Eh, so it wasn’t stated here. I do interact with other human beings outside of the SDMB. I’ve speculated it since the 41-0 beating they took from the Giants. Guess that doesn’t count since I didn’t run it past you first.
You’re kinda fun. What time do you have to be back in your cage?
At the risk of slowing down the quickly-building trainwreck between cricetus and duffer, I’ll add my thoughts as a Bears Fan (yeah, I know) living in Minneapolis:
I think this trade will actually help the Vikings. They need a lot of help on defense, and here’s how I see it playing out: You gain a starting linebacker, who is a damn sight better then the rest of the Vikes linebacker group put together. You have 2 first-round draft picks, and I’d spend at least 1 of those, if not both, on defensive backs. Suddenly your defense is transformed from downright pitiful to almost respectable.
You lose a great receiver, but the Vikes have a couple of decent receivers already, and Culpepper did well enough when Randy was hurt this year. Add in a healthy Kliensasser at TE next year, and the passing game should be fine. If they feel like they really need another receiver, you can probably pick one up in the second round, as this year’s draft class has several talented receivers.
I don’t see the Vikings drafting Brayon Edwards or Mike Williams, because right now their needs on the defensive side of the ball are more urgent.
Personally, I’d like to see the Bears draft Edwards, but they’ll probably pick up another fucking running back when they really need 1) a breakaway receiver, 2) a couple of offensive linemen who actually know how to block and 3) a solid backup quarterback (which they can get through free agency)
What’s it say about Randy Moss that the Vikings, on the eve of a potential sale, would trade him away. Doesn’t speak too highly for him.
Then again, his own actions never spoke to highly for him either. Raiders, of course, deserve him.
As should be clear now, they were more than just rumors. Obviously, somebody had some inside information that the Vikings were trying to dump him. Raiders are a good fit, I guess. At least it’s a step back to the days when they had oddball but excellent players as opposed to their more recent history of having oddball but crummy players.
Yep. The more I think about it, the more I’m thinking the Vikings have a chance to really upgrade their defense all the way from god-awful to pretty freaking good. At that #7 pick, you could see a situation where no defensive players have been taken yet. I think there’s at least a pretty good chance that Derrick Johnson will be available, and he’s the best player in the draft, in my opinion. Chris Claiborne is a free agent, I think, so slide Johnson into his place on the weak side and now you’ve got two legitimate playmakers at linebacker. If Johnson’s not available, that still leaves Pacman Jones or Dan Cody, both of whom would fill pretty pressing needs for the Vikes, although I guess Cody’s kind of a similar player to Udeze. Pacman Jones along with Winfield could give you a legitimate pair of cover corners who can put a lick on you, too.
Then, you have to figure there will be good value around at #18 – especially on the defensive line. Or, imagine if they got Johnson at #7 and Antrel Rolle was still around for their second first rounder. Sign another decent rush end with all that cap space, maybe one or two more guys in the secondary, and already you’re looking at a solid, young, athletic defensive core going forward. The offense will be fine, I think it’s safe to say. I’m pretty ambivalent about the Vikings in general, but I think, if this offseason’s handled well, this trade could mark a shift from sheer racetrack football, where the Vikings have that puncher’s chance to beat you, to a team that has the talent on both sides of the ball to win games.
Well, don’t say “if you care to look for it,” etc., then get all bitchy about it when I tell you I looked and it wasn’t there. You can drop the crayons and cage crap, too. It’s too mild a conflict to get that nasty. Save it for when you need it. Like when your beloved Packers get swept by the Lions next season.
I would assume the Vikes are now the odds on favorite to sign Plaxico Burress which would be a nice replacement for Mr. Moss at probably 2 million per year cheaper. As far as the draft they are pretty set at LB, certainly CB and DT would be their top priorities (where have you gone Chris Hovan?). They could also use some safety help. Pretty much their defense blows but they have young talent at LB so that is not a priority.
Actually, Collins threw up some pretty good, tho streaky, numbers at the end of the season, much like Billy Volek did. Having a wide open target with some good amount of atheletic ability might be just what he needs to have a complete break out season.
So is Claiborne not a free agent, then? I can’t really see how they’d be set at linebacker if he and Newman were both walking. Are they going to play 2 untested middle linebackers out of position next year, or what?
A rumor is hearsay about something. There’s nothing in the definition about being true or not.
That post was in response to treis.
If they sign Burress and Kleinsasser gets healthy, they will be very good offensively. Of course, they’ve been very good offensively every year for a long time. The defense is the question mark, as it always is.
