!We’re half-way through the week http://www.minnesotavikingsteamonline.com/laquon-treadwell-jersey , and if you’re anything like me, you’re eager to see the Vikes get back on the field. I hope to see them build off of Sunday’s win, and see the defenses continue to come around and be a dominant force once again. The run game showed a faint pulse on Sunday, but there is a lot of room for them to improve. Getting Dalvin Cook back to 100% will be huge, but the O line has to step up and create some gaps for the running backs to hit. Play one game at a time, improve every week, and then get REALLY hot going into the playoffs.Around the DN since our last open thread:Ted brought us our latest installment of Zim Tzu, and Zim is ruffling some feathers this week. Coincidentally, I hope to be ruffling some pheasant feathers this weekend.Chris has your Minnesota Vikings Power Rankings Roundup for week five.The team drew inspiration from a local source prior to leaving for Sunday’s game in Philly, per Chris.Chris shared a next-gen stat on Linval Joseph’s touchdown, and it’s pretty dang impressive. I really wish someone would have been in front of him and tried to tackle him, just to see what would happen. They’d probably be still trying to dig the poor guy out of the ground......or turf.....or whatever they use in that stadium.Vikings news from other sources and news from around the rest of the NFL:At Vikings.com, see Wobby open the Pick Six Mailbag, check out Beyond the Gridiron as they look back at the 1987 Vikings, and there’s plenty more traffic to sift through in the media vault.FoxSports has the snap counts form Sunday, and Mike Hughes didn’t miss a defensive snap.Antonio Brown is good at catching footballs, he’s also good at throwing........furniture.......and other household items..........off of a balcony. Unlike catching footballs, he isn’t being paid for throwing the items, he’s being sued for doing so , per NFL.com. I’d go back to catching and being paid, instead of throwing and being sued, but that’s just me.They say everyone likes to get flowers. Well, they’re wrong. The Giants don’t, they released Flowers, and that was after getting him in the first round in 2015, to the dismay of Giants fans, per the Sporting News. Cue the ‘pick ‘em up!’ gif.We come to today’s media selection:This song popped in my head yesterday afternoon as kiddo and I were building cool things with legos. It wouldn’t get out of my head, which annoyed me, so I sang the song, which annoyed kiddo, and now I’ll play it Womens Eric Kendricks Jersey , so it can annoy you. Enjoy!Again, we all know the rules, but in case someone is new:No discussion of politics or religionNo feeding of the trollsThis isn’t a male version of The View, so leave the gender hatred at the doorKeep the bad language to a minimum (using the spoiler tags, if you must)Speaking of which, if discussing a newer show or movie, please use spoiler tagsNo pictures that could get someone fired or in serious trouble with their employerIf you can’t disagree in a civil manner, feel free to go awayWhile navigating the open thread, just assume it’s sarcasmWith that, the beer light is on and the bar is open. Belly up and tie one on. Don’t forget to tip your waitress, and try the head cheese. Two weeks, two ties.OK, let's get this out of the way now: Yes, the NFL is fit to be tied.Fit tighter than most folks might think, too.In a slopfest of an opener, the Steelers and Browns drew 21-21 . The first game of the season often can be messy and painful to watch, particularly when so many key players don't take the field much, if at all, in the preseason. This one was all of that, even if a tie was a big step in the right direction for Cleveland, which lost 31 of 32 contests entering this season.Yet the Browns sounded more angry with the deadlock than did the Steelers."There's no way that we shouldn't have won this game," safety Jabrill Peppers said. "We didn't win. It is all about winning. Nobody cares about draws or ties, whatever you guys call it. We were in a (position) to win this game countless times. We just have to make the plays."A week later, in a more artistic affair — minus the ugly kicking by the now-released Daniel Carlson for Minnesota — the Vikings and Packers finished 29-29. Like the other tie, it was a divisional game. Unlike the other one, both of these clubs should be in the playoff hunt.So assessing a draw left them perplexed."I don't know what to feel after a tie," Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins said. "It's a unique place to be and proud of the way that the whole team — when I say the team, the coaching staff, the players, the support staff — the way everybody stayed in it and fought. There were times where we thought we should have won it, there were times the Packers feel like they should have won it. And it was a great game Customized Minnesota Vikings Jerseys , and unfortunately we didn't get the win."Green Bay's reactions were similar."It's gross," kicker Mason Crosby offered. "I don't like it. Obviously, you hate losing. A tie is just weird. You just don't get them a lot."Ah, but you just might this season. Two in two weeks could be a harbinger.The NFL reduced the length of overtime from 15 minutes to 10 before last season. Stunningly, there were no ties.But the odds of more results without a winner are vastly increased. And league executives understood that when they made the change."What it came down to was really a player safety discussion," said Dean Blandino, head of the league's officiating department when the rule change was made in 2017 and now an NFL analyst for Fox. "The year prior to change, you had several games that went the full overtime periods and ended in a tie, or a game ended on a field goal at the last second. That's an additional however many plays in that game. We had one instance when a team had to come back on Thursday night and play, so that's a very short week for rest and then playing again."So we asked, 'Are we pushing our players to play an extra quarter and having to come back, creating a chance for more injuries?'"Yes the potential for more ties would be there in a shorter overtime, but the members of the (competition) committee and the owners didn't think a tie was necessarily a bad thing."Maybe yes, maybe no. But are the alternatives worthwhile?The NFL could adopt the college rule (won't ever happen), which detractors have said is like having a home run derby decide a tied baseball game; too much of the natural game is eliminated. So is the sudden death element, although even that has been diluted by the current NFL overtime rule in which the team receiving the kickoff must score a touchdown for the game to end immediately.Not that we are advocating for getting rid of that and returning to the coin toss being even more instrumental in deciding a game.The option of continuing to play until there is a winner doesn't work in the regular season for a variety of reasons. Player safety — player exhaustion — is the main reason, but there are broadcast considerations on a busy Sunday afternoon, too. And fan comfort, particularly in Lambeau or Soldier Field or Gillette Stadium in December.The NFL also senses that with the shorter overtime, teams will attack more during the extra period. That seems to have been the case at Lambeau Field last Sunday. In the other tie, play was so chaotic it was difficult to tell if either side had a plan for winning."There were a lot of things discussed and on the table," Blandino said of competition committee meetings about overtime. "This goes back if you look prior to 2012, the coin toss was such a big part of OT. We had less ties under that system; just, look at the stats from 1994-2011, and there were only four ties. Since 2012 and the chance to have both teams getting possession, in the next five years, we had five ties in that period."And in 2018, we already have two. Get ready for more.
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