neugey

Since I am in South Dakota which is most definitely Vikings territory, the Vikings are on the TV or in the media a lot more here. I have definitely seen a lot of AP through all the up's and down's in Minnesota. Fun fact - back when we did the B&G draft way back when, I role-played the Vikings and correctly picked the Vikings would take AP.

My daughter is a Vikings fan and her reaction to me on the AP signing was "well good luck with that, he sucks". So I have to balance things like that with the hype coming out of NOLA about AP lately.

AP was not as bad as the stats would indicate last year. The Vikings O-line had a rough time with injuries and getting different players acclimated. Sam Bradford was also brand new to the team. The Vikings opponents opted to stack the box and make Bradford beat them when AP was in the backfield last year before the injury. As a result of these factors, AP's yard per carry was insanely low and the passing game did wonderfully as Bradford did a really good job on the fly.

Two things worry me about AP - rhythm and fumbles. If AP has nagging injuries that force him to miss practice or limit him greatly in practice, gameday becomes more worrisome. Because when he is rusty and not in rhythm that is when he fumbles the most and his worst production comes out. If he can avoid the injuries and the reps start piling up, he will bust loose for some big plays and big games, it is just a matter of time.

We will also have to see if Payton has the touch to manage AP's touches and uses him properly. It takes the right approach to handle AP properly and get him going. Some Vikings OC's have done it well, while others have done it horribly. And it's not simply about the quality of the offensive mind either - AP and Norv weren't a good fit. If AP works out excellently here and shows his old form, it will be because Sean and AP have both done a good job of adapting him to the offense. It won't happen by accident.

So what I'm saying is there are a lot of "if's to the AP signing. But if we figure them out and things go right with AP's health, the upside is we could really terrorize offenses like never before in the Sean/Drew era. Considering AP's contract, it's not a bad gamble.