Sharpening the Horns - A Minnesota Vikings Franchise (Madden 25)

[Shmanky13]

I'll post the rest of Around the League a little later this is all I had time for right now.

[Shmanky13]

QB:

Aaron Rodgers was not afraid of any pass he took against the Falcons. He threw for over 300 yards while slinging 4 TDs. If you drafted him in the first round of your league it was definitely worth it. Rodgers should continue this success or possibly find even more success next week against one of the worst defenses in the league the Oakland Raiders.

HB:

Adrian Peterson was back to his normal fantasy superstar self on Sunday. He ran for 125 yards and also caught a 6 yard pass. The real gold here is his 2 rushing touchdowns. He was the focal point of their offense as he should be. The Vikings should keep relying on him with Christian Ponder at QB so expect more of the same from Peterson.

WR:

Emmanuel Sanders posted his first 100+ receiving yard game of the season with 160 yards and 2 touchdowns. Nobody was expecting this and you can't exactly predict who will have the big day in the Packers weapon filled offense. If you started him, congrats. Sanders had a great year last year with 1,447 and 11 touchdowns so I expect his numbers to start rising to that level this year.

TE:

Fred Davis was point-per-reception gold this week with 11 grabs from RG3. He also had decent receiving yards with 67. I wouldn't be too quick to grab Davis off the waiver wire, give him one more week to see if he's hit a groove.

DEF/ST:

The Vikings defense crushed the Oakland Raiders 32nd ranked offense this week. The defense created turnover after turnover with 6 interceptions on Chad Henne. Players with picks include Harrison Smith, A.J. Jefferson, Josh Robinson, Xavier Rhodes, and 2 from linebacker Chad Greenway. They also forced 5 fumbles, rookie Christian Jones created one of the key fumbles. Fantasy teams also got points from the 6 sacks and safety the Vikings defense managed to get. This unit is starting to come on. Start them again next week against the Bears.

K:

Mason Crosby was part of the blowout over the Atlanta Falcons this weekend. He contributed 3 field goals, one from 53 yards. He also made all 5 extra points he attempted for a total of 14 kicking points. This is a great game for a fantasy kicker and I would recommend to keep starting him because of the Packers great offense.

NFL Players of the Week

NFC OFFENSE:
Packers QB Aaron Rodgers: Aaron Rodgers went up against a talented Falcons secondary but had no trouble finding his receivers all day. He especially had no trouble finding Emmanuel Sanders who had 160 yards receiving. Rodgers completed more than 70% of his passes. Elite. 25-34, 313 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT, 2 att, 6 yards, 0 TD

NFC DEFENSE:

Panthers CB (R) Justin Gilbert: Justin Gilbert made a great impact on the Panthers defense this week and he is helping turning it into one of the most feared defenses in the NFL. He intercepted a pass and took it to the house while he also had 9 tackles. 9 TAK, 1 INT, 1 TD

AFC OFFENSE:

Jets QB Geno Smith: Geno conducted a great game at his position except he did not come away with the win. He threw 2 TDs and no interceptions, he also threw 343 yards. Geno is still learning some of the NFL in his 2nd season as starter. Once he gets that down he'll be a very good quarterback. 25-44, 343 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT, 5 att, 9 yards, 0 TD

AFC DEFENSE:

Browns MLB D'Qwell Jackson: Jackson was a prototype MLB and he deserves player of the week. He had 13 tackles all over the field. He was sprinting everywhere and you could find him right next to the ball on every play. He also had 3 sacks which meant he was rushing the passer very well. 13 TAK, 3 SACK

