Questions I ask myself at 5/1

[purplefaithful]

We left some plays out there yesterday...I think their offense outplayed our defense and exposed some schematic things others may try.

But 5/1 is pretty, pretty good and (as I posted b4) I had no expectations record wise in this transition year other than keep me entertained - and they have in spades. 

This is a Viking team that can hang in there with any team in the NFC, which I did not expect to say coming into this season. Hopefully they bounce back quick for Thursday night and the schedule (on paper) is a bit easier for a while. 

Questions I ask myself:

1). Would I want Darnold long-term at QB if we didnt have JJM in the wings?
2). Would KOC have put JJ in by now?
3). Where would I want to improve this team the most position wise?

IDL?
OL?
WR2?
RB Heir for Jones?

4). Will TJH be 100% this year?
I wonder how much a healthy and explosive TJH will help this team? Probably a lot..
5). Is Addison good enough @ WR2? Not many teams dont have some step down from their #1 guy

[pattersaur]

Lots to think about, nice post! I might come back to this later and reply more but specifically on WR2-- I do have some concern with Addison where before the season I had none.

Last year he was very explosive as a rookie and I was hoping in Year 2 he'd be even more integrated into the offense as a regular middle of the field passcatcher by now. He's missed some time-- I'm not even sure he's played a full 17 games in his career yet-- so the team can be patient here. HOWEVER... At 5-1 like pf mentions, if they want to make a real run in 2024, everything is on the table.

Cooper and Adams have been big names traded recently so it stands to reason that if the team is looking to upgrade somewhere, WR might be doable. I highly doubt the team would make a move here but just wanted to add my 2 cents on #3-- he was playing better last year. Perhaps my expectations have changed but I don't think so. He seemed open a lot more in 2023. Hopefully big things coming soon for him!

[MaroonBells]

Questions I ask myself:

1). Would I want Darnold long-term at QB if we didnt have JJM in the wings?
2). Would KOC have put JJ in by now?
3). Where would I want to improve this team the most position wise?

IDL?
OL?
WR2?
RB Heir for Jones?

4). Will TJH be 100% this year?
I wonder how much a healthy and explosive TJH will help this team? Probably a lot..
5). Is Addison good enough @ WR2? Not many teams dont have some step down from their #1 guy

Right or wrong, here are my answers...

1). Would I want Darnold long-term at QB if we didnt have JJM in the wings? Too early to say, but the Vikings extending Darnold is becoming less and less likely IMO. 
2). Would KOC have put JJ in by now? I don't think so. Outside of the Jets game, Darnold has been a top 5 QB. 
3). Where would I want to improve this team the most position wise? DT like Dexter Lawrence if you're talking trade deadline. Next year, corner. 
4). Will TJH be 100% this year? Yeah, I think so. I think he would've played yesterday if it were a playoff game. 
5). Is Addison good enough @ WR2? Addison is plenty good enough for WR2. This was one helluva good team we just barely lost to. I think TJH coming back will help to free up some of Addison's routes. 

[Montana Tom]

Right or wrong, here are my answers...

1). Would I want Darnold long-term at QB if we didnt have JJM in the wings? Too early to say, but the Vikings extending Darnold is becoming less and less likely IMO. 
2). Would KOC have put JJ in by now? I don't think so. Outside of the Jets game, Darnold has been a top 5 QB. 
3). Where would I want to improve this team the most position wise? DT like Dexter Lawrence if you're talking trade deadline. Next year, corner. 
4). Will TJH be 100% this year? Yeah, I think so. I think he would've played yesterday if it were a playoff game. 
5). Is Addison good enough @ WR2? Addison is plenty good enough for WR2. This was one helluva good team we just barely lost to. I think TJH coming back will help to free up some of Addison's routes. 

Agree with the 5-1 attitude toward the record.  If anyone said to me six months ago that we'd be sitting at 5-1 after six games, I would have been beyond thrilled.
1.  Agree with Maroon Bells
2.  Also agree
3.  Right Guard and then DT
4.  Also agree.  We should see him against the Rams
5.  I don't know.  His personal choices cloud his availability (at some point...this year or next).  More importantly, is Jalen Nailor good enough to be WR3, or...is Adam Thielen worth considering bringing back for the second half of the season?

[MAD GAINZ]

Right now, Darnold is locking on to JJ way too much. Lions exploited it. He's not seeing the field as well when teams play man coverage and he's holding the ball too long. On the pick he threw yesterday, the defense rolled that way to take away JJ and he literally had Aaron Jones wide open on the opposite side of the field with the closest defender 15 yds away. It would have been a huge play, maybe a TD if he reacts better.

I don't think JJM would be playing yet. Darnold's play has tailed off, but he's also faced some tougher defenses the past couple weeks. But, this is the reason the extension talk was premature. He's cooler considerably and teams are figuring out how to make him uncomfortable despite some good protection again yesterday. JJM will be a better QB than Sam. I think his mental makeup is better, he's faster, has as big an arm (maybe bigger) than Darnold, and he's a leader. Not taking anything away from Sam, but JJM is our future at the position.

Seeing the offense this year, we need another explosive RB like Jones to take over for him. He's made our run game better than it looks by creating positive yards and big plays out of nothing.

And I agree with Maroon, CB is still a big need. Especially with all the vets on 1-yr deals. Maybe we bring one (or two) back, but we have nothing behind them. Even if Blackmon comes back fine, we need another young guy or two.

[MaroonBells]

We've played the 49ers, the Texans, the Packers, Jets and Lions. Like everyone said when the schedule came out, this was a brutal early schedule and we're 5-1. That's pretty ridiculous. I don't want to take the Rams lightly on a short week, but now the schedule eases up quite a bit with the Rams, Colts, Jags and Tits.

[Kentis]

We lost by 2 points to the NFC’s top team, in an outing we didn’t play our best ball, I like our chances moving forward…

[supafreak84]

We lost by 2 points to the NFC’s top team, in an outing we didn’t play our best ball, I like our chances moving forward…

It is what it is, but to me it's disappointing from the standpoint of you had the Lions losing arguably their best player in Hutchinson last week and that whole deflation, to the Vikings coming off a bye week, healthy, and getting them at home... and we still lost. It's just one game, but it was an important one.

[Kentis]

Healthy? I don’t know, I think Cashman was sorely missed. Certainly would have helped to have T.J. as well. I think trying to cover for Cashman caused some missed plays by a normally solid Metellus as well as a missed assignment by Greenard covering Gibbs on the final FG winning drive.

[purplefaithful]

Viking TE's year to date:
18 receptions
125 yards
2 TD's

Sounds like 1 game from a healthy TJ. Yah, he's missed.

Source: ESPN

---

I like Bercich and his takes. Was listening to him this am...

Talked about how Darnold has struggled with man coverages, holds on to the ball too long and hesitant to "let it rip" when facing that coverage.

Not sure if that is something that can be coached-up/out? It might just be how he's wired?