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StickyBun · 01-18-2018, 01:35 PM

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"The Eagles need Nick Foles to look like a player he isn't...the Vikings just need Case Keenum to look like Case Keenum."

01-18-2018, 02:01 PM

With their lines - they need no turnovers.

01-18-2018, 02:21 PM

What are the areas where we have an advantage over the Eagles? I like Case better than Foles, especially under pressure. I like our pass defense better than theirs. On the other hand, I think the Eagles' run defense is better than ours.
Zimmer says whoever runs it the best will win. Is that where we want this game decided? Against the Saints, Murray ran 19 times for 50 yards. The Eagles' run D is better than the Saints'.
Maybe Zimmer is saying that we are going to force Foles to try to beat our defense because we are not going to let Blount and Ajayi beat us. I sure hope so. I suspect that is the strategy Belichick will use against the Jaguars - force Bortles to beat them and not allow Fournette to run. That would make sense.
And bring the heat on passing downs. Force Foles to make quick decisions under pressure. Our DBs are more than good enough to cover the Eagles' receivers for 3 seconds.

01-18-2018, 02:33 PM

Quote: @dadevike said:
What are the areas where we have an advantage over the Eagles? I like Case better than Foles, especially under pressure. I like our pass defense better than theirs. On the other hand, I think the Eagles' run defense is better than ours.
Zimmer says whoever runs it the best will win. Is that where we want this game decided? Against the Saints, Murray ran 19 times for 50 yards. The Eagles' run D is better than the Saints'.
Maybe Zimmer is saying that we are going to force Foles to try to beat our defense because we are not going to let Blount and Ajayi beat us. I sure hope so. I suspect that is the strategy Belichick will use against the Jaguars - force Bortles to beat them and not allow Fournette to run. That would make sense.
And bring the heat on passing downs. Force Foles to make quick decisions under pressure. Our DBs are more than good enough to cover the Eagles' receivers for 3 seconds.

Murrays runs were often against a stacked box trying to chew the clock, the odds were definitely against him. ( not to mention the patchwork oline experiment) I am hoping that the Vikings offense plays to win this game instead of playing not to lose. find what works and stay with it until the defense takes it away. make their D play straight up the whole game and make them pay when they cheat to take something away. We know Case is smart enough and has enough experience in the league to get out of poor situations. We will have a hard time running against this D, but if we can use the pass to set up the run then IMO we can get the D off balance and score against them.

01-18-2018, 02:42 PM

Quote: @JimmyinSD said:

@dadevike said:
What are the areas where we have an advantage over the Eagles? I like Case better than Foles, especially under pressure. I like our pass defense better than theirs. On the other hand, I think the Eagles' run defense is better than ours.
Zimmer says whoever runs it the best will win. Is that where we want this game decided? Against the Saints, Murray ran 19 times for 50 yards. The Eagles' run D is better than the Saints'.
Maybe Zimmer is saying that we are going to force Foles to try to beat our defense because we are not going to let Blount and Ajayi beat us. I sure hope so. I suspect that is the strategy Belichick will use against the Jaguars - force Bortles to beat them and not allow Fournette to run. That would make sense.
And bring the heat on passing downs. Force Foles to make quick decisions under pressure. Our DBs are more than good enough to cover the Eagles' receivers for 3 seconds.
Murrays runs were often against a stacked box trying to chew the clock, the odds were definitely against him. ( not to mention the patchwork oline experiment) I am hoping that the Vikings offense plays to win this game instead of playing not to lose. find what works and stay with it until the defense takes it away. make their D play straight up the whole game and make them pay when they cheat to take something away. We know Case is smart enough and has enough experience in the league to get out of poor situations. We will have a hard time running against this D, but if we can use the pass to set up the run then IMO we can get the D off balance and score against them.

Completely agree. I was watching the game with family, not Vikings' fans, and I would call out, "here comes a run." And the Saints would stack the box. It was just us beating our heads against a wall. That would usually be followed by a pass on 2d and long. It's dummy football.
Play to win. You can play to not lose when you are playing Chicago, Cleveland, Cinci, or GB without Rodgers. I hope the Vikings don't think that the Eagles without Wentz is a "play to not lose" game. If so, absent another miracle, we will lose.

01-18-2018, 02:49 PM

We rarely lost yardage running the football against the Saints and the offensive line was doing a good job of moving the line of scrimmage. The problem was that we didn't get any explosive runs (15+ yards) on Sunday...
The key against the Eagles will be popping a few 8+ yard runs to really help sell the play-action passing game. That is when this offense is at its best. The big boys up front need to have a good game.
I think Zimmer was 100% correct that the team that runs the ball best will win this game.

01-18-2018, 03:23 PM

Quote: @A1Janitor said:
With their lines - they need no turnovers.

Bingo.

no turnovers, clean Vikings victory
one turnover, close game to the end
two turnovers, long shots to win

plain and simple, the INT and punt block don’t happen, our game is a 10 point victory.

IF we do not give Philly a short field, and stop the run, I do not know how they score over 13

01-18-2018, 03:34 PM

Quote: @Skodin said:

@A1Janitor said:
With their lines - they need no turnovers.
Bingo.

no turnovers, clean Vikings victory
one turnover, close game to the end
two turnovers, long shots to win

plain and simple, the INT and punt block don’t happen, our game is a 10 point victory.

IF we do not give Philly a short field, and stop the run, I do not know how they score over 13

if we dont give them a short field and play turnover free ball on O, barring any special teams blunders, I dont see their O scoring more than 9 points. I dont think they can get a TD on our D if they have to drive the ball over half the field. ( assuming we are healthy on D)

01-18-2018, 03:47 PM

We need to be unpredictable on 1st downs. The most important thing is we can't have negative plays on first and second down. Keenum will not have enough time to convert 3rd and longs with their front four. I think we will need to throw on first down to set-up the run later.

01-18-2018, 04:03 PM

The eagles are no doubt good, but how good? Besides for last week, I haven't seen them play anybody all year that really tested them. Their schedule was a joke, and inflated their stats. Again, I don't doubt that they are a good team, and actually they should be in better shape physically than us after their pansy schedule, but I'm not sold that their front 7 is better than ours.

I just hope we have some left in the tank after the emotional drain of last weekend. Also worried about X. I think he's more beat up than we know, and he might be tested early to see if he can keep up. If he can't, we're in deep trouble. On offense, I want to see us use Morgan some more, and get Wright involved more. They have fresh legs, and are sure handed. That will start freeing up space for AT, and DIggs when it counts.