Rich Gannon : Vikes favorite to win NFC North

[HarveyWallbangers]

Ranked 11th in the league last year, but, IMO, underachieved. I can't see our defense getting any worse, barring injury. I think Cullen will be healthy and ready to go, Harrell has the potential to have an impact, Bigby and or Collins and or Rouse will be solid, Al and CW will man the corners and maybe Patrick Lee can have an impact. Kampman will be Kampman, Pickett should keep it up, Hawk can only get better, Chillar will help.

I think we can be top 10. That is great, IMO.

11th in yards--which is a stupid way to rank defenses. If you look at all defensive stats (yards allowed, points allowed, sacks, turnovers, 3rd down %, rush avg, and opposing passer rating), we were a top 10 defense. We weren't great, but we were good. I expect more of the same this year.

Still, our defense was better than Minnesota's defense. Jared Allen very well could even it out. We'll see. They have some talent. They always have. I'm not sure what's the problem. Maybe coaching.

[MadtownPacker]

Rastak has been a fan since day 1 right? Maybe he is the curse.

Either way, wasn't Gannon a queen himself? Who cares what that shithead thinks. He is still probably hearing bells froo when Siragusa plopped on him in the 2002 AFC championship.

[cpk1994]

Rastak has been a fan since day 1 right? Maybe he is the curse.

Either way, wasn't Gannon a queen himself? Who cares what that shithead thinks. He is still probably hearing bells froo when Siragusa plopped on him in the 2002 AFC championship.

To be fair to Rich, he did take a lot of shots to the head in his playing days. He's not totally sound upstairs.

[3irty1]

Until they get a competent QB and coach I don't see them doing anything out of the ordinary.

The Packers are still the youngest team in the league which means we can expect new stars to emerge from our roster every year as their lights go on. McCarthy is the real deal. The NFC North is ours to lose imo.

[Tarlam!]

All you people slamming the vikes, saying they have no QB and claiming the Pack is the favourite need a reality check. They made some decent moves this off season and they have a beast at RB that is no longer a rookie.

We made one significant move, and that's at the QB position. As it stands, their QB has over a season of starts, ours has zero.

I hope you are all correct in what you are saying, but at this stage, I think Gannon is making a fair appraisal. Until I actually SEE A-Rod beat another NFL team, he's just a first year starter. And we all know, first year starters struggle. I'd love for him to beat the Vikes in the opener.

I'm just glad we play them at home first and not in their place. That levels the playing field a bit. I know M3 won't be underestimating them like a lot of people here.

[Fritz]

Re: Rich Gannon : Vikes favorite to win NFC North

Former NFL MVP QB Rich Gannon, optimistic that Vikings QB Tarvaris Jackson can lead his team to the top of it’s division and have a breakout year in 2008, as quoted in the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune: "I'm excited. I got a chance to go out there a little bit, and I watched — really, I wanted to look at Tarvaris and see where he has come in just the one short year — and I got a chance to watch some film and sit down with [coach Brad] Childress and really look at him, and talk about him, and evaluate him. I think he's made great strides. I think he's a very athletic guy, very gifted, and the big thing for him this year is just consistency." Gannon added: "He's got to play 16 games, he only finished 12 games a year ago, he needs to play 16 games. He needs to be more efficient and more consistent. And if he can do those two things — with the running game they have, the offensive line, they've upgraded their receivers, they're going to be better defensively — there's no reason why that team cannot win the NFC North."

I think Gannon's just saying the guy has a big penis.

It would be interesting to see who the off-season champions are every year. I believe Minnesota would rank near the top. They've been winning the NFC every January through August every year since Denny Green got there.

[Tarlam!]

I just don't get why you are so dismissive, Fritz. Have you studied film?

[Scott Campbell]

All you people slamming the vikes, saying they have no QB and claiming the Pack is the favourite need a reality check. They made some decent moves this off season and they have a beast at RB that is no longer a rookie.

We made one significant move, and that's at the QB position. As it stands, their QB has over a season of starts, ours has zero.

I hope you are all correct in what you are saying, but at this stage, I think Gannon is making a fair appraisal. Until I actually SEE A-Rod beat another NFL team, he's just a first year starter. And we all know, first year starters struggle. I'd love for him to beat the Vikes in the opener.

I'm just glad we play them at home first and not in their place. That levels the playing field a bit. I know M3 won't be underestimating them like a lot of people here.

