Atlanta - What You Didn't See When the Cameras Were Off
Pregame:
* Teddy Bridgewater and Latavius Murray are buddies. It makes sense, as they and Shariff Floyd worked on the far field by themselves in training camp as all three were rehabbing from injury. Bridgewater found Murray right before the game any gave him a big good-luck hug
* The Stadium 1 - The Georgia Dome sits right next to the new Mercedes Benz Stadium. It is in mid-implosion and looks like a dry version of the rotting Titanic.
* The Stadium 2 - It was a MUCH nicer stadium than it shows on TV. The lighting is poor because the "nest" at the top is opaque. Had they used the same material as US Bank Stadium, it would have brought nice sunshine in. But, this is a state of the art facility and ranks above the other away stadiums we have visited this year, although Pittsburgh is nice.
* The Stadium 3 - It isn't finished. It look like it was still under construction inside
* The Stadium 4 - They announced a crowd of 71,000. It was not even close It MIGHT have been half full, and about one-third of those there were wearing purple.
* Pregame meal - they feed the press, and oh my goodness did they do it well in Atlanta. Buffet with thick pork chops, cuban sandwiches, prime beef and more. 1st class - I felt like royalty
The Game:
* The Vikings looked a bit lethargic on offense at first, but that was not flatness. The Falcons were taking away the deep stuff, and the 2 defenses basically had the same strategy - stop the #1 WR (Thielen and Jones) and hope the other WR (Sanu and Diggs) would not burn them.
* Murray is the real deal. He runs too upright, but, that is his style. He has an almost imperceptible wiggle in the hole, and find yardage.
* CJ Ham - you need a yard, he will get you two. How long has it been since we had that? And, as a former feature back, he can catch and he is a vicious blocker.
* Adam Thielen - he works so hard in routes, that even when doubled, he found space.
* LaQuon Treadwell - what can we say, we have no idea why he still starts and plays so much. He does not get open, and even if he is a good blocker, how many WRs are primary blockers?
* David Morgan - he was sorely missed in pass protection when he left, and that is why the Falcon rush was a problem in the 2nd quarter. Blake Bell stepped-up and played better in the second half (see our interview with this engaging and likable player after the game)
* It is concerning sometimes the way the defense fails to stop the run at times.
* The pass rush has not been as effective lately, and when QBs have time to throw in the NFL, they will find receivers.
* Eric Kendricks - heavens, he hits like a ton of bricks
* Xavier Rhodes - he handled Julio Jones single-handedly all game and Jones was not a factor.
* Ryan Quigley - almost no one can even name our punter, but he flipped the field several times this game.
Post Game:
* The loudest of the loud is Everson Griffen - he is very emotional as he comes up the tunnel...some of the things aren't printable!
* Mike Zimmer, who is always escorted by his own security person (who does a good job, while still being a good guy), and today, for the first time since we've been covering the team, he was smiling broadly!
* Case Keenum was last up the tunnel and he was hooting and hollering the whole way. He is having the time of his life!
* David Morgan got a concussion during the game (and NFL rules forbid us interviewing anyone in concussion protocol), but it was nice to see Kyle Rudolph and Blake Bell checking on him, and joking with him. David had a hoodie on, but we wished him well, and he is always pleasant thanks like you just gave him a million dollars. I wish all fans could meet him. Eric Sugarman came in to check on him too.
* The pooled interviews were with Adam Thielen, Jerick McKinnon, and Xavier Rhodes. We don't participate in those, but they are inundated with 12-15 microphones in their face and bright lights. We prefer the one-on-ones
* The press corps have swelled as the victories have mounted. At least 30 press members were in the Viking locker room tonight. At Pittsburgh, there were 6 of us!
* Strangely, few talk to any defensive linemen except Everson. But, we asked Tom Johnson to speak to us, and he was so obliging, and seemed almost happy to get some recognition for the line.
