If the team gets to 6/2...

[Guest]

We will win in Carolina

[Guest]

@"Geoff Nichols" said:
The game @Washington is going to be a good test coming off the bye. Its a winnable game and would definitely set the tone heading into the 2nd half of the season. But ultimately it'll come down to health. 

so... as long as you brought up "health"  do you have any insight that you can share with us regarding some of the many health related questions that we are facing right now?   I am sure the health related issue at the front of most peoples mind is the status of Sirles...   B)  (that one was for you Greed  :p)

[Guest]

I’m not going to get a SB buzz going until after we are
winning a couple games against good teams on the road.


Our games so far haven’t been meaningless, but we’ve faced a
pretty easy schedule so far.


It’d be different if we were blowing all these easy teams
out of the water, but we’re not.  I think
we’re set up such that we could win any game, and we’re consistently good, but
my faith isn’t strong enough to suggest that we are likely to win 3 games in a
row against playoff teams on the road, nor do I think we’re a 13-3/14-2 type
team that often has homefield advantage throughout.


If we take 2 of 3 of Redskins, Lions, Falcons on the road
with decent offensive showings, I’ll start getting the SB tingle.

[Guest]

Saints Blew em out of the water.
Pittsburgh loss
Tampa Bay Blew em out of the water
Lions Loss by one score
Bears would have likely been a different game if Case started but we won.
Packers final score wasn't even close to the actual game. We controlled the whole game. Aaron will be out again when we play them next. 
Ravens Wasn't as close as score indicates. And Ravens have a good defense. 

[Guest]

Ok far from scientific by any stretch.....

Combine the two numbers (defensive and offensive rank) and like golf you want a low score

Vikings 4th ranked team defense. 12th ranked team offense. = 16


Browns ranked 9th in team defense. 24th ranked team offense. = 33
Redskins ranked 12th in team defense. 8th ranked team offense. = 20
Rams Ranked 15th in team defense. 9th ranked team offense. = 24
Lions Ranked 19th in team defense. 26th ranked team offense. = 45 
Atlanta Ranked 14th in team defense. 7th ranked team offense. = 21
Panthers ranked 3rd in team defense. 19th ranked team offense. = 22
Bengals ranked 5th in team defense. 29th ranked team offense. = 34
Packers ranked 22nd in team defense. 23rd ranked team offense. = 45
Bears 7th in team defense. 30th ranked team offense.  = 37

[Guest]

Steal one of Redskins, Rams, Falcons, or Panthers and I believe we are in the playoffs. 

[Guest]

@Mike Olson said:
Ok far from scientific by any stretch.....

Combine the two numbers (defensive and offensive rank) and like golf you want a low score

Vikings 4th ranked team defense. 12th ranked team offense. = 16


Browns ranked 9th in team defense. 24th ranked team offense. = 33
Redskins ranked 12th in team defense. 8th ranked team offense. = 20
Rams Ranked 15th in team defense. 9th ranked team offense. = 24
Atlanta Ranked 14th in team defense. 7th ranked team offense. = 21
Panthers ranked 3rd in team defense. 19th ranked team offense. = 22
Bengals ranked 5th in team defense. 29th ranked team offense. = 34
Packers ranked 22nd in team defense. 23rd ranked team offense. = 45
Bears 7th in team defense. 30th ranked team offense.  = 37

We're almost 3X as good as the Packers! This is great news.

[Guest]

@JimmyinSD said:

@"Geoff Nichols" said:
The game @Washington is going to be a good test coming off the bye. Its a winnable game and would definitely set the tone heading into the 2nd half of the season. But ultimately it'll come down to health. 

so... as long as you brought up "health"  do you have any insight that you can share with us regarding some of the many health related questions that we are facing right now?   I am sure the health related issue at the front of most peoples mind is the status of Sirles...   B)  (that one was for you Greed  :p)

Sirles will be out through the bye but it isn't something that will be season ending. 

Diggs should be back this week after they babied him along for an additional week. 

Reiff is fine and so are the other guys with little nicks (Mac, Floyd, etc..) 

Teddy is ready whenever the coaching staff feels comfortable with him out there. I still think the real discussion happens prior to week 10. 

Bradford doesn't really have a specific time frame on his knee. He's improving but there still seems to be ongoing discomfort. I'd target him being close by week 10. But ultimately it could be longer than that. The unpredictability is really what prevented him from going on IR with a return designation earlier this season. At this point if they went that route he'd be shutdown for the rest of the year. 

[Guest]

@"Geoff Nichols" said:

@JimmyinSD said:

@"Geoff Nichols" said:
The game @Washington is going to be a good test coming off the bye. Its a winnable game and would definitely set the tone heading into the 2nd half of the season. But ultimately it'll come down to health. 

so... as long as you brought up "health"  do you have any insight that you can share with us regarding some of the many health related questions that we are facing right now?   I am sure the health related issue at the front of most peoples mind is the status of Sirles...   B)  (that one was for you Greed  :p)

Sirles will be out through the bye but it isn't something that will be season ending. 

Diggs should be back this week after they babied him along for an additional week. 

Reiff is fine and so are the other guys with little nicks (Mac, Floyd, etc..) 

Teddy is ready whenever the coaching staff feels comfortable with him out there. I still think the real discussion happens prior to week 10. 

Bradford doesn't really have a specific time frame on his knee. He's improving but there still seems to be ongoing discomfort. I'd target him being close by week 10. But ultimately it could be longer than that. The unpredictability is really what prevented him from going on IR with a return designation earlier this season. At this point if they went that route he'd be shutdown for the rest of the year. 

Thanks Geoff,

With Sam I've had the feeling that the only reason that he wasnt IRd was that they didnt want to have to bring in another QB if something were to happen to Case before Teddy was able to return.  They were willing to let Sloter finish out a game if necessary,  but they would try Sam the following week before pulling the plug on him for 6 weeks, or the year, and then having to go shop the clearance aisle for another guy.

[Guest]

@Mike Olson said:
Ok far from scientific by any stretch.....

Combine the two numbers (defensive and offensive rank) and like golf you want a low score

Vikings 4th ranked team defense. 12th ranked team offense. = 16


Browns ranked 9th in team defense. 24th ranked team offense. = 33
Redskins ranked 12th in team defense. 8th ranked team offense. = 20
Rams Ranked 15th in team defense. 9th ranked team offense. = 24
Lions Ranked 19th in team defense. 26th ranked team offense. = 45 
Atlanta Ranked 14th in team defense. 7th ranked team offense. = 21
Panthers ranked 3rd in team defense. 19th ranked team offense. = 22
Bengals ranked 5th in team defense. 29th ranked team offense. = 34
Packers ranked 22nd in team defense. 23rd ranked team offense. = 45
Bears 7th in team defense. 30th ranked team offense.  = 37

This solidifies my belief that the toughest game left is at Washington. Luckily we will have two weeks to prepare.  

At Det, being the second toughest, but losing the last 3 games vs them the way we have (fluky, killed ourselves, close but played down to their level) chances are high for a Vikings victory. 

Carolina, Atlanta, similar games to me. Tough looking on paper but its not working properly for them, especially against tough Defenses like ours. 

Rams and Bengals, again two similar games, both at home vs a team we dont know that well. Teams that arent deep enough to hang with us but will make it tough on us to win