Vikings/NFL Observations

[StickierBuns]

An excellent win yesterday, a dominating win. The Bank was unhinged.

• Flo's D has everyone discombobulated and not sure where the heat is coming from. Its very obvious that Minnesota got some key chess pieces for Flo to play with and dominate.
  
• The crowd noise at U.S. Bank is a difference maker. The opponents hear it and the Viking's players feed off of it.
  
• Darnold makes one stupid play a game....I can live with that. He's mostly composed but you can still see a small propencity to get a smidge rattled a handful of times a game. Basically a nitpick.
  
• I just marvel at Darnold's easy arm talent. His release is quick. Much faster and mobile than you'd think. He leaned out this offseason and I think its helped him on the field.
  
• Who's having more fun as a Viking than Aaron Jones?
  
• Damn Jalen Nailor.....go get it', son. 
  
• Will Levis: yikes. I'm not sure how Tennessee isn't going to move off him this upcoming offseason.
  
• Anthony Richardson? Media crowned him, but he looks bad. 
  
• So with a capable vet, Carolina isn't a hot pile of dog shit on offense. Yeah, it was Bryce Young. 
  
• Kansas City + the refs = unbeatable
  
• Caleb Williams will make some amazing plays and make horrible ones. That's not going to change, IMO. 
  
• How did the 49ers mess that game up so bad to lose?? Gross. 
  
• The Saints might be the pretenders, not Minnesota.
  
• DeShaun Watson: master scammer, garbage human and what a f-ing mess in Cleveland.
  
• Its tough for Justin Herbert to stay healthy.
  

[Chuckf]

An excellent win yesterday, a dominating win. The Bank was unhinged.

• Flo's D has everyone discombobulated and not sure where the heat is coming from. Its very obvious that Minnesota got some key chess pieces for Flo to play with and dominate.
  
• The crowd noise at U.S. Bank is a difference maker. The opponents hear it and the Viking's players feed off of it.
  
• Darnold makes one stupid play a game....I can live with that. He's mostly composed but you can still see a small propencity to get a smidge rattled a handful of times a game. Basically a nitpick.
  
• I just marvel at Darnold's easy arm talent. His release is quick. Much faster and mobile than you'd think. He leaned out this offseason and I think its helped him on the field.
  
• Who's having more fun as a Viking than Aaron Jones?
  
• Damn Jalen Nailor.....go get it', son. 
  
• Will Levis: yikes. I'm not sure how Tennessee isn't going to move off him this upcoming offseason.
  
• Anthony Richardson? Media crowned him, but he looks bad. 
  
• So with a capable vet, Carolina isn't a hot pile of dog shit on offense. Yeah, it was Bryce Young. 
  
• Kansas City + the refs = unbeatable
  
• Caleb Williams will make some amazing plays and make horrible ones. That's not going to change, IMO. 
  
• How did the 49ers mess that game up so bad to lose?? Gross. 
  
• The Saints might be the pretenders, not Minnesota.
  
• DeShaun Watson: master scammer, garbage human and what a f-ing mess in Cleveland.
  
• Its tough for Justin Herbert to stay healthy.
  

All observations are spot on.   The Chiefs get away with murder when its the most crucial points in the game.   Frustrating to watch.   Falcons got hosed last night IMO.

[wiviking]

And most importantly, Diggs is 0-2 against the Vikings.

[pattersaur]

Agree with all of your NFL observations, except for maybe on Caleb Williams never cleaning things up. Too early for me to say that but everything else is spot-on.

Will Levis- YIKES! Tennessee basically kicked Willis to the curb in favor of Levis, so for Willis to go in there and smash em is brutal. The Vikings have done a lot of dumb, dumb things over the years but I'm not sure we've ever gotten smoked at home by a recent ex-QB. So that's nice.

On the Vikes- We look great! The offseason additions are balling out. Aaron Jones seems to have more juice than even Dalvin had in his final year or two here. Certainly an upgrade over what we had last year. And the studs on defense: wow!

One of the somewhat under-the-radar worries I had coming into the year was our kicking room and special teams in general. Gaskin kind of stinks but otherwise it's passing marks all around, so far. The "third phase" can make a huge difference later in the year when competition gets really tight so this is a very promising start.

