Quote: @MaroonBells said:
@ StickyBun said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ StickyBun said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@"BarrNone55" said:
Who on the vaunted KC D took him out yesterday?
His initials are KC.
The problem the Vikings have with KC is that KC can only be so good. And when he's not good, he's at his worst not seeing the field and limiting the offensive scope. But he has flashes of great against subpar opponents. Problem is the playoffs are full of good teams, every year. In hostile environments sometimes.
I'm not blaming KC for this loss, but nothing has changed for me as far as drafting a QB this Spring. Cousins is limited and if the team wants to win a Superbowl, they have to attempt to do better in the QB department. They also need to keep upgrading the offensive line.
I think the biggest problem was that Cousins was off. A lot of drives ended and points were lost because of terrible throws he doesn't typically make. The 2nd biggest reason is Zim tends to struggle on the road against good offensive coaches. KC came out with a good game plan and we didn't.
Still, Vikings are a good team who went into KC and could've won with a bounce here or there. There were a lot of plays in this game where you could say an inch here or an inch there would've spelled a different game.
....you could also say that their starting QB didn't play and starters were missing on their offensive line. At some point, if it walks and talks like a duck, its a duck. Cousins doesn't step up and he never has his whole career. That's what it is. He was 'off'? Yeah, and he continues to be 'off' when the team needs him most. His only unchangeable aspect about him is his inconsistency.
As you say, it was a winnable game. And Cousins certainly wasn't the sole reason by any stretch. But when he could have made a play or two to WIN the game, he didn't. I guess that's what it keeps coming down to.
Yes, and that's what I've been saying all along. Don't listen to the raves when he's player of the month and don't listen to the bitching when he plays poorly. That's just who he is. Like all but 2 or 3 QBs in the NFL, he's vulnerable to rises and falls in match ups. I say he was "off" because inaccuracy is not typically part of his profile, but failure to step up and win big games is.
Knowing Cousins, he'll come back and play extremely well in several games down the stretch. There will be even more records broken and talk of pro bowls, etc. But Bad Kirk will always be there lurking in the shadows...
I agree with this, he gets hot and boom! Dropping dimes 60 yards downfield...
Reminds me of the old nursery rhyme - when she was good she was very, very good and when she was bad she was horrid.
Now put him with an Elite D? Perfectly fine. But this D aint Elite anymore.
I brought up Kirk battling adversity earlier, or not being able to... i'm definitely believing that you can kind of tell when/if it's going to be a long day for Kirk by certain bad misses early on. He just doesn't move past them. When Kirk is playing well somehow the misses feel more calculated. When he's off, his arm is like a fire hose and every pass play you start holding your breath like that ball could land anywhere.
It seems to poison everything offensively. Kirk loses confidence in tight throws, then he loses confidence in progressions. Since we can run the ball effectively, we start closing off the passing attack with formations and simplified reads for Kirk. This stuff works when a defense is off balance but gets blown up when they start expecting to attack a play that is one read. It just seems like our offense shells up and simplifies too much when Kirk has his moment games...
I don't really know "what" the answer is because I don't know how you can maintain any consistency pairing our running game to a 3 WR (or 3+ receiving options) passing attack when Kirk is inaccurate and HE knows it. He plays very differently as the game progresses depending on how he is playing. If he is inaccurate, it seems like he just stops going through progressions. He stops taking chances. He can play the gunslinger when he's having a good day, standing in there making all the reads and throws. He seems to change gears as a QB when he is inaccurate, inconsistent or stalling drives. He loses confidence in the windows he has to throw through, hurries or gives up on reads and ultimately loses rhythm as a passer. So... how do you keep giving Kirk spread out passing looks (or complex routes) if he stops pulling the trigger and compounds the issue with bad misses on the well drawn up opportunities?
The million dollar question is how do we address the accuracy issues, when they appear, mid game? It's a major Viking killer right now - the entire offense gets handcuffed to Stefanski and the play calling staff over it. How do we get Kirk back into rhythm mid game?
That all kind of comes back to Diggs. He can't throw the ball to himself. We know he's a phenomenal route runner. Kirk never really pressed the ball in his direction. He'd go Diggs way when it was an obvious read and win off the snap for Diggs, but Kirk seemingly lost track of him or seemingly gave up on him (or himself) out there too for stretches.
