Vikings Message Board.Com

S197 wrote:They are surprisingly pessimistic for a team that's 3-1. It feels really weird not to be underestimated by the other fan base. I guess with only a handful of undefeated teams, flying under the radar isn't an option anymore.

I think this will be a fun game to watch. We need to watch out for the deep ball, Fuller is legit and I'm still really mad they snagged him before us. It will be interesting to see who Rhodes covers between Fuller & Hopkins. I feel like this would be the game where we want the speed of Waynes over the experience of Newman in coverage but we'll see what Zim Tsu comes up with.

J. Kapp 11 wrote:The Texans will be a handful, but their fans are right. They don't run the ball very well, and one-dimensional teams are going to struggle big-time against our defense, especially with Osweiler running the show. If we don't turn the ball over, Houston will not score more than 10 points.

Some of their fans are fairly knowledgeable, but others -- such as the ones who think we sit back in a soft zone -- are clueless. The Vikings bring pressure from more places and disguise coverages as well as any team in the NFL. How many times have we seen Harrison Smith threaten to blitz, get the quarterback's attention, then drop into coverage, only to have Anthony Barr or someone else blitz from the other side? You can't do that playing soft zone.

I watched Brock Osweiler last year, and I've seen a couple of his games this year. He's not up to this. Eli wasn't. We just need the offense to continue valuing the ball.

PurpleMustReign wrote: What kind of idiot thinks we sit back in a soft zone? Good grief.

[–]RinSkarmotastic 146 points 3 days ago
I want to give an answer that's more than just "We need to play well" or "don't make mistakes" because that's obvious.

Ok, first off, the ***storm that was the Pats game saw our offense get shut down by the Cover 2, which took away our short pass game, with CBs bracketing Hopkins & Fuller. I expect more of that from Minnesota, but they'll show different looks pre-snap because of Harrison Smith.

Smith is pretty damn good, we all know that, but he plays in the box a lot, and the Vikings' D focuses on that. Expect a lot of rolled coverages from them, where Smith is in the box pre-snap then drops into a deep zone Cover 2 shell, or Sendejo and a rolled up CB play Cover 2, with Smith covering underneath w/ Anthony Barr & co.

The front 7 is gonna use these rolled coverages, DL stunts, and then some to send pass rushers everywhere at any given time. Zimmer loves to make his pre-snap look completely different then what is actually being called. Expect a lot of plays where it looks like they'll overload blitz one side only to completely attack the other side, hoping we shifted pass protection away from it for easy unblocked rushers. The amount of movement they create will also give them the extra time while Brock has to re-read the coverage post-snap.

So, roll coverage, front 7 misdirection, yup. How do we beat it? Hot reads and 6 OL. BOB's offense is huge on hot reads, so having our receivers know how to read the D is gonna be huge. Watch this to get an idea. Basically, if receivers see that defenders on their side are blitzing, they run a different, usually shorter route to beat the blitz and allow the QB to get the ball out in an instant. Hate all you want on Brock, but he's been really good at this so far.

Having 6 OL for plays will serve as an insurance policy against the blitz. If Duane Brown isn't playing, we will need this. Basically, when - not if, when - we misread the defensive front and make the adjustments to the protections, we'll need extra blockers to make up for it. We can also use Prosch/Blue/Miller to chip the first guy through the line, but you'd like them to be available for checkdowns, so a 6th OL, likely Kendall Lamm, will work. Just report him as eligible so we can motion him pre-snap.

The run game is gonna be tougher. There's no weak point in their front that our OL can exploit. Again, Harrison Smith is gonna **** **** up. I think we'll need to come out throwing, and get a feel for where they're focusing their blitzes, then attack them where they aren't rushing, which will again rely heavily on Duane Brown being able to play, as they'll likely avoid him if possible.

On defense, we won't need to QB contain like we did against Mariota, but we still have to account for speed in Jerrick McKinnon and Cordarelle Patterson. For us, we don't need to disguise a lot, just line up Clowney, Mercilus, and/or Simon on one side and dare them to stop all of them. Wilfork & the other DL guys need to play traditional double gap 3-4 roles, letting our LBs clean up the run game. I expect a lot of presnap looks with Covington on one edge with his hands down lined up as a 6-tech, with his main responsibility being to hold the OT's outside shoulder for Cushing/McKinney to come down unblocked in run defense, with Mercilus/Simon on the other edge lined up in a 9-tech.

Our secondary's biggest challenge is that Bradford is stupidly accurate. Zones will be beaten if the pass rush doesn't get home. Luckily, our CBs are great in man coverage. The Vikings know this, so expect a lot of Cordarelle end arounds/sweeps to force our man coverage to either switch just before the snap or for DBs to be running all over the place trying to keep up. I like JJo against Diggs, but KJo against Charles Johnson is kind of a wash for me, so if he gets 5-6 catches, I won't be shocked. Again, expect Patterson to work out of the slot, since he'd be matched up against KJax who just isn't nearly fast enough to keep up with him. If we want to counter that, I think CJ3 could see snaps any time Patterson comes in.

S197 wrote:They are surprisingly pessimistic for a team that's 3-1. It feels really weird not to be underestimated by the other fan base. I guess with only a handful of undefeated teams, flying under the radar isn't an option anymore.

I think this will be a fun game to watch. We need to watch out for the deep ball, Fuller is legit and I'm still really mad they snagged him before us. It will be interesting to see who Rhodes covers between Fuller & Hopkins. I feel like this would be the game where we want the speed of Waynes over the experience of Newman in coverage but we'll see what Zim Tsu comes up with.

HardcoreVikesFan wrote:The match-up I am most concerned of? Whitney Mercelius vs. Jeremiah Sirles. This game could get ugly with two back up offensive tackles starting for us.

TSonn wrote: To be fair, our back-ups have looked more like starters than our starters.

HardcoreVikesFan wrote:The match-up I am most concerned of? Whitney Mercelius vs. Jeremiah Sirles. This game could get ugly with two back up offensive tackles starting for us.