* Harrison Smith again came up and asked us how we'd been. Harrison is a very quiet individual, but such a nice person.
* We thanked Stefon Diggs for giving us interview time last week, and he said, "oh, man, you don't have to thank, I'm always glad to talk to the fans". He seemed almost shocked that any media member thanked them for their time. We are sure to shake every players hand after they give us an interview, and thank them for their time. Most media members just walk away. I wouldn't like that as a player.
* After all the reporters left Adam Thielen, we talked about his son's first Thanksgiving. You could tell he was relieved to talk about his other passion - his family, and not just football, football, football. He said his son's first words were "mama" and that he was at home a month ago when his son took his first steps. You think Adam looks like a nice guy? You have no idea. He is genuine and unaffected.
* We talked briefly with Kai Forbath - he is nice enough, but he is introverted, and is not a big talker.
* We were the only ones to interview reserve TE Blake Bell, but he is a very engaging personality and has some tremendous size.
* Teddy Bridgewater got dressed VERY quickly. The press has to stay outside the locker room for 10 minutes while Zimmer talks to the team. When we walked in, Teddy was fully dressed and leaving the locker room. He smiles, but I imagine this QB situation is not what he was envisioning.
* Zygi Wilf entered the locker room like a kid on Christmas Morning. Just a big grin.
* Pete Bercich and I did the postgame show for our site on the field after the game. When done, he took me over to the section on the field where all the friends and family of Viking players met with the players. It is stunning how many family members came to the game, well over 100.
This team is confident, and that is 90% of what makes a winner. Yet, they did not play their best, and still got a road win.
We will let you know what we see in Charlotte next week.
@"Vanguard83" said: If you're ever in Cali...and need someone to hold the mic..... I'm your guy!sounds like an absolute blast
We may just do that. We do take our members with us to help on the road. We have used Mike Olson, our photographer Jason Barum and Jon Lano (GA Vike - yesterday). We have offered the chance to others, who simply could not make the trip. Geoff Nichols was headed to Atlanta with us, but his day-job required him to be on the west coast this morning.
@"Tom Moore" said:@"Vanguard83" said: If you're ever in Cali...and need someone to hold the mic..... I'm your guy!sounds like an absolute blast
We may just do that. We do take our members with us to help on the road. We have used Mike Olson, our photographer Jason Barum and Jon Lano (GA Vike - yesterday). We have offered the chance to others, who simply could not make the trip. Geoff Nichols was headed to Atlanta with us, but his day-job required him to be on the west coast this morning.
Score!
we live about 45 miles from LA....(which means 3 hours on the friggin' freeway)
All welcome. Always go the the Vikes games on the west coast anyway
Tommy Boy, thanks for these insights...these snippets are probably more interesting to read than all the post-game articles combined.
Such great content, Tom. :D I agree with you about the run D. You know, in the preseason and at the beginning of the regular season it wasn't up to snuff. Then things started tightening up really well, and then again yesterday we saw things get lax again. The Freeman/Coleman combo is very good though, and they have a good run blocking O-line. No excuses, just reasons, I guess. I hope things tighten back up next week against the Panthers. A running QB like Newton and a sneaky pass catching runner like McCaffrey is another tough draw.
CJ Ham and David Morgan are so much more valuable than I ever thought they would be. Ham is just a bruiser, and he gets those tough, slamming yards. His pass catch and spin move yesterday were awesome! I hope Morgan doesn't have a lingering issue like Remmers with regard to his concussion.
We are so very lucky with the depth that we have on this team but we need to keep the football gods in our corner right now. The injury bug killed us last year.
Again, thanks Tom! I echo what everyone else is saying. This is some GREAT stuff!
@"NodakViking" said:@"Tom Moore" said:@"A1Janitor" said: Do you see the Teddy thing getting worse?Can you find out why Jarius doesn't play enough?
