Week Four: Cutting the Giants Down to Size, or: What? It's Week Four already???

Yes, yes, I know.

The season is already three weeks old.  This will return as a weekly blog starting right now.

Without further ado, here we go.

The 2016 NFL season has so far proven the old adage that you can’t script September. 

Oh, that’s not a thing?  Well it should be.

Just days before the NFL season was set to begin, Teddy Bridgewater collapsed at practice in extreme pain.  We didn’t know if Teddy had suffered some kind of freak bodily injury that could have either killed him or ended his career, but we did know it wasn’t good.

Enter Sam Bradford; former 1^st overall pick of the St. Louis Rams in 2010.  Some people panicked and declared the Vikings’ season to be over before it started, as they had when Teddy got hurt.

Cooler heads reminded everyone else that Sam Bradford, injury-prone underachiever he might be, was entering the greatest situation of his life; plenty of weapons at his disposal and a defense that makes grown men cry for mommy.

So far, cooler heads have prevailed and Bradford has done everything asked of him as part of a 3-0 start that hasn’t quite come the way Vikings fans may have expected, but we will certainly take it.  A little bit of national credit (and I do mean little...the excuse computer has been working overdrive) after being the Doomsday to Cam Newton’s Superman?  That was fun to watch.    

Of course, shutting up all of the Packer fans who told us for months that they would ruin our homecoming was pretty sweet, too.  Oh, and also getting a respectable game out of Shaun Hill in week one.

There are flaws in the Vikings’ offensive game, but if this team can still get better, this season could be a lot of fun.

Next up is the Giants on Monday Night Football.  Normally, I would dread such a game, but the Vikings have started a new streak: 3-0 in prime time games.  It is entirely possible that “the moment” under the lights is not a weakness to this team anymore.  One difference this season is that unless he does something stupid in the next few days, Odell Beckham Jr. will actually get to play this time.  The Giants also have a rejuvenated Victor Cruz and a rookie in Sterling Shepard who is contributing right away.  Trying to contain three talented wideouts could be a challenge.  Then again, don't most good NFL teams have at least two?  Hopefully, the Zim Reapers will be up to the task.

One of the stranger themes in the NFL over the past several years is that the Vikings defense loves to play Eli Manning…and most of that success was when the defense was not that great.  Last year was another example of why Eli must hate us by now.  After bludgeoning Aaron Rodgers and Cam Newton in back-to-back weeks, what does Zim have planned for Eli?  I guess we’ll have to find out.

In Zim we trust.  Enjoy the season, Vikings fans.  It should be a fun one with games on Halloween, Christmas Eve and Thanksgiving, among others.

Fear the Zim Reapers!

Hello, Vikings fans.  This is a bonus post for this week.  Expect the main post later this week. 

After dismantling Cam Newton and making him look like a rookie, people began to praise the Vikings defense calling them the “Purple People Eaters.” 

You may remember this as the nickname the Vikings defense acquired in the 1970s when they were really, really good.  Drawing comparisons to the past is never a bad thing, but I also feel like that name belongs to Alan Page, Jim Marshall, Paul Krause, and the rest of that team that served as the heyday of the Vikings when we were good enough to at least appear in Super Bowls.

It’s a new era in Vikings football with a new stadium and expectations for the near future are as high as they have been in some time.  Mike Zimmer is doing his best to put the Vikings in a position to succeed for years.      

Not to mention, the defense is really, really good again.    I will always respect Bud Grant and his legacy of putting this team in the national consciousness, but taking the nickname he and his players earned just wouldn’t be right.  We need a new nickname to pay tribute to the monster Zimmer has created.

This blog cannot take credit for creating this name, but we really like it and think it best sums up what the Vikings defense does and will hopefully continue to do.

“The Zim Reapers.”  

Right away, it leaps out at you.  “The Zim Reapers are knocking at your door!”  “Fear the Zim Reapers” could very well be the slogan of the 2016 Minnesota Vikings.  I can foresee some kind of chant involving the Zim Reapers being invented in the future.  Cam and Aaron will be seeing Harrison Smith, Everson Griffen and others in their nightmares for the next month.

I love this name and I heartily endorse it for the nickname of the Zimmer defense that is finally starting to catch the attention of the nation.

Fear the Zim Reapers.

Road Warriors...or Legion of Doomed?

The Vikings seem to be finding an identity as a physical team.  Mike Zimmer wants this group to simply beat up whoever lines up as the signal caller across from his front seven.  One week later, I’m willing to bet Phillip Rivers is still feeling the sting from the Vikings-Chargers game.

I did not see a blowout coming.  San Diego is a solid team, and I think we’ll continue to see that throughout the rest of the season.  Of course, on the other hand, maybe this means the Vikings are a solid team, too. 

Do we dare buy into the hype?  I mean, it was only three short weeks ago that the Vikings lost 20-3 in the latest prime time game to forget.  Now, however, the Vikings look like a completely different team after a pair of solid victories at home.  The big test approaches; a late afternoon contest in Denver against one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.  Yes, Peyton Manning is several years older than the last time the Vikings faced him, but he is (to borrow a phrase) quarterback immortality.

I don’t expect the Vikings to win this game on the road, but if things continue to progress the way they have, look for Minnesota to play the Broncos close.  It will be interesting to see if either Peyton Manning, one of the best final-drive QBs in the history of this sport will get to lead one, or if the Broncos will leave too much time for Teddy.

Or, it could be an embarrassing beatdown for the Vikings, who will be thin at receiver.  But, I don’t like to think like that.  Here’s to a hopeful 3-1 start.  If the Vikings can beat Denver, I think it’s okay to get on the Skol Train.