Are the '23 Vikings better than the '22 Vikings?

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Yes.  

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To answer that question I'd ask where have they improved?  At wideout.  Anywhere else?  DC.  

Where have they gotten worse?  IOL maybe.  IDL for sure.  

The HC is a motivator but the first year glow wore off quickly after they got waxed by Dallas last fall.  Now he has to prove he knows what he's doing, not just that he can go rah rah after a win.

Since then they are 5-6 including that game.  They are a .500 or so team IMHO.  Really good offensive skill guys coupled with a whole lot of issues everywhere else.

[Guest]

You can’t really use the “You are what your record says”
from two games to predict the rest of the season.  That’s the type of shit that gets you things,
like “The Vikings are on pace for 4 million fumbles this season” and “Kirk
Cousins is on pace for 8500 yards and 70 TDs”. 
The Vikings are unlikely to continue losing the turnover battle this badly.


I think the 23 Vikings should be a slight downgrade from the
22 Vikings, talentwise, but an upgrade in coaching.  We cut veterans and replaced with young
inexperienced guys and got a better DC and another year in the system on
offense.  I think overall we’re probably
pretty close to performing about the same as last year, just we’re probably not
going to win all those close games and will end up closer to .500.

[Guest]

Defense
Scheme looks better. I think the corners are better. Safeties are a wash with Harry maybe falling off a bit, but Bynum maybe playing a little better. ILBs are better. OLBs worse with Hunter the same but playing well, and Davenport out. IDL is much worse, mostly due to replacing Tomlinson with Lowry. I would say DL is our biggest area of decline. 

Offense
Scheme (play calling anyway) looks worse somehow. QB is the same guy, but Cousins is playing lights out so far, so better. IOL is too early to say with Bradbury out. Cleveland and Ingram seem to be about the same so far. Tackles maybe slightly better if Darrisaw doesn't miss too much time.  TEs are better. WRs are better. RBs are worse without Dalvin, but much of that could be OL/play calling. I would say WR/TE is our biggest area of improvement, assuming KJO stops the drops. 

[Guest]

Until this team plays a clean game where they aren't shooting themselves in the foot constantly with turnovers, it's just really hard to say if we are a better team or not. I'm encouraged by the scheme changes defensively, but as I said, we lack talent and difference makers on that side of the football. 

[Guest]

@supafreak84 said:
Until this team plays a clean game where they aren't shooting themselves in the foot constantly with turnovers, it's just really hard to say if we are a better team or not. I'm encouraged by the scheme changes defensively, but as I said, we lack talent and difference makers on that side of the football. 

Thats just so evident when watching some of the other NFL power-houses yesterday. ITs going to take a real concerted effort in the draft and FA to turn that around. 

Probably a 24/25 initiative...

[Guest]

@purplefaithful said:

@supafreak84 said:
Until this team plays a clean game where they aren't shooting themselves in the foot constantly with turnovers, it's just really hard to say if we are a better team or not. I'm encouraged by the scheme changes defensively, but as I said, we lack talent and difference makers on that side of the football. 

Thats just so evident when watching some of the other NFL power-houses yesterday. ITs going to take a real concerted effort in the draft and FA to turn that around. 

Probably a 24/25 initiative...

It's no surprise that the 3 best defensive lines in the conference are the best teams; 49ers, Eagles, and Cowboys. They've all invested and prioritized their lines. You can't build a football team from the outside-in like the Vikings have done and expect to be an upper echelon team. 

[Guest]

PF's red zone stat that says the Vikings are 50% in the red zone this year compared to 63% last year made me want to revisit this thread. 

I can't find the graphic right now, but if you put offensive production and defensive production on an XY axis, there are only 5 teams in the upper right hand quadrant. 49ers, Eagles, Chiefs, Ravens and Vikings. That's good company to be in. 

Last year, the Vikings went 13-4 but everyone knew they weren't as good as their record. One of the telling stats was their DVOA. The Vikings ranked 27th in DVOA last year. This year they rank 9th. Yards allowed has gone from 31st to 13th.  

[Guest]

@MaroonBells said:
PF's red zone stat that says the Vikings are 50% in the red zone this year compared to 63% last year made me want to revisit this thread. 

I can't find the graphic right now, but if you put offensive production and defensive production on an XY axis, there are only 5 teams in the upper right hand quadrant. 49ers, Eagles, Chiefs, Ravens and Vikings. That's good company to be in. 

Last year, the Vikings went 13-4 but everyone knew they weren't as good as their record. One of the telling stats was their DVOA. The Vikings ranked 27th in DVOA last year. This year they rank 9th. Yards allowed has gone from 31st to 13th.  

What was the red zone stat this year when Cousins was playing? He was good in the red zone.

[Guest]

@jargomcfargo said:

@MaroonBells said:
PF's red zone stat that says the Vikings are 50% in the red zone this year compared to 63% last year made me want to revisit this thread. 

I can't find the graphic right now, but if you put offensive production and defensive production on an XY axis, there are only 5 teams in the upper right hand quadrant. 49ers, Eagles, Chiefs, Ravens and Vikings. That's good company to be in. 

Last year, the Vikings went 13-4 but everyone knew they weren't as good as their record. One of the telling stats was their DVOA. The Vikings ranked 27th in DVOA last year. This year they rank 9th. Yards allowed has gone from 31st to 13th.  

What was the red zone stat this year when Cousins was playing? He was good in the red zone.

I looked for that and couldn't find it. It would be interesting to know. Still, those first five games, even though Cousins was spectacular overall, we made a lot of weird-ass mistakes that probably kept that red zone number low.