The Athletic: Mason is the bell cow Minnesota wanted

[StickierBuns]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6613768...all-bears/

Alec Lewis
@alec_lewis

Everything changed Monday night in the fourth quarter.

And how did that quarter begin?

With two punishing Jordan Mason runs. He was exceptional. He was the bell cow, who, alongside Aaron Jones, lifts this running game in a significant way. 

[purplefaithful]

Jones should be our change of pace, running pass routes RB...

Mason is a bruiser, not a field tilter. But there is plenty about that to appreciate.

I think he's going to be really big for the Vikings and JJM this year (knocks wood).

[hogjowlsjohnny]

The run game will only get better. They were limited running to the left due to skule. Donovan is great at getting to the second level and this run game should become pretty potent when Darrisaw returns. Jones still has some explosiveness, quickness, great hands, and picks up the blitz well. The combination with Mason should be very productive if KO uses them!

[Montana Tom]

They do have different styles.
Thunder & Lightning.
I believe KOC will get the best out of both of them.
Jones will not have the same number of carries as he had last season, which is a good thing given his injury history in Green Bay.
Similarly, Mason is not going to have to shoulder the entire burden like he did for the first part of the season in SF, capably replacing McCaffrey until he was injured.
Seeing Mason punish on the ground was a refreshing change of pace.

[purplefaithful]

They do have different styles.
Thunder & Lightning.
I believe KOC will get the best out of both of them. 
Jones will not have the same number of carries as he had last season, which is a good thing given his injury history in Green Bay.
Similarly, Mason is not going to have to shoulder the entire burden like he did for the first part of the season in SF, capably replacing McCaffrey until he was injured.
Seeing Mason punish on the ground was a refreshing change of pace.

^^^

I honestly need to be convinced of that...I think the running game is KOC's blind spot/opportunity area. 

I think KOC has a serious fetish for passing and Flores has a similar issue with blitzing 5+ lol!

[greediron]

They do have different styles.
Thunder & Lightning.
I believe KOC will get the best out of both of them. 
Jones will not have the same number of carries as he had last season, which is a good thing given his injury history in Green Bay.
Similarly, Mason is not going to have to shoulder the entire burden like he did for the first part of the season in SF, capably replacing McCaffrey until he was injured.
Seeing Mason punish on the ground was a refreshing change of pace.

Thunder and lightening is overused and doesn't fit.  Jones doesn't have the elite speed anymore, but is a mismatch for LBs in the passing game as we saw on his 27 yard TD reception.  He also drew a long interference penalty against a DB when split out wide.

So I would say Hammer and Arrow are more fitting and have the Viking flair.

---

^^^

I honestly need to be convinced of that...I think the running game is KOC's blind spot/opportunity area. 

I think KOC has a serious fetish for passing and Flores has a similar issue with blitzing 5+ lol!

I think KOC is learning, he wanted better interior linemen, but again he started out with very few runs, trying to get cute and maybe fool everyone that thought he would lean on the run early on.  

But that 4th Q hopefully showed him the way.

As to Flores, we hardly blitzed at all against Chicago until late in the game.  Flores has a plan for each game, but can also adjust.

[MaroonBells]

I said a couple months ago that I thought the Vikings brought in Mason to be their RB1. That it wouldn't be reflected in the starting lineup or the depth chart out of respect for 33, but he's probably going to be the bellcow.

[pattersaur]

It was so frustrating that the Vikings didn't lean heavier, earlier, on Mason. He was running hard from his first touch and getting downhill. PF is right-- the run game is not KO's strong suit. But credit to him, he did finally recognize it was working and from then on, the run/pass mix in the fourth was great (it helps when all the plays are working).

Jones looked like he had a piano on his back and was moving east/west too much, but he's a big asset in the passing game and the locker room. I expect him to look better this week at USB, with a week of offseason rust knocked off.

CJ Ham- Was he missed? Can someone smarter than me answer this? To me he's been borderline expendable for years but I don't claim to know the nuances of the fullback in the modern NFL.

[MaroonBells]

It was so frustrating that the Vikings didn't lean heavier, earlier, on Mason. He was running hard from his first touch and getting downhill. PF is right-- the run game is not KO's strong suit. But credit to him, he did finally recognize it was working and from then on, the run/pass mix in the fourth was great (it helps when all the plays are working).

Jones looked like he had a piano on his back and was moving east/west too much, but he's a big asset in the passing game and the locker room. I expect him to look better this week at USB, with a week of offseason rust knocked off.

CJ Ham- Was he missed? Can someone smarter than me answer this? To me he's been borderline expendable for years but I don't claim to know the nuances of the fullback in the modern NFL.

He wasn't missed too much because we got a guy for that...