Wow...the Vikings need a little work. There were quite a bit of positives in the game, though. Unfortunately, the negatives far outweighed the positives. Coaching I blame the coaching quite a bit for the loss. First, why didn't the coaches make an adjustment for the pass over the middle? We got eaten alive on that pass. The big problem, however, wasn't on defense, it was on offense with play selection. When your team is inside the 5 yard line and you have Moss lined up against a smaller corner, YOU THROW THE BALL TO HIM!!! Give credit to the Eagle's defense, but we should have used our big advantage. Also, they needed to find a way to help Adam Haayer. This is a second string guy in the weakest part of our offensive line going up against Kearse. He needs help. Kudos on picking up on the ineligible receiver. But they should have challenged the Owens TD catch. That was a big miss. Grade: D Receivers Our receivers were great. Wiggens our TE played a great game, Moss laid some key blocks and helped out Culpepper, and Burleson was a factor in this game. No complaints there...they were, are, and will be the strong point of this team. Grade: A- Culpepper He seemed to overthink his reads tonight. On passing plays you need to go vertical to Moss at least 2 or 3 times a game, even in double coverage. Moss will beat double coverage. He is going to be blamed for a lot, I'm sure. In the end, though, the Eagle's defensive line deserves credit and the offensive line was pourus. Its hard to make all your reads when you only have a second in the pocket. He deserves all the blame for the fumble on the goal line. Two words: TWO HANDS!! Grade: C O. Smith He played ok, but was not a game breaker. He showed that he doesn't have what it takes within 5 yards. We really missed the blocking of Moe Williams and his short yardage running. When he did run, he did a decent job of making sure he picked up positive yards. Grade: C Offensive Line Horrible. Simply horrible. Culpepper had to do all the work. Losing Rosenthal was big, but they need to pick up the blitzes better. I don't want to be them in Tuesday's practice. Grade: I (incomplete) Defensive Line Decent, but not nearly enough pressure. Hovan NEEDs to start being effective. If we had put more pressure on McNabb, we could have forced another turnover. And our run defense was pretty bad when the ball was taken to the inside. Side to side running we are very good at, but credit the linebackers. Grade: C- Secondary I have to give the secondary credit. McNabb had a lot of yards, but they were all underneath passes. The linebackers were responsible there. TO was limited to very little (especially if the right call is made on the TD catch). I liked what I saw in the secondary...now if the rest of the team can follow suit. Grade: C+ Special Teams This is going to be a sore spot all season long. Philly had two good returns, the second of which was crucial for a stop. Aaron Elling just doesn't have a football mind. His kickoffs were either short or very low. Morten Anderson showed his age tonight as well. But, being that most of our points came through special teams, gotta give them some credit. Grade: D+ Overall Poor gameplanning by Tice, the inability to pick up on what Philly was doing, stupid penalties, an unfortunate injury were really the problems with this game. There are a lot of positives, though. First, we moved the ball very well on offense. We couldn't complete the drive, but that can be worked on. The core of the offense was there. The defense did a decent job of limiting the Eagle's offense. Although 24 points were put up against us, it really wasn't that bad. Culpepper played a decent game despite the fumble. Considering that he was pressured all night, he played extremely well. There are a lot of problems that need to be addressed quickly or we could see the season slip away. If we can address those problems, this will be a tough team to beat.
I just have one thing to say.....How the HELL did Tice miss that Challenge on TO's touchdown....I saw that at live speed from my couch I didn't even need the replay...Man Tice is a bonehead I'm sorry first the problems with getting to the draft table in time (hmmm...donuts) then there is the no challenge on an obvious bad call...(Tice looking towards eagles cheerleaders perhaps?) I'm sorry but I would be outraged if my team did that....all in all the Vikes D played pretty tough but so Did Philly who just seemed to shut it down once the vikes crossed their 40...well that and penalties.
There was really no one there to tell the coaches that it was a botched catch. Winfield was on the ground and if you look at his reaction, he only saw the end of the play. I agree with Michaels on that part of the replay system. They really need to allow a challenge of a touchdown AFTER the extra point as well. That TD was huge, and it was a missed call.
The Vikings went away from everything that worked for them in week 1. Like Michaels and Madden said, when you have a guy like Moss, there is no reason you shouldn't just throw up a jump ball down the field every so often. Culpepper hesitated every time he ran out of the pocket. If he wouldn't have, he would have had some big-time rushing yards. Instead, his hesitation allowed the Eagles D to catch a foot, etc. enough to stop him. I have to apologize for the stupid penalties the Vikings did that caused them to kick for 3 instead of get a TD. They caught that bug from Dallas last week. That makes a huge difference!!!
Yeah, Culpepper didn't look as sharp. Again, though, the coaches needed to bring him back to earth and tell him to stop double clutching. Either throw it or run it, but make a strong decision. I gotta give credit to the Eagle's defense, they did a good job of confusing him.
