Vikings @ Giants

[CFIAvike]

Hopefully this all leads to good things to come. Giants are WAY worse than I thought. Looked like a bottom 2-3 team. Daniel Jones is probably the worst QB in the NFL.

Next week will be the real test. SF has a pretty ferocious defense. Shanahan and the niners will know Darnold inside and out, and will definitely have a gameplan for him.

Fingers crossed

[MaroonBells]

Hopefully this all leads to good things to come. Giants are WAY worse than I thought. Looked like a bottom 2-3 team. Daniel Jones is probably the worst QB in the NFL.

Next week will be the real test. SF has a pretty ferocious defense. Shanahan and the niners will know Darnold inside and out, and will definitely have a gameplan for him.

Fingers crossed

49ers will know a bit about Sam's personal tendencies (strengths, weaknesses, etc), but they won't know a damn thing about him in our offense. 

How about a little credit to the defense? Remember, this same Daniel Jones pretty much shredded us in the playoffs two years ago.

---

Dustin Baker@DustBaker
It's been five years since Vikings fans could kick back and watch a game in the 4th Quarter stress-free. no exaggeration

[hogjowlsjohnny]

My expectation was a win that was never in doubt. Good to get a road win to start the season. Big step up next week. They will shock the NFL if they beat SF. They are capable. Defense will have to get after Purdy and make him uncomfortable.
Good to have a win against a bad team in the Giants. Now the work begins. Time to chop wood.

[purplefaithful]

My expectation was a win that was never in doubt. Good to get a road win to start the season. Big step up next week. They will shock the NFL if they beat SF. They are capable. Defense will have to get after Purdy and make him uncomfortable.
Good to have a win against a bad team in the Giants. Noe the work begins. Time to chop wood.

Next 2 games will give us good measuring sticks against some of the league elite. If we can to .500 against those 2, I would be ecstatic.

---

Did anyone think Flores went Cover Zero crazy yesterday? You'd be wrong if you did...

Flores, the Vikings defensive coordinator, didn’t need extra rushers to flummox Jones into a 44.3 passer rating, the second-lowest of his career.

The Giants quarterback faced 13 third downs of 5-plus yards. Flores, the NFL’s blitz-happy king, showed blitz pre-snap on several of those plays, but rushed only four 11 times. On those plays, Jones had only three first downs passing, scrambled for his only rushing first down and was sacked twice, including once on third-and-goal from the 5.

Flores sent extra rushers only twice, both in the fourth quarter with the game decided. One forced a throwaway on third-and-8 at the Vikings’ 11. Harrison Smith’s interception came one snap later on a three-man rush on fourth down.

[MaroonBells]

Next 2 games will give us good measuring sticks against some of the league elite. If we can to .500 against those 2, I would be ecstatic.

---

Did anyone think Flores went Cover Zero crazy yesterday? You'd be wrong if you did...

Flores, the Vikings defensive coordinator, didn’t need extra rushers to flummox Jones into a 44.3 passer rating, the second-lowest of his career.

The Giants quarterback faced 13 third downs of 5-plus yards. Flores, the NFL’s blitz-happy king, showed blitz pre-snap on several of those plays, but rushed only four 11 times. On those plays, Jones had only three first downs passing, scrambled for his only rushing first down and was sacked twice, including once on third-and-goal from the 5.

Flores sent extra rushers only twice, both in the fourth quarter with the game decided. One forced a throwaway on third-and-8 at the Vikings’ 11. Harrison Smith’s interception came one snap later on a three-man rush on fourth down.

That's interesting. For most of the game I wondered why were weren't blitzing. I kept thinking "he's saving it for later in the game." Turns out he didn't need it. One of the more satisfying chess games to me was when Zimmer would show blitz, back out of it, Packers would max protect, but Zim would rush only 3 or 4, and Rodgers would sit back in the pocket with nowhere to throw. Curious how Flo changes things up against the 49ers. 

Even though we gave up only one sack and got five, both the pass pro and the pass rush will have to improve next week if we hope to win. Hopefully the Jets beat up the 49ers a little bit tonight.

