Does Viking Nation believe in KC yet?

[Guest]

He'll never get past his backstory with fans. They'll keep expecting the other shoe to drop with him and it probably will because nobody is perfect. Plus we are Viking's fans and we can't have nice things. The expectations will always be more than he'll be able to deliver. I myself, who just recently said he's converted me, still doesn't trust him 100%. 

[Guest]

Also, we haven't heard any recent Diggs trade talk rumors recently, have we?  I definitely believe that's a good sign his WRs trust him more now.  B)

[Guest]

Aaron Rodgers has Packers in first entering game with Vikings, but fans keep grumblingAaron Rodgers, QB of a division leader, somehow is hearing more naysayers than his Purple peer, Kirk Cousins, this season.The Packers head into Monday night’s NFC North showdown leading the host Vikings in victories and, apparently, in number of fans whining about their quarterback.

In a rare twist of Border Battle QB narratives since Brett Favre swaggered north from Atlanta 27 years ago, it’s Green Bay who has the guy more people seem to be complaining about as the Packers (11-3) and Vikings (10-4) meet as playoff teams still fighting for the division title.

… Is Aaron Rodgers holding the ball too long!? Does he trust his receivers?! And what in the name of Canton, Ohio, is up with this future Hall of Famer ranking 18th in completion percentage for an offense that ranks 21st overall, 17th in passing and a really-un-Packer-like 14th in scoring!?!? … 
“I think he’s playing at a really high level,” said Green Bay rookie coach Matt LaFleur, whose team would clinch the NFC North with a victory Monday night. “It’s just like anything. Quarterbacks get too much blame when things aren’t going right and too much credit when they are going right.
“It takes all 11. I think there are some plays that obviously we need to make, and guys need to step up around him and make those plays because if we make a couple of those plays, I don’t think anybody is saying anything [bad about Rodgers].”
You won’t hear a bad word coming from Vikings coach Mike Zimmer. Asked if he sees Rodgers playing any differently, Zimmer said: “He still has all the attributes. … I think he’s him. I think one of us needs to get out of the division. Either him or me. I don’t care who or which one.”
Meanwhile, in the Land of 10,000 worries, it’s Vikings fans who are struggling — for now, at least — to find something to complain about in the leader of a top-five scoring attack on a team that clinched its third playoff spot in five seasons when the Rams lost at San Francisco on Saturday night.
Yes, Vikings fans are perpetually leery of good times. But Kirk Cousins is riding a 10-game stretch in which he’s gone 8-2 with 22 touchdown passes, four turnovers and seven games with a passer rating of 111.4 or better. His career-high 111.1 passer rating has some suggesting that Rodgers’ eighth Pro Bowl selection should have been Cousins’ first Pro Bowl nod.
“He’s playing fast as far as making quick decisions, understanding what the concepts are,” Zimmer said when asked how Cousins has improved since a 2-2 start that included a couple of road clunkers at Green Bay and Chicago.
“I think all that stuff at the beginning is what we were trying to get him to understand. It was a tad foreign to him even though it was a lot of the same system for him.”
LaFleur, who was Cousins’ position coach for two years in Washington, said he notices an extra comfort level that comes with Cousins being back in a ball-control offense that emphasizes bootlegs and play-action.
“I feel like he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the game, and he’s showing it this year,” LaFleur said. “If the play’s there, he’s making the play. Period. Every time. He’s so accurate. He’s extremely intelligent. And he knows what he’s looking for, so when he sees it, there is zero hesitation in his game. He is extremely decisive.
“And I think what is really separating him right now is just how well he’s taking care of that football.”
Cousins has only eight turnovers this season. The fewest he’s had in a full season is 14, when he became the starter in Washington in 2015.
Of course, Cousins threw a season-high two picks at Green Bay, including an ill-advised fourth-quarter lob into the end zone that essentially sealed the 21-16 loss. He’ll need to do better than that to improve his 0-8 record on “Monday Night Football.”
“You can’t change the past,” Cousins said of his O-fer on MNF. “But you certainly have a great opportunity Monday night.”
Monday’s meeting at U.S. Bank Stadium will be just the second of 119 meetings in which both teams have at least 10 wins. The first one came only four years ago, when the Vikings clinched the NFC North at Lambeau Field in the 2015 season finale.
The Packers are 0-3 at U.S. Bank Stadium. And Rodgers — the NFL’s career leader in passer rating at 102.9 — has an 88.3 rating in road games against the Vikings since Zimmer became coach in 2014.
“Sometimes, Zimmer gets into his head before the game even starts,” said Ben Leber, former Vikings linebacker and current sideline reporter for the team’s radio network. “He’ll never admit it. But I think he respects [Zimmer’s] scheme, he respects his disguises and always knows there’s going to be something new that Zimmer’s been holding back, and he’s waiting for that to happen in the game.
“I think [Zimmer] is in his head, especially [in Minnesota]. He’s much more analytical, and I think he plays a little bit slower, and makes mistakes."
http://www.startribune.com/aaron-rodgers...566423952/

