Not a bad job by Stefanski today...

What impressed me the most was the ability to shake off the lethargy and get the O back in sync starting late in the 3rd Q and then into the 4th.  And that kill shot on 3rd and 9 from their 40 with a 10 point lead and nearly 12 minutes, what a thing of beauty.

Blows my mind Flip couldn't figure out the magic formula with our O-line issues:  Run right at people downhill, and move the pocket around with pass protection. 

None of this gimmicky shit with screens for -4 and trying to run out of the shotgun.

He passed the test today that's for sure.  Take away the stupid pick six, and the offense was damn near flawless.  Very refreshing to see them wake up.  Nice job by Stefanski! 

Vikings ran the ball 40 times and passed it 21 times.  I would not say they was balance.
I will say that the terrible Dolphins defense is just what the doctor ordered.
Now, all of a sudden, the new OC is magically calling better plays than the old OC.  OK.
I think it is more about the line being able to block a not so good Dolphins defense more than anything else.
But that kind of thinking is contrary to the popular narrative of kicking JDF when he is down.
We shall see how this offensive line and "new balance" on offense does in week 17 when they play the Bears again and have to block Hicks and Mack.
Last time they played they got their arses whupped.
Happy for the win though.

@"MarkSP18" said:

Vikings ran the ball 40 times and passed it 21 times.  I would not say they was balance. I will say that the terrible Dolphins defense is just what the doctor ordered. Now, all of a sudden, the new OC is magically calling better plays than the old OC.  OK. I think it is more about the line being able to block a not so good Dolphins defense more than anything else. But that kind of thinking is contrary to the popular narrative of kicking JDF when he is down. We shall see how this offensive line and "new balance" on offense does in week 17 when they play the Bears again and have to block Hicks and Mack. Last time they played they got their arses whupped. Happy for the win though.

Don't count on the Bears game being a true test either.  With the division locked up, the Bears resting their players, I expect their won't be the fire in the Bears eyes like before.  Sure, they will play for "pride" but it won't be a true test against a winning team.

I like the play call by the new OC when it was third and I believe short and they hit Conklin for a nice game.  Caught the defense thinking we were going to run for the first down.
4:32 maerhttps://www.vikings.com/video/full-highlights-vikings-41-dolphins-17

I liked the  qb sneaks on third and short like what 3 times

It's early days yet but I do like more of the play calling and adjustments that were made. I absolutely loved the hurry up, that was smart. That makes it so there is less thinking involved and it's more automatic plus the OL doesn't have to do as much. It seemed like there was a spark and some pride. 

Zone run blocking hides some of the more painful elements of our line, and is exactly what you do with a poor O-line. Great call. Trust your playmakers, and that includes the RB's. The defense has been suffocatingly good for the last couple weeks. This team is starting to peak at just the right time. We keep this formula up, we'll be a nightmare for other teams in the playoffs.

@"Al (The Lochstar) Heurung" said: Zone run blocking hides some of the more painful elements of our line, and is exactly what you do with a poor O-line. Great call. Trust your playmakers, and that includes the RB's. The defense has been suffocatingly good for the last couple weeks. This team is starting to peak at just the right time. We keep this formula up, we'll be a nightmare for other teams in the playoffs.

im not a lineman, but what i liked is there was alot more lining up and taking on the guy in front of you, no fancy ass double cross over pulling action, and liked the back getting the ball early. 

I'm not a O lineman nor have I played one on TV, but I can't imagine an O lineman wouldn't want to run block all day versus defending against the premier defensive ends in pass protection.  Running the rock down your opponents throat has to be immensely satisfying.

I thought they looked great in the 1st and 4th quarters. Looked like the same 2018 offense in the 2nd and 3rd.

@"ThunderGod" said:

@"MarkSP18" said:

Vikings ran the ball 40 times and passed it 21 times.  I would not say they was balance. I will say that the terrible Dolphins defense is just what the doctor ordered. Now, all of a sudden, the new OC is magically calling better plays than the old OC.  OK. I think it is more about the line being able to block a not so good Dolphins defense more than anything else. But that kind of thinking is contrary to the popular narrative of kicking JDF when he is down. We shall see how this offensive line and "new balance" on offense does in week 17 when they play the Bears again and have to block Hicks and Mack. Last time they played they got their arses whupped. Happy for the win though.

Don't count on the Bears game being a true test either.  With the division locked up, the Bears resting their players, I expect their won't be the fire in the Bears eyes like before.  Sure, they will play for "pride" but it won't be a true test against a winning team.

@"MarkSP18" said:

Vikings ran the ball 40 times and passed it 21 times.  I would not say they was balance. I will say that the terrible Dolphins defense is just what the doctor ordered. Now, all of a sudden, the new OC is magically calling better plays than the old OC.  OK. I think it is more about the line being able to block a not so good Dolphins defense more than anything else. But that kind of thinking is contrary to the popular narrative of kicking JDF when he is down. We shall see how this offensive line and "new balance" on offense does in week 17 when they play the Bears again and have to block Hicks and Mack. Last time they played they got their arses whupped. Happy for the win though.

