Minny

Sell. They're the Bills. That's just ridiculous B/S: Patriots TE Zach Sudfeld will have at least 8 TD catches this year.

I picked them last year to make the playoffs and ended up getting burned, but I'm going with the Buccaneers(again). With the addition of Revis and Goldson, that defense is stout both against the run and the pass. On offense you have Freeman in a contract year, and I believe he'll step it up and prove he's worth some decent dough. And uh yeah, Doug Martin and Vincent Jackson. I feel like I pick the Chargers every year, and every year they let me down. I can't help but pick them again though. I just love Philip Rivers. I'll never count the Bolts out as long as he's their QB.

I would take the Vikings out of that list. The 2nd team o-line has been nothing short of absolute garbage both in training camp and in preseason. There's not a single backup on the team that would make a decent starter.

Big Problems with these records 1. Packers 14-2 (They have a difficult schedule this year and a shaky o-line. Don't see any way they improve by 3 games over last year.) 2. Miami Dolphins 5-11 (The Jets and Bills games should be 4 wins right there. Ryan Tannehill and Lamar Miller should be in store for breakout seasons.) 3. New York Giants 12-4 (Eli is too inconsistent for the Giants to have this good of a record in the very competitive NFC East.) 4. Pittsburgh Steelers 11-5 (Unproven o-line and limited weapons. The defense should drop off a bit as well.) 5. Detroit Lions 4-12 (They lost a ton of close games last year, and history shows that those close games tend to even out over time. Plus I love the addition of Reggie Bush).

So you're just going to ignore the fact that a big reason for Luck's high sack totals is because he dropped back to pass so much? His sack% was 6.1%. The league average was 6.2%. So in actuality, Luck was sacked less per drop back than the NFL average.

Vikings.com has a couple of the biggest highlights.

In Ponder's defense, his interception bounced right off the hands of Simpson. The pass was a little further out front than optimal, but still a very catchable pass.

Danario Alexander tears right ACL

He started off really poorly the first few days, but he's gotten alot better since then. Word is that Ponder has been challenging himself to throw the ball with more velocity and further downfield. DailyNorseman.com offers awesome Vikings TC coverage if you're looking for updates.

Haha thanks for the warning. I guess we'll have to assume all 11 of those attempts were deep downfield throws

Speaking of difficult circumstances, it must have been really tough on Luck to have to face the easiest schedule of any team in the NFL last year. Russell Wilson is so dang lucky for getting to play the 49ers, Rams, and Cardinals defenses 6 times a year! As for the people making the excuse that Luck's numbers are mediocre because he was forced to throw downfield so much, ahhh no....his stats on shorter distance throws are poor as well. Check out these numbers based on throwing distance. Throws 1-10 yards passed line of scrimmage: 165/279, 59.1% completions, 1637 yards, 9 TDs, 4 INTs, 80.6 passer rating (25th best rating in NFL) Throws 11-20 yards passed line of scrimmage: 77/162, 47.5% completions, 1302 yards, 4 TDs, 8 INTs, 62.8 passer rating (26th best rating in NFL) As for downfield throws, Luck only attempted 3 more passes 31+ yards downfield than Russell Wilson did. Luck had 32 attempts and Wilson had 29. Luck's rating on those throws is actually slightly better than Wilson. Luck's is 75.3 and Wilson's is 72.8. Bottom line is that Luck's inefficiencies throwing the ball short to intermediate distances is why his numbers are so mediocre. Update: I looked back and realized these numbers have already been mentioned and disputed. I DO believe the ineptitude of the talent around Luck is being exaggerated a bit by other posters.

You're correct. AP and Walsh only got lesser than signs due to the unusually high level they played at last year. Kevin Williams and John Sullivan are the only 2 players that got lesser than signs due to me feeling they'll get worse; Williams due to age, and Sullivan due to the micro-fracture knee surgery.

Word out of camp is that Ponder isn't going to be an MVP candidate this year.

