Any word on how Sam's knee is coming?
Quote: @A1Janitor said:
Any word on how Sam's knee is coming?
None. He does not travel with team. The team has been very silent on Sam since the Chicago game.
I just hope they take the loss as what it is 1 loss and turn it into positiveity for the Bengals and beyond.
Quote: @Tom Moore said:
The Game
* The Panthers were stacking the box, waiting for the inside runs that the Vikings prefer to give to Latavius Murray. Unfortunately, Pat Shurmur probably went to that well a few times too many. With a replacement center, replacement tackle and replacement tackle, and 2 of the 3 playing out of position, running up the middle on a stacked front was doomed.
* Jerick McKinnon was the better run choice, as he has the vision and speed to cut back when holes are closed, and he made quite a few nice runs off the end.Sadly that seemed quite evident. I kept calling for more Jet, less Murray. Especially when we got down to the endzone and couldn't punch it in late. JM was on fire and very elusive. Murray had too many negative runs. Not all of it was on him as the O-Line was struggling in this game.
* Case Keenum did not have a great game, but the stats lie a bit on how well he did. The first INT was caused because he threw the ball to the outside, and Thielen had to turn around, and could not make a play on the defender. That is still on Case, but at that point, an interception 45 yards down field was as good as a punt. He put the ball where players could make a play, and with the Rudolph TD, he threaded it between 3 defenders. You can't throw any better than that. Best of all, against a tough Panther defense, he directed a key comeback TD and FG drive, and he made plays with his feet. He is a gamer, and still had 280 yards passing, and 40 rushing.
The INT to Thielen wasn't a good throw, or Thielen ran the wrong route (which I sort of doubt) He was looking inside and the pass went outside. The INT to Diggs was another bad throw, very high. But Case also threaded some needles as well. The TD to Rudy. I think the TD to Thielen was even better. He hit that oh so tight window that allowed Adam to catch and run. Kuechly was right there.
* The facemask penalties - these were not "grabbing and grasping the facemask" as the referee call would indicate. These were brush jobs. I miss the 5 yard non-automatic first down facemark calls we used to have. On the 80 yard Panther TD drive, 30 yards were from facemark calls
Sadly there are no more 5 yarders. But they were actual facemasks, not jus the phantom brush like Kendrick had against the Lions.
* The defense had trouble getting off the field on third downs. The pass rush was effective early making Cam uncomfortable, but, in general, the pass rush gave Newton too much time to convert 3rd and longs.
* The Vikings lost the time of possession battle, and that is the #1 barometer this year to Viking wins. Vikings hold the ball at least 4 minutes more than the opposition, they are 10-0.
* On penalties, it remains astounding that Viking defenses get called for everything, yet Case Keenum was clubbed to the head on one of his runs and there was no call at all. I guess when the Vikings are on offense, the referees are deciding to just let the defensive fellas play!That was my initial reaction as well. But he was a runner, went head first and just collided with the tacklers arm. I would bitch if my team were called for hitting the head when the QB is running and slides head first.
* The Panthers had a good strategy to help Matt Kalil. We expected Greg Olson to help chip on Everson Griffen. But there was no TE help, but don't be fooled, Kalil had plenty of help. His gameplay (the coaches game plan) was to take Everson outside, and force him inside, where the Guard doubled Everson on most plays. That said, it was surprising how little success the rest of the Defensive Linemen had.Was that the rush plan tho? Keep him contained and pressured? Hunter had a great tackle on a designed run by Cam.
Love these insights you provide.
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