NFL Post-Week 6 Standings

NFL Standings - Updated: Oct 13, 2014
NFC EAST	W	L	T	PF	PA
New York Giants	4	2	0	139	106
Dallas Cowboys	3	2	1	106	108
Washington Redskins	2	2	1	119	103
Philadelphia Eagles	2	3	0	125	127
NFC NORTH	W	L	T	PF	PA
Green Bay Packers	3	2	0	157	127
Minnesota Vikings	3	2	0	132	120
Chicago Bears	3	3	0	134	139
Detroit Lions	1	4	0	92	136
NFC SOUTH	W	L	T	PF	PA
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	4	1	0	117	74
Carolina Panthers	4	2	0	130	118
Atlanta Falcons	3	3	0	140	153
New Orleans Saints	2	4	0	131	125
NFC WEST	W	L	T	PF	PA
Seattle Seahawks	6	0	0	193	109
Arizona Cardinals	4	2	0	139	96
San Francisco 49ers	3	2	0	104	104
St. Louis Rams	1	4	0	95	122
AFC EAST	W	L	T	PF	PA
Buffalo Bills	4	1	0	133	50
New England Patriots	3	3	0	108	100
New York Jets	1	4	1	82	135
Miami Dolphins	0	6	0	67	166
AFC NORTH	W	L	T	PF	PA
Baltimore Ravens	4	2	0	158	124
Pittsburgh Steelers	3	3	0	126	146
Cleveland Browns	3	3	0	114	100
Cincinnati Bengals	1	5	0	119	166
AFC SOUTH	W	L	T	PF	PA
Jacksonville Jaguars	3	2	1	113	100
Houston Texans	2	3	0	88	119
Indianapolis Colts	2	4	0	102	128
Tennessee Titans	2	4	0	91	154
AFC WEST	W	L	T	PF	PA
Kansas City Chiefs	4	1	0	119	97
Denver Broncos	4	2	0	170	115
San Diego Chargers	3	3	0	147	146
Oakland Raiders	1	4	0	77	154

2015 NFL Draft Top 32 Big Board

1. SS Karlos Williams, Florida State, 24 years, 230 pounds, 6'1"
2. LT Kaleb Johnson, Rutgers, 23 years, 306 pounds, 6'4"
3. LOLB Jordan Hicks, Texas, 23 years, 238 pounds, 6'2"
4. LT Cyrus Kouandjio, Alabama, 22 years, 310 pounds, 6'6"
5. FS Ha Ha Clinton Dix, Alabama, 22 years, 208 pounds, 6'1"
6. LE Josh Shirley, Washington, 22 years, 232 pounds, 6'3"
7. HB Bishop Sankey, Washington, 23 years, 201 pounds, 5'10"
8. TE Colt Lyerla, Oregon, 22 years, 247 pounds, 6'5"
9. LT Micah Hatchie, Washington, 23 years, 293 pounds, 6'5"
10. QB Mark Leal, Virginia Tech, 23 years, 213 pounds, 6'1"
11. LT Tyrus Thompson, Oklahoma, 25 years, 316 pounds, 6'5"
12. LT Quinton Spain, West Virginia, 23 years, 335 pounds, 6'5"
13. HB Ka'Deem Carey, Arizona, 23 years, 198 pounds, 5'10"
14. RT Cedric Ogbuehi, Texas A&M, 24 years, 295 pounds, 6'5"
15. SS Lyndell Johnson, Oklahoma St., 23 years, 216 pounds, 6'3"
16. FS Calvin Pryor, Louisville, 23 years, 208 pounds, 6'2"
17. SS Vinnie Sunseri, Alabama, 22 years, 211 pounds, 6'0"
18. RT Cameron Fleming, Stanford, 23 years, 319 pounds, 6'6"
19. LOLB Chi Chi Ariguzo, Northwestern, 23 years, 222 pounds, 6'3"
20. QB Jeff Driskel, Florida, 21 years, 236 pounds, 6'4"
21. QB Blake Bell, Oklahoma, 24 years, 263 pounds, 6'6"
22. RE Alvin Dupree, Kentucky, 23 years, 256 pounds, 6'4"
23. LOLB Jake Ryan, Michigan, 25 years, 243 pounds, 6'3"
24. HB George Atkinson III, Notre Dame, 21 years, 211 pounds, 6'1"
25. WR Der'rikk Thompson, SMU, 23 years, 190 pounds, 5'11"
26. WR Jaxon Shipley, Texas, 23 years, 192 pounds, 6'1"
27. CB Bradley Roby, Ohio State, 25 years, 193 pounds, 5'11"
28. C Hronnis Grasu, Oregon, 23 years, 296 pounds, 6'3"
29. FS Braylon Webb, Missouri, 23 years, 206 pounds, 6'0"
30. MLB Bryce Hager, Baylor, 23 years, 238 pounds, 6'2"
31. CB Jonathan McKnight, Arizona, 25 years, 167 pounds, 5'11"
32. WR Malcolm Mitchell, Georgia, 24 years, 192, 6'1"

