1)

24. Carolina Panthers (1-2)

25. New Orleans Saints (1-2)

26. New England Patriots (1-2)

27. Chicago Bears (2-1)

28. Washington Commanders (1-2)

29. Atlanta Falcons (1-2)

30. New York Jets (1-2)

31. Seattle Seahawks (1-2)

32. Houston Texans (1-1-1)

Until next week.

Vikings - Lions

It was another nerve-wracking finish against the Detroit Lions. Thankfully, the Minnesota Vikings were on the right side of the scoreboard at the end.

Minnesota Vikings 28

Detroit Lions 24

It was easy to see that the focus of the Lions defense was to remove Justin Jefferson from the game. They did. He only had three catches for 14 yards. For most of the game the Vikings offense looked out of sync without Jefferson being a part of it. Moving forward, the Vikings must find ways to make teams pay for focusing so heavily on Jefferson. Against the Lions, Kirk Cousins eventually started getting the ball to Adam Thielen and K.J. Osborn. Thielen made some of the team’s biggest catches. Osborn caught the game-winning touchdown. Again, the Vikings must make teams pay for focusing so heavily on Jefferson. They have too many play-makers to be so out of sync. 

The Lions controlled this game until they gave up the game-winning score with 45 seconds left. They had leads of 14-0 in the first half and 24-14 in the second half. Jared Goff was solid until he threw the game-sealing interception with a handful of seconds to play. The key to the Lions control of the game may have been their success on fourth down. They converted four of six attempts. Those conversions were key on 17 of their points. The Vikings defense simply couldn’t get the Lions off the field soon enough or often enough. This game didn’t have to be a nail-biter. The Lions gambling ways made it that way. 

Lions corner Amani Oruwariye literally had his hands full with Thielen. If football was like basketball, Oruwariye would’ve fouled out of this game. The officials threw so many flags his way that it was shocking when they didn’t throw a big one on a fourth down with just over two minutes to play. Oruwariye is a very grabby football player.

Welcome back, Dalvin Cook. The Vikings running game and Cook were pretty much absent in the Week 2 game against the Philadelphia Eagles. A lot was absent in that game. Cook ran well against the Lions. He was sailing toward a 100-yard game when he ran head-first into the backside of left guard Ezra Cleveland. That collision and resulting frenzy from the Lions defenders forced a fumble and a shoulder injury for Cook. He left the game and did not return. He remained on the sideline and didn’t look like he was in any discomfort. Hopefully, it’s a minor deal. Cook was running well before the injury. It was great to see. He had 96 yards on 17 carries and a 1-yard TD. Alexander Mattison added 28 yards on seven carries and a 6-yard TD.

The showing of the Vikings defense would’ve been much better if they could’ve gotten off the field on those fourth down attempts. Making stops on third down usually mean something. It didn’t yesterday as the Lions kept their offense on the field for six fourth down attempts. While Josh Metellus seemed to play well (he had the game-sealing interception after dropping an interception on the previous play), the Vikings defense missed Harrison Smith. His leadership and simple presence were missed. I was hoping that rookie Lewis Cine would get some snaps but Metellus took all of the defensive snaps. I believe that the Vikings defense will make strong strides in the coming weeks. Through 12 quarters this season, the first two quarters of the Eagles game are the only quarters that the Vikings defense has played poorly. Still, the coverage has to get tighter and the pass rush has to get home more often. The Lions rolled for 416 yards (139 on the ground, 277 through the air). They held the ball for 34:04. The Lions controlled this game until they lost it. 

While the Lions were in charge most of the game, it always felt like the Vikings just had to get out of their own way. Once they did, they grabbed the win. It was a Division Win. It was a Big Win. Now, it’s off to England for an overseas date with the New Orleans Saints.