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EAGAN, Minn. — When John DeFilippo was hired by the Minnesota Vikings, he explained on a conference call how the Philadelphia Eagles had gotten the most out of journeyman quarterback Nick Foles during the team’s Super Bowl run.“I sat him down and made him list me with our coaching staff, ‘What are your best concepts? What do you see yourself do well?” DeFilippo said.
That conversation may or may not have happened with Kirk Cousins when the team decided to sign its franchise quarterback last March, but there hasn’t been much evidence of the Vikings’ offense being a collaborative effort in the same way it was under 2017 offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur.
With quarterbacks coach Kevin Stefanski in place as the play caller, head coach Mike Zimmer suggested that Cousins will have more say in the team’s offensive approach.
“Number one they have a good working relationship,” Zimmer said on Wednesday. “They sit in meetings all the time and talk a lot, so there’s a lot of back-and-forth with those guys. I feel like Kirk will be open to suggesting things a little bit more.”
Over the last two weeks, the only drive in which the Vikings’ offense looked explosive was when they went no-huddle and Cousins appeared to be fully in charge. After the game he mentioned that it might make sense to try going up-tempo more often, but the Vikings never did and produced only seven points in the six quarters since then — and the lone touchdown came at the very end of Monday’s 21-7 loss.
Cousins not only has four years of starting experience and several more seasons as a backup under his belt, he also operated offenses that were run by some of the league’s most impressive offensive minds.
http://www.1500espn.com/vikings-2/2018/1...se-around/
I think if you want the biggest reason why Flip is gone, it's right here:
“Your identity can adapt based on your opponent, based on the situation you’re put in,” Cousins said. “I don’t think you just, in the NFL, say this is what we do, we’re going to line up and be better than our opponent. The nature of the salary cap and the nature of teams these days is there’s a lot of parity and so you have to, week to week, be able to adjust and find what works that week against that opponent.”
Honestly, its all talk and horseshit unless things improve from an offensive production standpoint these last 3 games. If they look like garbage, its just hot air and the problem is larger than who is calling the plays. IMO, I just don't see how things can improve dramatically from this change to Stefanski.
I think the last 3 games are going to be the team we wished they've been the past 13. Nothing more than an educated guess/gut feel. I don't rely on hope for those types of prognostications anymore lol!
Quote: @MaroonBells said:
I think if you want the biggest reason why Flip is gone, it's right here:
“Your identity can adapt based on your opponent, based on the situation you’re put in,” Cousins said. “I don’t think you just, in the NFL, say this is what we do, we’re going to line up and be better than our opponent. The nature of the salary cap and the nature of teams these days is there’s a lot of parity and so you have to, week to week, be able to adjust and find what works that week against that opponent.”
And then when you have Kyle Rudolph going on Sirius XM and talking about the frustrations with the offense and he's saying the biggest thing is we "didn't have an identity" and Pat Elflein is saying they just want to be a "balanced offense"...
It's the exact same things I've been saying for weeks. Most fans want to complain about the offensive line and blame all our issues on that... the line has some problems, but the biggest issue was DeFelippo and his inability to manufacture a balanced offense.
Quote: @Wetlander said:
@ MaroonBells said:
I think if you want the biggest reason why Flip is gone, it's right here:
“Your identity can adapt based on your opponent, based on the situation you’re put in,” Cousins said. “I don’t think you just, in the NFL, say this is what we do, we’re going to line up and be better than our opponent. The nature of the salary cap and the nature of teams these days is there’s a lot of parity and so you have to, week to week, be able to adjust and find what works that week against that opponent.”
And then when you have Kyle Rudolph going on Sirius XM and talking about the frustrations with the offense and he's saying the biggest thing is we "didn't have an identity" and Pat Elflein is saying they just want to be a "balanced offense"...
It's the exact same things I've been saying for weeks. Most fans want to complain about the offensive line and blame all our issues on that... the line has some problems, but the biggest issue was DeFelippo and his inability to manufacture a balanced offense.
Balance is great, and necessary. But you need more than just matching up the rush attempts to the pass attempts. You need to be able to adjust to what each defense is doing. I think defenses caught on to the fact that we were NOT adjusting at all, that we would run plays A, B and C when in formation X, and so we became very very easy to defend.
I don't know this for certain, but it's been my hunch for the last several weeks and to hear Cousins come out and pretty much say that, it sort of confirms it in my mind.
Quote: @MaroonBells said:
@ Wetlander said:
@ MaroonBells said:
I think if you want the biggest reason why Flip is gone, it's right here:
“Your identity can adapt based on your opponent, based on the situation you’re put in,” Cousins said. “I don’t think you just, in the NFL, say this is what we do, we’re going to line up and be better than our opponent. The nature of the salary cap and the nature of teams these days is there’s a lot of parity and so you have to, week to week, be able to adjust and find what works that week against that opponent.”
And then when you have Kyle Rudolph going on Sirius XM and talking about the frustrations with the offense and he's saying the biggest thing is we "didn't have an identity" and Pat Elflein is saying they just want to be a "balanced offense"...
It's the exact same things I've been saying for weeks. Most fans want to complain about the offensive line and blame all our issues on that... the line has some problems, but the biggest issue was DeFelippo and his inability to manufacture a balanced offense.
Balance is great, and necessary. But you need more than just matching up the rush attempts to the pass attempts. You need to be able to adjust to what each defense is doing. I think defenses caught on to the fact that we were NOT adjusting at all, that we would run plays A, B and C when in formation X, and so we became very very easy to defend.
I don't know this for certain, but it's been my hunch for the last several weeks and to hear Cousins come out and pretty much say that, it sort of confirms it in my mind.
several games in the last month have had the opposing defenders say the same thing, they did exactly what we thought they would, what the film showed they would. flipper was norv 2.0, not being willing to adapt his approach to what the defense was doing, wanting to shove that square peg into that round hole or die trying.
Kirk has had the option to change calls at the line though hasn't he? He's the $84M man. Make it work.
Quote: @Wetlander said:
@ MaroonBells said:
I think if you want the biggest reason why Flip is gone, it's right here:
“Your identity can adapt based on your opponent, based on the situation you’re put in,” Cousins said. “I don’t think you just, in the NFL, say this is what we do, we’re going to line up and be better than our opponent. The nature of the salary cap and the nature of teams these days is there’s a lot of parity and so you have to, week to week, be able to adjust and find what works that week against that opponent.”
And then when you have Kyle Rudolph going on Sirius XM and talking about the frustrations with the offense and he's saying the biggest thing is we "didn't have an identity" and Pat Elflein is saying they just want to be a "balanced offense"...
It's the exact same things I've been saying for weeks. Most fans want to complain about the offensive line and blame all our issues on that... the line has some problems, but the biggest issue was DeFelippo and his inability to manufacture a balanced offense.
I think this is definitely a part of the problem. But shitty OL play has been an issue for quite some time now and that still needs to be addressed. But the lack of identity and balance is huge. The players are voicing their concerns and I think that is important too. They are right there in it and know what is going on. Cousins, Diggs and Thielen are a great combination but Dalvin is still very necessary. Combining the pass and the run will give the best results. Lack of predictability is also a key, that comes from play calling. Using the weapons at their disposal to the best their ability is part of play calling. Play calling isn't the only problem but it is a problem.
Quote: @AGRforever said:
Kirk has had the option to change calls at the line though hasn't he? He's the $84M man. Make it work.
he has to have time to change those plays, and often all he had time to do was get everybody lined up and snap the ball, the play clock was more of a challenge than it should have been to often. also he may not have had anymore flex than to switch to a pre designed run which may not have been any more likely to succeed against what the D was showing.
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