From KFAN.com
The Vikings brought an 8-1 record into Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks, and despite essentially having clinched the NFC North while averaging over 30 points per game, many people still felt the Purple had yet to put together a complete, dominant performance.
That is, until Sunday.
“We just talked about how fortunate we were to be 8-1, and (I asked) for a show of hands last night, ‘Who feels like we played our best game so far?’” Brad Childress said. “There wasn’t a guy. It’s so important. How good are you? How good do you want to be?”
On Sunday, the Vikings showed they may just belong at the top of the NFL food chain. Beating a 3-6 Seahawks team 35-9 is certainly no great accomplishment in itself — some would say such a blowout is to be expected if the Vikings consider themselves contenders.
But the way Minnesota toyed with Seattle for 60 minutes in all three phases was a refreshing sight.
431 yards of total offense to Seattle’s 212 (much of which came during garbage time against Viking backups). Four yards rushing for Seattle (FOUR!). A 35-3 lead early in the 4th quarter. Zero turnovers.
Let’s just say it’s obvious that things are going well when a healthy Brett Favre can trade his helmet for a baseball cap in the third quarter and watch backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson guide the ship for the final 15-plus minutes.
“I feel like this was the most complete game of the season,” said Visanthe Shiancoe, who caught eight passes for 78 yards and a touchdown. “When it comes to all three phases — special teams, offense, and defense — we fed off each other today. A lot of momentum out there, and everybody had a piece of the pie I feel in this win.”
Indeed, everybody did have a piece of the pie, certainly offensively. Three receivers finished with at least 75 yards (Shiancoe, Sidney Rice, Percy Harvin). Four receivers caught a touchdown pass (Shiancoe, Rice, Harvin, Bernard Berrian). Both Chester Taylor and Adrian Peterson ran for more than 70 yards. Brett Favre set an NFL record with his 22nd career four-touchdown performance, and he set a Vikings record by completing 88% of his passes (22-of-25).
“It was pretty efficient,” Favre said about his performance. “I think it was a good example of really utilizing everybody. Sidney didn’t have a 200-yard game. Everybody had a hand in it.
“We didn’t hurt ourselves, but I think there is so much more for us to achieve. That goes without saying. We obviously have put ourselves in a very good position, as we have every week. There is still a lot of football left to be played. Up to this point, our guys have no lost out focus. That has gotten us to where we are.”
It’s almost impossible to determine who the best team is in the NFL right now. Certainly the Vikings are in the mix, along with New Orleans, Indianapolis, New England, and maybe a couple others. But there’s no question the Vikings continue to grow and get better each week, and with the weapons they possess on both sides of the ball, it’s fair to say we probably still haven’t seen the peak.
“They demand — for real, no bull — they demand attention out there. You can’t ignore this (guy) going down the field,” Shiancoe said, pointing to Sidney Rice, and talking about his fellow offensive teammates. “Did you see him last week? Did you see him the weeks before that? You can’t ignore Percy, you damn sure can’t ignore Bernard, let alone Adrian in the backfield.”
Seattle head coach Jim Mora voiced a similar opinion — a feeling of helplessness, judging by his words.
“We played a good team, a very good team,” Mora said. “They are probably one of the most complete teams we have faced this year, offensively, defensively, and special teams, they are solid throughout.
“They do not have a weakness on their football team. They are good all around, they are big and physical and fast. There are a lot of good football players on that football team. We hope we could get a block made and spring something. They wouldn’t let us.”
And that leads us back to the question at hand.
“How good can you be?” Childress said, referring back to his Saturday night speech. “That is the push as we continue forward here. I saw that come to light in a bunch of different ways. I’m not going to say there weren’t negative plays or things we want back.
“They got nine (wins) and we got six more to see how good we can possibly be as we push forward here.”
Defense holds Seahawks to franchise low in rush yards
Over the last couple weeks, when trying to find leaks in a team full of body armor, poor tackling came to the forefront as one of the soft spots. The absence of Antoine Winfield definitely hurts, but coaches and players pointed to poor tackling as the main reason why opposing teams sprung big plays during the first half of the season.
