Nice article on the Offense

[Bullazin]

https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/lists/how-new-head-coach-kevin-oconnell-plans-to-redefine-the-vikings-offense/

[Guest]

Pretty much confirms what most of us already know. Predictability and OL issue are this offense's problems, not Cousins. 60 yards a game in OL penalties is huge. Also, can't even begin to count how times I screamed "mix it up" at my TV last year. Fix these two issues and this offense should be elite. 

[Guest]

We’ll see how things go. 
The offensive coaching staff is very inexperienced at their current
roles, but are coming from quality systems. 
It does seem like our offense was very old school in terms of design.  It was kind of baffling how little we used
motion.  The Vikings were right in the
middle of the pack in terms of run/pass ratio.    People overstate how fixated we were on the
run, and people understate how much the offense was formed around Cousins old-school playstyle.  The Rams passed the ball 1% of the
time more than we did.  Cousins is
markedly better out of play-action and we have one of the better RBs.  We’re going to run the ball.  I think when people say that we run the ball
too much, they probably mean that the offense doesn’t look modern enough.  They just lined up and ran the play.  I think if you did more pre-snap motion and Cousins
was up there yelling stuff and pointing at people before the snap, but ended up
running the exact same plays, the “we run too much” stuff would have disappeared
because it looked fancier.  I don’t
really think Cousins is an up-tempo guy. 
I don’t think we’re going to see him running hurry up during the middle
of the game.  I think he needs to get
into a predictable tempo and rhythm.  I
think he’s going to want to go at the same pace he always has if he can help
it.  I’d love to see us pushing the tempo
more, but I’m skeptical that it will play out that way.  I think our offense looked kind of vanilla
because I think Cousins thrives in vanilla. 
You put him out there and let him run the same plays that he’s very comfortable
with and he’ll excel.  You put in a bunch
of new plays that attack this weeks defense, and you’ll get a skittish, 120 yd/0
TD Kirk.  I kind of think the only way to
combat this is to have a broad well designed base offense that covers all your
needs.


What I’d like to see is an offense that gives the QB more pre-snap
information.  I’d like to see us intentionally
trying to get mismatches.  I’d like to
see us be able to run and pass successfully out of the same formations.  I’d like to see us be able to attack specific
weak points using our regular plays.  I’d
like to see some audibles where we were in the wrong play and Kirk got us into
the right play.  I’d like to be good at a
wide variety of concepts.  If one week
you need to go heavy, and another week you get an advantage with 4 WR, lets be
good at all those things, not just our one core philosophy.  I think in the past, we were getting a lot of
our production from just being more talented than the defenses, and I’d like it
to be obvious that our coaches are giving us every advantage on offense.


I think our biggest risks on offense is our inexperienced
coaching staff not being able to fix our OLine and having too much stuff that
Cousins isn’t comfortable with and it takes 7 games for him to get settled in and
comfortable with the offense.

[Guest]

@medaille said:
We’ll see how things go. 
The offensive coaching staff is very inexperienced at their current
roles, but are coming from quality systems. 
It does seem like our offense was very old school in terms of design.  It was kind of baffling how little we used
motion.  The Vikings were right in the
middle of the pack in terms of run/pass ratio.    People overstate how fixated we were on the
run, and people understate how much the offense was formed around Cousins old-school playstyle.  The Rams passed the ball 1% of the
time more than we did.  Cousins is
markedly better out of play-action and we have one of the better RBs.  We’re going to run the ball.  I think when people say that we run the ball
too much, they probably mean that the offense doesn’t look modern enough.  They just lined up and ran the play.  I think if you did more pre-snap motion and Cousins
was up there yelling stuff and pointing at people before the snap, but ended up
running the exact same plays, the “we run too much” stuff would have disappeared
because it looked fancier.  I don’t
really think Cousins is an up-tempo guy. 
I don’t think we’re going to see him running hurry up during the middle
of the game.  I think he needs to get
into a predictable tempo and rhythm.  I
think he’s going to want to go at the same pace he always has if he can help
it.  I’d love to see us pushing the tempo
more, but I’m skeptical that it will play out that way.  I think our offense looked kind of vanilla
because I think Cousins thrives in vanilla. 
You put him out there and let him run the same plays that he’s very comfortable
with and he’ll excel.  You put in a bunch
of new plays that attack this weeks defense, and you’ll get a skittish, 120 yd/0
TD Kirk.  I kind of think the only way to
combat this is to have a broad well designed base offense that covers all your
needs.


