Is Dr. Z Just Plain Senile?

by: Michael Steffes

If you haven't seen this yet, the infamous Dr. Z, from SI has made half of his Superbowl prediction. It is pretty darn early, buy hey, strike while the iron is hot

He has picked, the Vikings. Yup, the Vikings. The funny part, is that his logic is seriously flawed.

Let's get down to basics. Run the ball. Stop the run. Best in the league at both last year. I can't help it -- I'm hooked on the fundamentals. Their middle triangle of tackles Kevin and Pat Williams, backed up by E.J. Henderson, is classic, and now there's a serious element added to that mix.

How does that make any sense? If it is all about running the ball and stoping the run then Minnesota should have at least made the playoffs last year, right? They were the best at both. The Giants were the 4th best rushing team and the 8th best rush defense team. The Patriots were 13th and 10th respectively. The truth is that this is a passing league. More to the point it is a quarterback league. Brady, Manning X 2, Hasselbeck, Romo, and Rivers have all been to the playoffs at least two years in a row. Most of these quarterbacks scuffled in their first playoff attempts. Brady is the exception. Some of them are still trying to get it right (Romo). But anyway you slice it, they are all better than Tavaris Jackson. Let the man at least lead his team to the playoffs once before you put these expectations on him.

You may notice in the article, he discusses the Giants and Boys, but no Seahawks. And when you think of it this way, it begs the question... Is this guy crazy? END