Getting that same ol' feeling, vacation version

[StickierBuns]

Sigh. Went to bed hopeful that they'd beat the Rams and opened up the ESPN website to see the beginning of the end, IMO. The defense always has patches of extreme competence and then they can't keep the steam going. What I was hoping WASN'T that its smoke and mirrors is definitely that defensively. You can't watch Stafford absolutely carve the D, have the D allow the most yards passing in the NFL and call it anything but that. Flores made chicken salad out of chicken shit until the juice left, which was always going to happen. Need more talent on D. 

Offensively, its been somewhat inconsistent. Big plays here, big misses there. I can't say Darnold has been the 'problem', but he's also played small on important plays. Yet made some great ones as well. KOC and the offensive talent has helped Sam, zero doubt about it, but I think you can see he can only be helped so much. JJ McCarthy is the QB of this team in 2025, he'll have a mastery of the offense and fingers crossed he can be the franchise QB we've been waiting for. He's KOC's piece of unadulterated clay that he can teach from Day 1 as a professional to be his extension as a field general. 

I don't think the team is garbage currently. You don't win 5 games and play what may be the best team in the NFL to basically a standstill loss. But I've said this for 4 months: the real window opens in 2025. That's always been the mentality, with hope that 2024 could be a playoff season....and maybe it still can be. Worried about the Darrisaw injury, that would be a blow. Dallas Turner will be much better next year. We'll get a DT. I think the near future is bright.

[MAD GAINZ]

The most frustrating part of last night is the penalities on 3rd or 4th down that gave the Rams life. The holding on Murphy was pretty weak, but Gilmore had some bad ones. Expect better out of him.

Also, the pass rush was non-existent against a patchwork Rams line. I'm not going to complain about the secondary too much because guys couldn't get home and the two times they did, they couldn't finish the job and one ended in a TD to Kupp.

[purplefaithful]

The most frustrating part of last night is the penalities on 3rd or 4th down that gave the Rams life.  The holding on Murphy was pretty weak, but Gilmore had some bad ones.  Expect better out of him.

Also, the pass rush was non-existent against a patchwork Rams line.  I'm not going to complain about the secondary too much because guys couldn't get home and the two times they did, they couldn't finish the job and one ended in a TD to Kupp.

Worst game of the year for Gilmore...I dont think the old timer liked playing on 4 days and I dont blame him lol!

The whole team was disappointing frankly, expect for Reichard.

Next 2 Sunday (days) are freed-up from football and I am super happy to have that time to get s hit done around the yard.

[JR44]

The concern for me is that the game felt much more lopsided than the score, we were completely dominated on both lines and the Rams OL was suppose to be their weakness. The harsh reality of this team is that out of the 3 past drafts the only starters are Ingram who is questionable at best and Addison who disappears during games (watched him 2 years at USC and exactly what he did there). Verse looks like a complete beast and game changer while Turner hasn't shown any football smarts and visions of Cine are popping up. The future of this team rides on McCarthy being the kind of QB who can carry a team.

[pattersaur]

The concern for me is that the game felt much more lopsided than the score, we were completely dominated on both lines and the Rams OL was suppose to be their weakness.  The harsh reality of this team is that out of the 3 past drafts the only starters are Ingram who is questionable at best and Addison who disappears during games (watched him 2 years at USC and exactly what he did there).  Verse looks like a complete beast and game changer while Turner hasn't shown any football smarts and visions of Cine are popping up.  The future of this team rides on McCarthy being the kind of QB who can carry a team.

Yeah our recent drafts have been p lousy. Blackmon and Jackson would've helped a lot in the secondary I think though fwiw.

And I agree with you, everything in 2025 and beyond is riding on the kid.

[JimmyinSD]

Yeah our recent drafts have been p lousy. Blackmon and Jackson would've helped a lot in the secondary I think though fwiw.

And I agree with you, everything in 2025 and beyond is riding on the kid.

so so screwed.... we are going to have to use that cap space very wisely to make up for all the lost and missed draft picks.

[StickierBuns]

Not sure how this D won't be exposed moving forward. Don't think the offense is strong enough to overcome the defensive deficiencies. We'll see how it all shakes out. The NFL is a crazy beast.....things might get strangely better again for no reason. Or not.

A thought on Darnold:

https://twitter.com/TheHerd/status/1849864634184151387

[purplefaithful]

Not sure how this D won't be exposed moving forward. Don't think the offense is strong enough to overcome the defensive deficiencies. We'll see how it all shakes out. The NFL is a crazy beast.....things might get strangely better again for no reason. Or not.

A thought on Darnold:

https://twitter.com/TheHerd/status/1849864634184151387

KOC will have to just be patient this year...

Sam played ok last night, he wasn't why we lost this game. 

But this is about the time fans would be calling for JJM if he was healthy. 

Unless Darnold continued to play "lights out" I dont think there was any chance he would be back - from the Vikings perspective. 

Fans of course will hypothesize and that's part of the fun. 

Last night wasn't the fun I wanted from the squad this year. Frankly, I am more concerned about the Darrisaw injury than I am losing a road game to the Rams.