Oh horrors! Please don’t take our Plaxico away!
Actually, if you guys could stomach Randy Moss, you won’t have any problem with Plaxico. In fact, he may flourish when he gets a chance to wave his shithead flag high!
Hearsay coming from the Vikings’ front office is slightly different than hearsay coming from the guy who sells duffer his breakfast burrito. It was clear at the time that the rumors were coming from the Vikings’ front office. At least to those of us who weren’t burying our heads in the sand.
You’re right. It is unfair to pick on the truly disturbed. My apologies and a virtual Sno-Cone are being offered. You poor, poor deluded soul. I forgot about your team choice. So, can you answer the age-old question once and for all? If you’re crazy, do you know you’re crazy?
(Sorry Dopers, looks like Detroit decay has infected yet another.) 
Where the rumors come from is neither epistemologically important, nor is it significant in my pissing contest with duffer. Indeed, it bolsters my position that duffer gets no cookie and no medal for having said that Moss would be traded when such rumors were plastered all over the newspapers and everyone agreed with him.
As for heads in the sand, those ostriches are actually eating bugs. None of it has anything to do with me.
Fair enough. 
I’ll leave you two to have at it.
My son, the Hair Apparent, known to some of you as Weird With Words, first apprised me of the following:
“Go, Vikings! And take the Twins with you!”
To hell with it. Minneapolis will never spend the money necessary to have the kind of team that actually justifies giving a shit. That kind of fanaticism is alien to their nature, they just don’t get it.
Sure, the Twins won the World Series. And the town went wild! Why, there were people up honking car horns until one o’clock in the morning! Which is about as close to wild, hairy ass bachannal as you’re gonna get around here.
And you know what? Suits me just fine. Minneapolis is the biggest almost-city in the country. That’s life on the Third Coast.
Uh, yeah. He’s got one of, if not the, strongest arm in the league. And he looked pretty good wiping the floor with your Vikes in the Championship game. IIRC, and I do, he threw a perfect 158.3 rating that game. Funny thing was, that wasn’t the first time he did it that season. He also hung a 158.3 ass-whuppin’ on the Colts during the regular season.
It’s one thing to be able to throw a 60 yard rainbow. Almost anyone can do it, as evidenced by The Chad these past playoffs. What makes a strong arm is the ability to do it again and again and again in a game without your arm turning to mush. Collins has that kind of arm. (Accuracy, OTOH, is admittedly streaky. That’s why he’s Scary Kerry.)
I am completely jazzed about this trade. I want nothing more than for Scary Kerry to lead the Raiders back to greatness, ideally losing the conference championship (where he’s currently 1-1) to the Jets, who ideally will have knocked off the Pats in the divisional round.
Aside from his several 5-pick games last year, he was pretty damn effective. The problem is that they kept getting 30+ points and losing, however, because they had the worst fucking defense in the league. I don’t know where they ranked statistically, but fuck me it was godawful. So the fact that they’re dealing Harris away does not bode well. You do not want to be mounting a comeback with Scary Kerry. He is best when he’s stepping on your throat, ala the Vikes in 2000.
He already had his breakout season in '95, when he led the second year expansion Panthers to the conference championship. Then he put an exclamation on it in 2000 when he passed for over 4000 yards, led the league in 20+ yard completions, and basically lit up everyone he faced. mumble mumble except the fucking Ravens, of course mumble mumble
Collins never gets respect. He is basically an exact replica of Brett Favre. Same dopey painkiller addiction early on. Same big arm. Same gunslinger attitude. The only difference is that in his Superbowl he faced the Ravens and the debatably best defense in history, while Favre faced the pitiful pats. He couldn’t even beat the friggin’ Broncos.
For you Raiders fans out there, you have to listen to all his interviews. They are pure comedy gold. My buddies and I never stopped laughing when he was interviewed. The guy really is a about as nimble-minded as a box of rocks. He sounds exactly like Brendan Frasier in Bedazzled. It’s almost as if he studied that movie. hehheh (“Well, you hope to play good out there. I mean, you want to play good. You try to play good. I think we played good.”)
Randy Moss will be very happy with Collins as long as the defense keeps the games close enough to be shootouts. Rich Gannon? The dink and dunk game is well behind the Raiders. Fuck the West Coast Offense, all hail the East Coast Offense. Air it out early and often. We don’t need no stinkin’ passer rating.
Actually, that was 2002. mumble mumble fucking 49ers suck cock mumble mumble
And his perfect game against the Colts was also in 2002. My bad.