UPDATE: Preliminary reports from Access Vikings say that Matt Birk has accepted the terms of the Baltimore Ravens. Though the deal isn’t officially complete, it should be done very soon. That would, of course, end Birk’s stay with the Vikings, where he had spent his entire career. The Harvard graduate had never tested free agency, and it appears on his first go at it, he’ll be leaving for Maryland. Ravens’ fans, you got yourself a stellar center, and a better person. We wish Matt all the best of luck!

Source: Access Vikings

It has been awhile since I’ve posted, so many apologies, especially when there’s been so much going on. Thankfully, Michael and Andrew have dominated the recent news. My thoughts:

To borrow a phrase: the money grabbing Housh-bag

First off, the Housh thing. You know what? Screw him. If he thinks having Matt Hasselbeck is a reason to join a team, then he’s got another thing coming. The Seahawks’ offensive line is suspect, he won’t have a very good complement at receiver (unless they draft Crabtree), and who even knows if Hasselbeck is going to recover completely? If all the things work out, then yeah, there’s a good chance that the Seahawks make a run for the NFC West title. Honestly, saying Hasselbeck is the reason he chose Seattle is a little bogus to me. I’m sure it played a part, no doubt, but come on. We all know what it was really about:

The money.

You can’t completely blame him; he paid his dues (in Cincinnati no less), and now he wants to get paid. Fair enough. Saying that, it’s safe to assume that in his eight years in the league, he’s most likely accumulated plenty of cash to survive well into his elder years of life. Is going to a possible black hole in Seattle worth a few extra million? Despite being extremely biased, I think everyone can agree that the Vikings have a slightly better chance of making the playoffs and a run to the Super Bowl than the Seahawks. Even with Tarvaris or Sage, having Bernard Berrian on one side, Shiancoe in the middle, and Peterson and Taylor in the backfield makes up for a lot at the quarterback position. He would get one-on-ones a majority of the time. It still baffles me that he went to the Seahawks.

Oh well. Time to move on. We probably don’t want a guy who bases his decisions mostly on money, anyway. Just had to get that off my chest.

Vikings' fans: it will never happen

There has been while speculation regarding current Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler and his status on the trading block. The reason this came about was previous reports that there was a three way trade involving Denver, New England, and numerous other possible teams, such as Tampa Bay or Minnesota. The end result would be Matt Cassel in Denver, Cutler with the third team, and New England getting a boatload of draft picks. Obviously, what with the Cassel trade to the Chiefs, none of that came to fruition. For some reason, many people still think that Denver’s new coach, Josh McDaniels, still had interest in trading Cutler, which is a fairly ridiculous thought, and here’s why:

The only reason Cutler was being mentioned in trades is because McDaniels, the former New England disciple, wanted Cassel to be his quarterback. If he got Cassel, who’s due roughly $14.6 million dollars this year, they would not have room for Cutler as they need all that money to help rebuild their sorry excuse for a defense. Thus, they would need to get rid of Cutler and free up some cap room; plus, you don’t really need two potential franchise quarterbacks on one team. Just doesn’t make sense. When the trade fell through, so did any option of getting Cutler.

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Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23

Not the best football game I’ve ever seen, but this Super Bowl comes very close to the top of the list. Going into the game, I thought one of two things would happen: one, the Steelers win a defensive battle; or two, the Cardinals win in a shootout.

Turns out I was right… sort of.

In a combination of offense and defense, the Pittsburgh Steelers overcame a Cardinal comeback in the fourth quarter to finish as the best football team in the world. Here are three reasons the Steelers earned their sixth world championship:

1. The Last Play of the First Half

Talk about momentum changers. In case you weren’t watching, the Cardinals had the ball in Pittsburgh’s red zone with the first half winding down. The score was 10-7, and all signs were pointing towards the Cardinals at least tying the game before halftime. As you have most likely seen dozens of times by now, Warner threw a pick to James Harrison who ran back 100 yards to claim the longest play in Super Bowl history.

Major props to the Pittsburgh defensive coordinator for the play call on that down. The Steelers defense wasn’t all that impressive tonight, but that call – a fake blitz by Harrison – was perfect. Harrison isn’t the tallest linebacker, and Warner instinctively thought he had blitzed. Couldn’t have worked out better for Pittsburgh.

That play took the score from a 10-10 tie at worst at halftime, to a 17-7 two-possession game with huge Steeler momentum. (Although the super-long Super Bowl halftime show probably diminished that.)

2. Mr. Poise Roethlisberger

If Big Ben was nervous in his last Big Game appearance, he certainly wasn’t tonight. He stepped up and made the big plays when he needed to, and used his fantastic scrambling ability (also known as ducking and weaving) to avoid the dangerous Arizona defensive line.