Key Transactions

Eagles sign LE Israel Idonije to 1 year, $910k
Eagles get a good veteran player on a "prove it" contract. Israel provides them with good depth and if he plays well, he could earn another contract from the club.

Patriots release HB Jeff Scott, sign HB Joe McKnight to 1 year, $750k
Patriots release rookie quickster Jeff Scott and sign a speedy veteran to a cheap contract. McKnight is known to be a solid returner, could he be in the Patriots return duty plans?

[Shmanky13]

Oakland promotes Braxton Miller to starter

After Oakland's ugly loss to the Vikings on Sunday, general manager Reggie Mckenzie informed the team that Chad Henne had seen his last game as starter for the team. He announced that #1 overall pick Braxton Miller would be starting for the remainder of the season.

On conference call Reggie said, "Our plan since the draft was to have a veteran QB start the season for our team, we wanted Braxton to learn as much as possible before giving him the starting job. Chad's play was unacceptable and we need to win games. There is a reason we took Braxton #1 and you are all about to find out".

Chad Henne threw 6 interceptions against the Vikings. His season totals are abysmal with a 54.5 QB rating. He threw for 982 yards, 7 TD, 8 INT, and completed just 43% of his passes. Henne was injured for a few plays against the Vikings and Braxton had 4 pass attempts completing 2 for 40 yards.

The Raiders have just 1 win and 4 losses and are at the bottom of the AFC West. Braxton Miller has the talent to win and get the Raiders back on track. The Raiders just want to win as always, and starting Miller gives them their best chance.

[Shmanky13]

Vikings re-sign Ole Miss rookie Jeff Scott

The Vikings have announced Friday that they have re-signed rookie HB Jeff Scott from Ole Miss. Jeff was with the team during preseason and played fairly well. Jeff Scott was on the Patriots roster for Week 6 but cut him after their game. Sources say right when the Vikings heard the news they called Scott's agent and got him on a flight to Minnesota.

Scott can play right away given he was a part of the team already this year. He may need a quick refresher of the playbook but for the most part he should be ready to go.

To make room for this signing, the team has released CB Marcus Sherels who they re-signed earlier in the year as their primary punt returner. Sherels returned 14 punts for an average of 13.1 yards per return. Those aren't bad numbers, but the team feels Jeff Scott gives them something better.

During the preseason, Jeff Scott was battling HB Andre Ellington for a roster spot, Ellington appeared to have won the job once Scott was cut. "There was some confusion in the front office; I hate to admit it. We wanted to keep Jeff on our team, but someone pulled the trigger and released him. We tried to get him back right away, but Jeff wanted to try his luck on another team. We are ecstatic to get him back and we are looking to get him in the game as soon as possible" , said Vikings GM Rick Spielman.

Spielman was also asked what role Scott will play on the team, "Coach Frazier will have a better answer for you than me, but we talked about how we could use him and we decided he would be our punt returner and we will also put him back by Cordarrelle on kick returns. We saw from his play at Ole Miss that he can be explosive. He may also play a third-down back role with Andre Ellington".

[Deuce2223]

Are there any options in Free Agency at QB to be a short term fix. Ponder obviously isn't the answer but if you are still trying to win this year, turning to Boyd might not be either. You could just turn him into another Ponder.

