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Hope all are well - we just finished covering our 8th and final road game of the year exclusively for VikeFans.com
We wonder if you see it? We put it on Twitter in real time, then post it to the front page of this website and it is on the left side of this forum.
We hope you see it - we have exclusive interviews (Dan Bailey, Britton Colquitt, Shamar Stephen and Bisi Johnson yesterday) and 2 post game wrap-up to go with our new female reporter (Minnesota native now in LA working for the NFL Red Zone Channel and does NBA and Hollywood reporting) Katia Dragotis.
We never forget our followers here, we just simply begin the process on Twitter and it duplicates here.
We have 8,000 full time followers on Twitter, ZERO negative interactions you sometimes see on web forums, and we had 300,000+ interactions on Twitter from 3 hours before the game until 10am on Monday
We know several do not like the idea of Twitter, but you can join if you want, or don't (you can still see the content) and interact if you want (or not).
Anyway - that's were I've been.
Quick Thoughts:
1) We like the Viking passing game. Diggs was right to complain in public. Thielen is healthy - no issues yesterday. Cousins has proved to be a good leader and capable of making plays.
2) The Offensive line has gelled and is now operating at a high efficiency. Don't discount Kyle Rudolph, whose block on Joey Bosa gave Kirk Cousins the tine to find Stefon Diggs deep. Josh Kline and Brian O'Neill are standouts.
3) The injury Dalvin Cook has is in his shoulder, and different than the chest/shoulder injury he is playing through. He, nor Alexander Mattison were I any visible pain the locker room
4) We are not surprised by Mike Boone - different runner than Cook or Mattison. Slasher with great pass catching abilities (former WR for part of college). However, we do not see a tone of value in Amer Abdullah. Never quite seems to break away or make a splash play. Too small to be full time.
5) Irv Smith is the future at TE, but Kyle Rudolph is now Kirk Cousin's reliable and go to guy - he is now getting open deep over the middle
6) Zimer has stubbornly not used Anthony Barr as a playmaker on defense as a pass rusher. He finally did yesterday and it resulted in a 3 and out for the Chargers. Barr is an average base LB but could be Lawrence Taylor-like if used as a pass rusher
7) The pass defense is struggling because Zimmer's scheme relies on his corners to cover 1-on-1. Neither Waynes nor Rhodes can do that this year. Mike Hughes and Holton Hill have not shown the can either, consistently.
8) Andrew Sendejo is not the starter for a reason - Anthony Harris is better.
9) Britton Colquitt is playing out of his mind. No touchbacks this year, and he kicked a 46 yarder downed inside the 10 yesterday into a strong wind. Clutch.
10) When the run defense struggles, it is because the middle is not as strong with a less than healthy Linval Joseph and Shamar Stephen is good, but is not a space eater.
11) Teams don't run well against the Viking defense from sideline to sideline due to the speed of the purple LB corps. The yards to be made are up the middle
12) Sometimes it seems like former Viking DB Chris Cook is the role model of our DBs. Often near the ball, but never seem to either turn their head to make a play or wait for the receiver to catch the ball. For Rhodes, it is lack of confidence which affects his raw skill. We can't tell you why the others struggle so.
13) This team could finish 12-4 and have the best #6 record in NFL history. Any of the other 5 NFC teams can beat the Vikings, but if the defense plays well, the Vikings can beat all the other teams. But, the pass defense has to be fixed before the playoffs and time is running out.
6 and 11 contradict each other. And on a day we had 7 takeaways is probably not the time to compare our dbs to Chris cook.
Quote: @Tom Moore said:
Hope all are well - we just finished covering our 8th and final road game of the year exclusively for VikeFans.com
We wonder if you see it? We put it on Twitter in real time, then post it to the front page of this website and it is on the left side of this forum.
We hope you see it - we have exclusive interviews (Dan Bailey, Britton Colquitt, Shamar Stephen and Bisi Johnson yesterday) and 2 post game wrap-up to go with our new female reporter (Minnesota native now in LA working for the NFL Red Zone Channel and does NBA and Hollywood reporting) Katia Dragotis.
We never forget our followers here, we just simply begin the process on Twitter and it duplicates here.
We have 8,000 full time followers on Twitter, ZERO negative interactions you sometimes see on web forums, and we had 300,000+ interactions on Twitter from 3 hours before the game until 10am on Monday
We know several do not like the idea of Twitter, but you can join if you want, or don't (you can still see the content) and interact if you want (or not).
Anyway - that's were I've been.
Quick Thoughts:
1) We like the Viking passing game. Diggs was right to complain in public. Thielen is healthy - no issues yesterday. Cousins has proved to be a good leader and capable of making plays.
2) The Offensive line has gelled and is now operating at a high efficiency. Don't discount Kyle Rudolph, whose block on Joey Bosa gave Kirk Cousins the tine to find Stefon Diggs deep. Josh Kline and Brian O'Neill are standouts.
