Show the kickers some love.|
He will get cut though.

Kicker battle back on!

Blitzes are still vanilla. There isnt much planning. The majority of the playcalling is preset. Its the preseason for a reason. Coaches arent gonna give anyone actual tape to use against them in the regular season, this has been known for decades.

Just because the starters play a bit more foesn't mean its "live". They dont do anything extra

Kearse with a poor angle and missed tackle

You're wrong but it is ok. They implement a game plan based on what they want to see/try but also lean towards what they other team does. They use the other teams potential play calling to try different scenarios. The reason we are getting killed has nothing to do with play calling. We've been terrible.

Jet!

and a giant hold on the block that freed the receiver.

You mean everyone... yikes.

Has Kai Forebath taken any kicks in this game? Kickoff or field goal attempt or PAT?

win on a 2 point play with :00 left

Well that was an exciting end to the game. Sure it is preseason, but you can see these players still want to win.

It's cool we won but I would like to see the first team do better

The second and third team offense and defense looked better than the first team. Our first team offense still does not have a touchdown if that is not alarming I don't know what is. They look horrible. Bradford shows zero emotion or leadership qualities he's soft.

No he will kick next game.

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Bradford isn't the problem. The OL was horrid until Elflein came in. The play calling was a joke. I realize it's Preseason but throwing a ball three yards to an immobile TE does nothing for me.

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It's hard to see how a team that can score three points in 11 (first team offense) possessions is going to win half their games this season. But it is preseason, so we can shake the mental etch-a-sketch and still believe that once we are game-planning, we'll be fine.

Regarding the defense, the number of times I saw SF receivers completely uncovered was mind-boggling.

I'm concerned that teams have figured out the weakness in the defense is in 43 base. This is a very good nickel defense but has its holes when there are 3 LBs on the field. The Vikings pass rush is too good to have a lot of deep step drops but quick hits seem to be available. Maybe they'll play more bump and run in the regular season. We'll see.

On the offensive side, SF played a lot of single safety high with 8 or 9 in the box. That makes those quick hits and running the ball harder, the offense will have to push the ball downfield and keep defenses honest. Diggs killed 2 drives with uncharacteristic drops. I was glad to see Treadwell involved. Definitely a sloppy game all around.

Although the 1st team offense did not score, I thought they did ok. Drive killing mistakes stood out but I thought the run blocking and pass blocking was good. Bradford looked fine. The defense was Ok except for 2 or 3 coverage mistakes. Run defense looked solid. Oddly, the pass rush was non existent.

I'm really liking how the OL is looking. I think it's going to be a strength this year. I'm more worried about the LBs and secondary pass coverage at the moment.

My guess is this team will gel and start peaking in the 2nd half of the season. They just need to find ways to win in the first half.

One last thing. Keenum looks like a solid #2 QB.

I said the exact same thing last year. Zimmer has to figure out this run defense thing because there is way too much talent and money invested for them to be as poor as they have been. What really concerns me is he had an entire off-season to figure out something and it has yet to appear that he was successful in doing so.


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I was impressed with Heinicke on the last drive , he was hurting and gutted it out. But i was the most impressed with the response of the starters when we won the game,they were as exited as if we had just won a playoff game . We are going to need team unity this season .

That reaction was neat to see. You can tell they are a very close knit group.

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"Rick underwhelms with his new players"??

So Cook, Elflein, Johnson, Coley, Gedeon and Bower are all underwhelming?? Hmmm could've fooled me

The base 4-3 isn't their strength, it never has been. They excel when they can play nickel with Barr / Kendricks and can add unpredictability to what they do. That is when they shut people down.

A big part of it is playing with a lead or the in game that is close and being able to take risks. In the case of last night not only were we behind when the first team was on the field, Zimmer was also not likely to give away any of his wrinkles in a pre-season game. The thing that has me concerned is busted coverages due to blown assignments. (Looking at you Mackenzie Alexander.) Even if we are playing vanilla, you have to be in the right place. That kind of mental lapse is a major issue and needs to get fixed.

On offense this game reminded me of a pre-season game we had against I think the Buffalo several years ago where the new coach was calling all kinds of blitzes against our vanilla scheme. We saw some of that from SF last night. The line play had plenty of issues which is a concern, but I would keep in mind that we didn't see an all in game plan last night to beat SF.

It wasn't what we wanted to see, but it isn't time to panic yet.

My biggest concern is that all the musical chairs on the OL will be a net negative during the first few games of the regular season. We saw it when they put the group in that had the most playing time together. Right now our backups have more continuity than our starters. That is not good.

Alexander looks so lost. I hope he figures it out. Kearse has looked pretty good though.

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Kearse's tackling is a big liability. A poor angle and missed tackle was one of the major reasons for SF's big 3rd down long TD run/screen. Harris had a nice pass breakup and Exum was showing solid tackling throughout the night. I'd take both over Kearse right now but no matter who makes the team, it's a steep dropoff from Smith/Sendejo.

The main issue with the base defense is Tom Johnson at UT. He's a situational pass rusher, not an every down guy. It seems like Datone Jones is struggling with his new role (was he even 2nd string last night? Thought I saw Sutton before him). I think they're going to need a guy like Sutton or Jaleel to fill that gap although Johnson looks pegged to start.

Our starting offense had 11 drives this preseason. They scored 3 points. Absolutely embarrassing and inexcusable. Our starting defense hasn't shown much better. It is concerning that both starting units could not even execute 'vanilla' schemes well.

My Preseason Observations:
- Michael Remmers totally looks worth that $30 million contract. I know many of us questioned it at the time (it's not hard to see why).
- Pat Elflien needs to start - Nick Easton isn't the better player.
- The secret to beating Trae Waynes? Throw the slant route. What an utter disappointment he has been.
- I guess I was wrong to be high on Mackensie Alexander. Captain will be sorely missed.
- Why Tom Johnson continues to start baffles me. He is a liability out there in run support.
- Sam Bradford still is too quick to dump the ball off. Part of it is the line, part of it is himself.
- Alex Boone needs to go after this season.
- Why on God's Green Earth is Zimmer so high on Andrew Sendejo? Why the safety position was neglected this offseason is still confusing.
- Teddy Bridgewater cannot come back soon enough.

This team still looks closer to the team that finished 3-8, rather than started 5-0. I am finding myself to be very jaded by the VIkings. I am not as excited for football season as I have been in years past. I feel that it is time this fan base starts demanding wins and success - instead of simply tolerating mediocrity and below-average production year in and year out.

Hope I am wrong about all this once the regular season starts.

Sam Bradford and his lovely completions. His first pass was a swing out to Dalvin Cook and the linebacker immediately SLAUGHTERED Cook for a-5 yard loss. Bradford is gonna get a guy killed out there.

B-b-but the completition rate! Oh yeah, he had some 4 and 6 yard gems on 3rd and 9, too.

DAT COMPLETION RATE

I think Sendejo has held his own, he's certainly better than anyone else we have. It was actually Smith who had poor coverage on both TD's. The first one it was difficult to tell but Rhodes seemed to hand off to Smith who bit hard on the fake. Smith was also in 1 on 1 on the second TD throw. Uncharacteristic for him but he was definitely the poorer safety on Sunday.

Berger/Elflein are fairly close to me. I'm just glad we have viable guys in the middle should one of them go down. Agree with you on Remmers. Boone looks fine to me, probably the most consistent guy on the line. He didn't play more than a few series yesterday.

I agree about Keenum. I really wish I had the same outlook you have for the rest of your points! I'd sleep easier at night. I hope you are right.