I'll take it and run like hell with it too...

6-2 without the starting backfield...D has given up more than 20 points one time...

@"BarrNone55" said: 6-2 without the starting backfield...D has given up more than 20 points one time...

 Been a nice first 1/2  can pause and enjoy a bye week as a fan. September for show, December for dough. LEts see what November brings next, it's a doozy: 

@ Wash
Rams
@ Car
@ ATL
@ Det

Damn fine record regardless. This is a good team. But is it a great team? Not sure it can be with Keenum. I prefer Bradford, but would take Teddy time sometime soon. 

@ Wash-their OL is banged up and Cousins is typically good for a mind numbing play or three...winnable...first Teddy sighting?...Maybe if we have a bad half on O...

Rams- #1 scoring O vs our D...I have faith Zimmer will cook something up for Goff...winnable but our toughest test at home...

@ Car- Cam will hold the ball too long but they do present some serious matchup issues at the skill positions...winnable...

@ ATL...averaging two less scores a game than last year...winnable...

@ Det-short week, on the road, on a day even bad Lions team have won...don't like this one but I have a hard time believing we'll lose four straight to Detroit...

@"BarrNone55" said:

@ Wash-their OL is banged up and Cousins is typically good for a mind numbing play or three...winnable...first Teddy sighting?...Maybe if we have a bad half on O...

Rams- #1 scoring O vs our D...I have faith Zimmer will cook something up for Goff...winnable but our toughest test at home...

@ Car- Cam will hold the ball too long but they do present some serious matchup issues at the skill positions...winnable...

@ ATL...averaging two less scores a game than last year...winnable...

@ Det-short week, on the road, on a day even bad Lions team have won...don't like this one but I have a hard time believing we'll lose four straight to Detroit...

Wash - nope. Bad as they can be, I call this one a loss -- until Zimmer proves he can pull a Denny Green and make the bye his friend. Which to date I don't believe he has? 

LA - If there is a return for Teddy this year? I peg this game. Why? PURE MARKETING

Carolina, agree with your take

ATL - the time to play them was earlier in the year. I don't believe the SB hang-over lasts till 2nd 1/2 of season. 

Det - I have a hard time believing we'll lose 4 in a row too, until I remind myself we just went 0/3 against the F'ing Lions. 

I have the Vikes 8/5 after November. Just not sure where the 2 wins are yet. 

That was an interesting game. Once again, a team scouts our defense well, and comes out and beats us with its scripted plays early. That was somewhat alarming. Clearly, the Vikings defense plays much better with the lead when teams are forced into more 5 and 7 step drops. 

Hats off to Zimmer and staff for making the adjustments necessary to turn the game around. Thank you also to the Browns, who panicked early and got away from what was working: the quick throws and running the ball with Crowell. Made me think of Denny Green. One of the best personnel/talent coaches we've ever had, but he wasn't a very good field general. He was just so bad at game day decisions, making the adjustment necessary to turn a game around. Thankfully, Zim has this quality. 

For nearly 3 quarters, this looked very much like a "snakebit" team, to use a Burnsie-ism. Or as he would say it, "@#*%-ing snakebit." But good solid improvement by Case. Thielen once again turned in an exceptional performance. Murray was solid. Man, Jerrick McKinnon is one tough, strong runner. You think of him as a little guy, but he's got some serious power. Saw a post-game with him and he even talks like a little guy—a thousand words a minute—but I was floored by the size of his arms in that interview, so I looked up his combine numbers. I guess I'd forgotten what a freak he was. 4.41 forty, 40.5 vert, 32 reps. 

Game balls: Mike Zimmer, Danny Isadora. Making his first start, Isadora wasn't flawless, but he was damned solid. He impressed me with how easily he got to the 2nd level. 

6 and 2 and now things get a little tougher. 

Congrats to the team. A win is a win, and Lord knows Vikings lore is chock full of inexplicable losses that doomed/ended seasons. Nice job at handily winning a game that they SHOULD have won.

I am specifically posting today in an attempt to avoid being mocked by the Midwest Middle School gang for ONLY posting after a loss, but I have no doubt that the euphoria of 6-2 will prove too much for some juvenile minds, and the petty attacks will ensue. So It Goes.

Prior to the season, I had them at 5-3 at the bye, but finishing between 7-9 and 9-7 given what APPEARED to be a daunting schedule..... but that's no longer the case. Injuries and other teams not performing to pre-season expectations sets up a surprisingly, well, not EASY, but EASIER, schedule than previously anticipated. IMO, there are NO excuses remaining to not make a decent (2 wins) playoff run THIS year. NONE.

I sincerely hope this streak of good fortune continues, but the season is 16 games, not 5 or 8, and 3-4 consecutive Post season wins are required following the regular season in order to win a SB. The 1987 squad was the last Vikings team that has managed to win as many as 2 consecutive playoff games. That's a LOOOONG time ago.

As I have said since the 1998 NFCC game final, SHOW ME. I will believe it when I see it. Having been a fan encompassing 6 decades, I have definitely earned the right to root for the team, coupled with a healthy dose of skepticism. 

Again, great job by all. Kudos. Just don't start counting the chickens until they're hatched, hookay?

two biggest games to me, is the Rams and Lions games. I guess all big. But those two seem to stand out to me

Skins finished their game missing 4 of the OLinemen they started with...ouch...

Including backup LT TJ Clemmings 

@"BarrNone55" said: Skins finished their game missing 4 of the OLinemen they started with...ouch...

Well, except for our starting QB, our other starting QB, and our starting RB, we should be pretty healthy after the bye. I assume Easton will be back after the bye. I forgot all about Sirles, thanks to the rookie Isidora. He has played fine.