[Shmanky13]

Christian Ponder remains starter, Jeff Scott added to depth chart

There were not many changes to the depth chart this week, but the most surprising thing was Christian Ponder still starting at QB. He threw 5 interceptions last week against a Raiders team that is at the bottom of the league. If it wasn't for the defense's great play, the team would have lost by a mile.

Many fans are urging for a new quarterback, but it appears Frazier is sticking to his week 8 evaluation of the position. This is one of Ponder's last chances to prove himself.

TE John Carlson is injured so that shot Julius Thomas into the #2 spot and he looks to stay there for the long run. Backup FB Dorin Dickerson was once a TE in the league so he will be the #3 TE.

Newly acquired HB Jeff Scott gets the punt return duties and he will also help Cordarrelle Patterson with kickoffs.

Depth Chart - 2014
Regular Offense
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
WR	Greg Jennings	(R) Tevin Reese	Jerome Simpson	Joe Webb
TE	Kyle Rudolph	Julius Thomas	Dorin Dickerson
LT	Matt Kalil	Demarcus Love
LG	Jeff Baca	(R) Xavier Su'a Filo
C	John Sullivan	(R) Xavier Su'a Filo
RG	Brandon Fusco	Travis Bond
RT	Phil Loadholt	Robert Griffin
WR	Cordarrelle Patterson	Jarius Wright	Greg Childs
QB	Christian Ponder	McLeod Bethel-Thompson	(R) Tajh Boyd
FB	Rhett Ellison	Dorin Dickerson
HB	Adrian Peterson	Joe Banyard	Andre Ellington	(R) Jeff Scott
Base 4-3 Defense
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
LDE	Everson Griffen	D'Aundre Reed
LDT	Kevin Williams	Christian Ballard
RDT	Sharrif Floyd	Christian Ballard
RDE	Jared Allen	George Johnson
WLB	(R) Christian Jones	Gerald Hodges
MLB	Audie Cole	(R) Lamin Barrow
SLB	Chad Greenway	(R) Lamin Barrow
CB	Xavier Rhodes	Josh Robinson	(R) Ifo Ekpre Olomu
SS	Jamarca Sanford	(R) Craig Loston
FS	Harrison Smith	Robert Blanton
CB	A.J. Jefferson	Chris Cook
Special Teams
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
K	Blair Walsh
P	Jeff Locke
H	Jeff Locke
PR	(R) Jeff Scott	Cordarrelle Patterson
KR	Cordarrelle Patterson	(R) Jeff Scott
LS	John Sullivan

Week 7 Preview @ Bears

The Bears are an injury plagued team needing a win to stay in the race. They are coming off a big loss to the Panthers at home and need to regain some confidence. On offense they are missing key players like Matt Forte and Brandon Marshall. The Vikings #6 defense should do fairly well against this offense.

The Bears defense is also not as dominant as it used to be. It is dead last in rushing defense. Adrian Peterson is licking his lips just thinking about this matchup. Christian Ponder may struggle against the Bears secondary as they are 14th in the league.

On offense the Bears are led by QB Jay Cutler, especially because of the injuries to the other stars. The starting HB for the Bears will be Joique Bell, who has a very similar skill set to Matt Forte. Michael Bush will back him up and we expect to see both of them get a good workload.

With Brandon Marshall out, Alshon Jeffery will be the number 1 receiver on this Bears team. The rest of the wide receiver core is average with guys like Ramses Barden, Ricardo Lockette, and Earl Bennett. At TE they start Martellus Bennett, expect him to be Jay's go to target.

With the injury to starting C Ryan Cook, 1st round draft choice Gabe Ikard will get the start. The Vikings will test the rookie early in the game.

On defense, 2 rookie defensive ends will start for the Bears. Henry Anderson out of Stanford on the left side, and Jamil Merrell from Rutgers on the right side. These rookies have combined for only 1 sack all season, the Vikings tackles should handle them well. In the middle we have to go up against Corey Peters and Amobi Okoye, they have also recorded only 1 sack on the season.

