This off-season the Minnesota Vikings cut long time kicker Ryan Longwell and opted for unproven rookie Blair Walsh drafting him in the sixth round. Can someone say SOD, Steal Of The Draft! The Vikings loved his big leg but there were red flags on his accuracy. Today, The Blair Walsh “Project” went live and boomed kickoffs deep into the endzone, converted both PAT’s, but more importantly, converted all four field goals including the game winning field goal in over time. And oh yea, a clutch end of regulation time 55 yard field goal to send the game into over time. His clutch play earns Viking Thunders week one MVP.

The Good:
* A Vikings win. Last year wins were scarcer that Mike Vick Animal Charity fans. I will take a 26-23 overtime victory.

* Adrain Peterson rushes for 84 yards and two scores coming off knee surgery. I haven’t seen the “Peterson” burst yet, but he did look great.

* C. Ponder did not throw an interception. or a touchdown, however, he was 20-27 (74%) for 270 yards. 105 QB rating.

* Percy Harvin, just get him the ball and the Vikings offense will click.

The Bad:
* The Vikings defense allowing a 40 yard TD pass at the end of the game to take the lead.

* Jared Allen got robbed of a sack. He anticipated the snap perfectly but the referee called him for the penalty.

The Ugly:
The replacement officials. I believe the referee’s on strike are now in the drivers seat after week’s one debacle. Every game in week one had controversy concerning the refs. If the NFL wants to keep the integrity of the game at a high standard, settle with the ref’s and get back to professional football.

The Rant:
Last year the Vikings only had 3 victories so this week one win was big. Huge even! Ponder showed poise under pressure as he guided the team into Walsh range to set up the winning score. If it were last year, we would have witnessed three errant passes into the turf thrown by McNabb. Does anyone think Longwell would have nailed the 55 yarder on Sunday?

Onto the Colts and lets hope luck has the same type of passing day against the Vikings as he did in week one.

SKOL VIKINGS!

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LURKING ON THE GRASSY KNOLL

Filed under: Viking Thunder Tagged: adrain peterson, christian ponder, jared allen, minnesota vikings, nfl, percy harvin, vikings