I think the Vikes should be favored, and it plays a little bit to our advantage anyway. Let them have that target on their backs. I'm in agreement with you about their roster, and would not be surprised to see them have a very good season. I also would not be surprised to see them stink it up again, because piss poor QB play can take good teams out of a lot of games.

I think Rodgers showed more against Dallas than Jackson showed all of last year.

[Iron Mike]

The Queens win the NFC North EVERY offseason.

[Tarlam!]

Scott, I didn't watch Jackson, even when we played them. I was always watching our DEs to see if they could sack him. I did watch AP. If he stays healthy, we'll need 8 in the box to stop him. That alone will take some heat off of Jackson.

I am comforted that Harrell supposedly does the run stuffer well (at least, I think I heard that).

The Dallas game went a long way to making me an even bigger A-Rod fan, but, I aint buying his jersey in October. I'll be proudly bearing my #4 and shopping for a #80 in all likelihood!

I'm just saying, A-Rod still has a lot to prove.

[Bretsky]

All you people slamming the vikes, saying they have no QB and claiming the Pack is the favourite need a reality check. They made some decent moves this off season and they have a beast at RB that is no longer a rookie.

We made one significant move, and that's at the QB position. As it stands, their QB has over a season of starts, ours has zero.

I hope you are all correct in what you are saying, but at this stage, I think Gannon is making a fair appraisal. Until I actually SEE A-Rod beat another NFL team, he's just a first year starter. And we all know, first year starters struggle. I'd love for him to beat the Vikes in the opener.

I'm just glad we play them at home first and not in their place. That levels the playing field a bit. I know M3 won't be underestimating them like a lot of people here.

But the Vikings don't have a starting QB. The more I watched Jackson the less I liked him. I'm not sold on AROD either, but why call the Vikes the favorite when we were 13-3 and they were well...several games behind that.
Did their offseason activity and our lack of it mean that much ?

TT certainly has full faith in AROD or he should have made a deal with a veteran with some experience. Furthermore, if the Vikings do win the division next year the posters who are not infatuated with TT as a GM will have some legit concerns to take up with TT because MN has made some nice moves in the offseason while we sit on a load of cap space and as usual will surely frontload some deals again......making next year once again healthy.

[retailguy]

But the Vikings don't have a starting QB. The more I watched Jackson the less I liked him. I'm not sold on AROD either, but why call the Vikes the favorite when we were 13-3 and they were well...several games behind that.
Did their offseason activity and our lack of it mean that much ?

TT certainly has full faith in AROD or he should have made a deal with a veteran with some experience. Furthermore, if the Vikings do win the division next year the posters who are not infatuated with TT as a GM will have some legit concerns to take up with TT because MN has made some nice moves in the offseason while we sit on a load of cap space and as usual will surely frontload some deals again......making next year once again healthy.

But your point inherently "assumes" that we would have been 13-3 without Favre, and that's not likely. It also assumes that there will be no drop off with AROD, that he won't need time to get "up to speed". That's not realistic either.

The Vikings should have "gained" on expectations this offseason. Will it translate? Who knows...

[HarveyWallbangers]

But your point inherently "assumes" that we would have been 13-3 without Favre, and that's not likely. It also assumes that there will be no drop off with AROD, that he won't need time to get "up to speed". That's not realistic either.

Isn't that just one assumption really? Is it really an assumption? It's more that he thinks that the dropoff in Favre to Rodgers might not cost 5 victories.

[retailguy]

But your point inherently "assumes" that we would have been 13-3 without Favre, and that's not likely. It also assumes that there will be no drop off with AROD, that he won't need time to get "up to speed". That's not realistic either.

Isn't that just one assumption really? Is it really an assumption? It's more that he thinks that the dropoff in Favre to Rodgers might not cost 5 victories.

Maybe it is only one assumption, but if the victories don't drop by five, which they shouldn't, then what happens to the Vikings? They stay static? What's the basis for that? Just Tavaris Jackson? So, he's not going to improve, but AROD will? Isn't that just homerism?

[HarveyWallbangers]

Maybe it is only one assumption, but if the victories don't drop by five, which they shouldn't, then what happens to the Vikings? They stay static? What's the basis for that? Just Tavaris Jackson? So, he's not going to improve, but AROD will? Isn't that just homerism?

I think the argument is that Jackson hasn't shown anything that makes anybody think he'll be a good QB. He's gotten a chance and sucked. Rodgers just hasn't had a chance, and he looked solid in his only meaningful action in a tough environment in a big game.