01-06-2019, 02:23 AM
So many thoughts and now so much time.......
- Zimmer: I am teetering on the Zimmer bandwagon because of 2 reasons: (a) I don't like how he has begun to throw players under the bus more regularly; and (b) he has twice called timeouts/challenges defeating successful QB sneaks resulting in first downs. I am really dumbfounded that this happened twice this year and, to me, it epitomizes some sort of dysfunction at the head coach. If I had to add a third reason it is the fact that most teams scheme become more complex during the season but Zimmer had to simplify the scheme this year even though it was a veteran laden team. We are just not seeing improvement as the season progresses.
- Cousins: I still think Cousins can be a Super Bowl winning quarterback however, from a mental standpoint, he reminds me of Ponder. The whole story about him plotting his day out in 5 or 10 minute increments made me think of Ponder -- the over-intellectualization of the QB position. Cousins has a lot more arm talent but there is an intellectual rigidity in how he plays. Frankly, I think with a great OC and QB coach, he will be fine but the rigidity in how he plays bothers me. I thin part of his regressions towards the end of the year is his QB coach was pulling double duty.
- Accumulation: I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago and it ties into the over-intellectualization point above, but I think Cousin's memory of past poor plays affects him as he goes forward. So, if something went bad on a play in week one, when he runs the same play in week 10, he is still thinking about the bad result from week 1. I think he trust himself less because he remembers all the bad plays in the past. For instance, as the year went on, he seemed less willing to throw balls when his wide receivers were covered (like the Thielen pass against the Packers). Thielen and Diggs are great at bringing in contested throws but Cousins seemed less willing to take on such risks as the year went on.
- Reasons To Be Optimistic. The Vikings had a lot of irregular unfortunate events: OL coach dies; star DLine has mental breakdown, replace OC during the season. Moreover, the OC fired had very close contacts with the team chasing the Vikes for a playoff spot -- the Eagles. I have little doubt that DeFilippo talked at length with the Bears before the last game. On top of that, I think the Vikes would have been in the playoffs if they had hit one field goal against GB Packers.
- Zimmer Part 2: Above I made the (probably unpopular) comparison of Cousins and Ponder; now I am going to make an even more unpopular comparison. In the Bear game, I thought Zimmer coached like Childress and his KAO. Zimmer, at times, seems so infatuated with his system that he dares teams to beat it rather than adjust to the other team's schemes and talents. Case in point, Trubisky is a one read QB. He reads the defense and then, in most instances, go with his first read. On a lot of plays, you knew immediately where he was going to go and Zimmer never took advantage of it. There was one third down play where the CB was playing off the receiver and it was clearly single coverage -- it was an easy 1st down throw for Trubisky. Yes, you can blame the player for playing that far off on third down but that is a problem with coaching situational football and communication of the defensive side of the ball.
- Drafting: So, I think the biggest mistakes the Vikes have made in recent years is devoting so many picks to kickers. So, I decided to go back a look at the three Olineman drafted after the Vikes drafted kickers. For your consideration. After Blair Walsh: Mike Asper (out of league -- OOL); Andrew Tiller (OOL) and (ta-dah) Tom Compton. After Jeff Locke: Tanner Hawkinson (OOL); Jordan Mills (16 starts in '18 at tackle); and Ricky Wagner (15 starts in '18 at tackle). After Carlson: Jamarro Jones (OOL); Sam Jones (played in 5 games, no starts); Jamil Demby (no games but on Rams active roster. By the way, this also made me think about Colby Gossett and I found this little snippet: "He made his first career start last weekend, with Mike Iupati placed on injury reserve. But his first start was a really good one. According to Pro Football Focus, he allowed only one sack and did well in the run blocking category with a 78.8 grade."