Quote: @MaroonBells said:
@"BarrNone55" said:
Who on the vaunted KC D took him out yesterday?
His initials are KC.
was it? Cousins struggled yesterday no doubt, but he was finding open guys in that defense... and when he was able to make the throws he was connecting on them. Diggs has to be a 1 or 2 look on any passing play and for him to only get 4 targets... was it really the QB? I dont have the all 22, but I would suspect that KC was bracketing him on most plays and he wasnt able to find a whole in that coverage for Cousins to hit him in. something was definitely off as aside from the 2 longer attempts to him he was really invisible most of the game.
Quote: @JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@"BarrNone55" said:
Who on the vaunted KC D took him out yesterday?
His initials are KC.
was it? Cousins struggled yesterday no doubt, but he was finding open guys in that defense... and when he was able to make the throws he was connecting on them. Diggs has to be a 1 or 2 look on any passing play and for him to only get 4 targets... was it really the QB? I dont have the all 22, but I would suspect that KC was bracketing him on most plays and he wasnt able to find a whole in that coverage for Cousins to hit him in. something was definitely off as aside from the 2 longer attempts to him he was really invisible most of the game.
Cousins hits that deep ball to Diggs and the narrative, if not the outcome, is completely different. Cousins was off. You could see it on the opening drive. It wasn't a meltdown game for him. I don't think he threw a pick and I don't remember a fumble, and I think he threw 3 TDs, but he typically doesn't often just miss open receivers as often as he did yesterday.
I haven't seen the 22 either, but my guess is that without Thielen, Chiefs bracketed Diggs, leaving Cousins with only Bisi and Treadwell, and they just didn't separate enough to make a difference.
Close game though. Could've gone either way, despite the fact that the Chiefs seemed to frequently come down with freakish catches and explode for 90 yard runs. They made the plays to win, we didn't.
With Thielen out, the Chiefs probably double-teamed Diggs. Played everyone else single coverage and let them try and beat them. That's why Threadwell lead all receivers with 58 yards receiving.
Quote: @ArizonaViking said:
With Thielen out, the Chiefs probably double-teamed Diggs. Played everyone else single coverage and let them try and beat them. That's why Threadwell lead all receivers with 58 yards receiving.
if it were that simple.. why didnt we just double Kelce and Hill and force them to use somebody else? oh wait, we tried that but they gave double moves and still got themselves huge holes.... either their D coverage is better than ours or their receivers were better, because their stars were wide ass open on a lot of plays when they were needed and our stars had a hard time yesterday.
Quote: @MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@"BarrNone55" said:
Who on the vaunted KC D took him out yesterday?
His initials are KC.
was it? Cousins struggled yesterday no doubt, but he was finding open guys in that defense... and when he was able to make the throws he was connecting on them. Diggs has to be a 1 or 2 look on any passing play and for him to only get 4 targets... was it really the QB? I dont have the all 22, but I would suspect that KC was bracketing him on most plays and he wasnt able to find a whole in that coverage for Cousins to hit him in. something was definitely off as aside from the 2 longer attempts to him he was really invisible most of the game.
Cousins hits that deep ball to Diggs and the narrative, if not the outcome, is completely different. Cousins was off. You could see it on the opening drive. It wasn't a meltdown game for him. I don't think he threw a pick and I don't remember a fumble, and I think he threw 3 TDs, but he typically doesn't often just miss open receivers as often as he did yesterday.
I haven't seen the 22 either, but my guess is that without Thielen, Chiefs bracketed Diggs, leaving Cousins with only Bisi and Treadwell, and they just didn't separate enough to make a difference.
Close game though. Could've gone either way, despite the fact that the Chiefs seemed to frequently come down with freakish catches and explode for 90 yard runs. They made the plays to win, we didn't.
Yup, his mechanics seemed off. maybe compensating for the gusty winds, but something was off.
As to the OP, one thing I like about Bisi, he seems versatile as well. He was in the slot for the TD. He is still a 7th round rookie and much to learn, but I like what he brings to the table.
Quote: @StickyBun said:
Diggs is the Viking's most dangerous WRer. Period.
Naw, dawg...just...naw...staaap
Quote: @"BarrNone55" said:
@ StickyBun said:
Diggs is the Viking's most dangerous WRer. Period.
Naw, dawg...just...naw...staaap
lol, yeah not EVER. Man, Moss was so damn amazing.
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