What I’d like to see is an offense that gives the QB more pre-snap
information.  I’d like to see us intentionally
trying to get mismatches.  I’d like to
see us be able to run and pass successfully out of the same formations.  I’d like to see us be able to attack specific
weak points using our regular plays.  I’d
like to see some audibles where we were in the wrong play and Kirk got us into
the right play.  I’d like to be good at a
wide variety of concepts.  If one week
you need to go heavy, and another week you get an advantage with 4 WR, lets be
good at all those things, not just our one core philosophy.  I think in the past, we were getting a lot of
our production from just being more talented than the defenses, and I’d like it
to be obvious that our coaches are giving us every advantage on offense.


I think our biggest risks on offense is our inexperienced
coaching staff not being able to fix our OLine and having too much stuff that
Cousins isn’t comfortable with and it takes 7 games for him to get settled in and
comfortable with the offense.

I have the same hopes and fears as you. I also agree that our supposed insistence on running the ball the last few years was overblown. We will run the ball a lot.

What I'm excited most about is moving JJ and Dalvin all over the offense. Those are our two biggest playmakers. If we can keep defenses on their heels by moving those guys around, almost interchangeably, we should find the mismatches we're all looking for. 

[Guest]

Scoring points wasn't the team's problem last year. Let's not forget that. 

[Guest]

Well even a non-believer in the hype like myself would say this offense was run in utterly stupid fashion the last few years.  No doubt it can be improved, at least from a playcalling and scheme perspective.

Otoh the storytelling on Kirk that's being pumped everywhere this off-season...lol.  Kirk is gonna Kirk and we will be 9-8.  Maybe 10-7 with some luck, or 7-10 with some bad luck :p

[Guest]

The problem with the running game was the concept. Totally predictable. It's rare in the modern era to have a team capable of lining up and running on the defense when they know it's coming. It's a blessing when the defense wears down in the 4th quarter, and you can run it down their throats to protect your lead and close out the game. Zimmer didn't have that team. Yet he redundantly preached, we are running the ball.

This year's team can run the ball just as much and be successful. They just need to be creative and deceptive and wiser when it comes to situational play calling. My hope is this coaching staff will be better at taking advantage of mismatches in a creative way. That is my expectation.

This season will go as the defense goes. I have concerns about stopping the run and aging, slow vets at corner and safety. Some young players will need to elevate their game to make this team competitive.

[Guest]

I’m not the least bit worried about the upcoming offense simply for the fact that the system focus will be appropriate and not the dictation of a former defensive coordinator turned dictator HC. The guy who wouldn’t even meet with his QB until this year called the shots. Now we will have some competence going forward. Cousins and the offense are not my worry. 

Defense will dictate our season and we absolutely must be much improved.

[Guest]

@Havoc1649 said:
I’m not the least bit worried about the upcoming offense simply for the fact that the system focus will be appropriate and not the dictation of a former defensive coordinator turned dictator HC. The guy who wouldn’t even meet with his QB until this year called the shots. Now we will have some competence going forward. Cousins and the offense are not my worry. 

Defense will dictate our season and we absolutely must be much improved.

I do agree that it will be nice to have an offensive focus, but people were concerned about our playcalling being predictable but I'm not really seeing anyone that has ever called plays before, so I can't just ignore that aspect of worry.

[Guest]

@medaille said:

@Havoc1649 said:
I’m not the least bit worried about the upcoming offense simply for the fact that the system focus will be appropriate and not the dictation of a former defensive coordinator turned dictator HC. The guy who wouldn’t even meet with his QB until this year called the shots. Now we will have some competence going forward. Cousins and the offense are not my worry. 

Defense will dictate our season and we absolutely must be much improved.

I do agree that it will be nice to have an offensive focus, but people were concerned about our playcalling being predictable but I'm not really seeing anyone that has ever called plays before, so I can't just ignore that aspect of worry.

Couldn't be any more unpredictable than that, could you?