Jets-Vikings Game Day Observations

[StickierBuns]

5-0....who'd a thunk it?  Pretty crazy heading into the bye and then a big boy matchup at home against Detroit. Loved seeing all the Viking purple in the stands and streets of London.

• Our first real peak at 'Bad Sam'. Missed some passes, looked a bit flustered at times. Forced too many throws into Jefferson the 2nd half. Got sacked a few times by holding onto the ball too freaking long. Did just enough in the 2nd half while looking shaky at the same time. I think KOC's play calling a few times was lesser than. Worst outing for the offense, seemed to shrink up after Aaron Jones went out. 
  
• Excellent play by the D, opportunistic. Nice to see Pace play well upon his return. Rodgers' receivers didn't do him any favors, however. 
  
• Some bad penalties at bad times. Frustrating.
  
• Not a great look for the offense, hopefully its just one of those clunkers that come up. Jets' D showed up in spots. 
  
• No worries when Will the Thrill comin'.....
  
• Rodgers looked sore, old and cranky. Had some horrible drops by his WRers. 
  

Kind of a weird, not played well game at times by both teams. I actually think the bye comes at a good time for Minnesota. Hopefully 'Bad Sam' goes away for awhile again and they can stack a few more Ws in the short term. The encouraging part is the team doesn't need to play A+ football to beat decent teams. Should bode well moving forward. SHOULD be the key word.

[NorseFeathers]

We won. I'll take it.

I think part of the bad offensive play was due to the Jets' defense being pretty damn good, particularly their secondary. We sure could have used Hock yesterday to work the underneath.

My biggest concern is our special teams. They do not appear to be situationally aware or well coached. From Dallas Turner catching the ball on the two yard line and crossing the line for a touch back,  to the muffed punt turnover last week, to the roughing the kicker and blocking in the back on a punt return this week. They kept the opponents in the game the past two weeks.

We all knew Sam would have his ups and downs. Hopefully this is as down as he gets. He looked flustered at times but didn't make any boneheaded turnovers.

On to the Lions. Let's see if we can bully the bullies.

[MaroonBells]

Perfectly called, perfectly timed, perfectly executed.

[StickierBuns]

Perfectly called, perfectly timed, perfectly executed.

Gink said Rodgers said, 'Merry Christmas' when he saw him later......I'm like, dude you got snookered. It wasn't a gift, it was a game planned takeaway. Rodgers didn't even see him. Good defensive strategy executed to perfection.

[purplefaithful]

Gink said Rodgers said, 'Merry Christmas' when he saw him later......I'm like, dude you got snookered. It wasn't a gift, it was a game planned takeaway. Rodgers didn't even see him. Good defensive strategy executed to perfection.

How Flores fooled Rodgers

Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores took away Aaron Rodgers’ security blanket — which is rolling right under pressure — by how he attacked that side throughout the game. 

Whenever Rodgers wanted to move that way, he was met by blitzes and stunts. 

Ivan Pace Jr. got his sack to that side. Josh Metellus had a key pressure to that side. Blake Cashman forced a deep-ball incompletion on a blitz to that side. 

Credit Flores for something else that’s not easy to do: Tricking a 20-year veteran into throwing the 63-yard pick-six to Andrew Van Ginkel. 
Van Ginkel and Pat Jones II both showed rush across from rookie right tackle Olu Fashanu. 

Rodgers bought it because Fashanu — ranked 75th among 78 tackles by Pro Football Reference — was a weak link making his second NFL start. Van Ginkel took two steps forward, dropped, and Rodgers threw right to him for a 10-0 first-quarter deficit.

Source: Startribune

[StickierBuns]

How Flores fooled Rodgers

Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores took away Aaron Rodgers’ security blanket — which is rolling right under pressure — by how he attacked that side throughout the game. 

Whenever Rodgers wanted to move that way, he was met by blitzes and stunts. 

Ivan Pace Jr. got his sack to that side. Josh Metellus had a key pressure to that side. Blake Cashman forced a deep-ball incompletion on a blitz to that side. 

Credit Flores for something else that’s not easy to do: Tricking a 20-year veteran into throwing the 63-yard pick-six to Andrew Van Ginkel. 
Van Ginkel and Pat Jones II both showed rush across from rookie right tackle Olu Fashanu. 

Rodgers bought it because Fashanu — ranked 75th among 78 tackles by Pro Football Reference — was a weak link making his second NFL start. Van Ginkel took two steps forward, dropped, and Rodgers threw right to him for a 10-0 first-quarter deficit.

Source: Startribune

The key was watching the center of the Jets, that's what made Gink fall back. It was a sight key that Flores that he told the D to watch and see if their center 'gets flat'. Smart players making smart plays.

[Still Hurtn]

Again love the bullet points. My thoughts

Vikings looked like they were forcing the ball to Jefferson. The PI calls against him looked questionable. Once the Team had a 17 point lead they looked like the Packer game. Something changed and not for the good. Flo Defence is so fun to watch. I was expecting a bigger impact from Turner. Maybe its the style of D Flo plays. Evans on special teams looked like Special Olympics. Viking seem to struggle with short yardage plays. W feels good. I read somewhere this morning that the last three time Vikings went 5-2... 2 of those times they missed the playoffs? On to the Kitties

[purplefaithful]

I'm with Norsefeathers; yesterday was that type of game where we really could have used a healthy TJH...

Safety outlet for Sam when the WR's were covered well by an excellent secondary.

[Montana Tom]

For the second time this season, Pace had a boneheaded penalty.
The first was slapping the head of an opposing player (game?) when we had a good Defensive play. 15 yard unsportsmanlike.
And then Sunday, it was Pace who ran into the punter and incurred that 15 yard penalty that kept the Jets alive so they could score that TD and stay in the game.

He's gotta learn to keep his head together.

[hogjowlsjohnny]

Didn't get to see the game yesterday but listened to it on the radio. How did the O-line look ?