It's funny. I didn't think our record would be great this season because I was dubious about Darnold. Yet, in my fantasy football draft I was taking all the Vikings I could get. Perhaps blind luck/homerism, but I'll probably be rolling with Darnold, Jones, Vikes D and then Hock and 3 when they get healthy. Absolutely bonkers.

The stat from week 1 that we hadn't blown a team out in years (with Kirk) was illuminating. And now we've done it twice in three weeks. In that time span Darnold has thoroughly outplayed 2024 Cousins as well. What a world.

[MaroonBells]

Agree with all of your NFL observations, except for maybe on Caleb Williams never cleaning things up. Too early for me to say that but everything else is spot-on.

Will Levis- YIKES! Tennessee basically kicked Willis to the curb in favor of Levis, so for Willis to go in there and smash em is brutal. The Vikings have done a lot of dumb, dumb things over the years but I'm not sure we've ever gotten smoked at home by a recent ex-QB. So that's nice.

On the Vikes- We look great! The offseason additions are balling out. Aaron Jones seems to have more juice than even Dalvin had in his final year or two here. Certainly an upgrade over what we had last year. And the studs on defense: wow!

One of the somewhat under-the-radar worries I had coming into the year was our kicking room and special teams in general. Gaskin kind of stinks but otherwise it's passing marks all around, so far. The "third phase" can make a huge difference later in the year when competition gets really tight so this is a very promising start.

It's funny. I didn't think our record would be great this season because I was dubious about Darnold. Yet, in my fantasy football draft I was taking all the Vikings I could get. Perhaps blind luck/homerism, but I'll probably be rolling with Darnold, Jones, Vikes D and then Hock and 3 when they get healthy. Absolutely bonkers.

The stat from week 1 that we hadn't blown a team out in years (with Kirk) was illuminating. And now we've done it twice in three weeks. In that time span Darnold has thoroughly outplayed 2024 Cousins as well. What a world.

Ha! I drafted the Vikings DST and savored their 24 points against the Giants, but I'm a habitual streamer so dropped them for the Colts who were playing Willis and the Bucs who were playing Nix Got smoked each time. Now I'll be lucky if I can get the Vikings back. I love (hate) fantasy.

---

[*]Darnold makes one stupid play a game....I can live with that. He's mostly composed but you can still see a small propencity to get a smidge rattled a handful of times a game. Basically a nitpick.
[*]I just marvel at Darnold's easy arm talent. His release is quick. Much faster and mobile than you'd think. He leaned out this offseason and I think its helped him on the field.

[*]
Darnold does seem to make at least one boneheaded play a game, but he doesn't let it compound by making another one, which was his biggest problem earlier in his career. He stays aggressive. 

Look, I said repeatedly Sam was going to have the best year of his career and play better than most people thought. But I'm not patting myself on the back, because I didn't think he'd be THIS good. I really thought he'd be somewhere between Mullens and Cousins. Right now he's playing every bit as good as Cousins did early last year.

[purplefaithful]

Darnold has got to be the surprised to-date of the season. What a story it "could" be.

Anyone else relishing J Jones holding on to his coaches too long?

[badgervike]

After 3 games

Stat lines:

Darnold 67.9% completion rate, 8 TD vs 2 Int, 117.3 passer rating
Mahomes 69.6% completion rate, 5 TD vs 4 Int, 89.9 passer rating
Virtually identical passing yards

Darnold's balling out against 2 very good defenses (and the Giants)

[Greylock]

They need to make those throw back jerseys permanent. Those are classic Viking jerseys!

[pattersaur]

They need to make those throw back jerseys permanent.  Those are classic Viking jerseys!

Agreed! Someone somewhere must feel the same way because I have seen all-new white, and new black jerseys at local stores so those will be worn at some point I’m sure. Would have been easy to leave yesterday’s jerseys in the past since they’ve been worn the past few seasons I believe.

They look good though. The only current jersey I have is a Justin Jefferson throwback. Wore it yesterday of course. Fun win and day.

[hogjowlsjohnny]

And most importantly, Diggs is 0-2 against the Vikings.

I can dig it!