Questions I ask myself at 5/1

Lots to think about, nice post! I might come back to this later and reply more but specifically on WR2-- I do have some concern with Addison where before the season I had none.

Last year he was very explosive as a rookie and I was hoping in Year 2 he'd be even more integrated into the offense as a regular middle of the field passcatcher by now. He's missed some time-- I'm not even sure he's played a full 17 games in his career yet-- so the team can be patient here. HOWEVER... At 5-1 like pf mentions, if they want to make a real run in 2024, everything is on the table.

Cooper and Adams have been big names traded recently so it stands to reason that if the team is looking to upgrade somewhere, WR might be doable. I highly doubt the team would make a move here but just wanted to add my 2 cents on #3-- he was playing better last year. Perhaps my expectations have changed but I don't think so. He seemed open a lot more in 2023. Hopefully big things coming soon for him!

purplefaithful wrote:
Questions I ask myself:

1). Would I want Darnold long-term at QB if we didnt have JJM in the wings?
2). Would KOC have put JJ in by now?
3). Where would I want to improve this team the most position wise?

IDL?
OL?
WR2?
RB Heir for Jones?

4). Will TJH be 100% this year?
I wonder how much a healthy and explosive TJH will help this team? Probably a lot..
5). Is Addison good enough @ WR2? Not many teams dont have some step down from their #1 guy

Right or wrong, here are my answers...

1). Would I want Darnold long-term at QB if we didnt have JJM in the wings? Too early to say, but the Vikings extending Darnold is becoming less and less likely IMO. 
2). Would KOC have put JJ in by now? I don't think so. Outside of the Jets game, Darnold has been a top 5 QB. 
3). Where would I want to improve this team the most position wise? DT like Dexter Lawrence if you're talking trade deadline. Next year, corner. 
4). Will TJH be 100% this year? Yeah, I think so. I think he would've played yesterday if it were a playoff game. 
5). Is Addison good enough @ WR2? Addison is plenty good enough for WR2. This was one helluva good team we just barely lost to. I think TJH coming back will help to free up some of Addison's routes. 

MaroonBells wrote:

Right or wrong, here are my answers...

1). Would I want Darnold long-term at QB if we didnt have JJM in the wings? Too early to say, but the Vikings extending Darnold is becoming less and less likely IMO. 
2). Would KOC have put JJ in by now? I don't think so. Outside of the Jets game, Darnold has been a top 5 QB. 
3). Where would I want to improve this team the most position wise? DT like Dexter Lawrence if you're talking trade deadline. Next year, corner. 
4). Will TJH be 100% this year? Yeah, I think so. I think he would've played yesterday if it were a playoff game. 
5). Is Addison good enough @ WR2? Addison is plenty good enough for WR2. This was one helluva good team we just barely lost to. I think TJH coming back will help to free up some of Addison's routes. 

Agree with the 5-1 attitude toward the record.  If anyone said to me six months ago that we'd be sitting at 5-1 after six games, I would have been beyond thrilled.
1.  Agree with Maroon Bells
2.  Also agree
3.  Right Guard and then DT
4.  Also agree.  We should see him against the Rams
5.  I don't know.  His personal choices cloud his availability (at some point...this year or next).  More importantly, is Jalen Nailor good enough to be WR3, or...is Adam Thielen worth considering bringing back for the second half of the season?

Right now, Darnold is locking on to JJ way too much. Lions exploited it. He's not seeing the field as well when teams play man coverage and he's holding the ball too long. On the pick he threw yesterday, the defense rolled that way to take away JJ and he literally had Aaron Jones wide open on the opposite side of the field with the closest defender 15 yds away. It would have been a huge play, maybe a TD if he reacts better.

I don't think JJM would be playing yet. Darnold's play has tailed off, but he's also faced some tougher defenses the past couple weeks. But, this is the reason the extension talk was premature. He's cooler considerably and teams are figuring out how to make him uncomfortable despite some good protection again yesterday. JJM will be a better QB than Sam. I think his mental makeup is better, he's faster, has as big an arm (maybe bigger) than Darnold, and he's a leader. Not taking anything away from Sam, but JJM is our future at the position.

Seeing the offense this year, we need another explosive RB like Jones to take over for him. He's made our run game better than it looks by creating positive yards and big plays out of nothing.

And I agree with Maroon, CB is still a big need. Especially with all the vets on 1-yr deals. Maybe we bring one (or two) back, but we have nothing behind them. Even if Blackmon comes back fine, we need another young guy or two.

We've played the 49ers, the Texans, the Packers, Jets and Lions. Like everyone said when the schedule came out, this was a brutal early schedule and we're 5-1. That's pretty ridiculous. I don't want to take the Rams lightly on a short week, but now the schedule eases up quite a bit with the Rams, Colts, Jags and Tits.

We lost by 2 points to the NFC’s top team, in an outing we didn’t play our best ball, I like our chances moving forward…

Kentis wrote:
We lost by 2 points to the NFC’s top team, in an outing we didn’t play our best ball, I like our chances moving forward…

It is what it is, but to me it's disappointing from the standpoint of you had the Lions losing arguably their best player in Hutchinson last week and that whole deflation, to the Vikings coming off a bye week, healthy, and getting them at home... and we still lost. It's just one game, but it was an important one.

