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Re: Vikings sign OT Riley Reiff, formerly of the Detroit Lio

Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2017 2:18 pm
by Mothman
mansquatch wrote:There was a stat floating around that TJ Clemmings directly contributed to the demise of some 40%(!) of the Vikings offensive drives this past season. As I've been saying since January, it is hard to over estimate just how much of a positive impact replacing him will have on the offense.

I'm sure Reilly Reiff will never be Joe Thomas or Anthony Munoz and this just fine. We just need him to not be a coin flip on every down.
They need him to better than that.

Re: Vikings sign OT Riley Reiff, formerly of the Detroit Lio

Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2017 2:33 pm
by fiestavike
Mothman wrote: They need him to better than that.
Yes, although althout I will agree with mansquatch the the extent that they don't need him to be Anthony Munoz. They just need him to play competently and consistently, not get beat across his face, and allow bradford to get the ball out quickly.

I have to say, the vikings seem to be building an offense which will eventually reach its peak with the addition of a mobile QB. You can freeze the pass rush to a great degree with misdirection and the threat of the read option or a QB capable of hurting you with the scramble plays. Bradford will work well enough for now, but a Cam Newton type (if he weren't a terrible leader) would be maximized in a system catered to the personnel the vikings currently have on board.

*it would sure make things interesting if the Vikings selected a QB whose skill set matches that MO in the upcoming draft.

Re: Vikings sign OT Riley Reiff, formerly of the Detroit Lio

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 9:08 am
by mansquatch
I've been thinking they are more likely to become something akin to NE with Bradford's high accuracy and quick release. Bradford obviously has much to prove before he is on par with Tom Brady, but his skill set is similar. Good arm, quick release, very accurate, but not very mobile.

The biggest hurdle for them right now is point production. They need to get their PF average over 25. If they can do that, then they have to be considered a legitimate contender for a bye week given the quality of the defense. They have a lot to prove before we can start thinking they'll actually do it, but finding a solution at Tackle was the biggest problem to address. The question now is whether or not they've succeeded in doing so.

I think Reiff will be solid, average contributor. His PFF rankings at LT have never been stellar, but they've also never been terrible. That is an improvement over what we saw from Kalil in every season he played after his rookie campaign. On the right side I think Remmers can be an upgrade over 2015 Clemmings, and maybe 2016 Sirles, but I'm less certain. Overall it will be an improvement over 2016 if only because 2016 was SO bad.

Re: Vikings sign OT Riley Reiff, formerly of the Detroit Lio

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 9:56 am
by Mothman
mansquatch wrote:I've been thinking they are more likely to become something akin to NE with Bradford's high accuracy and quick release. Bradford obviously has much to prove before he is on par with Tom Brady, but his skill set is similar. Good arm, quick release, very accurate, but not very mobile.

The biggest hurdle for them right now is point production. They need to get their PF average over 25. If they can do that, then they have to be considered a legitimate contender for a bye week given the quality of the defense.


I'm curious to see just how good the defense will actually be this season. They allowed 20+ points in 7 of their final 11 games last year (and an average of 22 over that same span). In short, they just weren't the same defense after the bye. Which defense will we see in 2017, the dominant unit we saw in the first 5 games or the post-bye defense?

Point production is definitely one of the biggest hurdles the Vikes face and if they could get it up to 25 points per game, they'd win a lot even if the defense performed at the aforementioned post-bye week levels.

Re: Vikings sign OT Riley Reiff, formerly of the Detroit Lio

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 11:02 am
by mansquatch
I'm not convinced the post bye week struggles were due to some systemic problem, but rather an elite defense trying to overcome a historically inept offense. I could certainly be wrong about that, but that seems to me to be the most likely causation of their issues.

I watched almost all of those games and my impression was that the defense was doing it's job 95% of the time, but the offense literally gave them nothing to work with. In most of their wins, they needed a ST or Return TD to get over the top. How many games did we see where without the help from the other phases of the game the offense just didn't have enough in the tank to get them points in any meaningful quantity? (The Dallas game and the two losses to DET are shining examples of this IMO.)

The IND game was a case where the defense came out and played poorly. One of those Zimmer "tank" games. The first CHI game was like that also. They let Jay Cutler look like he deserved to be the starter. It is my opinion that these games are a result of sim issue with the coaching staff and not one of talent on the field. That is a problem that also needs to get solved, but it is a different problem than the relationship between the offense and the defense.

Re: Vikings sign OT Riley Reiff, formerly of the Detroit Lio

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 12:12 pm
by halfgiz
mansquatch wrote:I'm not convinced the post bye week struggles were due to some systemic problem, but rather an elite defense trying to overcome a historically inept offense. I could certainly be wrong about that, but that seems to me to be the most likely causation of their issues.

