0-16 baby

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Yeah...

 

We're falling further and further behind our 0-16 target. Let's go 0-19...

[Mike Sixel]

I am not a believer in this coach....but they've saved their jobs almost assuredly now.....oh well. At least one more year of 7-10 wins and not being great.

[nicksaviking]

I remember that brutal effort week 3 in 2018 when the defense got their clock cleaned against an absolutely pitiful Buffalo offense. The defense looked like they were still in a daze from the crazy situation with Everson Griffin the night before. 

 

Yesterday reminded me of that. They just got worked by a terrible offense. Of course in 2018 there was reason for them to be distracted as their team leader was having significant mental health issues, where as this time the team leader simply pulled his calf muscle and unexpectedly missed the game. They should have been able to stop this team with or without Kendricks.

 

And that O line. Just wow. If Cook ends up leading the league in rushing, it will go down as one of the most improbably feats ever. Spielman couldn't put together a worse unit if he only scoured the other teams' practice squad for warm bodies.

 

Also, once again they got away with poor clock management. 

[gunnarthor]

1) Cousins has been playing pretty darn good for a while now. He's not the problem. But I really don't like our play calling at all and we're running Cook into the ground. Something has to get fixed there. 

2) I'm running out of words to describe special teams. What the hell has happened? 

3) I think Dantzler and Gladney are going to be really good corners for us, maybe as early as next year. Hopefully, someone else steps up (Boyd, Hill, Hughes) and we might be close to a really good secondary again.

4) Our OL was a problem again. I wonder if they are wearing down? O'Neil had a bad game. Reiff has been pretty good, I guess. But it was a pretty bad game against a pretty awful team.

 

I think we make the playoffs and pull of a first round upset and get blown out the next week.

[Danchat]

 

1) Cousins has been playing pretty darn good for a while now. He's not the problem. But I really don't like our play calling at all and we're running Cook into the ground. Something has to get fixed there. 

2) I'm running out of words to describe special teams. What the hell has happened? 

3) I think Dantzler and Gladney are going to be really good corners for us, maybe as early as next year. Hopefully, someone else steps up (Boyd, Hill, Hughes) and we might be close to a really good secondary again.

4) Our OL was a problem again. I wonder if they are wearing down? O'Neil had a bad game. Reiff has been pretty good, I guess. But it was a pretty bad game against a pretty awful team.

 

I think we make the playoffs and pull of a first round upset and get blown out the next week.

1) They need to try and mix in the backups, there's no reason to have Cook touch the ball that many times. He's not going to be 100% down the stretch.

2) I have no idea, but I can't remember the last time a team's ST unit imploded in all phases so fast. Our punt returners have fumbled once in each of the last 4 games!

4) Dozier has been a massive issue, he was horrendous yesterday. The Jags might have the worst D-line in football (last in sacks, 29th run defense), and our O-line was dominated for most the contest. We're not going to keep winning game playing like this.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Cousins is winning me back, by showing heart and making better throws, trying to be more mobile even though that’s not his game, and picking up some nice first downs on the ground. Didn’t see much of it yesterday but the radio guys were saying throughout that Dalvin looked off.

 

These have been ugly games, “last team with the ball loses”, but they will probably rise up and play Tampa Bay to the wire next week. Although I think their record against Brady is 0-and-forever.

[nicksaviking]

All the pressure is on TB; the national media is making the tension between Brady and Arians out to be a civil war. 

 

That should work in the Vikings favor. It would be great to have Kendricks back though now that Gronkowski is suddenly useful again. The Jags went to their TEs a LOT last week, almost certainly because the Vikes All Pro MLB was out.

[Mike Sixel]

Going to be a massacre.....

[TheLeviathan]

I don't think the problems with the line were simple.  It seemed to me that the Jaguars called a lot of blitzes to neutralize our bootlegs and we never adjusted.  And with Dalvin running like he's got a fridge chained to him, we couldn't force them out of those backside pressures.  

 

I mean, they also didn't play well, but when we just dropped straight back with Boone or someone else  in protection, Cousins had time to throw.  He had a number of clean pockets on deep throws to Jefferson.  It was our base stuff with the outside zone that were getting killed.  The bigger concern to me is that Dalvin is showing (again!) that no matter how talented he is, he can't be counted on as an elite 16 game back.  If he's going to be this mediocre, teams will just throw the sink at us every time.  We're not built to stand up to that sort of attack.

 

And my god our defense can't get any pressure on a QB right now.  Those guys are all run stuffers who don't stuff the run well.  Only Mata'afa is flashing any ability to get after people.  