[purplefaithful]

The Vikings sent more than four defenders after Jones just 22.4% of the time, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. It was the 18th-highest rate in the league in Week 1, and only the third time under Flores the Vikings have blitzed less than 30% of the time. They still put together a 36.7% pressure rate, and got all five of their sacks with a four-man rush.

“On the back end, we can do a lot of different things, show a lot of different looks, but if we’re doing those things and we’re getting pressure with four, we’re kind of having our way, because they don’t know what coverage we’re in,” safety Josh Metellus said. “We’ve got a lot of bodies in coverage, and if we’re getting pressure with four, the ball’s got to come out fast, so we’ve got a lot more eyes in coverage. It’s definitely working well together.”

Two of the Vikings’ sacks came when they closed off escape lanes for Jones, whose mobility gave them fits in the Giants’ wild-card playoff win over the Vikings two years ago. Turner got his first career sack on a stunt, and Patrick Jones II got to the Giants QB twice, cleaning up his first sack after missing his first attempt on a free rush off the edge and using a spin move to get home the second time.

The Vikings showed plenty of heavy pressure before dropping players into coverage, or employing “tag” rushes where players briefly engaged a blocker before dropping into a zone. It left Daniel Jones guessing throughout the game, and meant the Vikings got five sacks from four different players even though Greenard (who signed a four-year, $76 million contract this offseason) didn’t register a stat.

“I don’t know what you can say other than it was just an unbelievable performance out of that group,” O’Connell said. “ ‘Flo,’ his staff, all of our players, there’s a ton of guys to highlight.”

Many of them hit the quarterback even though the Vikings blitzed less than they ever have under Flores.

“We put a lot of pressure on the [offensive] line, offense coordinator, quarterbacks,” said Van Ginkel, whose interception of Jones also came on a four-man rush after the Vikings dropped two linebackers out of a six-man front. “They don’t know where we’re coming from, what we’re trying to do. And it allows us to play fast, play physical, and make plays.”

Source: Startribune

[MaroonBells]

The Vikings sent more than four defenders after Jones just 22.4% of the time, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. It was the 18th-highest rate in the league in Week 1, and only the third time under Flores the Vikings have blitzed less than 30% of the time. They still put together a 36.7% pressure rate, and got all five of their sacks with a four-man rush.

“On the back end, we can do a lot of different things, show a lot of different looks, but if we’re doing those things and we’re getting pressure with four, we’re kind of having our way, because they don’t know what coverage we’re in,” safety Josh Metellus said. “We’ve got a lot of bodies in coverage, and if we’re getting pressure with four, the ball’s got to come out fast, so we’ve got a lot more eyes in coverage. It’s definitely working well together.”

Two of the Vikings’ sacks came when they closed off escape lanes for Jones, whose mobility gave them fits in the Giants’ wild-card playoff win over the Vikings two years ago. Turner got his first career sack on a stunt, and Patrick Jones II got to the Giants QB twice, cleaning up his first sack after missing his first attempt on a free rush off the edge and using a spin move to get home the second time.

The Vikings showed plenty of heavy pressure before dropping players into coverage, or employing “tag” rushes where players briefly engaged a blocker before dropping into a zone. It left Daniel Jones guessing throughout the game, and meant the Vikings got five sacks from four different players even though Greenard (who signed a four-year, $76 million contract this offseason) didn’t register a stat.

“I don’t know what you can say other than it was just an unbelievable performance out of that group,” O’Connell said. “ ‘Flo,’ his staff, all of our players, there’s a ton of guys to highlight.”

Many of them hit the quarterback even though the Vikings blitzed less than they ever have under Flores.

“We put a lot of pressure on the [offensive] line, offense coordinator, quarterbacks,” said Van Ginkel, whose interception of Jones also came on a four-man rush after the Vikings dropped two linebackers out of a six-man front. “They don’t know where we’re coming from, what we’re trying to do. And it allows us to play fast, play physical, and make plays.”

Source: Startribune