Hot damn! It's a new day!
Welcome back to Mike Otto's coverage
of the 2012 Minnesota Vikings. Mike is a lifelong Vikes fan and
he'll be sharing his predictions and thoughts as the season goes
along. As you may have noticed, we've changed the name from Purple
Prognostications to Ten & Six. All will be revealed at the end
of the column.
After breaking down both the offense
and the defense we asked Mike to make his predictions for the season.
Have at it, Mike.
FINAL
PREDICTIONS
He wipes the sweat from his brow as he walks up under center,
surveying the defense. Noticing the safety cheating towards the
line, he looks and Percy and taps his right thigh. Hot route, baby.
The ball is snapped, he fakes a draw to Adrian and lofts a perfectly
thrown ball to the back corner of the end zone. Touchdown. His name
is Christian Ponder.
Any football prediction is based on quite a few “what-if's,” a
handful of “could-be's,” and at least 2 or 3 “pretty please's?”
This couldn't be more true of the 2012 Minnesota Vikings. For a
football team to succeed, everything must go right and timing is
everything. For success, the Vikings offense must be perfectly in
sync and the defennse must be a squad of overachieving opportunists.
This team is built for close games, so, needless to say, every play
will be of the utmost importance. THEY MUST EXECUTE!
Now, I will give you a brief week by week synopsis of the wins/losses
and how/why they occur. Look for more detailed breakdowns of the
matchups each Saturday before gameday.
(Editors Note: Mike's in-depth preview of this week's
Vikings/Jaguars matchup will appear later this week.)
(Mike's Note: All season and personal stat predictions are based
on Vikings players remaining relatively injury free and are subject
to change over the course of the season)
Week 1: Jaguars at Vikings
Prediction: Win: 20-13
I think the Vikes will come out
fast in this one but fall flat in the second half, sweating out a
clunker of a game that should never have been in question
Week 2: Vikings at Colts
Prediction: Win: 28-24
Andrew Luck gets his first taste of what an elite NFL defensive end
(Jared Allen) can do. Adrian scores 2 while Christian scores 2.
Hope is selling!
Week 3: Vikings at 49ers
Loss: 17-6
The team (and expectations) come back down to earth as we fail to get
in the end zone while Alex Smith & Randy Moss connect for a
game-icing touchdown
Week 4: Vikings at Lions
Prediction: Loss: 42-24
If Calvin Johnson and Mathew Stafford are both healthy, our
secondary, and team in general, have no chance.
Prediction: Win: 24-17
Jake Locker vs. Christian
Ponder. CP7 throws for 1, runs for 1, and the Vikes win a nail
biter.
Week 6: Vikings at Redskins
Prediction: Loss: 31-21
Vikings are notoriously bad at
limiting dual-threat quarterbacks. RGIII may have his coming out
party against us.
Week 7: Cardinals at Vikings
Prediction: Win: 27-14
John Skelton and Kevin Kolb. That
is all.
Week 8: Buccaneers at Vikings
Prediction: Win: 28-13
I think the Bucs will be a terrible
team this year. Vikings handed them a game last year. That will not
happen this time. The squad scores 4 TD's and the outcome is never
in doubt.
Week 9: Vikings at Seachickens
Prediction: Win: 31-28
Imperative the Vikings come out
with a win here. I think the Seahawks are a playoff team, but the
Vikings match up well against them. Gonna be an exciting game won on
a Blair Walsh kick as time expires.
Week 10: Lions at Vikings
Prediction: Loss: 35-31
The Vikings play them a lot tougher
this time around, but Megatron is just too much to handle. Tough
loss. 31 points should be enough to win, but not this time.
Week 11: Bye
Please nobody get arrested.
Week 12: Vikings at Bears
Prediction: Loss: 17-14
The Vikings are historically an
excellent team coming out of the bye, but two consecutive divisional
road games will change that this year. This Black & Blue
Division contest will be close, but late Viking drives will stall,
leading to the loss.
Week 13: Vikings at Packers
Prediction: Loss: 31-24
After a third consecutive
hard-fought divisional game ends in a loss, a 6-3 record has suddenly
become 6-6 and a season hangs in limbo. I can see the Strib headline
now, “Limbo At Lambeau.”
Week 14: Bears at Vikings
Prediction: Win: 20-14
Another imperative Vikings victory.
Time is now to stop the bleeding on a three game losing streak. The
season will go one of two ways this week and I think this beam wants
it bad. Vikings win behind two CP7 TD's
Week 15: Vikings at Rams
Prediction: Win: 24-20
Could be a let-down game for the
purple. If they have the competitive fire I think they do they will
maintain focus and squeak out a victory.