Some of that credit goes to amazing catches by Pittsburgh.

3. The Santonio Holmes Touchdown

Every kid dreams of the opportunity to make the catch that Holmes did with just seconds remaining. In the right corner of the end zone Holmes killed his legs a la Cris Carter (who wasn’t inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. An amazing travesty, but another story).

It was a questionable call, but there obviously wasn’t enough evidence to overturn the touchdown call. His foot was tucked behind the other, and it wasn’t clear whether or not that one touched the turf. Only one camera view made me think twice – and the right call was obviously made.

Here are three reasons the Cardinals stuck close at the end:

1. The Last Play of the Second Half

Yes, I know. I have amazing creativity when it comes to naming the most important play of the 2008 NFL season. The inability of the Cardinal offense to tackle James Harrison on his run-back probably cost them the game.

The fact that Fitzgerald caught up with Harrison at the one-yard-line confuses me. Assuming he came from the other side of the field, I’m sure he had enough speed to catch Harrison before that point. Right? Maybe he was going directly at the goal-line just to be sure that he could reach Harrison.

Regardless, the Cardinals looked eerily similar to the Vikings’ special teams unit on that run back. They couldn’t buy a tackle.

2. Mr. Kurt Warner

Probably the biggest reason the Cardinals stayed within breathing distance of the Steelers was because of the veteran leadership of Warner. He made the biggest mistake of the game, but was very solid the rest. If the Vikings can somehow convince Warner and Co. to play next year in Minnesota (assuming he plays at all), I will be a very happy man.

Karlos Dansby

3. The Safety and Arizona’s Goal-line Defense

Everybody loves goal-line stands. One of the biggest momentum-changers in football is a safety. When a Pittsburgh offensive lineman was charged with holding in the endzone, Arizona had huge momentum and two points tacked onto the board. Not the biggest increase in points, but it led to additional Arizona points.

Clearly an entertaining football game. These two teams were very well matched against each other. If you didn’t get the chance to watch it, well… let’s just say that you have my pity. 

Please let us know what you thought of the 43rd edition of the Super Bowl in the comment section below. We’d love to hear what you thought.

First of all, I’d like to give a hearty hello and welcome to our newest writer, Michael. He’s already one-upping Andrew and I by posting three times in rapid succession, so I have a great feeling that he’ll be a wonderful contributor and will push myself to write a wee bit more. So, thank you Michael, you’re already doing wonders!

It was also Michael’s post regarding Brett Favre, and the comments that followed that sparked my desire to write a rebuttal piece regarding the Packer Legend. I don’t mean to start any fires; I just like playing devil’s advocate. It should also be noted that I grew up in Iowa and just recently moved down to Houston, Texas. Being in Iowa, there is no NFL team, but we are smack dab in the middle of Minnesota, Chicago, and Green Bay, and Detroit, so there is a huge mix of those teams’ fans in the Midwest, especially Iowa. Because of that, I have a special way of looking at fans of those other teams. With that out of the way, on to the meat of the piece.

Future Viking?

With all of the drama of Brett Favre’s “will he” or “won’t he” retirement that seemed to go on for years (I think it aged me a decade or so, and I’m not even a Packer fan), we all breathed a great sigh of relief when he finally held his press conference and proceeded to blubber his way into retirement. Finally. Brett Favre is done in the NFL. No more worries about last second comebacks against the Vikings, no more (or at least, not as many) Favre jerseys everywhere, and no more magical Packer seasons. Make no mistake; I never liked Brett Favre, but I did respect his ability to play the quarterback position. If you gave Favre the ball with two minutes left, and the Packers were down by four, stick a fork in the Vikings – Favre would undoubtedly march down the field and get the ball in the endzone. He was a great quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, and his magic seemed to finally dwindle this year with the Jets.

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Sorry for the lack of updates; had some company in from out of town so it’s been a busy few days. My parents, as well as my fiance’s father drove down from Iowa, and the five of us went to the local Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Vikings implode against the Falcons. There was a great deal of swearing between the lot of us.

One statistic defines this game: seven fumbles.

You absolutely cannot put the ball on the ground seven times, lose four of them, and expect to win. Adrian Peterson decided to personally put the ball on the ground three times, though the botched handoff was actually credited to Tarvaris. Regardless, you can’t win a game committing that many turnovers.

A positive note on the game; the Vikings were in position to make a play for overtime. It’s unfortunate that it came down to it, but the Purple People Eaters got hosed on a bogus non-call on Sidney Rice. Rice had his arm held down when he was going up to make a play on it. But the Vikings turned the ball over four times and still had a chance to win. I would not want to play Minnesota in the playoffs; if they put together a full game, look out.