On Teddy - Bridgewater is not a rock-the-boat type of person. He gets that Case has the hot hand. He won't and should not complain. On the flip side, if Case has a game where he throws 4 INTs, he should not lose his job because of one bad game. He has won 8 games he has started and 9 overall.Jarius does not have the position that Treadwell has, so he'd have to replace Thielen or Diggs to play well, and he is not as talented. That said, his underneath 1-2 catches a game almost always go for 1st downs. Don't be surprised to see him get deep on the 3rd CB soon.
Maybe Teddy just wants to avoid having to answer questions that have no good answer. The best thing for him to do is just keep his head down and stay ready. I fear Case is going to pay the price one of these times as he runs around trying to create plays. The team is playing great and the chemistry/personality of the team just seems off the charts positive.
Agreed. Teddy is a good guy and knows that the continued media obsession isn't good for the team or Case. So he will avoid it if possible.
@"prairieghost" said: Such great content, Tom. :D I agree with you about the run D. You know, in the preseason and at the beginning of the regular season it wasn't up to snuff. Then things started tightening up really well, and then again yesterday we saw things get lax again. The Freeman/Coleman combo is very good though, and they have a good run blocking O-line. No excuses, just reasons, I guess. I hope things tighten back up next week against the Panthers. A running QB like Newton and a sneaky pass catching runner like McCaffrey is another tough draw. CJ Ham and David Morgan are so much more valuable than I ever thought they would be. Ham is just a bruiser, and he gets those tough, slamming yards. His pass catch and spin move yesterday were awesome! I hope Morgan doesn't have a lingering issue like Remmers with regard to his concussion. We are so very lucky with the depth that we have on this team but we need to keep the football gods in our corner right now. The injury bug killed us last year. Again, thanks Tom! I echo what everyone else is saying. This is some GREAT stuff!
Not sure how the run D was lax? We shut down a high powered offense. I think our scheme was perfect, well Atlanta figured out passing on 1st down was the best way to move the football, but Zimmer adjusted and we shut that down as well. Maybe our scheme wasn't as worried about the run game as we were with the pass. They aren't bruisers like Gurley, so they weren't going to wear us down.
@"Tom Moore" said: Pregame:* Pregame meal - they feed the press, and oh my goodness did they do it well in Atlanta. Buffet with thick pork chops, cuban sandwiches, prime beef and more. 1st class - I felt like royalty Now I am jealous!
The Game:
* The Vikings looked a bit lethargic on offense at first, but that was not flatness. The Falcons were taking away the deep stuff, and the 2 defenses basically had the same strategy - stop the #1 WR (Thielen and Jones) and hope the other WR (Sanu and Diggs) would not burn them.I must say, I was worried in the first half. Our D was holding them to FGs, but our offense was not scoring. Kudos to Case and to Shurmur for their patience and finding the right calls to kick it in gear in the second half. But I was stressing majorly in the first.* Murray is the real deal. He runs too upright, but, that is his style. He has an almost imperceptible wiggle in the hole, and find yardage. Yeah, wish he would lower those pads at times. But so glad to have him right now.
* CJ Ham - you need a yard, he will get you two. How long has it been since we had that? And, as a former feature back, he can catch and he is a vicious blocker.
* Adam Thielen - he works so hard in routes, that even when doubled, he found space. Beating that press coverage on that last drive was amazing. When he broke off the line and got open I was out of my seat.
* The pass rush has not been as effective lately, and when QBs have time to throw in the NFL, they will find receivers. I think EG addressed this. Atlanta was not going to let our pass rush get to Ryan. So we just limited everything, made the tackles short of the sticks. When we hold a team to 1 third down conversion, I think our D is doing all right. We had a scheme to dominate their offense and it worked well.
* Xavier Rhodes - he handled Julio Jones single-handedly all game and Jones was not a factor. Best CB in the game. SOOO physical, so long with speed to run with any of them.
Post Game:
* Harrison Smith again came up and asked us how we'd been. Harrison is a very quiet individual, but such a nice person. Made some huge plays to change the game. Quiet, but deadly.
