Disappointing game.  Started well, but I was stressing by the second quarter.

• Mason is struggling in pass-pro.  Whiffed on Hamilton giving up a huge pressure and knockdown by Hamilton
  
• Refs seemed to favor Baltimore.  I know we jumped 8 times.  But calling it on a QB?  When does that ever happen?  At one point late in the game Baltimore only had 1 penalty for 5 yards.  
  
• False starts at home?  Something was up with JJ's cadence.  Either he was just amped and barking louder, or we were trying to get Balt to jump.  Whatever the case, it wasn't working.
  
• Jefferson seemed disinterested.  Seemed almost lethargic, getting tripped up on that deep INT and then not hustling.
  
• Absolutely no issue with the deep shot on 3rd and 1.  Jefferson 1-1 with no safety?  Who wouldn't take a shot on that matchup?  Those criticizing that play are hiding behind the 20/20 hindsight or just don't understand football.  How often do we complain that coaches don't go for the kill shot?  That was a kill shot and a great call.  Didn't work out, but it was still a great call.
  
• Our run game seems better, should have leaned on it more, but I really don't think play calling was the issue here.
  
• The INT was a big moment, but the fumble on the kick return was bigger.  Short field, the D rallied so many times holding them to FGs, but couldn't stop this one.
  
• Wonder where Price's head is at going forward.  Fumbled the next return as well.
  
• Nailor stepped up in a big way.  That 4th down catch where he double clutched it was huge.  The TD was a thing of beauty.
  
• How many tipped balls did our D just miss?  I think there were 3 that had potential, but just fell short.  Could have been a huge difference
  
• But the D played a tremendous game IMO.  Van Ginkel is such a great player.  Causes the other team so many issue.
  

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What a disaster-class of a game by KOC.  Obviously, it was a mess of a game overall, but I think KOC could have won this game if he called a better game, and at this point in time he should know better (as opposed to JJM, who’s in his 4th game).  It felt like we were playing some high end defense and KOC knew our only chance to win was to make a couple 45 yard TD passes that score in one shot.  When in the real world, we’re playing a defense that is struggling a lot and didn’t put pressure on us at all.

There should be no coach who asks his rookie QB to throw that many times, especially in a game that was close the whole time.  I feel like what was clearly missing was consistency in calling the run game and easy passes.  Aaron Jones ran for 5 ypc, Mason for near 6, JJM for almost 10.  We had 13 rushes by the RBs.  Is there a bigger WTF, than our complete lack of rushing the ball?  It felt like every pass thrown was a high difficulty pass and every pass took like 4 seconds for the receivers to run 20 yards down the field.  What was the point of that?  At some point in the game, JJM is overthrowing every receiver.  Why not introduce some confidence boosting throws into the mix, ones that didn’t need to be rocketed all the way across the field?  Regarding the false starts.  Clearly there was some miscommunication thing happening.  It didn’t appear to me that anyone was making any effort to figure out what was going on and trying to address it midgame.  I kind of feel like any of the veteran players could probably point out to JJM and KOC, what was going wrong, and what JJM needed to fix to stop having that issue.

Overall, it felt like we were being way to cute and unnecessarily complex and beat ourselves, when we could have just gone out there ran a basic bare bones offense and come away with a victory.

Also, we’re 1-3 at home with none of our home losses looking like a remotely functional team.

I think we’re close to the point where KOC should take a break from playcalling for a period of time.  KOC repeatedly calls plays that his team can’t execute and he needs to figure out why he does that and how to stop doing that.  It’s clearly a personal flaw of his, and his lack of awareness that this is happening, and the lack of adjustments is holding our team back.  Let someone else call the game, who will actually call a run play.  Focus on ensuring the team is executing at a high level.

Here’s the problem as I see it:

JJM was drafted to a 7 win football team. THIS is the season the Vikings should have had LAST year, but JJ got hurt. Then they caught lightning in a bottle and outkicked their coverage making everyone think this is a Super Bowl team.

It’s not and it never was. The 14 wins last year were a mirage and everyone is holding that against a developing QB who SHOULD be in his second full season. Instead we have a 22 year old, with 4 games under his belt, having people screaming at him that he’s holding this team back from the Super Bowl.

He’s not. He’s learning. And I think there are enough flashes of greatness that lend him to being pretty damn good when he puts it all together. And THAT is the team that will contend.

I'll take 'anything to discuss other than yesterday's debacle' for $500, Alex.....what was Brian Daboll thinking with the Giants? He kept running Dart and running Dart.....and he was taking all these hits....and then he designed ANOTHER run and Dart got his bell rung and has a concussion. Why?? I mean, Dart is a real trooper, played tough, but why would you do this to the kid? Its insane. This was the 4th time he's been evaluated for a concussion already this season.

We'll get to see em live in a week

Gotta give Ben and Caleb a shout out...

Vikings are going to be at the caboose of the North this year me thinks.

Man, that was one of the worst offensive performances Ive seen in a while. 

No, I'll pass on a second helping of that.

Not great throws by JJ but he is half assing and not finishing plays, then standing like a diva and not even trying to pursue the interceptor. @!!$

Let's do this! 

 good 1st quarter, weird to score points early, changes and helps everything.

He's been under SO much pass rush pressure in his first 3 games, its f-ing nuts. Protect his ass. This is a big boy team and if you let them go nuts on JJ, it will be an ugly game. 

This will be the key of the game. Lamar is going to get his, but the Vikings will need to score in this one. Release the Kraken and let's get some chunk pass plays today.