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01-12-2023, 04:21 PM

Wait...I guess maybe the regular season has all been a ruse to make people think we can't stop anyone. We get to see the "real" defense in the playoffs.

https://twitter.com/christomasson/status...24770?s=20&t=W2s8r3ApMczf9gB7S51lZg

01-12-2023, 04:31 PM

He sounds confident.

https://twitter.com/WillRagatz/status/16...80608?s=20&t=vBMXF0aFMFtXcqcUO_8DrA

01-12-2023, 04:40 PM

Quote: @MaroonBells said:
He sounds confident.

https://twitter.com/WillRagatz/status/16...80608?s=20&t=vBMXF0aFMFtXcqcUO_8DrA

lol, ok. Part of his master plan of playing sandbag long version. Take it easy there, Eddie.

01-12-2023, 05:03 PM

OK, don't laugh, but is it possible the team has been holding things back to one degree or another? I remember early in the season KOC said something about not wanting to show everything. I find it hard to believe, given the amount of close games we were in, that we didn't see everything we've got in our bag of tricks.

Still, he's been wiley about a lot of things--the situational football thing chief among them. But given the fact that we had the division title all but sewn up 10 weeks ago, it might be possible the Vikings show some things in the playoffs we haven't seen.

...or that's just wishful thinking and the G-men put up another 450 yards on us.

01-12-2023, 05:04 PM

Quote: @MaroonBells said:
OK, don't laugh, but is it possible the team has been holding things back to one degree or another? I remember early in the season KOC said something about not wanting to show everything. I find it hard to believe, given the amount of close games we were in, that we didn't see everything we've got in our bag of tricks.

Still, he's been wiley about a lot of things--the situational football thing chief among them. But given the fact that we had the division title all but sewn up 10 weeks ago, it might be possible the Vikings show some things in the playoffs we haven't seen.

...or that's just wishful thinking and the G-men put up another 450 yards on us.

They definitely need to be unpredictable. 100%. But you'll have to excuse me if I find it almost impossible with this year's version of the D.

01-12-2023, 05:09 PM

A little damn pressure would go a long way for this defense. Hunter seems to be improving but Z has pretty much gone missing down the stretch. More than an occasional token pressure up the middle would do wonders. Are they going to get it? Wouldn't hold my breath.

01-12-2023, 05:32 PM

One thing I have noticed is Kendricks doesn't seem to be nearly as effective in pass defense. Not sure if it's scheme or he's lost a step. I know he leads the team in tackles so it's not like he isn't still good. Really find this odd and think it has a lot to do with the lack of success defending the middle of the field in the passing game.

01-12-2023, 06:43 PM

Quote: @MaroonBells said:
OK, don't laugh, but is it possible the team has been holding things back to one degree or another? I remember early in the season KOC said something about not wanting to show everything. I find it hard to believe, given the amount of close games we were in, that we didn't see everything we've got in our bag of tricks.

Still, he's been wiley about a lot of things--the situational football thing chief among them. But given the fact that we had the division title all but sewn up 10 weeks ago, it might be possible the Vikings show some things in the playoffs we haven't seen.

...or that's just wishful thinking and the G-men put up another 450 yards on us.

Good insight. Any notion that the Rams did this last year? Makes me think back to Philly with Foles. They took a major hit at QB and turned it into the reason they won the superbowl. They barely beat Atlanta, but then against to defensive geniuses, they took their plans to the woodshed. Zimmer and Bill rely on scheme and film. There wasn't much film of Foles in that offense, then Pederson took his offense and chucked it out the windows, redoing it over their 1st round bye.

Philly with Foles didn't throw deep. They ran a couple of double moves on us and toasted our DBs because we were playing tight to shut down the RPO.

So, it could be we scaled back since we clinched. But then again, we were also missing Dantzler, Evans, Smith and others in the backfield.

01-12-2023, 07:31 PM

Quote: @pattersaur said:

Agree with you all and I'll also add-- the middle of the field seems to be wide open to slot WRs every game.Likely a scheme thing but there is sooooo much space in front of the safeties. The 8-12 yard routes have been effective all season long against us and I doubt that changes Sunday. This kills us on 2nd and 3rd and longs.
The WR James for NYG (Ricky, maybe?) had two critical drops in our first game against them that I remember, but he was open all day on slants, hooks, and basically all intermediate routes inside.
Pat Pete and whoever is opposite him have actually held up well on the outside in my opinion.

Sullivan. 2nd worst Slot Corner in the League. I posted in another thread the stat that Alec from the Athletic had written in one of his recent articles. We are giving up huge chunk plays with slant routes to Slot WR's with him in coverage. Or should I say the lack of coverage. This game looks to be fairly healthy for the Vikings so injuries to the defense should not be an excuse. Donatell needs to figure this shit out and stop being so passive. I thought the whole purpose of this scheme was to be unpredictable and cause QB confusion. It has been anything but that.

01-12-2023, 07:47 PM

Quote: @AGRforever said:
So this is my entirely uneducated guess.

PFF seems to significantly over value splash plays. We’ve had plenty of those this year so it help the ratings.

Id also say that Hunter and Z smith have played like $hit especially given their contracts. Hunter needs to be able to cover in certain pass plays and cant. He’s also lost contain on run plays all year. Z. Smith is older and slower then his previous self. He fits the mold correctly, but just isn’t what he used to be.

you bring up a good point here.

I will say that we have been hurt by OS zone runs alot this year, not sure if its edge or lb’s fault.

Our scheme has d hunt trying to cover the slot occasionally, can anyone say Stoopid? Our S’s play deep and stay there and our LB’s have just now in week 20 or whatever been told to be more agressive to their gaps. Donatell has forgot more than any of is know but jeezus. We have too much talent to be this shitty on D