* We thanked Stefon Diggs for giving us interview time last week, and he said, "oh, man, you don't have to thank, I'm always glad to talk to the fans". He seemed almost shocked that any media member thanked them for their time. We are sure to shake every players hand after they give us an interview, and thank them for their time. Most media members just walk away. I wouldn't like that as a player. Such an enigma. Seems like a diva and so brash on the field. But seems so genuinely nice off the field.
* After all the reporters left Adam Thielen, we talked about his son's first Thanksgiving. You could tell he was relieved to talk about his other passion - his family, and not just football, football, football. He said his son's first words were "mama" and that he was at home a month ago when his son took his first steps. You think Adam looks like a nice guy? You have no idea. He is genuine and unaffected. The article about him last week being the inspiration for this team rings so true. They have achieved so much, but understand that they have achieved nothing yet. Adam could change now, he has money, success, attention, but he gives 100% on the job and then leaves it there to come home to his family. Amazing leader on this team.
So many good things here, thank you Tom and Mike.
@"greediron" said:@"prairieghost" said: Such great content, Tom. :D I agree with you about the run D. You know, in the preseason and at the beginning of the regular season it wasn't up to snuff. Then things started tightening up really well, and then again yesterday we saw things get lax again. The Freeman/Coleman combo is very good though, and they have a good run blocking O-line. No excuses, just reasons, I guess. I hope things tighten back up next week against the Panthers. A running QB like Newton and a sneaky pass catching runner like McCaffrey is another tough draw. CJ Ham and David Morgan are so much more valuable than I ever thought they would be. Ham is just a bruiser, and he gets those tough, slamming yards. His pass catch and spin move yesterday were awesome! I hope Morgan doesn't have a lingering issue like Remmers with regard to his concussion. We are so very lucky with the depth that we have on this team but we need to keep the football gods in our corner right now. The injury bug killed us last year. Again, thanks Tom! I echo what everyone else is saying. This is some GREAT stuff!
Not sure how the run D was lax? We shut down a high powered offense. I think our scheme was perfect, well Atlanta figured out passing on 1st down was the best way to move the football, but Zimmer adjusted and we shut that down as well. Maybe our scheme wasn't as worried about the run game as we were with the pass. They aren't bruisers like Gurley, so they weren't going to wear us down.It was a good scheme, heavily emphasized on shutting down their air attack which I understand. No TDs for Matt Ryan and very low yards for Julio. I know we can't shut everyone down at all times. Freeman had 74 yards and Coleman had 22. But I agree with Tom, there are times when the run D fails, and there have been times during the course of the season when those gashes have sustained drives at very crucial points in games. There have been times when we've almost seen a Williams Wall kind of run D as well and I'm hoping we can just be more consistent in that regard. All that aside, it was another road win against another quality opponent and I'll take them however we get them.
@"prairieghost" said:I just remember the Patriots coming into our house and negating the williams brothers. We were a one dimensional defense and could be exploited. This D isn't that way. They have a plan and seem to execute it to near perfection.@"greediron" said:@"prairieghost" said: Such great content, Tom. :D I agree with you about the run D. You know, in the preseason and at the beginning of the regular season it wasn't up to snuff. Then things started tightening up really well, and then again yesterday we saw things get lax again. The Freeman/Coleman combo is very good though, and they have a good run blocking O-line. No excuses, just reasons, I guess. I hope things tighten back up next week against the Panthers. A running QB like Newton and a sneaky pass catching runner like McCaffrey is another tough draw. CJ Ham and David Morgan are so much more valuable than I ever thought they would be. Ham is just a bruiser, and he gets those tough, slamming yards. His pass catch and spin move yesterday were awesome! I hope Morgan doesn't have a lingering issue like Remmers with regard to his concussion. We are so very lucky with the depth that we have on this team but we need to keep the football gods in our corner right now. The injury bug killed us last year. Again, thanks Tom! I echo what everyone else is saying. This is some GREAT stuff!