[gunnarthor]

I've generally been supportive of Zimmer as a defensive minded guy but I remember a funny story that came up when he was hired. Essentially, it was "why with all his defensive success in the NFL, with his ties to great coaches, with his ability to get quick turn arounds, was he just now getting his first HC job? Shouldn't he have had a few opportunities earlier? Answer: He's a bit of an ***hole."

 

This article seems to support that and seems to suggest that Zimmer's teams have ceilings because of his my way or the highway attitude. 

 

https://heavy.com/sports/minnesota-vikings/bills-stefon-diggs-justin-jefferson-trade/?fbclid=IwAR1OOT0Q0oZ1qX_8IN7xzba7ZQkojcq927VMyq7P8iDa_b0CnGin3NynvYw

[Vanimal46]

I was reading Chad Graff’s mailbag article on the Athletic and Danielle Hunter was brought up. Full disclosure, Chad thinks they should stand pat on the current contract until he shows he’s 100% healthy. If it ultimately came down to trading him, he thinks Hunter will fetch 2 1st round picks.

 

An idea brought up by someone in the comment section peaked my interest. By packaging Hunter and our 1st to move up into the top 5 for Sewell or a QB. Thoughts?

[Vanimal46]

 

This is why I was always against signing Cook long term. He’s played well this season, but it will never surprise me if he’s listed as lost season in the coming years.

[Mike Sixel]

 

This is why I was always against signing Cook long term. He’s played well this season, but it will never surprise me if he’s listed as lost season in the coming years.

 

adrian peterson couldn't carry the team to a championship, or even the SB.....Dalvin Cook will? No chance.

[TheLeviathan]

 

This is why I was always against signing Cook long term. He’s played well this season, but it will never surprise me if he’s listed as lost season in the coming years.

 

Of the three guys he listed as positives, two of them look burned out right now in Cook and Kamara.

[Danchat]

 

Of the three guys he listed as positives, two of them look burned out right now in Cook and Kamara.

Kamara looks burned out? They haven't been having him touch the ball as much the past few weeks, but he just averaged 6 YPC vs the Falcons. The Saints like to give Murray more touches in games where they don't feel they need to overuse Kamara... which is something I wish the Vikings would consider. Cook isn't going to last getting 30 touches a game, and that's not his fault.

[TheLeviathan]

 

Kamara looks burned out? They haven't been having him touch the ball as much the past few weeks, but he just averaged 6 YPC vs the Falcons. The Saints like to give Murray more touches in games where they don't feel they need to overuse Kamara... which is something I wish the Vikings would consider. Cook isn't going to last getting 30 touches a game, and that's not his fault.

 

Isn't that kinda the point though?  They are purposely taking touches off of Kamara.

 

If you're going to invest that much money into guys, you shouldn't have to feel like (in a 16 game season) they need several off games to get the most out of them.  That only speaks to the fact that the investment isn't a wise one.

[gunnarthor]

That was a really ****ed up half of football

[Vanimal46]

If history tells us anything, this will be Dan Bailey’s last game with the team. 7 missed kicks the last 2 weeks. The Vikings of all teams should have a kicking coach on their staff going forward.

 

I think Dantzler and Gladney had good days overall. Gladney’s PI in the end zone was an iffy call at best, otherwise he played solid. If they go after a solid veteran in FA, and I guess leave Hughes as a wild card, we have a solid secondary.

 

Why on earth did they substitute Samia into the game? Today would have been a nice day to find out what Udoh is about, but he was a healthy scratch. I don’t know what Brett Jones has to do to be the injury replacement guy...

[Mike Sixel]

That OL is going to get cousins killed..... and Bailey deserves to be cut.

[TheLeviathan]

Hurts was my favorite QB not named Burrow or Tua. I look really wrong about Herbert but Hurts in purple would make me much happier today.

 

Cousins is fine, but the dynamic Hurts brings with his arm and legs is so needed.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

If history tells us anything, this will be Dan Bailey’s last game with the team. 7 missed kicks the last 2 weeks. The Vikings of all teams should have a kicking coach on their staff going forward.

 

...

Meh.Missed kicks are a part of the game. Just kinda wished they weren't quite so big a part of ours...

 

Do we have someone who will do a better job?

 

With all the misses, we were closer than the score said.

 

Am i still allowed to be optimistic?

 

We still got an outside shot at the playoffs.

[gunnarthor]

This loss hurt. The officiating was pretty bad - I swear to god, they stopped the game clock early - and the Vikings were the better team yet loss pretty big. 