3) The injury Dalvin Cook has is in his shoulder, and different than the chest/shoulder injury he is playing through. He, nor Alexander Mattison were I any visible pain the locker room
4) We are not surprised by Mike Boone - different runner than Cook or Mattison. Slasher with great pass catching abilities (former WR for part of college). However, we do not see a tone of value in Amer Abdullah. Never quite seems to break away or make a splash play. Too small to be full time.
5) Irv Smith is the future at TE, but Kyle Rudolph is now Kirk Cousin's reliable and go to guy - he is now getting open deep over the middle
6) Zimer has stubbornly not used Anthony Barr as a playmaker on defense as a pass rusher. He finally did yesterday and it resulted in a 3 and out for the Chargers. Barr is an average base LB but could be Lawrence Taylor-like if used as a pass rusher
7) The pass defense is struggling because Zimmer's scheme relies on his corners to cover 1-on-1. Neither Waynes nor Rhodes can do that this year. Mike Hughes and Holton Hill have not shown the can either, consistently.
8) Andrew Sendejo is not the starter for a reason - Anthony Harris is better.
9) Britton Colquitt is playing out of his mind. No touchbacks this year, and he kicked a 46 yarder downed inside the 10 yesterday into a strong wind. Clutch.
10) When the run defense struggles, it is because the middle is not as strong with a less than healthy Linval Joseph and Shamar Stephen is good, but is not a space eater.
11) Teams don't run well against the Viking defense from sideline to sideline due to the speed of the purple LB corps. The yards to be made are up the middle
12) Sometimes it seems like former Viking DB Chris Cook is the role model of our DBs. Often near the ball, but never seem to either turn their head to make a play or wait for the receiver to catch the ball. For Rhodes, it is lack of confidence which affects his raw skill. We can't tell you why the others struggle so.
13) This team could finish 12-4 and have the best #6 record in NFL history. Any of the other 5 NFC teams can beat the Vikings, but if the defense plays well, the Vikings can beat all the other teams. But, the pass defense has to be fixed before the playoffs and time is running out.
I think I agree with all of this. It is how I see things, too. And items 6 and 11 do not really conflict. Barr does need to rush the QB on every single snap. But some downs are clear passing downs and Barr can decide where he wants to rush from well after the O-line is set; after the protection is set. His strength is as a pass rusher. This will also help our DBs so they won't have to cover so long.
Quote: @dadevike said:
@ Tom Moore said:
Hope all are well - we just finished covering our 8th and final road game of the year exclusively for VikeFans.com
We wonder if you see it? We put it on Twitter in real time, then post it to the front page of this website and it is on the left side of this forum.
We hope you see it - we have exclusive interviews (Dan Bailey, Britton Colquitt, Shamar Stephen and Bisi Johnson yesterday) and 2 post game wrap-up to go with our new female reporter (Minnesota native now in LA working for the NFL Red Zone Channel and does NBA and Hollywood reporting) Katia Dragotis.
We never forget our followers here, we just simply begin the process on Twitter and it duplicates here.
We have 8,000 full time followers on Twitter, ZERO negative interactions you sometimes see on web forums, and we had 300,000+ interactions on Twitter from 3 hours before the game until 10am on Monday
We know several do not like the idea of Twitter, but you can join if you want, or don't (you can still see the content) and interact if you want (or not).
Anyway - that's were I've been.
Quick Thoughts:
1) We like the Viking passing game. Diggs was right to complain in public. Thielen is healthy - no issues yesterday. Cousins has proved to be a good leader and capable of making plays.
2) The Offensive line has gelled and is now operating at a high efficiency. Don't discount Kyle Rudolph, whose block on Joey Bosa gave Kirk Cousins the tine to find Stefon Diggs deep. Josh Kline and Brian O'Neill are standouts.
3) The injury Dalvin Cook has is in his shoulder, and different than the chest/shoulder injury he is playing through. He, nor Alexander Mattison were I any visible pain the locker room
4) We are not surprised by Mike Boone - different runner than Cook or Mattison. Slasher with great pass catching abilities (former WR for part of college). However, we do not see a tone of value in Amer Abdullah. Never quite seems to break away or make a splash play. Too small to be full time.
5) Irv Smith is the future at TE, but Kyle Rudolph is now Kirk Cousin's reliable and go to guy - he is now getting open deep over the middle
6) Zimer has stubbornly not used Anthony Barr as a playmaker on defense as a pass rusher. He finally did yesterday and it resulted in a 3 and out for the Chargers. Barr is an average base LB but could be Lawrence Taylor-like if used as a pass rusher
7) The pass defense is struggling because Zimmer's scheme relies on his corners to cover 1-on-1. Neither Waynes nor Rhodes can do that this year. Mike Hughes and Holton Hill have not shown the can either, consistently.
8) Andrew Sendejo is not the starter for a reason - Anthony Harris is better.
9) Britton Colquitt is playing out of his mind. No touchbacks this year, and he kicked a 46 yarder downed inside the 10 yesterday into a strong wind. Clutch.
10) When the run defense struggles, it is because the middle is not as strong with a less than healthy Linval Joseph and Shamar Stephen is good, but is not a space eater.