Well, even though Seattle won’t be playing much football in January, the Vikings appear to have fixed some of their tackling woes by holding the Seahawks to a franchise-low four yards rushing (12 attempts).
Defensively, this was the second-best run-stopping effort in franchise history for Minnesota. In 2006, the Vikings held Detroit to -3 yards on the ground.
“We say it all the time — stop the run,” Ben Leber said. “This team (the Seahawks), I think they want to pass first and run second. We still came out with the attitude that we were going to stop the run. Our front four did a great job controlling the line of scrimmage.”
After leading the NFL in stopping the run for three seasons, the Vikings have actually fallen out of the top five this season in both rush yards allowed per game and per carry. And they’re well aware.
“It’s number one on our list of things we want to get accomplished for the season,” Chad Greenway said about stopping the run. “Our defensive front is so good that it’s something we should be there and be number one. We haven’t been there this year, so it’s good to have a day like today. We need some more of those if we want to get back in this battle.”
As if the Vikings defense hasn’t generated enough momentum over the last couple weeks, Winfield (foot) is likely to return against Chicago next weekend.
Let the crescendo continue.
News, Notes, Tidbits
- After it was announced to a sold-out Mall of America Field crowd that Brett Favre set an NFL record with 22 career four-touchdown performances, his receivers all ran over to congratulate him, and fans started chanting, ‘MVP, MVP, MVP!’
“It’s fitting,” John Sullivan said.
“He’s an incredible player. Nothing surprises me at this point. He’s the best player I’ve seen, and we know that if we protect him he’s going to make plays to receivers down the field.”
Favre has now thrown 21 touchdown passes to only three interceptions on the season. He’s on pace for the best year, statistically, of his career. Interestingly, Favre said he hasn’t always felt 100% confident.
“The fact that we are 9-1, you would think that my confidence would be sky-high,” Favre said. “It’s not that I’m not confident, but my wife would attest to this and actually Darrell (Bevell) would as well, he probably wouldn’t admit it. But going into this season and debating on whether or not to play… I let doubt and maybe some insecurities seep in.
“I’m getting back to that confidence that I had when I didn’t know any better. I was pretty good. I’m feeling more confident. I think I’m more of a realist at this age, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t go out and turn it loose and play, because my arm feels great. Physically, I feel pretty good. I don’t feel like I’m 25, but I still feel like I can make a lot of the plays that I used to make. A key for me, and really for any player, is you can’t second guess. You’ve got to turn it loose, and this year I’ve been doing that.”
- Quarterback controversy, perhaps?
OK, no. But how about Tarvaris Jackson entering the game near the end of the third quarter and completing 6-of-8 passes for 77 yards and a touchdown? Not bad.
“I’m watching Brett Favre instead of other guys,” Jackson said when asked about how he’s progressed from last year to now. “Not to disrespect those guys (past Viking quarterbacks), they’re good players also, but Brett’s a Hall of Famer, and he’s done a great job leading our team to a 9-1 record so far. It’s a bit different being that I didn’t get benched this year. It was a coach’s decision to bring in a guy like that. You want to be mad, but it’s kind of hard to be mad.”
- Seahawks’ WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh had a front row seat to watch the offense he turned down in favor of a fat contract with Seattle this past offseason. The veteran receiver felt more comfortable with Matt Hasselbeck as his quarterback than either Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels. Of course, had Houshmandzadeh known Favre was going to be in the mix, he may have made a different decision.
“I mean, I am human like anybody else,” Houshmandzadeh said. “I think about it, you know. But there is nothing I can do about it. It is what it is.
Houshmandzadeh had four catches for 36 yards on Sunday, and he was booed mildly a couple times during the game.
Must be tough to watch his former team (Cincinnati) and the team he turned down (Minnesota) headed for the playoffs while the Seahawks toil four games under .500.
