Quote: @Jor-El said:
But, sad as Sparano's death was, Spielman has been under-supplying the line for a decade and the guys he has brought in for that position have mostly been BAD selections. Yes, his supporters will call out O'Neill, Elflein, and Reiff - but he missed badly using the #3 pick in the draft on Kalil
I can buy some of what you're saying but this is ridiculous - Kalil was a consensus top pick from everyone everywhere, no one criticized that move at the time including you. He even got dopey Cleveland to give up a pick in the process. The fact that Kalil's knees gave out after one year is not a g.m.'s mistake. It's just the crap that happens, like Sparano dying.
Quote: @Havoc1649 said:
Only in Minnesota can you have a QB post a 70.1% completion rate for 4300 yards 30td’s against 10 int’s for a 99.7 rating and still be called a bust and/or blamed for being the team’s main reason for losing. It’s absurd.
The man was sacked 40 times and we all know it could have been much much worse. The most recent stats I can find are through the end of November.
Cousins under pressure: sacked 28 times on pace for 41.
As of December 1 Kirk Cousins was the most pressured QB in all of the NFL according to PFF.
At the time he was their 4th most efficient QB under pressure despite the continual onslaught most other successful QB’s simply don’t see.
As of the end of November Cousins was pressured an astounding 201 times. 40% of his drop backs! This number of pressures was nearly as much as our QB’s faced all of last season. The Vikings still had 5 games to go! I’m not sure the final tally but he was likely to face 300 pressures which would have come out to 50% of the time. He faced north of 50% pressured on 3rd downs.
I know some of you as well as the media poo poo stats but stats matter - especially pressure when talking about a QB’s performance. When I evaluate a QB’s performance/draftability under pressure it’s the first thing I look at. It’s the one area that an elite QB will outshine others.
Aaron Rogers was shown to be human this year seeing more pressure. He still saw less than Cousins yet posted a less than impressive 33.6% completion rate while under duress as of Dec 1. Tom Brady does not perform as he does seeing the onslaught Cousins faces every game. This is an extremely important facet for winning or losing.
Is this team stacked? Yes but only at certain positions. Our offensive line (kicker close second) is the number 1 reason this team is not in the playoffs. The stats are clear on this. It wasn’t that it made Cousins job difficult it made our running game implode. It’s super hard to win in the NFL without a running game. If one pays attention to what it takes to be a successful NFL QB you will realize how much of this team’s deficiencies were hidden by Cousins and our WR’s.
I love Mike Hughes but like many of you desperately wanted another top lineman investment. This team MUST improve this line. Did losing their coach make a difference? There’s no way to know for sure but I think this team was better with him.
My point is there is much more to why this team didn’t make the playoffs. Coaching must improve - having the guys ready to go and the line must be fixed. We keep a lot of our players next year. The right decisions must be made and it starts up front.
Personally I wouldn’t touch our head coach or GM for at least another year but I get the angst. Just one guy’s opinion. Thanks for reading.
Dak Prescott sacked 56 times and threw 80 less passes.
Deshaun Watson sacked 61 times and threw 101 less passes.
Russel Wilson sacked 51 times and threw 179 less passes.
All three are in the playoffs. All three won their games yesterday.
Cousins had one of the better sacked rates in the NFL (he was like 6th best the last time I checked at like 5.6%). Cousins threw for 7.1 yards per attempt (less than Bridgewater's 2015 at 7.2), 26th in the NFL. Mr. Checkdown Bradford had 7.0 per attempt. Keenum had 7.3. All of his stats are a product of throwing the ball 606 times (4th most in the NFL). Cousins was not the most pressured QB, that was Watson. Cousins DID have the most pressures, again, because he threw the ball 606 times.
Keenum was pressured on 39% of his dropbacks last season. If Cousins 40% is still accurate (I think it actually came down), that is a difference of 6 pressures on the year compared to Keenum (1% of 600 is 6). Do you think those 6 total pressures caused 5 fewer wins?
The Vikings had a higher yards per rush this year (4.2) than last year (3.9).
Last year the Vikings played 8 teams with a winning record (went 5-3) including 5 playoff teams. The other 3 were against the Ravens (missed playoffs on last play of season) and a split with the Lions. This year Vikings played 7 teams with a winning record (went 1-6) and all of those were playoff teams mainly because the Vikings lost to those teams (1 more win in any game would have knocked out the Eagles).
2 new starters (kinda 3 with Remmers at RG) including a RT who didn't allow a single sack.
Cousins has 2 of the best WRs in the game. Cousins has a dynamic (although a bit unproven) starting RB and a damn good change of pace RB. Cousins has a consistently top ten TE. Cousins has one of the best defenses in the NFL that he himself hindered with 5 turnover returns.
I asked this question with Bradford and I'll ask it again. If a QB needs everything perfect around him so that any QB could succeed, why have that QB?
Haven't commented in a while, and it seems a crappy season is what brings me in here, but I don't want to be a negative Nancy. I'm just throwing out, or up, however it translates what I thought of things.
Defense:
Dbs playing off coverage too much - don't know if it's Zimmer's teachings, but that was most disappointing for me. XR seemed/seems overrated. Now, maybe his numbers show more, but he seems to get beat when he can't maul the WR. I don't know how easy/hard it would be but his tackling is good so maybe move him to FS, if that's even plausible. I like Anthony H., but something has to change with XR, IMO. Trade, or fix...?
Lack of blitzing - I have no problems if the Qb beats us with quick thinking defeating a blitz, but I can't stand allowing a QB to stand there and pick apart our defense. Exposed our DBs too often.