 

Our offense is wrong but I can't quite figure out why. Aikman said it reminded him a bit of the Cowboys offense when he was QB - they were a running team that was pretty good at passing. But we don't have that OL and Cook ain't Emmitt. I think they need to pass more to keep some of the wear and tear off of Cook and move a bit faster. We had three full possessions in the first half? Maybe four. And we got a TD and a few missed FG. We had too many long drives that netted us nothing. Seems like we should get a lead before we concentrate on 10 minute drives. I dunno. I'm certainly not smart enough to coach a football team.

 

The two PI penalties were pretty demoralizing. The Bucs first drive of the second half was brutal and the defense didn't seem to do anything. I figured we were dead at that point. Good on them for getting back into the game a bit later.

 

Looks like we will finish 8-8 and miss the playoffs. I think there is something wrong with the coaching theory. I'd like a young fresh offensive mind on the team but that doesn't look likely. 

[Mike Sixel]

 

Meh.Missed kicks are a part of the game. Just kinda wished they weren't quite so big a part of ours...

Do we have someone who will do a better job?

With all the misses, we were closer than the score said.

Am i still allowed to be optimistic?

We still got an outside shot at the playoffs.

 

He's missed more in the last 2 games than the best miss in a year..... that's not just "part of the game".

[nicksaviking]

 

Meh.Missed kicks are a part of the game. Just kinda wished they weren't quite so big a part of ours...

Do we have someone who will do a better job?

With all the misses, we were closer than the score said.
 

 

I might be more optimistic about Bailey rebounding if he didn't look like he knew he was going to get fired after every miss. 

 

With a drill sergeant coach who is notorious for not liking kickers and a kicker who's facial expressions couldn't more clearly show that he's lost confidence, I don't think there's any way we can expect him to be reliable going forward.

 

Kickers are the ultimate change-of-scenery players. Every once in a while they need a fresh start where the team and the fan base doesn't remember how you tanked their season.

[gunnarthor]

Blair Walsh is available

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I also think the clock stopped a tick before it should have. Then again, it was amazing how well the Bucs rushed up to the line and got set, snapped, and spiked it. It’s obvious they have practiced it, over and over.

 

I couldn’t tell you if the Vikings ever practice defending that Hail Mary—it doesn’t look like Davis has in a while, anyway. Either that or he just completely lost his head for a moment. Also possible.

[nicksaviking]

 

I also think the clock stopped a tick before it should have. Then again, it was amazing how well the Bucs rushed up to the line and got set, snapped, and spiked it. It’s obvious they have practiced it, over and over.

I couldn’t tell you if the Vikings ever practice defending that Hail Mary—it doesn’t look like Davis has in a while, anyway. Either that or he just completely lost his head for a moment. Also possible.

 

Clock management, hustling to the line, everyone getting set, quick audibles, having only one play called in advance, calling a run with 45 seconds left and on their side of the field, getting caught substituting, avoiding penalties, wasting time outs, competent onside kicks.

 

Yeah, I think there's ample evidence that neither the offense, defense nor special teams get much practice in end-of-half scenarios.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

If we win out, and Arizona loses a game, do we still have the tie breaker?

[nicksaviking]

 

If we win out, and Arizona loses a game, do we still have the tie breaker?

 

Looks like if they lose one and the Vikings win out they'll both have 5 conference losses which is the second tie breaker. I believe it then goes to the record against common opponents. That would be Detroit (x2 for Min) Seattle (x2 for AZ), Carolina and Dallas. My math says AZ is 2-3 against those teams and should the Vikings win out they'd be 3-2. 

 

So I think so?

 

Probably just would have been a better idea not to lose to a flat out terrible Dallas club.

[DocBauer]

Been staying from this thread for a while deliberately. Just can't get too excited for a team that is in re-build or re-tool.

 

Sorry to say for haters, but numbers don't lie. Cousins is not spectacular, but he's still good. Really good at times. But there is just so much missing on thjs team right now that it depresses me, despite a recent run of wins.

 

Special teams are a joke.

 

Pass protection in questionable at best. I've seen improvement from Bradbury and I'm almost thinking we might have something in Cleveland sticking at G. But is that what he was drafted for?

 

OL is still a mess, IMO, and needs to be addressed. And I echo "where is Udo"? Just plug him and see what happens. The RB talent behind Cook isn't great but It's good. But only he can gain yards?

 

Encouraged by the young CB.

 

Nice to see the TE talent finally get a chance.