D.J. Williams and Lance Briggs highlight the Bears linebackers, they are both 10 year veterans. They are both starting to slow down at this point in their career so AP will have a nice day versus them. The Bears secondary is definitely their strong suit with superstar corner Charles Tillman leading it. It may be another tough day for Greg Jennings against Peanut Tillman. Cordarrelle Patterson will also be line up against a great corner in Tim Jennings. The Bears have great depth at the corner position with Nate Clements and Eric Wright.

FS Justin Bethel is an emerging star in the league, he has 3 interceptions on the season, one being a touchdown. He also is second on the team in tackles. Major Wright has the other safety position held down. Ponder will most likely struggle against this secondary, if he doesn't there is something terribly wrong.

The Vikings need to limit the Bears big plays, with key playmakers injured it will be hard for the Bears to do that. Adrian Peterson will be the player to watch as he goes against the worst running defense. Ponder needs to throw short safe throws and limit turnovers. Interceptions will kill the team this week unlike last week. The Bears are a division rival hungry for a win, it will be a tough game.

Matchup Preview *|* October 18, 2014
	@
Minnesota Vikings (3-2-0, 2-0-0 Away)		Chicago Bears (3-3-0, 1-3-0 Home)
Offensive Stats Comparison 2257 (25th) Total Yards 2477 (20th) 1542 (27th) Total Offensive Yards 1756 (20th) 951 (28th) Passing Yards 1172 (15th) 591 (17th) Rushing Yards 584 (18th) 26.4 (5th) Points Per Game 22.3 (15th) 8 (5th) Passing TD 5 (22nd) 6 (4th) Rushing TD 5 (9th) 72 (27th) First Downs 80 (21st) Defensive Stats Comparison 1569 (6th) Total Yards Allowed 2235 (32nd) 1257 (21st) Passing Yards Allowed 1216 (14th) 312 (2nd) Rushing Yards Allowed 1019 (32nd) 120 (16th) Points Allowed 139 (25th) 17 (9th) Sacks 5 (29th) 5 (5th) Fumble Recoveries 2 (17th) 10 (3rd) Interceptions 7 (8th) 24.0 Points Per Game 23.2

Injury Report
MIN MLB Erin Henderson, Shoulder Tear, 2 weeks
MIN MLB Michael Mauti, Partial MCL Tear, 2 weeks
MIN TE John Carlson, Forearm Fracture, 7 weeks
MIN MLB Grant Olson, IR

CHI HB Matt Forte, Broken Collarbone, 2 weeks
CHI LG Chris Watt, Dislocated Ankle, 3 weeks
CHI C Ryan Cook, Foot Stress Fracture, 4 weeks
CHI WR Brandon Marshall, Upper Arm Fracture, 7 weeks
CHI RE Shea McClellin, Hip Fracture, IR

[Shmanky13]

Quote: Originally Posted by Deuce2223

Are there any options in Free Agency at QB to be a short term fix. Ponder obviously isn't the answer but if you are still trying to win this year, turning to Boyd might not be either. You could just turn him into another Ponder.

I've looked and there is Matt Flynn, Terelle Pryor, Caleb Hanie, Thad Lewis, Jimmy Clauson, Brian Hoyer, Brady Quinn, Mike Kafka

None of them are too much better than Ponder. I like Pryor a lot, but he doesn't fit the offense very well and I just kind of want to go a different direction. The only other 2 I'd consider is Thad Lewis and Matt Flynn. Let me know what you think!

Also, remember I have McLeod Bethel-Thompson as well he might get the starting job over Boyd.

[Shmanky13]

Quote: Originally Posted by Deuce2223

Are there any options in Free Agency at QB to be a short term fix. Ponder obviously isn't the answer but if you are still trying to win this year, turning to Boyd might not be either. You could just turn him into another Ponder.

Oh yeah I just wanted to tell you that Joe Southwick is the 3rd string QB in New England behind Mallet and Tebow. Next Tom Brady?