11) Teams don't run well against the Viking defense from sideline to sideline due to the speed of the purple LB corps. The yards to be made are up the middle
12) Sometimes it seems like former Viking DB Chris Cook is the role model of our DBs. Often near the ball, but never seem to either turn their head to make a play or wait for the receiver to catch the ball. For Rhodes, it is lack of confidence which affects his raw skill. We can't tell you why the others struggle so.
13) This team could finish 12-4 and have the best #6 record in NFL history. Any of the other 5 NFC teams can beat the Vikings, but if the defense plays well, the Vikings can beat all the other teams. But, the pass defense has to be fixed before the playoffs and time is running out.
I think I agree with all of this. It is how I see things, too. And items 6 and 11 do not really conflict. Barr does need to rush the QB on every single snap. But some downs are clear passing downs and Barr can decide where he wants to rush from well after the O-line is set; after the protection is set. His strength is as a pass rusher. This will also help our DBs so they won't have to cover so long.
Good write up Tom. I agree with both of you on Barr. He would bring a level of unpredictability to the defense if Zimmer would give him the option to blitz more from the LB position. He is great off the edge and excelled at UCLA as a stand up pass rusher.
Quote: @greediron said:
6 and 11 contradict each other. And on a day we had 7 takeaways is probably not the time to compare our dbs to Chris cook.
actually 2 things. #6 says use Barr because if the pass rush can’t get there, the DBs cant do their job long enough to be adequate. On the run, it is the LBs who have the speed to cover sideline to sideline. Barr can’t rush every play, but he was paid to be a playmaker in FA, not a base LB. You can’t limit him to one blitz every 3 games.
On the DBs, I ask that you go watch the game again. Yes, there were 7 turnovers, but 4 were fumbles and had nothing to so with coverage. The other 3 were either bad throws by Rivers, or at a point where LA had to throw and take chances vs dime coverage. You can’t play dime coverage every play in most games, or you will get gauged with the run.
The Chris Cook comment - look at quarters 1 and 2 with the game still very much in doubt. 4 third down and 8 or more, all converted with no Viking DB in the same area code. When a Viking DB was nearby, like Chris Cook, they did not make a play.
I hope you’ll trust me that the Vikings know this is an issue
Quote: @Tom Moore said:
@ greediron said:
6 and 11 contradict each other. And on a day we had 7 takeaways is probably not the time to compare our dbs to Chris cook.
actually 2 things. #6 says use Barr because if the pass rush can’t get there, the DBs cant do their job long enough to be adequate. On the run, it is the LBs who have the speed to cover sideline to sideline. Barr can’t rush every play, but he was paid to be a playmaker in FA, not a base LB. You can’t limit him to one blitz every 3 games.
On the DBs, I ask that you go watch the game again. Yes, there were 7 turnovers, but 4 were fumbles and had nothing to so with coverage. The other 3 were either bad throws by Rivers, or at a point where LA had to throw and take chances vs dime coverage. You can’t play dime coverage every play in most games, or you will get gauged with the run.
The Chris Cook comment - look at quarters 1 and 2 with the game still very much in doubt. 4 third down and 8 or more, all converted with no Viking DB in the same area code. When a Viking DB was nearby, like Chris Cook, they did not make a play.
I hope you’ll trust me that the Vikings know this is an issue
Maybe it was elsewhere that someone suggested that Barr be blitzed on every down, and I was reacting to that as well. Yes, he needs to blitz more and Zimmer seems to be holding off on the blitzes this year for some reason.
On the DBs, Hughes had a great INT because he was in good coverage. And yes, I acknoledged several times here that our first half coverage on 3rd and long was killing us. But one of the fumbles was because of great coverage (by EK who isn't a DB).
Glad to see Cook wasn't hurting after the initial impact.
Quote: @Tom Moore said:
The Chris Cook comment - look at quarters 1 and 2 with the game still very much in doubt. 4 third down and 8 or more, all converted with no Viking DB in the same area code. When a Viking DB was nearby, like Chris Cook, they did not make a play.
I hope you’ll trust me that the Vikings know this is an issue
Was the CB play in 2018 was about the same as 2019?
Why is it? or how is it? that Zimmer hasn't been able to improve the secondary this season over the last 14 weeks?
Is the depth, talent and experience of the unit not there?
According to Next Gen Stats, Rivers’ aggressiveness percentage of 23.1 tied for second-highest in the NFL in Week 15.
Aggressiveness percentage tracks the rate at which a QB attempts to
throw a pass to a teammate when a defender is within 1 yard of the
target.
Rivers finished 28-of-39 passing for 307 yards with a touchdown and a passer rating of 71.2.
Rivers was 1-for-5 on such throws that included a 39-yard gain to
Mike Williams and interceptions by cornerback Mike Hughes and safeties
Harrison Smith and Anthony Harris.
Tom —excellent observations. And the further breakdowns of #6 and #11 are spot on. Your “quick thoughts” are more than that. They really break down strengths and deficiencies very clearly. Much appreciated.
I saw it Tom, and it was excellent as usual! Thanks for doing it! Now ditch the chick... and take over Wobbie's job! 
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