Day After Post Mortem

[purplefaithful]

The Vikings plan their roster (and salary cap management) on three-year cycles. They knew they were reaching a critical point in the life of their defense — what general manager Rick Spielman has termed “an evolution of the roster” — this spring, when it became clear they would need to reinvigorate the group with young players that could also provide cap relief on rookie contracts.
The NFL calendar required the Vikings to commit to their course for 2020 at the start of the league year in March, long before they knew with certainty the coronavirus pandemic would wipe out their offseason program, condense training camp and eliminate the preseason. Their initial outing, with a group of corners that had collectively played 44 NFL games before Sunday, would come against Aaron Rodgers, who received the additional benefit of a tranquil road environment with no fans in U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday.
Those factors all lend perspective to a ghastly debut for the Vikings’ new-look defense, and the progress of the team’s young corners will have to be measured over the course of the season. The NFL does not use public perception to determine its playoff field, though, nor does it grade on a curve. And with a series of accomplished quarterbacks on the Vikings’ schedule to start the season, Sunday’s debut against Rodgers served as a reminder of just how difficult it will be for the Vikings to build a reliable cornerback group on the fly.
Rodgers had his best day in Minneapolis since before Mike Zimmer became the Vikings’ head coach, becoming just the fifth quarterback to throw for more than 350 yards against a Zimmer-led Vikings defense. While he tested the Vikings deep with Marquez Valdes-Scantling on three occasions (connecting on two of them), he helped Davante Adams tie Don Huston’s 78-year-old franchise record with 14 catches on Sunday.
With the Vikings’ corners playing off coverage on Adams early, Rodgers found his top receiver on a variety of quick throws that leveraged Adams’ ability to beat his man at the line of scrimmage. The Packers schemed a few screens and quick throws for Adams, but he caught five passes with Holton Hill covering him, as well as another three against rookie Cameron Dantzler and three against Mike Hughes.
https://www.startribune.com/rough-start-...572406542/

[Guest]

Here is one other area of concern from the Vikings’ 43-36 loss to the Packers on Sunday:

Perimeter run defense: The Packers’ outside zone scheme is similar to what the Vikings run, but Green Bay came into Sunday’s game intent on testing the Vikings’ remade defense in another way. They used four shovel passes or pitches in their first two drives, designed to get the Vikings’ defense moving laterally and test their ability to force things back inside. The Packers also dressed up some plays with motion and fake sweeps designed to attract defenders’ attention. It’s similar to what the 49ers used to beat both teams in the playoffs last year — and it shouldn’t be a surprise, given the common offensive roots all three teams share — but after a day where the Vikings gave up 160 rushing yards before two kneel-downs at the end, they figure to see more of what the Packers did Sunday
Two trends to watch:
How the Vikings use their corners: We only saw first-round pick Jeff Gladney for a few snaps at the end of the game on Sunday; the Vikings gave Dantzler more playing time than Gladney throughout training camp, in part because his size makes him more suitable for base packages, but it would help the Vikings if Gladney could take on a bigger role, particularly if they want to mix and match among their outside corners like they did on Sunday. Dantzler led the group with 64 snaps on Sunday, but Hill (59) and Hughes (58) played plenty, especially given how much time the Vikings still spent in base packages against a Packers team that used plenty of heavy personnel. Hughes played both in the nickel and at outside corner spots on Sunday, after seeing time in both places during training camp.
Yannick Ngakoue’s role: The Vikings wanted to break their new pass rusher in somewhat slowly, given the fact he hadn’t practiced for the Jaguars in camp before his Aug. 30 trade to the Vikings. Ngakoue was on the field for 44 of the Vikings’ 78 snaps on Sunday, and played left end in both the Vikings’ base and sub packages. He didn’t have much success getting to Rodgers, who used quick throws to get rid of the ball early in the game and showed some of his mobility to extend plays later on. The Vikings face a slate of quarterbacks who’ve either made a career of throwing quickly (Philip Rivers) or breaking the pocket (Deshaun Watson, Russell Wilson) in the coming weeks; they’ll need Ngakoue to help improve their pass rush quickly while Danielle Hunter is out at least two more weeks with a neck injury.
And one big question going forward:
How often will the Vikings find themselves in games where they need to trade scores? For at least a decade, the Vikings have been built to play with a lead: first with Adrian Peterson getting a heavy workload, then with Zimmer’s front four able to pressure quarterbacks in obvious passing situations when the Vikings have a lead. Every team prefers to play in game situations that make their opponent one-dimensional, but the Vikings have constructed themselves to win with defense and a strong ground game (two things that are more effective with a lead). Cousins executed a smooth two-minute drill before halftime on Sunday, and got the offense working once the Packers were up 29-10, but the Vikings’ passing game appeared out of sync in the few possessions it had early in the game on Sunday. That will have to change quickly if the Vikings find themselves in games they need to win 31-28 instead of 20-13.
https://www.startribune.com/rough-start-...572406542/

[Guest]

Its one game. Fans and media need to just chill a bit. Case Keenum/Vikings put up a major stinker in Pittsburgh early in the year and fans were losing their shit. Overreaction Monday is always interesting. Let's see where the team is after 4 games. 

[Guest]

The Packers also dressed up some plays with motion and fake sweeps designed to attract defenders’ attention. It’s similar to what the 49ers used to beat both teams in the playoffs last year 

the bears do the same thing frequently- 

[Guest]

@StickyBun said:
Its one game. Fans and media need to just chill a bit. Case Keenum/Vikings put up a major stinker in Pittsburgh early in the year and fans were losing their shit. Overreaction Monday is always interesting. Let's see where the team is after 4 games. 

True, but there is another side to the post-game review cycle: 2 days after, or less, and people are rationalizing without accurately remembering the feel of the game. By tomorrow, most people will be thinking, "look at the score, we only lost by 7, not so bad..."
But before we all forget: did this feel like a close one-score game? Hell, no. We were down by more than a TD from early in the first quarter until the fourth. Even when we started throwing (way too late), we succeeded because they were in prevent defense, and it was totally obvious that Rodgers could score at will if we kept making him do so. Seriously, did anyone feel like the game was truly in reach in the fourth quarter?

IMO this really felt like the NFCCG against Philadelphia two seasons ago, where we scored a TD on our first drive but pretty soon it seemed like that had been some illusion. Or, really in both games, the opponent taking our best shot and then ADJUSTING, while we kept acting like adapting our strategy was against the rules.