Shiancoe had one of the best games in tight end history

Again, a game should never come down to a ref making or not making a call, but come on; that’s what they’re around for. Make the dang call when the rules dictate. The whole stadium could not be wrong, could they? After all, the Vikings out gained the Cardinals handily, 350 to 222. If the Vikings hold on to two, even one of those fumbles, the game changes entirely. It’s unfortunate when Jackson and Shiancoe had incredible games. According to Football Outsiders, it was the second best performance by a tight end in NFL history. Pretty good, eh? Too bad it came in a loss. For those interested, Shiancoe had seven receptions for 136 yards and two touchdowns. It should be noted that every pass he caught resulted in a first down or a touchdown. Now if only Tarvaris could get a nice rapport with Bernard Berrian we’d be completely set.

Then Monday night, the entirity of the Viking nation was forced to cheer for the Green Bay Packers. Did anyone else feel really, really dirty about doing that? I kept telling myself we were using them, and that we were cheering for a Bears’ loss as opposed to a Packers’ win. Of course, the game ended horribly, my hopes once again crushed under the weight of irony. It’s my own fault for putting faith in a team and coach that are simply terrible. Thanks for crushing my hopes, Packers. Enjoy your couch watching the playoffs.

Of course, I can’t say that unless the Vikings actually make the playoffs. The “magic number” remains at one with one week left in the season. The Vikings get the Giants at home and the Bears play at the Texans.

Does anyone else have this horrifying sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach?

Matt Ryan - he should have died after the landing

The Giants won’t rest their starters; Coughlin didn’t do it last year and it worked out pretty well for the Giants. I don’t see him doing it this year, especially when his team already will get a week off because of the bye week. This is going to be a really, really tough game for the Vikings. Brandon Jacobs probably won’t play due to his knee, but Ward ran for 215 yards, and we don’t have Pat Williams. It could be an interesting day. I’m not real worried about the running game; after all, the Vikings held Michael Turner to 70 yards. That’s a very below average game for him. Eli will be the one we have to worry about.

The Bears, while not a good team, will beat the Texans. The Houston Texans are not a bad team at all; they just can’t play consistently. They beat the Titans, and then last week lost to the Raiders. They play well at home, but the Bears are not the Vikings; they will want to win and make the playoffs. I doubt they will commit four turnovers.

It all comes down to Sunday at noon for the Minnesota Vikings and the Viking faithful. Will it turn out well? We can only hope. The only thing I know for sure is that I’ll be there, every step of the way, cheering on the guys in purple.

True, Tarvaris Jackson is not a rookie. But he might as well be. This Sunday the rookie-led Falcons will travel up north to face the “rookie”-led Vikings.

These two offenses are actually pretty similar. There are not superstar receivers on either the Minnesota team or the Atlanta team. (Berrian would probably win that category, however.) Solid offensive lines. New quarterbacks. The biggest difference between these two teams is the biggest…well, difference.

Adrian Peterson.

*Mini-rant. Is it just me, or are you getting sick of the nickname “Purple Jesus” for Adrian Peterson? This spectacular running back has more nicknames than the entire team. “AD”, “All Day”, and the aforementioned “Purple Jesus.” I have no problem with the “All-Day” moniker, (I actually think it goes nicely with Taylor’s new nickname: “All-Night”), but “Purple Jesus” goes just a bit too far. I think it’s time for something new…

How about “The Difference”? Peterson is always the difference between whatever team the Vikings face. Anyway…

I don’t know to twist and tweak, or mold and bend what I’ve been saying all season. This game comes down to number 28. His performance will ultimately decide this game. Simple as that. It’s a huge load for a guy his age, but he has certainly proved to be up to it lately.

Here’s hoping Peterson can do it again.

In other news, Pat Williams will be missed. The Viking’s defensive line is noticeably weaker without him, but that’s not to say that they can’t stop the Falcon’s running game. Too big of a deal has been made regarding the absence of Phat Pat.

Jared Allen has proven that he is worth every tenth-penny that we paid him – (and probably more, but you won’t catch me saying that out-loud). Allen had a monster game against the Cardinals, and is capable of turning any offensive lineman into a turnstil. Even though he is nursing an injury, he will be playing, and should have a terrific afternoon.

Now, the presence of John Abraham worries me. The Atlanta defensive end is also among the league’s best, and I’m worried about the offensive line’s capability to handle him. When you add Abraham’s fine-tuned skills to his Pro-Bowl snub…well, let’s just say that I wouldn’t want to be the one dueling with him for hopefully over an hour on Sunday.

From an entertainment standpoint, this is a playoff game. This upcoming game is a due-or-die for both teams, (I’ll ignore the fact that the Cowboys lost tonight), and should prove to be very exciting. I envy all those who have the privilege of attending.

But, believe me, my eyes will be glued to the TV.