Yes, the Dolphins defense isn't very good...  but the changes Stefanski made to our offense made all the difference in the world.  This looked like the Vikings offense from last season and I don't think it was a coincidence that we had our best offensive output all year. 
Stefanski used some of the same concepts that made us successful under Shurmur.  Multi-TE sets to help us run the ball better, we ran way more play-action (32% of the time compared to 18% under DeFelippo), had Cousins play under center instead of shotgun, and ran an up-tempo offense.  These are all things we went away from when DeFelippo became OC...  we threw the ball way too much, rarely ran multi-TE sets, didn't use play-action enough, and rarely went hurry up except late in games when we were down two scores.
This is what some of us have been saying all along...  you have one of the best play-action passers in the NFL the past couple seasons, yet we rarely ran play-action under Flip and didn't run the ball enough to make it effective.  It was an encouraging performance from Stefanski.  The offense had a nice rhythm early and got it back in the 4th quarter after penalties squandered a couple drives in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

Glad for the win....glad the team has control of their playoff destiny. But games against Detroit and then Chicago to end the year could really put the coal in the Viking's stocking for Christmas. I just don't trust this offense. The Bills beating Detroit should take the wind out of their sails, but who knows? And Chicago is really looking very solid. They ran because Miami stinks at stopping the run and they had several injuries as the game went on. 

@"StickyBun" said: Glad for the win....glad the team has control of their playoff destiny. But games against Detroit and then Chicago to end the year could really put the coal in the Viking's stocking for Christmas. I just don't trust this offense. The Bills beating Detroit should take the wind out of their sails, but who knows? And Chicago is really looking very solid. They ran because Miami stinks at stopping the run and they had several injuries as the game went on. 

Let's not forget that when we played them no one was worse against the run than the Seahawks. Patriots were near the bottom as well. This is not about suddenly getting a bad run defense. 

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Glad for the win....glad the team has control of their playoff destiny. But games against Detroit and then Chicago to end the year could really put the coal in the Viking's stocking for Christmas. I just don't trust this offense. The Bills beating Detroit should take the wind out of their sails, but who knows? And Chicago is really looking very solid. They ran because Miami stinks at stopping the run and they had several injuries as the game went on. 

Let's not forget that when we played them no one was worse against the run than the Seahawks. Patriots were near the bottom as well. This is not about suddenly getting a bad run defense. 

I think what we can take away from this was that changes were made to the play calling and the results were at least positive....not the same, not worse,  but positive.   Does that mean anything for next week or the week after... hell no,  but for one week this offense once again looked like it belonged and part of that was making positive play calling changes.  so why not be optimistic for the coming week instead of waiting for for the other shoe to fall?  I dont know that Stefanski will have an answer for the Lions D,  let alone Hicks, Mack, and the rest of that Bears unit,  but I am certainly feeling better about our prospects now than I was a 10 days ago.

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Glad for the win....glad the team has control of their playoff destiny. But games against Detroit and then Chicago to end the year could really put the coal in the Viking's stocking for Christmas. I just don't trust this offense. The Bills beating Detroit should take the wind out of their sails, but who knows? And Chicago is really looking very solid. They ran because Miami stinks at stopping the run and they had several injuries as the game went on. 

Let's not forget that when we played them no one was worse against the run than the Seahawks. Patriots were near the bottom as well. This is not about suddenly getting a bad run defense. 

The Vikings’ decision to fire offensive coordinator John DeFilippo — timed between the team’s third road loss in four weeks to a likely playoff team and a home matchup against Miami’s porous defense — created a favorable runway for Stefanski, who called plays for the first time in the NFL on Sunday.
Stefanski, who joined the Vikings on Brad Childress’ staff in 2006 and has been with the team since, seemed in line for the job after the New York Giants hired Pat Shurmur. The Vikings passed him over for DeFilippo, then blocked him from taking the Giants’ offensive coordinator job.
On the first day of what amounts to a three-game audition for the permanent job, Stefanski won praise from players for a cogent game plan that drew on his experiences with previous staffs.
“He saw what they did well. Maybe what they didn’t do so well. What he’d do when it was his turn,” tight end Kyle Rudolph said. “You saw that throughout the week with little changes. He didn’t come in and overhaul everything, but there were some things we did a little bit differently this week you could tell Kevin had been waiting for his opportunity to do this. I think he learned a lot of things last year from this offense — what Pat did with this offense that we got back to today and had success with.”
He put Cousins back under center more often, creating what Zimmer said were better fakes on play-action and allowing Dalvin Cook — who gained 136 yards on 19 carries — to hit the line of scrimmage with a full head of steam.
And as the Vikings raced out to a 21-0 first-quarter lead behind 97 rushing yards from Cook and Latavius Murray against the Dolphins’ 29th-ranked run defense, everything appeared aligned to vindicate the move.
http://www.startribune.com/relentless-vikings-pound-miami-41-17-at-u-s-bank-stadium/502883931/