Hughes On IR, Mac Out
MIKE HUGHESDB, MINNESOTA VIKINGS
Vikings placed CB Mike Hughes (neck) on injured reserve.The Vikings are all kinds of banged up at CB at the moment, as Mackensie Alexander (knee) has been ruled out for their Wild Card matchup against the Saints. This Vikings secondary was already rotating corners in recent weeks praying for an answer to emerge out of thin air. None of their CBs rank inside of PFF's top-50 corners in yards allowed per coverage snap.
SOURCE: Tom Pelissero on Twitter
Major, major, major setbacks here. Hill needs the game of his life. Who's on deck after him? Boyd?
Yup, Boyd would be next up.
Let's just pen in a CB for the first round.
That royally sucks, oh well its that time of year for injuries to mount up. Put Waynes on Thomas and play alot more cover 2. it'll be on our run stopping to win or lose this game.
@"Bullazin" said: That royally sucks, oh well its that time of year for injuries to mount up. Put Waynes on Thomas and play alot more cover 2. it'll be on our run stopping to win or lose this game.I don't think we can play Thomas 1-on-1. I think we should double him... and man up everyone else. Let Rhodes press Thomas... and Harris can play over the top. Then let Waynes and Mac (or Hill) cover the others 1-on-1. Oh... and blitz the heck out of Brees.
Kendricks isn't 100%.
No Hughes and No Mac @ New Orleans versus their offense, thats asking a lot from the Viking defense.
@"pumpf" said:Brees is one of the all time greats against the blitz. You don't get home he will carve you up. And whom besides Kendricks and Smith actually look like they know what they're doing when blitzing? Barr just runs into the scrum.@"Bullazin" said: That royally sucks, oh well its that time of year for injuries to mount up. Put Waynes on Thomas and play alot more cover 2. it'll be on our run stopping to win or lose this game. I don't think we can play Thomas 1-on-1. I think we should double him... and man up everyone else. Let Rhodes press Thomas... and Harris can play over the top. Then let Waynes and Mac (or Hill) cover the others 1-on-1. Oh... and blitz the heck out of Brees.Kendricks is needed to keep an eye on Kamara. Smith will likely have to deal with Cook. You bring either of them and the Defender left to cover their man is a huge downgrade. Barr would get slaughtered by Kamara. Harris has to help double Thomas as you rightly pointed out. So it falls to Hill or Boyd or Wilson on Cook.
I guess I can live with taking your chances with Hill on Cook. Not sure about the other two.
What Zimmer has done well against Brees is give him a lot to think about pre-snap in terms of potential pressure and then backing out. Buys his D-Line a little extra time to get home by making Brees hesitate fractionally.
As much as it galls me to say this, I truly believe this is a classic Bend but don't Break game plan. New Orleans is near the bottom of the League throwing the deep ball. They excel at short and intermediate passing. Stuff the run and make Drew dink and dunk his way 75 yards to score.
If they start hot then I think you start dialing up a lot of blitzes. With Mac and Hughes out Hill and Boyd will be on the field a lot. While I expect Payton to go after them some his bread and butter is getting the ball to Thomas and Kamara. So maybe you bring one of them a few times.
If this turns into a blitz early and often game Minnesota will have to win in a shootout.
ugh, this need makes me not want to watch. i fully expect we will be in the market for a new coach if this is a blow out.
Well this just sucks, looking like it could be a long Sunday afternoon my friends.
@"1VikesFan" said: Well this just sucks, looking like it could be a long Sunday afternoon my friends.Thinking the same thing. Our secondary was a weakness before both these guys are out. Then you add Kendricks (one of the best coverage LB's dinged up is he even remotely going to be able to keep up with Kamara coming out of the backfield?
All these injuries now added to ion that the Saints are the best team in the NFC and I think we are in for another ass-whooping in prime-time.
Hoping for the best but expecting another dud.
Prolly have to roll with Kearse at nickel and "High upon the" Hill at dime with Boyd in reserve. Without Alexander and Hughes now with Brees the QB IMO we are going to have to drop everyone in coverage and try to force them to run the ball.
Wow...Hughes and Alexander out is huge. But no excuses. Saints are banged up too.
Eric Wilson has filled in and has had some success - he's shown an ability to get to the ball and understands his responsibilities. Wilson and Brothers together is a different thing; gap assignments being mixed up or missed was a big reason Aaron Jones ran down our throats at the end of the GB game. Kamara has had a few highlight reel runs standing behind Brees and running up the gut so we definitely need to be in the right lanes ready to stop it. It's not Kamara's forte, but he can do it all day if we give it to them.
... i've got nothing on this DB situation though... may the lord have mercy on our souls...
Considering this news, I think the X factor could be Rhodes. I know, the last guy you want to count on considering the year he's had, but with Hughes out, I think the rotation is also out and Zimmer will ask Rhodes to step up be Rhodes of old. Maybe not as crazy as it sounds. He's actually played well against Michael Thomas, holding him under 100 and without a TD the last two times they've played.
At first I thought this was disastrous, however when you think about it what has Hughes or Alexander done recently? Hughes is consistently getting beat and targeted by the veteran QBs and has been a nightmare of a punt returner. Alexander has been better and is definitely a loss, but I don't think we are going to have a huge drop by playing Hill and Kearse. Hill has looked decent, has gotten through the rust of missing the first quarter of the season and I think has a higher ceiling that both of them. And Kearse has proven to play well in the big moments. I am actually excited that we could get some new life pumped into the secondary and we definitely upgraded our punt return game.
Jayron Kearse can slide into the slot as big nickle, might not beed a bad matchup vs Michael Thomas if Saints slide him into the slot.
Who am I kidding, Brees will carve us up like a Xmas Turkey.
@"JR44" said: At first I thought this was disastrous, however when you think about it what has Hughes or Alexander done recently? Hughes is consistently getting beat and targeted by the veteran QBs and has been a nightmare of a punt returner. Alexander has been better and is definitely a loss, but I don't think we are going to have a huge drop by playing Hill and Kearse. Hill has looked decent, has gotten through the rust of missing the first quarter of the season and I think has a higher ceiling that both of them. And Kearse has proven to play well in the big moments. I am actually excited that we could get some new life pumped into the secondary and we definitely upgraded our punt return game.
Alexander is a big loss. Hardly have noticed him this year because he is doing his job. And Hughes has been rotating in at CB1 to keep Rhodes "fresh". Yeah, it is a big blow.
But we get Sherels back.
Let's really think about this for a second. Hughes struggles against size. At best he was going to spell either Rhodes or Waynes covering Thomas. Thomas only lines up in the Slot 28% of the time. So Mac wasn't going to see much of him.
Expect to see a lot of Taysom Hill and Kamara in the Slot. Kearse on Hill I like. On Kamara? Not so much. But if Kendricks spies Kamara he can help Kearse.
My biggest fear is Payton using misdirection on Kearse and Boyd to single them up and catch them peeking at Brees instead of watching their man. Mac & Hughes have way more snaps and had the eye discipline that Kearse and Boyd probably don't have.
But let's face it. Brees hits Thomas in the 5 to 10 yard range at like an 80% completion clip, which is sick. Neither Mac or Hughes figured to be part of the plan to slow him down. I'm sure they'll be missed on some plays where Hill or Cook or Kamara get open, but losing Waynes or Rhodes would have been worse since they profile better against Thomas.
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