Dan Wiederer began covering the Vikings in 2011, enthusiastically delivering insight on the team across the Star Tribune's print and digital products. Prior to joining the Access Vikings team, he spent seven seasons covering ACC basketball at The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer. He also covered the Chicago Bears in 2003 and 2004. Follow him on Twitter @StribDW.
Mark Craig has covered football and the NFL the past 20 years, including the Browns from 1991-95 and the Vikings and the NFL since 2003. Since 2008, Craig has served as one of the 44 Pro Football Hall of Fame selectors. He can be followed on Twitter at @markcraignfl.
Posts about AFC
Behind Enemy Lines: J.J. Watt has been an animal all season
Posted by: Dan Wiederer Updated: December 20, 2012 - 2:23 PM
As the Vikings prepare for Sunday’s game with Houston at Reliant Stadium, we asked John McClain, who covers the Texans and the NFL for the Houston Chronicle, to give us his up-close-and-personal scouting report. Here are four things you need to know …
1) Without one of the top four quarterbacks in NFL history, you might not beat the Texans this season.
Through 14 games, Houston has stumbled just twice. In Week 14, New England’s Tom Brady had no trouble handling Houston’s blitzes, throwing for 296 yards and four touchdowns to ignite a 42-14 Patriots blowout. Eight weeks earlier, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers lit the Texans up for 338 yards and six touchdown passes in a 42-24 Packers win.
Rodgers was nothing short of surgical in his dominance. Four of his TD tosses came against perfect coverage. Another came with a blitzer hitting him as he released the ball.
Both losses humbled Houston but did not cause panic.
“Those two losses weren’t pretty,” McClain said. “But when you take a step back, they ran into what I believe are two of the four greatest quarterbacks in history, both at the top of their games. I put Rodgers and Brady in that class along with Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana.”
Needless to say, Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder isn’t quite on that same list.
The Vikings will also be facing a Texans squad Sunday hungry to lock-up home field advantage throughout the playoffs, a goal the entire city has rallied behind.
“The road to the Super Bowl has never gone through Houston,” McClain said. “Going back to the ‘Luv Ya Blue’ era with Bum Phillips, Earl Campbell, Elvin Bethea, they never had home field and lost two AFC Championship games in Pittsburgh with the feeling that if ‘Well, had we played this game in the Astrodome we would have won.
“And then in the Run-and-Shoot Era with Jack Pardee, Warren Moon, Mike Munchak and Bruce Matthews in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, they went to the playoffs every year. But they never had the home-field advantage.”
McClain pauses.
“So two things we’re hearing about every day this week are home-field advantage and Adrian Peterson.”
2) Speaking of Peterson, the Texans may have the best chance of any defense this season to hold the Vikings star in check.
Houston ranks fifth in the NFL in rushing defense, allowing 93.2 yards per game. Obviously, the Texans have yet to face a back as explosive as Peterson. But having the ability to consistently lockdown against the run has been a big part of the team’s success.
Only two backs this year have topped 100 yards against Houston. In Week 4, Chris Johnson went for 141 yards on 25 carries. Last weekend, Indianapolis rookie Vick Ballard rushed for 105 yards.
With Houston blowing Tennessee out, Johnson got big chunks of his yardage on draw plays late in the game. Ballard, meanwhile, had 60 of his yards on one series in the third quarter last Sunday.
Even with linebacker Brian Cushing being lost for the season in Week 5 with a torn ACL, the Texans have remained sturdy up the middle of their defense with nose tackle Shaun Cody and linebackers Bradie James and Darryl Sharpton playing well.
But …
“This is the game Cushing would have helped the most,” McClain said. “He would have covered Peterson on pass routes. He would have been the guy between the tackles. This would be the time they’d really need Cushing to try to contain Peterson. Because overall, they’re just in awe of him.”
3) J.J. Watt is as good as advertised. Maybe even better.
Consider this. McClain has been covering professional football since the mid 1970s and he’s certain he’s never seen a more dominant season from a defensive player than the one Watt’s having.
Pick whatever stat you’d like, it’s bound to shed light on Watt’s dominance. He has 19.5 sacks, 38 quarterback hits and 15 pass deflections. He has also forced three fumbles and recovered two. Plus, he’s a beats against the run.
“Coupled with having the talent, he’s very coachable,” McClain said. “He takes coaching and has really learned. And then on top of that, he has that high motor. It just doesn’t stop.”
Five of Watt’s deflections have led to interceptions with his combination of strength, effort and timing paying off.
“He’s become very good at kind of pushing off and jumping,” McClain said. “Not just leaping but pushing back a couple of steps and jumping. He’s so quick about it that nobody’s been able to stop it so far.”