Not sure how the run D was lax? We shut down a high powered offense. I think our scheme was perfect, well Atlanta figured out passing on 1st down was the best way to move the football, but Zimmer adjusted and we shut that down as well. Maybe our scheme wasn't as worried about the run game as we were with the pass. They aren't bruisers like Gurley, so they weren't going to wear us down.It was a good scheme, heavily emphasized on shutting down their air attack which I understand. No TDs for Matt Ryan and very low yards for Julio. I know we can't shut everyone down at all times. Freeman had 74 yards and Coleman had 22. But I agree with Tom, there are times when the run D fails, and there have been times during the course of the season when those gashes have sustained drives at very crucial points in games. There have been times when we've almost seen a Williams Wall kind of run D as well and I'm hoping we can just be more consistent in that regard. All that aside, it was another road win against another quality opponent and I'll take them however we get them.
Please keep these threads coming. What a treat to hear about the team with this first hand quality. I get VerKlempt reading Toms stuff!
@"greediron" said:@"prairieghost" said:I just remember the Patriots coming into our house and negating the williams brothers. We were a one dimensional defense and could be exploited. This D isn't that way. They have a plan and seem to execute it to near perfection.@"greediron" said:@"prairieghost" said: Such great content, Tom. :D I agree with you about the run D. You know, in the preseason and at the beginning of the regular season it wasn't up to snuff. Then things started tightening up really well, and then again yesterday we saw things get lax again. The Freeman/Coleman combo is very good though, and they have a good run blocking O-line. No excuses, just reasons, I guess. I hope things tighten back up next week against the Panthers. A running QB like Newton and a sneaky pass catching runner like McCaffrey is another tough draw. CJ Ham and David Morgan are so much more valuable than I ever thought they would be. Ham is just a bruiser, and he gets those tough, slamming yards. His pass catch and spin move yesterday were awesome! I hope Morgan doesn't have a lingering issue like Remmers with regard to his concussion. We are so very lucky with the depth that we have on this team but we need to keep the football gods in our corner right now. The injury bug killed us last year. Again, thanks Tom! I echo what everyone else is saying. This is some GREAT stuff!
Not sure how the run D was lax? We shut down a high powered offense. I think our scheme was perfect, well Atlanta figured out passing on 1st down was the best way to move the football, but Zimmer adjusted and we shut that down as well. Maybe our scheme wasn't as worried about the run game as we were with the pass. They aren't bruisers like Gurley, so they weren't going to wear us down.It was a good scheme, heavily emphasized on shutting down their air attack which I understand. No TDs for Matt Ryan and very low yards for Julio. I know we can't shut everyone down at all times. Freeman had 74 yards and Coleman had 22. But I agree with Tom, there are times when the run D fails, and there have been times during the course of the season when those gashes have sustained drives at very crucial points in games. There have been times when we've almost seen a Williams Wall kind of run D as well and I'm hoping we can just be more consistent in that regard. All that aside, it was another road win against another quality opponent and I'll take them however we get them.
What's so impressive about the defense is that they can beat offenses in different ways and keep showing off new wrinkles. Some games they run a lot of exotic blitzes and beat up the opposing QB and some games, like Atlanta, they rely on a 4-man rush and good execution to shut down the offense. I also like how they've figured out something with spying QBs the past couple games and are taking away plays where QBs would gash them for easy yards. Carolina will be a tough test. Would need to look back how they dominated Carolina last year, but with McCaffery, I think that would limit the amount of exotic blitzes they run.As for the run D, I agree that it has been inconsistent this year. They can't stop everything, but still frustrating when backs are picking up big chunks of yards. Some of it is discipline and tackling, but I also think they could upgrade at UT in terms of run defense. We aren't bad there, but I'm seeing where a UT that could get quick pressure up the middle and/or be stout against the run would add an element that is missing from the defense.
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