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| The Vikings did not give Josh Freeman a chance to succeed. They did not use Adrian Peterson and they threw the quarterback in the Giants' Den on Monday Night Football. |
Cory Puffett
The
Vikings threw Josh Freeman into the Lions’ Den, or maybe it was the Giants’
Den, on Monday Night Football. In his 14th day with the team,
Freeman started at quarterback for the Vikings and ended up with the fifth
lowest completion percentage of all time by an NFL quarterback in a single
game, completing 20 passes against 33 incompletions.
The
Giants’ defense pitched a shutout -- Minnesota’s lone score came on a punt
return touchdown. New York had no reason to respect Minnesota’s air attack
early in the game, and Freeman gave them no reason to change their approach as
the game wore on. The end result was just 28 rushing yards for Adrian Peterson.
Still,
Peterson remains on pace to break the NFL single-season rushing record by three
yards. Well, not exactly “on pace.” But he has 12 more rushing yards than he
did at this time last season and wound up just nine yards shy of breaking Eric
Dickerson’s record. It’s not an exact science, but you do the math.
The
win was the first of the Giants’ season and, more or less, keeps them in the
hunt for the NFC East. It isn’t likely that they can make the kind of run
needed to come back, even in this sorry division, but another good game next
week could put them in a similar position as the Steelers in the AFC North,
down but not out.
The
Vikings have already announced that Freeman will start again next Sunday night
against the Packers. Their season appears to be shot with the other teams in
their division playing very well. But looking past this season, I don’t like
what I’m seeing from the organization and their handling of Josh Freeman. He
can still turn his career around and get back to the form he had a few years
ago, but throwing him in the fire so soon is not the way to go.
Final Score:
Minnesota Vikings – 7
New York Giants – 23
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