Conversations about the Vikings, whether it involves fans or media, keep coming back to Tarvaris Jackson. The acquisition of defensive end Jared Allen, the NFL sack leader last season while playing for Kansas City, has stirred talk about the Vikings having one of the league’s best defenses in 2008. Adrian Peterson, last year’s NFL rookie of the year and NFC leading rusher, can be a thrill a minute guy whose presence gives fans a rush. But the question about 2008 team success always seems to include Jackson’s name in the answer.
Former Vikings’ assistant coach Dean Dalton, who now analyzes the NFL in the media, refers to the Super Bowl as the “Promised Land.” In a recent interview with Sports Headliners about the 25-year-old Jackson, Dalton first talked about the impact of Allen whose pass rushing skills are seen as an ideal complement to the already dominant Vikings rushing defense. A better defense creating more three and outs, more turnovers and better field position translates into increased opportunities for the offense, Dalton said.
“It is a help to a young quarterback to take a little bit of the pressure off him, but to get to the ‘Promised Land’ (the Super Bowl) it still comes down to the trigger man,” Dalton added. “It comes down to the quarterback’s play, and so with the pressure taken off of him he can be more of an offensive manager and not have to be the playmaker. So they still need to continue to surround him with playmakers so that he can just manage the offense and continue to mature his game.”
Dalton expects Jackson to play next season with more consistency than in the past. To perform more like he did during the last half of the season when he minimized mistakes and at times was an impressive playmaker. Jackson doesn’t have to be spectacular, just manage the game and not make errors.
Dalton said last year he saw “signs of maturity” in Jackson who became the team’s starter in his second season as a pro. He likes Jackson’s work ethic, study habits and athleticism. Last season injuries diminished his playing time but he was 8-4 in games he started. Although he threw 12 interceptions and only nine touchdown passes, he completed 58 percent of his passes. What sometimes gets lost in the evaluation of Jackson is that many quarterbacks who became NFL success stories were mediocre or worse during their first couple of years in the league.
Dalton wants to see Jackson and the Vikings improve the deep passing game. “If they can have a vertical threat and he can have some accuracy, that puts the defensive secondaries on their heels,” Dalton said. “And it gets that extra safety out of the box which opens things up for Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor. So if they can stretch the field vertically their running game will continue to be the best in the league and that’s one of the things I think they will emphasize as an offense.”
There’s no certainty in predicting how Jackson will play in 2008 but there’s agreement that his success has everything to do with the Vikings’ fate. Super Bowl? That’s a lot of improvement in one season.