I watched almost all of those games and my impression was that the defense was doing it's job 95% of the time, but the offense literally gave them nothing to work with. In most of their wins, they needed a ST or Return TD to get over the top. How many games did we see where without the help from the other phases of the game the offense just didn't have enough in the tank to get them points in any meaningful quantity? (The Dallas game and the two losses to DET are shining examples of this IMO.)

The IND game was a case where the defense came out and played poorly. One of those Zimmer "tank" games. The first CHI game was like that also. They let Jay Cutler look like he deserved to be the starter. It is my opinion that these games are a result of sim issue with the coaching staff and not one of talent on the field. That is a problem that also needs to get solved, but it is a different problem than the relationship between the offense and the defense.
I think that the coaching staff was in the middle of a huge power struggle. Which ended up being quite a distraction behind the scenes. It also didn't help that free agency ended and Turner didn't get any help for the OL. Mainly because we got in a jam with cap space.

Re: Vikings sign OT Riley Reiff, formerly of the Detroit Lio

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 12:49 pm
by mansquatch
I agree that the coaching turmoil was likely part of the problem last year, but last year also was not the only time that we've seen flat games. The 2015 season opener on MNF against a putrid 49ers team comes to mind. The first game against GB that season was also a poor performance by our defense in the first half, really a putrid performance at home against a Packer team that at the time was on the ropes. We also got decimated at home by SEA that year. A team that in the post season we all but beat just two months later. We earned all three of those losses, but each of those games were games that easily could have been wins and in the case of SF should have been.

All teams have bad performances. But if we want to contend, then we cannot be laying eggs against teams like the 2015 49ers and the 2016 Colts. We also need to be getting our game on against other playoff teams instead of falling apart.

As I said previously this is ANOTHER issue they need to fix, we just haven't talked about it as much in the past few months due to Free Agency and the upcoming draft.

Re: Vikings sign OT Riley Reiff, formerly of the Detroit Lio

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 1:48 pm
by PurpleMustReign
I think Zimmer s defense got exposed by Philly. It astounds me that they could not figure out how to adjust after the bye. It reminded me of Leslie Frazier all over again.

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Re: Vikings sign OT Riley Reiff, formerly of the Detroit Lio

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 2:55 pm
by Mothman
mansquatch wrote:I'm not convinced the post bye week struggles were due to some systemic problem, but rather an elite defense trying to overcome a historically inept offense. I could certainly be wrong about that, but that seems to me to be the most likely causation of their issues.
I suspect it was due to a variety of factors. The injury to Smith hurt for a while. I think teams figured out some of the Vikes weaknesses (systemic weaknesses and personnel shortcomings) and how to exploit them. Not everybody had the personnel to do so effectively but those that did had success.

My point was just that it's a little tricky right now to tell where the defense stands in terms of overall quality. I'm guessing they will be a good, solid unit but beyond that, it's hard to say.

Re: Vikings sign OT Riley Reiff, formerly of the Detroit Lio

Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 10:14 am
by fiestavike
mansquatch wrote:I've been thinking they are more likely to become something akin to NE with Bradford's high accuracy and quick release. Bradford obviously has much to prove before he is on par with Tom Brady, but his skill set is similar. Good arm, quick release, very accurate, but not very mobile.
I agree that's roughly the plan this year.

Re: Vikings sign OT Riley Reiff, formerly of the Detroit Lio

Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 12:26 am
by Boon
PurpleMustReign wrote:I think Zimmer s defense got exposed by Philly. It astounds me that they could not figure out how to adjust after the bye. It reminded me of Leslie Frazier all over again.

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They had a whopping 239 total yards that game, wentz threw for 139, explain to me again how they got exposed?

Re: Vikings sign OT Riley Reiff, formerly of the Detroit Lio

Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 12:32 am
by PurpleMustReign
Boon wrote: They had a whopping 239 total yards that game, wentz threw for 139, explain to me again how they got exposed?
Look at the stats after that game.

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Re: Vikings sign OT Riley Reiff, formerly of the Detroit Lio

Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 12:42 am
by Pondering Her Percy
PurpleMustReign wrote: Look at the stats after that game.

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He just gave you the stats. And they were by no means "exposed". 239 yards of offense is a very bad game. No less we turned them over 4 times. Nothing there was "exposed"

Re: Vikings sign OT Riley Reiff, formerly of the Detroit Lio

Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 3:55 am
by PurpleMustReign
Pondering Her Percy wrote: He just gave you the stats. And they were by no means "exposed". 239 yards of offense is a very bad game. No less we turned them over 4 times. Nothing there was "exposed"
I meant per game after that game.

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Re: Vikings sign OT Riley Reiff, formerly of the Detroit Lio

Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 9:33 am
by Pondering Her Percy
PurpleMustReign wrote: I meant per game after that game.

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Oh yeah I mean that's where you started to see a little bit of a drop off after that game but it had nothing to do with the Eagles game. It's still hard to say this D was "exposed" with the numbers they put up on the year. There was a little drop off but I wouldn't considered it exposed.