Sidenote: so being a fan that flies into Minneapolis for one game a year, spends money on airfare, hotel, tickets, airport parking, food and drinks, etc., that is my worst nightmare scenario. Just getting your ass kicked right out of the gate and never ever getting back into it. Knock on wood, it hasn't happened to my wife and I. We've only seen wins together the last 5 years. Flying in to watch that shit show would feel like a huge waste of money and time.
I'm sure it will happen eventually, but damn.....
I don’t think Zimmer’s defense has been exposed as much as
the players aren’t playing very good within the defense. I think there’s been a clear downgrade at CB
when we’re playing Rhodes-Alexander-Hughes and Waynes hasn’t been super solid
when he’s been out there. I also think
our playcalling has been goofy on defense the last two games. In both games, I would have expected us to
try and contain the QB in pocket and force the QBs to make plays while
pressuring with our front 4. What we got
is some sort of gambling blitz scheme, where we are just hoping to get pressure
before our coverage inevitably breaks down.
The way this defense should be working is that the DBs suffocate the WRs
and that allows the pressure to get to the QB before anyone gets open, and we’re
just seeing a lot of blown coverages.
Quote: @StickyBun said:
@ Mike Olson said:
I think it's time to admit that Zimmer's defense has been completely exposed. Dating back to the second half of the saints game this defense has gotten absolutely torched over and over.
I can't argue, but I can't agree 100% yet either. I read something yesterday by someone in the sports media that I've come to value their opinion that said the 'disparity between the dinosaurs of the NFL and the new young offensive coordinators is becoming very apparent'. His take was these young coordinators know exactly how to attack the old-style formerly effective defenses of the NFL (like Zimmer) and how they think. I think you are seeing that in reality to some extent.
The NFL is completely geared to the offense and if you aren't propping that part of your team up, you're doing it wrong. It doesn't matter how much talent you get on defense, the NFL continues to mitigate that part of the game every year. The Vikings are more than fine at the impact positions on offense EXCEPT for the offensive line. Its a glaring issue and now its a giant problem. I mean, when you look at it, the Bills weren't some kind of offensive juggernaut yesterday. But Minnesota got behind and could not catch up because the line is horrible. Its a tough spot for any offense to come back from, however, in that exact situation.
Mike, Sticky,
I would argue that the Vikings Defense started to show their issues going back to the Cleveland game in London last year. After Griffin hurt his foot, this defense has struggled to get consistent pressure on the QB, especially when teams have figured out that the Vikings are susceptible to the quick passing game and misdirection routes which neutralizes our Front Four pass rush. OC's will continue to game plan using these approaches until he figures out how to adjust his scheme to stop it. I have been making a lot of comments about Zimmer getting outcoached since the playoffs and it seems to be carrying over into this year. Fortunately the offense has been able to put up some points and had better line protection against the 49ers and Packers. We still can't run the ball and to me that is a huge issue. Not sure if this is a scheme issue with running more zone blocking schemes, poor run blocking personnel, or both. We definitely need to settle on who the starters will be on this line now that Elf is back. Compton needs to go to the bench and I think we need to be done with the Hill at RT experiment and let O'Neill take over full time. All this adds up to a team that is not in sync and isn't living up to expectations. Hopefully he can get this figured out quickly otherwise we will be lucky to post an 8-7-1 record with our strength of schedule.
Quote: @medaille said:
I don’t think Zimmer’s defense has been exposed as much as
the players aren’t playing very good within the defense. I think there’s been a clear downgrade at CB
when we’re playing Rhodes-Alexander-Hughes and Waynes hasn’t been super solid
when he’s been out there. I also think
our playcalling has been goofy on defense the last two games. In both games, I would have expected us to
try and contain the QB in pocket and force the QBs to make plays while
pressuring with our front 4. What we got
is some sort of gambling blitz scheme, where we are just hoping to get pressure
before our coverage inevitably breaks down.
The way this defense should be working is that the DBs suffocate the WRs
and that allows the pressure to get to the QB before anyone gets open, and we’re
just seeing a lot of blown coverages.
Reading stuff after the SF game, it was players breaking down within the system, trying to do too much and not doing their job. A zimmer type defense relies on everyone doing their job and doing it well. It is complex and if someone doesn't know what they are doing (Alexander, Gedeon?) it leaves some big gaps.
Not sure what it is completely, but I agree that something is off with the D. Hopefully they can get it fixed.
Quote: @StickyBun said:
Sidenote: so being a fan that flies into Minneapolis for one game a year, spends money on airfare, hotel, tickets, airport parking, food and drinks, etc., that is my worst nightmare scenario. Just getting your ass kicked right out of the gate and never ever getting back into it. Knock on wood, it hasn't happened to my wife and I. We've only seen wins together the last 5 years. Flying in to watch that shit show would feel like a huge waste of money and time.
I'm sure it will happen eventually, but damn.....
We talked about this yesterday during the game. We've been to 8 games in Minneapolis and won all 8. 0 and 2 on the road. No more of them for us.
Buffalo would be an ideal game for the first timer or someone who rarely gets a chance to go to a home Viking game. Cheapest seats of the year i would imagine.
I would guess a lot of season ticket holders would sell their tickets to this game before they would sell for most of the other 7 games this year.
Our first game was Tampa when Tampa wasn't very good. We saw the Titans when they sucked. Seattle when they sucked. We finally dished out some money and saw the Packers on Monday Night and front row seats for Dallas (both years when we had Favre). Packers Sunday night opener in the new stadium. It'll be hard for me to fly back up there for a so-called "gimme game", like Cleveland or BUFFALO.
I just hate it for someone to finally cross off a home Viking game off their bucket list and this is the shit show they were given. Not a single feel good moment once the Skol chant ended with the opening kickoff.
Quote: @Mike Olson said:
I think it's time to admit that Zimmer's defense has been completely exposed. Dating back to the second half of the saints game this defense has gotten absolutely torched over and over.
Seems to me Zimmer went more conservative on defense. Teams that win keep people guessing, Zimmer hasn’t done that thsi year.
Our DB's are back to playing 10 yards off the LOS. The very stuff we did at the beginning of the Zimmer era when he coached these guys to jam and be in the WR's hip pocket. Did Rhodes and Waynes flame out already? (Not that Waynes was ever great).
And then switching it up and playing schemes without any body deep? Who does that?
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