Big Plays, Breakdowns Doom Vikings in Opener

The Minnesota Vikings opened their season with a tough 24-19 loss to heated division rival Green Bay in the first regular season Monday Night Football game of the 2008 NFL season. Throughout the whole off-season, the question surrounding this game was how would Aaron Rodgers handle the pressure in his first career start. Would he be able to handle the stout Minnesota defense? Would he get much leeway from the fans? Is he ready to take this team to the same level that Brett Farve had it at, or perhaps push it further beyond?

Rodgers answered most of those questions on Monday night.

Rodgers was very effective against a Minnesota defense that at times looked lost out on the field, leaving receivers wide open in the middle of the field. The Packers' newest starting quarterback since 1992 completed 18 of 22 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown. While his passing numbers aren't necessarily Farve-esque it was apparent that the guy has spent some time in the Brett Farve School for Quarterbacks. The way Rodgers was able to read the field and command the offense at times and make the big play probably had Packer fans thinking Brett Farve just switched jerseys for a game. One such moment was Rodgers' first touchdown pass of the regular season.

On a third and goal, Rodgers backed up to pass and was flushed from the pocket by a mad rush from the Vikings defense. Scrambling for his life it looked as though a sack was inevitable, much the same way Brett Farve looked on a similar play against the Jets on Sunday only his touchdown pass was on 4th down from the 22-yard line. About to be pulled down by defenders, Rodgers rifled a pass towards the endzone in between the outstretched arms of two Vikings defenders and right into the hands of Green Bay fullback Korey Hall.

Rodgers also was able to show Green Bay fans a few tricks of his own. With youth on his side, Rodgers was able to scramble for 35 rushing yards many of which were first down runs where he had to tuck and run after not being able to find anyone open down field. Rodgers also recorded Green Bay's only rushing touchdown of the game on a one-yard plunge and then proceeded to spike the football and bolted towards the fans to partake in his first ever "Lambeau Leap". After all, that score had essentially iced the game for the Packers right?....not quite yet.

It was up to Tarvaris Jackson to try and bring his team back from a 24-12 deficit with 6 minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

Jackson orchestrated an 11-play drive down the field, in which he showed much more poise in such a situation than he had in his first two years as the Vikings starter. Adrian Peterson capped it off with a 3-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 24-19.

The Vikings missed a golden opportunity, however, on the ensuing onside kick as it took a perfect hop but was deflected off a player's hand and out of bounds giving the ball back to the Packers. Though it was mostly irrelevant as the Vikings' D stuffed Green Bay and forced them to punt.

Jackson again went out to try and lead his team to a game-winning score. Unfortunately, this time Jackson was not as poised in the pocket and threw a ball over his intended receiver's head and into the waiting arms of Packer safety Atari Bigby for the game's only turnover. Jackson appeared to be hobbled a bit after the play but how much that affected his pass is unknown. A few kneel downs later and Aaron Rodgers had his first win as an NFL starting quarterback.

A few thoughts as a Vikings fan watching this game:

- The defense has a lot of work to do if they want to live up to the hype they got in the off-season. It wasn't that Green Bay overpowered Minnesota by any means (in fact the Vikings out gained the Packers in rushing yards and total yardage and were even in passing yards). But it was the lack of consistency in the defense and giving up the big play that hurt the Vikings in the long run. Rodgers connected on a number of deep balls including a 56-yard pass to Greg Jennings that set up Green Bay's first touchdown in the second quarter.

Minnesota and Green Bay were at a 0-0 stalemate after one quarter and the defensive battle would continue throughout the night. It was Green Bay, however, that took more advantage of Minnesota's weaknesses. Whether it was leaving receivers open for big gains, or failing to recognize Rodgers' scrambling ability until it was too late, the Vikings defense was exposed somewhat on Monday night. Hopefully they can improve as the season goes on. And speaking of exposed: Jared Allen- zero sacks, zero tackles, zero rating in his debut with the Vikings.

Allen said after the game that he was displeased with himself and says an effort like that won't happen again. Let's hope he's right.

- Adrian Peterson did not miss a beat. If anything it almost look like Peterson is two steps ahead of his own offense. Peterson touched the ball 20 times (19 rushes, 1 reception 114 total yards and a touchdown), however that's just not gonna cut it. When you have a play maker like Peterson and an offense that is struggling to move the football in other ways, you need to find more than one way to get him the ball. The fact that Peterson's only reception came midway through the fourth quarter is a telling sign that this offense is still in need of major development. The line actually did a decent job giving Jackson plenty of time to throw, and early on were able to open some holes for Peterson to run through. However, once Green Bay began loading the box the Vikings began to see too many consecutive rushing plays work for less than 3 yards a play.

- Tarvaris Jackson was consistently inconsistent. There were times when Jackson actually looked like a solid quarterback out there, and despite what outsiders may think, he does have the capability to be one. Jackson also threw for 178 yards and a touchdown, but completed 16 of 35 passes with one of those incompletions being the game-ender. The thing that showed me that Jackson had improved was his ability to tuck and run when there was nobody within 10 yards of him. In his first two seasons he failed to recognize this enough and would ultimately either get sacked of have to throw the ball away when he could have just as easily picked up several yards or even a first down.
Jackson rushed for 65 yards on nine carries and showed that he can scramble as well, but he still needs work on his field vision, which includes knowing when to tuck and run and pick up that gain by himself.
Jackson's negatives were also noticeable. He continues to have accuracy issues, none more apparent than his last pass which was picked off after being thrown over the head of his intended receiver. Jackson missed his target high a number of times. And unlike Rodgers, failed to hit the home run ball downfield overthrowing even the coverage most of the time, which was probably a good thing since the ball probably would have been intercepted. Jackson needs to develop a little touch on his passes and that should take care of his overthrowing problem. That and if he can stay healthy (Jackson wore a knee brace during the game) he should continue to progress as the season goes on and get to where Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress wants him to be.

- The last thing I want to comment on is the offensive play-calling. Childress was an offensive coordinator under Andy Reid at Philadelphia. He helped Donovan McNabb progress into the quarterback that he has become. Yet, despite his track record there are times when Minnesota runs play where you just scratch your head wondering what were they thinking. From calling runs when the situation would've been better suited for a pass to lining up in shotgun formation on a 3rd and 1 and passing the Vikings hurt themselves just as much as Green Bay's aggressive defense did. Perhaps it was the fact that Green Bay was more the aggressor on Monday night that was the cause for some of the playcalling, and it is as much the fault of the playcalling from the coordinators as it is Jackson not throwing the ball to Adrian Peterson on screens and dump passes. There were a few times Jackson could've checked down to Peterson to get him the ball so he could make a play, but most of it came by design from the OC. As I said earlier, it's really no secret that the offensive playcalling needs Peterson to be able to both run the ball and make plays catching the ball. You just can't restrict an athlete like that to one part of your offense.

Hopefully, the Vikings can improve their gameplan for next week's home opener against an Indianapolis Colts squad that was disappointed with their effort in a Sunday night loss to the Chicago Bears.