Offense:
OLine - I thought they were ok. Not bad, but NOT good. We were worse off if we didn't make any offseason moves (other than draft) so we were as good as could be, IMO. With that said, still a big reason why we weren't as good on offense as we could be. That and game planning/QB reads. KC has got to see blitzes and audible (again, without insight this is speculative).
QB - disappointed as many are...KC seemed to soft, e.g. not aggressive. Could be for many reasons I don't know so take with a LOT of salt...
How can we go from 7 or 8 100 yard games for Theilen to none, or whatever? Something else happened that changed the entire game plan, or offensive energy. This could be Zimmer's fault with his ultimatum, or influence on plan and pace. I think when we won with passing that much he was happy, but when we lost he blamed the passing game/balance.
This being a year of a lot of change, it's hard to fault one person or unit, too much. However, there needs to be some (don't recreate the wheel) offseason movement and improvement to be sure there isn't a repeat.
I just think the team wasn't as good coming in as everyone thought (because they got to the NFCG). They had a lot of luck in games and with the schedule last year with a lot of bad teams and when & where they played the decent teams. The same things they struggled with last season showed up this season but it was more detrimental due to playing what turned out to be a tougher schedule. I was looking at last year's schedule -- had we got this year's versions of all those teams we might have had about five more losses then too.
Quote: @TBro said:
@ StickyBun said:
No excuses. The offensive line is a joke and the D-line does not match up well with Chicago, but can anyone with a straight face tell you the Bears aren't the dominate team in the NFCN and look to be for the foreseeable future? They bitch slapped Minnesota around twice.
Agreed. PA said we will probably be picked to finish 3rd in the NFCN next season and I can't argue with that. In a draft that is stacked with defense this year, how are we going to fix our offensive line?
There's plenty of guys you can take in the first or second and get a Day 1 Starter.
Jonah Williams-OT-Bama (probably goes Top 10).
Jawaan Taylor-OT-Gators
Greg Little-OT-Ole Miss or Mississippi State, has a rep of not playing to his potential
Dalton Risner-OT-K-State
Yodny Cajuste-OT-WVU
David Edwards-OT-Wisconsin
Williams and maybe Taylor will be long gone by the 18th pick but the rest will almost certainly be available and I've seen every one of them as a 1st Round pick in a mock. Most will start off at Guard or RT.
So let's say the Vikings pick Risner, for example. He starts at RG and in two years moves to RT if O'Neil is ready to replace Reiff.
They overpay for Roger Saffold to lock down LG for a few years and bring Easton back as a swing interior backing up all 3 spots.
You can add one of the Sooner kids like Ford or Powers in the 3rd or one of the Badger Guards in the 2nd and now you've got a restocked unit that is young.
Shit, I'd actually take Christian Wilkins in the 1st to replace Richardson (and eventually Joseph), trade back into the 1st or high 2nd and snag whichever OT that falls AND take a Guard in the 3rd. Plus get Saffold. That helps both Lines.
But lets please not say there's no fixes for the O-Line in the Draft just because it could be a historic one for DTs.
If you don't have an OL, your skill position players don't mean a damn thing.
If you don't have an OL, your D is on the field more than it should.
If you don't have an OL, your OC is hamstrung regarding plays that can be called.
If you don't have an OL, your loaded roster is neutered.
Quote: @"BarrNone55" said:
If you don't have an OL, your skill position players don't mean a damn thing.
If you don't have an OL, your D is on the field more than it should.
If you don't have an OL, your OC is hamstrung regarding plays that can be called.
If you don't have an OL, your loaded roster is neutered.
https://www.twitter.com/MatthewColler/st...2065106944
Outside of the obvious short comings of this team the one thing I noticed not in just yesterday's game but a couple times this year was no intensity. If you are in a game where you lose and you're done there were way to many players to my eyes that didn't give their all. That's on the head coach. If that is the current locker room then next won't be different. Sad but true.
Quote: @comet52 said:
@ Jor-El said:
But, sad as Sparano's death was, Spielman has been under-supplying the line for a decade and the guys he has brought in for that position have mostly been BAD selections. Yes, his supporters will call out O'Neill, Elflein, and Reiff - but he missed badly using the #3 pick in the draft on Kalil
I can buy some of what you're saying but this is ridiculous - Kalil was a consensus top pick from everyone everywhere, no one criticized that move at the time including you. He even got dopey Cleveland to give up a pick in the process. The fact that Kalil's knees gave out after one year is not a g.m.'s mistake. It's just the crap that happens, like Sparano dying.
No, Kalil is a fail if you're measuring RESULTS. Maybe bad luck, but he claims the good luck, doesn't he? But most importantly, Spielman couldn't see Kalil was a bust - ever. If his knees were shot by 2013, why did we have no one else on the roster to back him up for the next three years? Why did Spielman pick up his costly 5th-year option in 2015? Why was he trying to outbid Carolina for him in the 2017 free agent period?? Sorry, if you give him a pass for drafting Kalil in 2012, he deserves at least 3 black marks for repeated complacency over him from 2014 on.
Quote: @Purplemachine said:
Outside of the obvious short comings of this team the one thing I noticed not in just yesterday's game but a couple times this year was no intensity. If you are in a game where you lose and you're done there were way to many players to my eyes that didn't give their all. That's on the head coach. If that is the current locker room then next won't be different. Sad but true.
It also shows going back to last season that they have a few "quitters" on that team. Need to weed them out as well.
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