Week 16: Vikings at Texans
Prediction: Win: 27-21
A lot of the “experts” have the
Texans in the Super Bowl. This is crazy to me. Can you remember a
time that Arian Foster, Matt Schaub, and Andre Johnson were all
healthy at the end of the year? No? That's because it doesn't
happen! Two of them will be out for this one and the Vikings will
win.
Week 17: Packers at Vikings
Prediction: Win: 35-34
Questions abound in this one! Will
Packers' starters be playing? Will the Vikings be fighting for a
playoff spot? Will AP be healthy? Yes, yes, and YES! Vikings win!
FINAL PREDICTION: 10-6
Hey hey! Now it's time for my predictions regarding Vikings
statistical leaders in the major categories!
Passing Yards: CP7 – 3,000
Passing Completions: CP7 – 375
Passing Completion %: CP7 – 62%
Passing Completion %: CP7 – 62%
Passing TD's: CP7 – 22
Passing INT's: CP7 – 16
Rushing Yards: AP – 1,100
Rushing Attempts: Toby Gerhart – 240
Yards Per Rush: AP – 5.0
Rushing TD's: AP – 14
Receiving Yards: Percy – 1,050
Receptions: Kyle Rudolph – 85
Receiving TD's: Kyle Rudolph – 11
Yards Per Reception: Jerome Simpson – 18.0
Receptions Of 20+ Yards: Jerome Simpson – 16
Sacks: Jared Allen – 18
Tackles: Chad Greenway – 150
Tackels For Loss: Kevin Williams – 12
Passes Defended: Antoine Winfield – 14
Interceptions: Chris Cook – 4
Fumbles Forced: Harrison Smith – 3
Fumbles Recovered: Chad Greenway – 5
Defensive TD's: Harrison Smith – 2
Kick Return TD's: Percy – 1
Punt Return TD's: Jarius Wright – 1
So that's my thoughts on all that jazz. In summary, I think the
Vikings success or failure this year will come down to 5 things. And
they are...
FACTOR #1: Non-Divisional
Record
I have us going 2-4 within the NFC
North, so a stellar record against non-divisoinal opponents will be
essential to a winning season. Non-divisional opponents of the
Vikings look weak to me and this bodes well for our favorite squad.
FACTOR #2: CP7
This team will go as Christian
Ponder goes. If he can stay on the field while keeping his TD total
above his INT total the Vikes will be fine. Don't expect a 2-1
TD/INT ratio just yet, but he will improve.
FACTOR #3: The Secondary
They were terrible in 2011. If the
additions of rookies Harrison Smith and Josh Robinson can even get
the secondary toward an 'average' performance this year it will pay
dividends in the Win column.
FACTOR #4: Adrian Peterson's
Health
Without him in the lineup, CP7 TD's
go down while his INT's go up. Our points per game take a GIANT,
SEASON-CHANGING hit without him and the defense has less time to
rest. These are all bad things. Fingers crossed.
FACTOR #5: Rookie Kicker
Blair Walsh
As I previously mentioned, this
team is built for close games. That being said, we CANNOT leave any
points on the filed. Blair Walsh and whether or not he makes his
kicks could be the difference between 10-6 and 6-10. I think the
kid makes 'em when he needs to. For fuck's sake, he better!
So, in my mind right now, 10-6 is
possible, but the Vikings can't have a single let down (especially
outside of the division). I have us at 8-2 against non-division
opponents and anything short of that won't get the job done. At 10-6
we will be fighting for the final wild card spot because I have the
Lions at 11-5 and the Packers at 12-4. No promises from this guy on
the playoffs.
Management seems to believe that
the worst thing for this team would be a head coaching change. I
think Leslie Frazier's job will be safe as long as he tallies at
least 6 wins this year. There are a couple big name coaches without
a team and you can believe that's in the back of Frazier's mind.
He wipes the sweat from his brow as he approaches the bar. He
sees the bartender cheating towards the pretty girls at the other end
and signals to Travis to take the table in the common area. The
server lofts a perfect coaster toss on the table and asks what we'll
have. Touchdown.
My name is Mike Otto.
Indeed
it is. Thanks to Mike for dropping by the blog to drop purple
knowledge bombs on us. For more of Mike you can find him on Twitter
(@SwervinTaters)
Of
course, this blog is on Twitter as well (@NewestIndustry1) and on
Facebook here. Stop by and give us a 'like' for Ponder's
sake!
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