[Guest]

Is he good enough in this offense to win a Super Bowl given a good supporting cast? Yeah, I think so. And if you have that, you're one of the few teams in the NFL right now. Given a clean pocket, Cousins is the highest rated QB in the NFL. You don't let a QB like that get away, you keep building the OL. 

[Guest]

I sure hope we continue to build the OL, but I'm seeing a CB in the first...

[Guest]

I thought the Line ruined him last year. Really can't think of a single instance where a guy got Happy Feet and found a way to make it go away. But he has.

I was All On before he even hit the market. When guys like Bill Polian say things like 'guys like this aren't available as FAs more than once every generation' you know the skillset is there.

And that skillset is really the whole package. He can throw deep with zip AND he's not afraid to do it. But he doesn't just chuck it up for grabs after determining pre-snap that's what he's going to do like so many of the young QBs tend to do. If it's not there he takes the checkdown. 

Ronde Barber was calling the Saints game and called Drew Brees the greatest checkdown passer of all time. Brady and Manning are up there too. You keep the chains moving by taking what the Defense gives you. If Diggs is covered hit Cook or Smith in the flat for an easy 4-5 yards. If the Defense is sitting on that than someone is singled up down the field and Kirk will see it and go after it.

Couple that with throwing the ball out of bounds when a play simply isn't there to be made instead of playing the hero and getting picked and now you've got a Complete QB.

The truly great QBs slide around inside a collapsing pocket better than Cousins and have better internal clocks regarding when to throw the ball away instead of taking the sack. But Kirk doesn't hold the ball forever all the time. It just stands out with KC cuz when he takes the hit the ball tends to come out. That's his biggest knock.

The Leadership is there too. Pumping up his Line on the bench in the 2nd Half of the Broncos game was a great example. "In the QB room we have a saying: 'You pass the ball to score TDs, you pound the rock to win the game'. Pound the Rock!" Great stuff.

I see zero reason not to sign him long term. Minnesota will not be in a position to pick a highly regarded QB in the Draft any time soon. Keep Kirk and try to hit on the next KC with mid-round picks. It's the smart thing to do. 

[Guest]

@"BarrNone55" said:
I sure hope we continue to build the OL, but I'm seeing a CB in the first...

Me too. Because you need to take CBs early to get a good one. You can get good starting OLs in the 2nd and 3rd round. Just a wild, way-too-early guess, I'd say CB, OL, DT, CB...

[Guest]

The thing that has impressed me about him this year, is that he has the comeback mentality.  Seems like last year, if we got down there was no hope.  Cousins would get worse when the chips were down, not better.  This year we are never out of it.  Even when everything is going wrong, he can find a way to stabilize and claw back.  Denver, Seattle, those are games where it looked bleak.  But he had the leadership to right the ship and get us back in the game.

[Guest]

“Sometimes, Zimmer gets into his head before the game even starts,”
said Ben Leber, former Vikings linebacker and current sideline reporter
for the team’s radio network. “He’ll never admit it. But I think he
respects [Zimmer’s] scheme, he respects his disguises and always knows
there’s going to be something new that Zimmer’s been holding back, and
he’s waiting for that to happen in the game.
“I think [Zimmer] is
in his head, especially [in Minnesota]. He’s much more analytical, and I
think he plays a little bit slower, and makes mistakes."

Love that comment from Leber.  Let's hope it rings true tonight.

[Guest]

@FSUVike said:
I thought the Line ruined him last year. Really can't think of a single instance where a guy got Happy Feet and found a way to make it go away. But he has.


I see zero reason not to sign him long term. Minnesota will not be in a position to pick a highly regarded QB in the Draft any time soon. Keep Kirk and try to hit on the next KC with mid-round picks. It's the smart thing to do. 

Man, I was thinking we had another Carr situation on our hands...Kudos to KC for re-inventing himself, thats a hella dose of RESILIENCY.