vikings/nfl

He's too slow to be effective

jamesrye, what? Too Slow? Based on what, your dreams? LOL. He wasn't too slow to get to the outside against the Bucs, and run right by an unblocked OLB who supposedly ran less than a 4.5 40 at the combine. LOL, The man is 231 lbs, with a 38" vert Leap, and runs a 4.5 40, and, to you, he is too slow? On what planet? He is not as fast in straight line speed as AP, but he outweighs AP by 15lbs! For the record, he is faster, by a far amount than AP in the short shuttle and in the 3-cone drill. AP's Vert at the combine was 38.5". You can dream all you want that TG is not athletic or fast for a 231lbs RB, but that doesn't make it reality. Also, for the record, the NFL Combine 40 yard Dash Split times at 10, 20 yards, for AP and TG were as follows: 1.53, and 1.55; 2.58 and 2.56. So, AP was faster in the 10, and 40; TG was faster in the 20, the Short Shuttle and in the 3-cone drill. Accordingly, unless you are prepared to tell me that AP is too slow, at 217lbs, please don't try to tell me that TG is too slow at 231lbs.

Gerhart, like Ponder, needs to "step his game up" so we can see if he has what it takes to succeed in the NFL. Frankly, I'm not sold on Toby. But, now that he's going to get plenty of practice reps and game exposure so he can get into a rhythm, I'm willing to give him a chance. Ponder needs to play far better than he did last week against Oaktown. (And yes I know the O-line and coaches are brutal and are probably going to get him killed!)

Let's see what the kid can do. Now that he will be getting more playing time, hopefully a positive rhythm will be established. I would not write off TG until he has a chance to prove himself. that will take more than one game. right now Vikings Fans should be glad we have him to step in for the injured AP.

He's the second coming of Leroy Hoard. Need 3 yards? He'll get you 3 yards. Need 6 yards? He'll get you 3 yards...

If Toby consistently gets the three yards and once in awhile busts a big one, that is fantastic. Remember, Adrian is famine, famin, feast. With Toby there is no famine. The kid is a football player with skills.

The problem with Gerhart is there's plenty of famine and virtually no feast. And unless he's gonna run track, I don't care what his times are. It's the same argument with Joe Webb. Being a physical speciman doesn't make you a football player. How'd that Brock lesnar thing work out? The kid has yet to produce like a 2nd rounder. We'll see what he does the next few weeks.

I'm not quite sure what Toby a lot of comments here have been watching, this year Toby is averaging 4.9 yards per carry (AP is at 4.7), and is averaging over 12 yards per reception (granted that's largely due to one big reception, but with only 5 total receptions that's to be expected). I'm not sure why, but Musgrave seems to dislike him for some reason, which is unfortunate because the vikes should've been spelling AP more then they have given that we're not going anywhere this year.

Childress/Speilman traded away a third-round pick to move up higher in the second round and draft Gerhart, when they already had Peterson on the roster. Maybe Gerhart will be a productive player, but if he does, it won't be for the Vikings, so using two picks in the top three rounds to get him was possibly the dumbest move the Vikings' have made since Dimitrius Underwood.

When they were chasing Cobb down the sideline on his long kick-off return against the Vikings in the first Packer game, Everson Griffen blew by Gearhart like he was standing still and caught Cobb from behind. How many plays do you see Gearhart make on special teams? Not many. He is always a step behind the play. He will get the yards that are available, not much more. The offensive line better get it together or it will be ugly. Trading up to get Gearhart was another Tavaris Jackson like move. The Packers got a much more effective back in Starks in the 6th round. This is the story of our demise -- get the first round pick right some of the time and miss on almost all the other rounds all the time. Unlike offensive linemen, you can pick up effective back up running backs in the late rounds.