Change is good for Vikings!

 

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 09/25/2008

   If benching young starting quarterback Tavaris Jackson lights a fire under your underachieving football team after it blows a 15-0 second-half lead to the 2007 Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts at home, then desperate measures can deliver a winning result.

 The Vikings needed a 24-hour extension from the NFL last week to avoid a local TV blackout and allow the news of the switch at quarterback to filter throughout the land of Republican conventions and 10,000 lakes. Head Coach Brad Childress dumped Jackson as the Vikings starting quarterback in favor of 15-year veteran Gus Frerotte.

 In year one, Childress traded away an injured three-time Pro Bowl quarterback Daunte Culpepper to the Miami Dolphins for a second-round pick that he used to draft Jackson . If Jackson was deemed an experiment by Childress, the nutty professor is admitting he was wrong by making Frerotte, now with his ninth team, the starter for the rest of the year.

 By throwing Jackson the clipboard, Childress throws him under the bus as the single reason the Vikings were 0-2. That is far from the truth, but here is the bottom line: The Vikings rallied from a 10-0 deficit and won 20-10 over Carolina , and everybody is drinking purple Kool-Aid again.

 Frerotte delivered a solid performance; after a slow start, he got the ball deep to Bernard Berrian, and tight end Visanthe Shiancoe held on to a touchdown pass. But it was the Vikings defense that finally played like a championship defense.

 Stopping the run, putting pressure on the quarterback, and forcing turnovers — that’s what this defense is built to do. Jared Allen, Kevin Williams and E. J. Henderson played great, but Antione Winfield was the star of this show.

 For the first time this season, the Vikings had more sacks than their opponent (5-3), forced more turnovers (2-1), and scored a defensive touchdown. Cornerback Antoine Winfield on a blindside blitz blasted Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme late in the second quarter, forcing a fumble and picking the ball up and running for a 19-yard touchdown.

 That play ignited the Vikings crowd, and the team sustained momentum. The Vikings held Carolina to just 204 yards and played much better pass defense than the nightmarish performance that gave up 311 yards to Peyton Manning and the Colts.

 For the third straight game, the Vikings out-rushed their opponent (119-47) and won the time of possession (34.18 to 25.42). The only difference was that they finished the deal and won the game.

The play calling has been a major issue for me. Childress and Darrell Bevell certainly gave Frerotte a much better chance than Jackson had in the previous two games. They did not treat Frerotte like an invalid with predictable and substandard play-calling. The Vikings were so predictable in their offensive play-calling when Jackson was playing that I could just about tell you who they are planning on voting for in the November election.

 This week, the Vikings travel to Tennessee to play the mighty 3-0 Titans. It was supposed to be a match-up at quarterback of Jackson vs. Vince Young. However, this is the NFL; things change. Young and Jackson are holding clipboards, and Brett Favre is a New York Jet. Go figure.

 Fitz Notes & Quotes

Twins star Joe Mauer is leading the American League in hitting with a .330 average and six games left. He is in position to win another batting title, while Justin Morneau leads the American League in RBIs with 128 and could win a double, the RBI title and MVP. With six games left, three against Chicago and three with Kansas City , all at home this week, the Twins could steal the Division title again.

 Desi Williamson, a former Gopher football star turned motivational speaker, has been working with the Vikings and Head Coach Brad Childress the last two years on communicating better with the media. Childress has been viewed by some as an elitist bordering on paranoid.

 In this his third year as head coach, he has improved from the standpoint of communicating better and more openly with the press. Williamson’s work has made a difference. Now, if they could just beat the Packers…

 Fitz Extra

 Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson's favorite athlete is Chicago White Sox centerfielder Ken Griffey Jr. Griffey has only hit two homeruns with the first place White Sox. Griffey said "When ever I come to the MetroDome I think of Kirby Puckett" Griffey hit career homerun number 610 Tuesday night. He is now fifth on baseballs All-Time homerun list( 1. 762 Barry Bonds  2. 755 Henry Aaron 3. 714 Babe Ruth 4.660 Willie Mays- he has hit 39 of his 610 against the Twins.

 The New York Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time since 1993. This is the final season of baseball at historic Yankee Stadium and after 13 years the streak ends. The White Sox are the last team to beat the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Japanese star Ichiro Suzuki of Seattle has hit the 200 hit mark for a record eighth straight season for the Mariners. He tied one of the oldest records in baseball history. It was last done by Willie Keeler 1894-1901.

 The Twins have five pitchers with 10 plus wins Scott Baker , Nick Blackburn, Livan Hernandez, Glen Perkins, and Kevin Slowey only the second time in franchise history that the team has accomplished that feat. And the first time since 1970. Twins Super Star and MVP candidate Justin Morneau set career and franchise records with his 47th double of the season. He leads the American League with 129 RBI's his career best was 130 in 2006. Billy Smith General Manager of the Twins has done and outstanding job the Twins organization considering thier payroll are the best in baseball at developing players.

 This week the 4-0 Minnesota Gophers in seaon number 125 travel to Ohio State to meet the mighty Buckeyes. The last time the Gophers won the Big Ten Title was 1967 former Gopher star Dr. McKinley Boston played on that team, he is the current Athletic Director at New Mexico State University . 

 Bernard Berrian helped the Chicago Bears win the NFC Championship and reach the Super Bowl in 2007 and signed for big money with the Vikings. His 48 yard reception  and 3 catches for 79 yards from Gus Frerotte helped the Vikings rally from a 10-0 first half hole and beat Carolina . " We lost two close games to two good teams Green bay and Indianapolis getting this win is big, said Berrian. And this game Sunday against Tennessee is huge  because they are a good team in the AFC.

  They run the ball well and they have a great defense so we know it's going to be a physical game." On having Gus Frerotte at quarterback replacing Jackson . " It opens the playbook a little bit more a lot of times when you have a younger quarterback in you tend to condense a playbook. Because you don't want him to handle to much, not saying that he can't handle it. You just want him to be good at a select few and go and run with that. When you have a veteran guy they tend to be able to handle a lot more select plays. So you tend to open up the play book and really the only big difference is we made plays in the Carolina game and we finished plays."

  Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, and on WDGY-AM 740 Monday & Saturday mornings at 7:50 am and Fridays at 3:50 pm; he also commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). Larry welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-re corder.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.