4) Receiver Andre Johnson is back on the top of his game.
Hamstring issues in both legs hindered Johnson in 2011. A groin issue slowed him some early this season.
Back in early October, following a four-game slump in which Johnson totaled nine catches for 164 yards, doubt began to creep in on whether his dominance had disappeared.
Yet since Week 6, Johnson has been back to his old self.
“Everybody was thinking, this guy turned 31, hit the wall and couldn’t play anymore,” McClain said. “But he didn’t say very much, kept at it. And now he’s on a rampage over the last nine games in which he’s averaging 8.4 catches and 119.6 yards [per contest].”
Johnson’s has 43 career games with at least 100 receiving yards and his 16 career games with at least 10 receptions and 100 yards are the most in NFL history, tied with New England’s Wes Welker.
Final report: Vikings 36, Rams 22
Posted by: Dan Wiederer Updated: December 16, 2012 - 3:11 PMPostgame snapshot from the Edward Jones Dome, where the Vikings beat the Rams 36-22.
Good news: The Vikings defense came to play Sunday afternoon. And it started on the first series. A Brian Robison sack was the biggest play on the Rams’ opening possession, forcing a punt that allowed the Vikings to start their first TD drive in Rams territory. The offense responded with a 45-yard march and the Vikings took a quick 7-0 lead. In building a 30-7 halftime advantage, the Vikings defense got sacks from Robison, Christian Ballard and Erin Henderson and takeaways from Kevin Williams and Everson Griffen. Griffen returned his second quarter interception 29 yards for a touchdown. The Vikings finished plus-two in turnover margin. Quarterback Christian Ponder (17-for-24, 131 yards plus a 5-yard TD run) steered clear of costly mistakes. And, oh yeah, that Adrian Peterson kid busted off an 82-yard touchdown run as part of a ho-hum 24-carry, 212-yard day.
Bad news: On a day where so much went right, it’s hard to find much bad news. But the Vikings’ clock management again seemed suspect at the end of the first half. They took over for their final drive with 1:00 left at their own 47 and got four consecutive Ponder completions netting 29 yards. But the final pass of the half was a strange 2-yarder to Jerome Simpson. And with timeouts left, the Vikings probably could have run a few more plays. Instead, they let the clock run down to 0:04, called timeout and let Blair Walsh kick one of his five field goals on the day.
Extra point: With two games left in the regular season, Peterson has 1,812 rushing yards. He needs to average 147 per game in contests against the Texans and Packers to break Eric Dickerson's NFL single-season record of 2,105 yards.
Next up: The Vikings will travel to Houston next weekend. The Texans improved to 12-2 Sunday with a 29-17 home win over the Colts, clinching the AFC South title.
Jared Allen calls NFL playoff expansion idea 'stupid'
Posted by: Dan Wiederer Updated: December 13, 2012 - 1:03 PMYou know that idea NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has to expand the playoffs, maybe to 14 teams, perhaps even 16? Vikings defensive end Jared Allen thinks that proposal stinks.
“It’s stupid,” Allen said Thursday morning at Winter Park. “I think it’s a dumb idea. The reason our league is so much better than other leagues, I think, is because of that competition. Every game means something. There are 162 games in baseball and you’re like, ‘Ehhh.’ No one really watches until the end, right? Basketball, same way. There’s no real significance on every game. And I think you damage the sport if an 8-8 team [has a greater playoff chance]. You know what I mean? Now our games become less significant each week if you know, like, ‘Oh, I can still lost half my games and sneak into the playoffs.’”
Allen’s criticism of the idea is even sharper when considering the context. With an expanded playoff system, his 7-6 Vikings would be in much better position to be playing into January this year. Heck, this is Allen’s ninth NFL season. He’s gone to the playoffs only three times – in 2006 with the Chiefs and in 2008 and ’09 with the Vikings.
Still, Allen thinks the current system is “great.”
“With all these changes, it’s not necessarily always a good thing,” he said. “I know it probably is for owners. They make more money. And TV and all that good stuff. But at some point, the identity of our league and what it stands on and why it’s so good is because every game means something.
In 2005, Kansas City went 10-6 and missed the AFC playoffs with Jacksonville (12-4) and Cincinnati (11-5) nabbing the wild cards.
“But that motivated you for next year,” Allen said, “to try to win 11.”
Week 14 Picks & Power Rankings: Bears vulnerable at the Dome
Posted by: Mark Craig Updated: December 7, 2012 - 9:37 AMWeek 13 Picks & Power Rankings: December nears, so Pats get top spot
Posted by: Mark Craig Updated: November 30, 2012 - 10:35 AMADVERTISEMENT
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