Healthy? I don’t know, I think Cashman was sorely missed. Certainly would have helped to have T.J. as well. I think trying to cover for Cashman caused some missed plays by a normally solid Metellus as well as a missed assignment by Greenard covering Gibbs on the final FG winning drive.

Viking TE's year to date:
18 receptions
125 yards
2 TD's

Sounds like 1 game from a healthy TJ. Yah, he's missed.

Source: ESPN

I like Bercich and his takes. Was listening to him this am...

Talked about how Darnold has struggled with man coverages, holds on to the ball too long and hesitant to "let it rip" when facing that coverage.

Not sure if that is something that can be coached-up/out? It might just be how he's wired?

Before the season, I was cautiously optimistic about what might be a decent season. Now at 5-1, I’m still cautious. But it seems everything is a little closer to the goal. A player here and there and continued improvement by those already here, along with more salary cap than we usually see the Vikings have, and they could actually win the Super Bowl sooner than later.

It’s tough with this start, because I was all set up to be disappointed after the first 6 games and probably looking towards next year. My hopes are up now, but we are Vikings fans and we can’t have nice things, so I wonder when it will all come crashing down……..again.

supafreak84 wrote:

It is what it is, but to me it's disappointing from the standpoint of you had the Lions losing arguably their best player in Hutchinson last week and that whole deflation, to the Vikings coming off a bye week, healthy, and getting them at home... and we still lost. It's just one game, but it was an important one.

You’re going to lose close games against good teams. It happens. The Lions are a better team but are beatable. 1 play. Had we converted that third down we would have won. Or had we not been penalized on the last play Will the Thrill would have made that kick. 

Football is any given Sunday and we’ve played all the best teams in the NFC already. I don’t know if we go anywhere this year but I do know we were a rebuilding 5-11 team when we opened the season.

AGRforever wrote:

You’re going to lose close games against good teams. It happens. The Lions are a better team but are beatable. 1 play. Had we converted that third down we would have won. Or had we not been penalized on the last play Will the Thrill would have made that kick. 

Football is any given Sunday and we’ve played all the best teams in the NFC already. I don’t know if we go anywhere this year but I do know we were a rebuilding 5-11 team when we opened the season.

I have ZERO doubt Reichard would have won that game at the end if given the chance.

purplefaithful wrote:

I have ZERO doubt Reichard would have won that game at the end if given the chance.

Honestly, I would have let him kick even after the penalty.  Its the first time in my Viking fandom where I was screaming, get the kicker out there.  So what if its 70+.  It would have had a better chance of then a hail mary.

StickierBuns wrote:
The only thing I'm really disappointed in is that Minnesota could have won that game....and kind of mucked it up toward the end. Didn't get to see the game, so just going on reports. Seems Darnold played fairly well, but didn't when it mattered the most.

Sam played alright. About average. Some nice plays but not at the level we saw from him at times against GB, HOU, or SF.

Overall the team did look good. Goff dissecting us was painful but on the whole the defense kept us in it.

Moving forward, I think the Vikings are a better team than the Rams. Hope we can take care of business.

I do not think the Vikings will win the division. Just a feeling. But that's fine I suppose. Really hope we get a wild card and aren't screwed over as sometimes happens in tough divisions, where a good team gets left in the cold.

pattersaur wrote:

Sam played alright. About average. Some nice plays but not at the level we saw from him at times against GB, HOU, or SF.

Overall the team did look good. Goff dissecting us was painful but on the whole the defense kept us in it.

Moving forward, I think the Vikings are a better team than the Rams. Hope we can take care of business.

I do not think the Vikings will win the division. Just a feeling. But that's fine I suppose. Really hope we get a wild card and aren't screwed over as sometimes happens in tough divisions, where a good team gets left in the cold.

If we're as good as 5/1 indicates, we should pad the stats and wins over the next mos. Hey, at least they've made it entertaining so far...

pattersaur wrote:

Sam played alright. About average. Some nice plays but not at the level we saw from him at times against GB, HOU, or SF.

Overall the team did look good. Goff dissecting us was painful but on the whole the defense kept us in it.

Moving forward, I think the Vikings are a better team than the Rams. Hope we can take care of business.

I do not think the Vikings will win the division. Just a feeling. But that's fine I suppose. Really hope we get a wild card and aren't screwed over as sometimes happens in tough divisions, where a good team gets left in the cold.

I thought Sam played alright also. Goff just played better. Sam couldn't produce when they needed it , Goff did.
Very close game. Could have gone either way.
Though the Lions are a very good team, I'm not counting the Vikings out when it comes to the winning the division. Green Bay will be in the mix as well. But the Vikings aren't slouches. They will have another crack at the Lions, and maybe two.
Darnold needs to improve over the course of the season and they need to stay healthy.

Lurking at the other board after the loss, you would think the Vikings got trounced! Thought some of those posters needed to be put on suicide watch!

I remain very optimistic for this season. The Rams will be a tough road test despite their record.
I expect the Vikings to prevail and get back on track.