SWAMPER THIRSTY THURSDY NIGHT ESPECIAL: ***PURPLE PEOPLE EATERS +9***

Whata rout on Monday Night as we expected over in the Swamp eh?? Sheesh! The Chef Boyardees followed that perfect formula when one wants to take out the Pats; hit Mr. Brady early and often and most importantly, hit him HARD and he will fold like a cheap suit. It was hilarious as he wanted absoultely no part of that game and looked like a litte boy on the playground wanting to take his ball and go home. Man oh man are they a mess....which is why we will take them next Sunday Night to beat the undefeated Cincinatti Bengals!!! Hahah, I know, I know....crazy! But hey, that's the NFL for ya! We will talk more about that when the time comes. Now, onto tonight's Thursday Night doozy! The Mighty Mighty Minnesota Vikings roll into a little place called Lambeu Field....home of their historic rival, the Green Bay Packers. OOOOOO BABY! Get me some Chunky Soup! Swamper is ready to tune into what he thinks may be another fall classic!!! And here's why.....

The Vikings impressed the world last weekend when they hosted the Atlanta Falcons whom just straight up annihilated the lowly Tampa Bay Bucs a week prior on Thursday Night Football. It looks like Swampy predicted the Bucs to wake up and come out strong one week too early as the Bucs were completely embarassed in the Georgia Dome that night. It was just one of those games that every team has once in a blue moon, and by one of "those games" I mean the ones where nothing, and I mean NOTHING seems to go right whatsoever. Literally anything that can go wrong, does, and all the while the other team is rolling on all cylinders. YIKES! Anyway, my point is the Falcons looked to be stronger than ever that night. However this proved to just be a mirage and more of the Bucs just absolutely playing like crap since the Falcons then rolled into Minnesota and were handed a big L by a team that is at least on paper at that time, far less superior. They had their rookie QB Teddy Bridgewater making his first start at home and the kid completely WOWED the league as he played a near perfect game. The kid was stellar in the pocket. He consistently found the open man, made extremely accurate throws, and had superb awareness as he was able to escape pressure and make something out of nothing while utilizing his legs thus becoming an effective and dangerous rush threat as well. I was thouroughly impressed with the kid. He looked comfortable and poised in the pocket, and as smart as can be with the decisions he was making. It may be safe to say that Swamper has a slight man crush on the Tedster! Bridgewater led his troops to defeat the Falcons in an all around impressive win. It was a perfectly called game and both the offense and defense played outstanding.

Unfortunately in that game however, Teddy tweaked his ankle a bit and is questionable for the game tonight. The short week could not have come at a worse time for the guy. However I am going to go out on a limb here and think it is safe to say that I highly doubt that Bridgewater will miss tonight's game. It does not seem to be as severe of an injury where he would forfiet the chance to follow up his astounding debut with a possible win over division rival and long time big brother, the Green Bay Packers. I think that the "questionable" and "game time decision" chitter-chatter is all just a ploy to force Green Bay to prepare and gameplan for both Teddy and backup Christian Ponder. Just to create extra work for them which is a very smart move. Touche' Minny, touche'! I think that the Vikings know damn well that Teddy is not going to miss this game for the world and will be under center tonight. The kid is tough as nails. He proved that in college that he can take a hit and play extremely hurt. A little sprained ankle ain't going to keep this kid on the bench when he has a chance to secure his starting position and get something going here with his team. The more I think about it, I am loving what looks to be what is secretly shaping up as a HUGE upset. But would it really be a HUGE upset? I don't really think so.