Trent Williams - T - Redskins

@"MaroonBells" said: That was an interesting game. Once again, a team scouts our defense well, and comes out and beats us with its scripted plays early. That was somewhat alarming. Clearly, the Vikings defense plays much better with the lead when teams are forced into more 5 and 7 step drops. 

Hats off to Zimmer and staff for making the adjustments necessary to turn the game around. Thank you also to the Browns, who panicked early and got away from what was working: the quick throws and running the ball with Crowell. Made me think of Denny Green. One of the best personnel/talent coaches we've ever had, but he wasn't a very good field general. He was just so bad at game day decisions, making the adjustment necessary to turn a game around. Thankfully, Zim has this quality.

You mention the adjustments made by Zimmer.  Are they really adjustments as is something was wrong and we have to fix it?  Or more like now we know and are gonna tear your weakness apart?

Zimmer talked about the 3 sections of the game, 1st Q is about figuring out what they are doing, what works.  2nd and 3rd were about making the adjustments and the 4th is about hammering home what works well.

I think our D last year showed this same trait.  BRob learned the protections in the first couple of drives.  This year many teams have moved effectively early, but struggle as they get into the 2nd and 3rd quarter.  It is almost like our D plays vanilla, not really vanilla, but more concerned about figuring out the offense rather than bringing the hammer early.  I don't understand it all, but it really seems to be working.

@"greediron" said:

@"MaroonBells" said: That was an interesting game. Once again, a team scouts our defense well, and comes out and beats us with its scripted plays early. That was somewhat alarming. Clearly, the Vikings defense plays much better with the lead when teams are forced into more 5 and 7 step drops. 

Hats off to Zimmer and staff for making the adjustments necessary to turn the game around. Thank you also to the Browns, who panicked early and got away from what was working: the quick throws and running the ball with Crowell. Made me think of Denny Green. One of the best personnel/talent coaches we've ever had, but he wasn't a very good field general. He was just so bad at game day decisions, making the adjustment necessary to turn a game around. Thankfully, Zim has this quality.

That is my question to the serious students of the game.  Is the first couple of drives against our D indicative of good film study/scripted plays by opposition?  Or is it more about a learning phase for our D?

You mention the adjustments made by Zimmer.  Are they really adjustments as is something was wrong and we have to fix it?  Or more like now we know and are gonna tear your weakness apart?

Zimmer talked about the 3 sections of the game, 1st Q is about figuring out what they are doing, what works.  2nd and 3rd were about making the adjustments and the 4th is about hammering home what works well.

I think our D last year showed this same trait.  BRob learned the protections in the first couple of drives.  This year many teams have moved effectively early, but struggle as they get into the 2nd and 3rd quarter.  It is almost like our D plays vanilla, not really vanilla, but more concerned about figuring out the offense rather than bringing the hammer early.  I don't understand it all, but it really seems to be working.

@"greediron" said:

@"MaroonBells" said: That was an interesting game. Once again, a team scouts our defense well, and comes out and beats us with its scripted plays early. That was somewhat alarming. Clearly, the Vikings defense plays much better with the lead when teams are forced into more 5 and 7 step drops. 

Hats off to Zimmer and staff for making the adjustments necessary to turn the game around. Thank you also to the Browns, who panicked early and got away from what was working: the quick throws and running the ball with Crowell. Made me think of Denny Green. One of the best personnel/talent coaches we've ever had, but he wasn't a very good field general. He was just so bad at game day decisions, making the adjustment necessary to turn a game around. Thankfully, Zim has this quality.

That is my question to the serious students of the game.  Is the first couple of drives against our D indicative of good film study/scripted plays by opposition?  Or is it more about a learning phase for our D?

You mention the adjustments made by Zimmer.  Are they really adjustments as is something was wrong and we have to fix it?  Or more like now we know and are gonna tear your weakness apart?

Zimmer talked about the 3 sections of the game, 1st Q is about figuring out what they are doing, what works.  2nd and 3rd were about making the adjustments and the 4th is about hammering home what works well.

I think our D last year showed this same trait.  BRob learned the protections in the first couple of drives.  This year many teams have moved effectively early, but struggle as they get into the 2nd and 3rd quarter.  It is almost like our D plays vanilla, not really vanilla, but more concerned about figuring out the offense rather than bringing the hammer early.  I don't understand it all, but it really seems to be working.

@"pumpf" said:

I don't know about the other team's scouting of our defense... or our scouting of their offense... but, yes: it has seemed like the one constant of our defense since Zimmer got here... is that we give up a score or 2 early... and then make adjustments.  My thoughts: we are very dependent on our "coaches" (i.e. Zimmer) / scheme.  We do not have the athletes to line up and just play ball; we rely on our schemes to beat teams.  As our athletes get better, I would like to think that our overall defense will be better; but that doesn't mean that our reliance on schemes / coaches won't continue to limit our success on early drives.

I just failed see how you come to the conclusion that "as our athletes get better" as the athletes on D are second to none.  3 defensive ends that are incredible athletes, a mammoth hulk in the middle that plays with the quickness and speed of a 3 tech.  Barr and kendricks are athletes, Barr is a freak.  Rhodes is a superb athlete and shutdown corner.  Big, strong, long and fast.  Harry is a rare blend as well.

I think our scheme is what takes these athletes and makes the D elite. 

IMO, a coach could come out and blitz heavily, throw lots of stuff at the offense in the first drive.  But where would that leave you for the rest of the game.  I think the scripted plays on O are as much about feeling out the defense as they are scoring.  The offensive coaches have a plan to test certain elements of the D, seeing how they react.  Then using that to adjust.

I will take this win for sure.  We did what good teams do, beat bad teams.  The Browns have a legit defense though.