VikesCentric: Cassel is trending, for all the wrong reasons

The Minnesota Vikings looked as though they'd put a terrible few days behind them when they scored on their first drive against the New England Patriots on Sunday. Adrian Peterson's replacement scored a touchdown, the defense held the Patriots to a 3-and-out and most seemed right with the world . . . until the roof fell in.

Four Minnesota turnovers plus a blocked-kick-six later and the Patriots put up 30 unanswered points to blowout Minnesota in their home opener. The Vikings offense self-destructed and the defense couldn't hang quite hang on, while the special teams offered no help. The Vikings coaches suddenly have a whole bunch of unanswered questions to address this week.

Trending

If TCF Bank Stadium were a Twitter account, the name of Teddy Bridgewater would have been trending there on Sunday afternoon. Vikings quarterback Matt Cassel's poor performance led to several chants for his backup and they won't likely abate soon.

Cassel's numbers were bad (19-36, 202 yards, four interceptions and 39.1 rating) and they don't tell the complete story. After starting strong on the opening drive by finding Kyle Rudolph a couple times and throwing a touchdown pass to Matt Asiata, Cassel must have felt sorry for his old buddy Tom Brady, and reverted to career backup mode. He threw two picks, overthrew and underthrew open receivers and got caught looking around in the pocket too long.

In the second half, he squelched a decent drive by throwing his third pick of the game and essentially ending the Vikings hopes for a comeback. Cassel was under duress at times, but much of the problems were of his own making. His old coach Bill Belichick knew how to neutralize him, as the Patriots adjusted after that opening drive and never looked back. Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer announced that Cassel would start next weekend in New Orleans, but another performance like this one, and the Teddy chants could get deafening.

Running back Matt Asiata stepped into the starting role vacated by the deactivated Peterson and performed fairly well. He got the Vikings on the board first in the game with a 25-yard touchdown reception from Cassel. While his rushing numbers weren't anything to write home about it, much less to repeat in casual conversation (13 rushes for 36 yards and 2.8 average), Asiata made up for it with his hands, catching five passes for 48 yards and a touchdown. Asiata ran hard, delivering blows on defenders at times like his predecessor. He demonstrated that the cupboard is not bare in the running back department, but Vikings fans are not brimming with confidence without Peterson either.

Head coach Mike Zimmer would not address it in his post-game press conference, intimating his staff would potentially address it early this week. Talk about Peterson and perhaps a national discussion on corporal punishment should keep it alive for quite some time to come.

Worth Defending

The Vikings defense weren't defending Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman in the first half of the game. While the unit's focus was on tight Rob Gronkowski (no catches in the first half) and running back Shane Vereen (one catch for no yards in the game), Edelman ran wild in amongst the secondary. In the first half alone he caught five passes for 69 yards and a touchdown. Edelman (and occasionally the referees) gave Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes fits for most of the day. In the third quarter, Brady changed things up and decided to throw to Gronkowski (4 receptions for 32 yards) and the Vikings didn't know who to cover. You have to pick your poison against a quarterback like Brady, and on Sunday he gave the Vikings a lethal dose.

It's worth defending the defensive performance as a whole, as the Vikings offense put the defense in several tough spots with four turnovers, including an interception returned down to the one-yard line and a blocked field goal that was returned for a score. Take away those two plays when the defense wasn't on the field, and the game is more manageable and the defense doesn't look as bad as the final score indicates. Although they only got to Brady for one sack and didn't create any turnovers (both of which helped them mightily last week), the defense only gave up 292 total yards and for all intents and purpose, just 16 points. It's hard to lay this blowout at their feet.

It's not offered with much joy, but keeping Cassel in the game despite four interceptions was the right call. Cassel was brutal. The first pick was thrown against a slight wind and held up long enough for safety Devin McCourty to race over and make an easy pick. The second one was a combo screw-up between Cassel and Jennings: Jennings stopped the route, perhaps reading that Cassel should throw to his back shoulder, and Cassel did not. Jennings was blanketed (all game) by Darrelle Revis, so Cassel should have gone somewhere else. The third pick he forced one into a covered Cordarrelle Patterson and the fourth he was high and behind to Asiata. He struggled mightily, like he has sometimes in the past, but it still wasn't time to indoctrinate Bridgewater—nor is it next week in New Orleans. The Vikings have to ride a bit longer with Cassel and see if he can play better against the rest of this tough early schedule. But if it continues to be "Cassel Danger" we won't be advocating that "Cassel Keep" playing.

The bloom of the Vikings' season opening win is officially off the rose. We can now stop thinking that the Vikings are going to win most of their games this season. As much as the blowout win instilled confidence, it might have also created some false bravado. Reality hit with a thud on Sunday, and suddenly the future doesn't look so bright for this team. They head to New Orleans next week, where that 0-2 Saints will be fighting mad to get a win. The season is by no means over, but the Vikings need to get back down to earth and get back to work. Wins in the NFL come to those who can dig them out of the dirt.

Special teams coach Mike Priefer's suspension was originally three games long, but it was announced on Sunday night that it has been reduced to two games and he will be reinstated on Monday, Sept. 15. That is good news for the team. All things went well with the special teams unit the first week, but the only impact made by them against the Patriots was negative with the blocked field goal that turned into a touchdown. Priefer is likely chomping at the bit to get back on the field, and it looks like the team could use him.

While I don't think that all the NFL players' off-the-field problems can and should be attributed to the fact they play professional football, the cluster of occurrences keeps growing and is hard to ignore. The personal problems that NFL players are involved in happen to people in most every walk of life, but since the common denominator here is the NFL, the NFL must do something about it . . . and soon.

The high profile of the league and continual instances of criminal behavior are threatening the NFL's popularity and growth. Whether it is better education, closer monitoring of players' lives or some other kind of intervention, the NFL has to do a better job of preparing their young hires for real life and policing their own.

No employer is ever responsible for its employees once they leave their place of business, but those actions do reflect on that business. So, if you want to keep them working for you and representing your "brand" you must take some responsibility for the kind of citizens you hire. And if you can't influence their off-field behavior in a more positive manner, the only way to improve how it reflects on you is to cut them loose.