The Packers are an NFL darling of a team. They have forever been loved by many and have always been a HUGE public team who by default, recieves automatic respect. Therefore they are big favorites here tonight. They just beat up DA BEARZ in convincing fashion last weekend. However before this game the Packers were struggling which is highly unusual for them. Nothing was really going okay for them, the defense was soft, the run game was nonexistant, and the passing game was there, but just not what it used to be. They just looked to be somewhat "off" I guess you can say. They got demolished by the Seahawks in the opening game of the season week 1 in Seattle, okay that is understandable as most would. Then the Pack almost fell victim to what would have been a HUGE upset as they were caught sleeping when the Jets came into town and if not for New York's typical bonehead decisions, would have and probably should have beaten Green Bay in their OWN house. The Jets are awful so far on offense and were able to take it to the Packers and had no problems putting up points. Then in week 3, the Pack started to get their stuff together a bit and came to play in Detroit against another divisonal rival, the Lions. Both teams played sloppy that game however the point is here that Rodgers ALWAYS OWNS the Lions, and this time he didn't. He just was not himself until last weekend when he told Packer Nation to simply "RELAX." Kudos to him as he now looks like the man after dismantling DA BEARZ in another divisional game and had no trouble picking apart that defense whatsoever. However Cutler definitely helped the Pack out big time by turning into his old self and turning the ball over a few times as he historically does against Green Bay for whatever reason. Now who knows, maybe Rodgers knew he would do this and that they would be alright, I don't know, but I will tell you what....I'm not impressed. I mean who is that Chicago defense? A couple of weeks ago they were the known weak point of the team. I mean yes they have gotten better the last two weeks with finding a diamond in the rough with their rookie CB Kyle Fuller, but DA BEARZ defense was hurting and not at full strength on Sunday. Stud veteran DE Jared Allen missed his first game since like 2007 and there were a couple other missing pieces that are key for DA BEARZ. So what I am trying to say is that I take that Packers beating with a grain of salt. I think that Minnesota has been more impressive in their games thus far. They opened up with a rout against a stingy St. Louis defense on the road, then fell victim to the Patriot defense at home, and then hung tough in New Orleans which is one of the hardest places to play. If you take a closer look at these first three games Matt Cassel was the one under center and he is the best player on the opponents team when in the game. He suprisingly managed to play a decent game week 1 where the Vikes got the win, he is 100% to blame week 2 by throwing 4 interceptions I believe giving his team absolutely no shot in winning, and was playing terribly once again before getting hurt in week 3 in Nawleans where Teddy then came in at halftime and actually made a game of it. We all know what then happened when Teddy started the game in week 4 against a red hot ATL.

Call me crazy but I have quite the hunch deep down in my muck that the Minnesota Vikings......are about to go on quite the little run here. This team has already overcome a ton of adversity as it is. First time Head Coach Mike Zimmer has done an AWESOME job with this team thus far and he has these guys believing. You can just tell and see that they WANT to play for him. He is a player's type of coach. Along with Offensive guru Norv Turner as the man behind the curtain calling the shots, they may really have something going here! I hav always thought that the Vikings were just a QB away from being a great team. They have slowly but surely been adding all the right pieces in the meantime while searching for that franchise QB. I think that they have finally done so in Touchdown Teddy. I know, I know, how can I say this after just one game? Simple. It is because it isn't just after one game, I have watched this kid for awhile now all throughout college. The only question was will he be able to have the same success in the NFL, and judging by the film of last week, he will not only be successful, but he will be GREAT one day. He has all the fundamentals and mechanics down pat. The guy is going to lead the Purple People Eaters to relevance again. Too bad Adrian Peterson is a goner, man would they be scary if he wasn't such a weirdo. However I do like what I saw from the rookie RB Jerick McKinnon last week. I think he will be the lightning to the bruising downhill runner Matt Asiata' thunder. Asiata has already proved that he has what it takes to pound the rock in repeatedly over the goaline. Tonight I think that both of these guys will have a heavy workload as Green Bay struggles to stop the run as we have seen in the past couple of weeks. Especially because it is supposed to be a very rainy and wet night tonight, I really, really like Minnesota tonight with the points. I think I actually like them to win outright here! This is going to be a hard hitting, defensive, run the ball down your throat type of game. There WILL be turnovers because of how wet it is going to be. I will tell ya what though, Teddy wears those gloves! I always thought QB who wear gloves were strange but on a night like tonight, by all means Tedster!! Therefore I think Rodgers has more of a chance to fumble the ball than TB.

The Minnesota defense is a bit banged up but still stout as can be and most importantly they come to play every game. They have some serious talent and young leaders on that team. One of my personal favorite safeties in the league Harrison Smith will be laying the boom tonight along with rookie LB Anthony Barr who seems to be coming along very nicely. They will be JACKED up tonight to try and steal a win from the "Almighty Packers" and in the elements where the playing field gets evened a bit, I really like their chances coming off of a confidence building win. Rodgers will do his thing, no doubt about it, he always does. He is the king of making things happen. I just think that Minnesota has the weapons in place to keep up every step of the way and eventually overcome in the end! Teddy Bridgewater to lead his team to victory in a big statement game tonight for the Vikes. Then look for them to string together a couple more wins where they should win at least 3 of the next 4 when they host Detroit next, then go on the road to Buffalo and Tampa Bay respectively, and then come back home to host the shaky Redskins. Under this new Coaching Staff and QB's leadership, along with a hungry and smart defense who most importantly, has HEART, and all the explosive weapons that they have on offense......don't look now, but the Purple People just may be back!!!! Take the points with confidence tonight and don't be suprised to see the Vikes steal one here......unless Pondexter is playing, which in that case disregard everything that I said as he is awful....just kidding, I still like them to cover with Ponder in the rain as I see a low scoring defensive type of game either way.....GO VIKES!!!!