QB Ponder 2012 < Ponder 2013 Can't get any worse than last year. He's been focusing on making higher difficulty of passes and throwing the ball with higher velocity during camp. RB 2012 Peterson > 2013 Peterson Very little chance he can repeat last year's performance. WR 1 2012 Harvin < 2013 Jennings Let me clarify. I do not think Jennings will have as much of an impact on the field as Harvin did last year. However, assuming Jennings plays all 16 games, he will be an upgrade over just 8 games with Harvin. WR 2 2012 Simpson < 2013 Simpson He was suspended the first 3 games of last season, and then in week 5 he encountered a nerve issue which caused numbness in his legs. He never fully regained his full explosiveness at any point during the rest of the season. Slot WR 2012 Wright < 2013 Wright Wasn't activated till week 9 of the season. He came in and quickly showed that he could be that deep threat the Vikings lacked. Word out of camp is his route running has substantially improved from a year ago. TE 2012 Rudolph = 2013 Rudolph Incredible hands. He almost looks like he's wearing oven mitts with those white gloves of his. I only went "=" here because while I think his yardage will increase, I don't see him getting to 9 TDs again with other weapons now at Ponder's disposal. LT 2012 Kalil < 2013 Kalil Superb pass protector last year, but was a little vulnerable in the run game. He added about 15 pounds this offseason to help him hold up better in run blocking. He could very easily be a top 5 LT this season. LG 2012 Johnson = 2013 Johnson Mediocrity at its finest. No apparent strengths but no apparent weaknesses either. C 2012 Sullivan > 2013 Sullivan Sullivan was PFF's top rated center last year, but I see him dropping off a bit this year coming off of micro-fracture knee surgery this offseason. RG 2012 Fusco = 2013 Fusco Why the Vikings kept Fusco and let Geoff Schwartz go, I'll never know. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get replaced as a starter by midseason. RT 2012 Loadholt = 2013 Loadholt He's the opposite of Matt Kalil. Superb run blocker but slow feet when trying to fight off speed rushers. He should be in store for a similar type season. RDE 2012 Allen < 2013 Allen Jared Allen played all of last season with a torn labrum in his shoulder, and the effects showed on the field. While he did end up with a respectable 12 sacks, he was still held in check far more times then normal for him. Allen has said in camp he's felt as good as he has in years. Oh, not to mention it's a contract year. UT 2012 Williams > 2013 Williams Father time is undefeated. Coach Frazier has stated he would like to limit Kevin Williams' to around 30-35 snaps a game this year. NT 2012 Guion < 2013 Guion/Evans Guion was PFF's worst rated DT in the NFL last year and for good reason. Dude flat out sucks at everything. There's no possible way he or his replacement don't perform better this year. LDE 2012 Robison = 2013 Robison Very underrated player. Above-average pass rusher, and also has a knack for knocking down passes at the line. He should be in for another great year, especially considering the fact it's a contract year. SLB 2012 Greenway = 2013 Greenway Heart and sole of the Vikings defense. I would like to see him improve his pass coverage, but I don't see that happening due to his average speed for the position. MLB 2012 Brinkley <<<< 2013 Henderson Brinkley sucked. The end. Erin Henderson has quickly adopted his brother E.J's ability to be a fantastic run stuffer. His coverage skills seem to have also improved nicely in training camp so far as well. WLB 2012 Henderson = 2013 Bishop Bishop is not currently a starter on the Vikings depth chart, but I'm assuming he will be by the end of training camp. The only thing keeping me from going ">" with Bishop is the questions surrounding his health. CB 1 2012 Cook = 2013 Cook Nothing flashy, but gets the job done. Would be nice to see him get another interception within the next 5 years though. CB 2 2012 Winfield > 2013 Rhodes Should I expect a rookie to play better than PFF's highest rated CB last year? Probably not. FS 2012 Sanford = 2013 Sanford Sanford subbed in for an injured Mistral Raymond last year, and he played better than anyone could have expected. Just wish he could catch those errant passes that hit him right in the bread basket! SS 2012 Smith < 2013 Smith What a difference a rookie can make. Harrison Smith gave the Vikings secondary some nastiness that hadn't been there in years. When you can hit Calvin Johnson so hard that it makes him drop a touchdown (and break a couple fingers), you know you're good. K 2012 Walsh > 2013 Walsh I don't think it's realistic to expect Walsh to go 10 for 10 from 50+ yards again this season. P 2012 Kluwe < 2013 Locke Kluwe was awful last season. I liked to call his punts "clay pigeons". I would hope that Locke is an improvement.

I have a $50 bet with one of my Packers friends that Jonathan Franklin will get more carries than Eddie Lacy this year. I'm looking pretty good so far