Rams Postgame Thread

[VikingLord]

Pondering, I respect your opinion. You always have something helpful to say and make a lot of good points. But saying this defense is even average at this point is a bridge too far. They are being exposed over and over and over again.

I mean, just look at the success Gurley had using simple cutbacks on 1st down tonight. Over and over and over again he went one way, cut it back, and picked up 7-9 yards a pop on 1st down. It took the Vikings until the 4th quarter to figure out how to take that away. That right there is evidence there is something seriously wrong with how the defense is approaching things this year. I have to give the Rams credit for running the same play on 1st downs for almost the entire game and not even going away from it until the Vikings had proven they could stop it a few times.

How about the number of times a LB is covering a WR on a fly route? People want to say Barr sucks? Barr is fast, but that is always going to be a mismatch, and it is happening way too often.

How about the number of times a TE or FB is running wide open on a fly route? That has happened several times as well. I refuse to call a defense even average that regularly allows receivers to run wide open down the field, much less guys who under normal conditions have no business running those routes, much less being wide open options when they run them.

Something is seriously wrong with the defense.

[PacificNorseWest]

Again, the numbers don’t lie. You want to question the kittle drop but you fail to mention them getting pinned inside the 25 on back to back drives against buffalo. If Reiff doesn’t get smoked twice you don’t think that changes the game? I’m not trying too hard. But bottom line is, it goes both ways. Everyone is honed in on points given up. The defense did NOT give up 29 points vs GB. Special teams scored their first TD. We also shut down Rodgers inside the 50 allowing 1 td. On how many drives? A lot. We gave up well under 100 (non-penalty) yards vs buffalo after we went down 17-0. Down 17-0 and gave up less than 100 yards on defense. That’s unheard of. The long TD to kupp alone was more than what we gave up to buffalo when we went down 17-0. But like I said, everyone looks at points. Not the situations or true numbers. I said they need to play better. That’s obvious, but they are nowhere near the worst. Not even remotely close. Especially with griff on the field.

I always say, I look into the “WHY” something is happening or not going our way in these situations. Points given up do not always tell you how well our d is playing. This is the 2nd straight game we’re plugging in a fringe practice squad player for a pro bowl DE. That drastically effects a lot of things.

By no means am I trying to make excuses for his defense. They need to play better. Period. But when guys say we’re the worst defense or this defense is terrible, it’s just simply not true. A defense that’s 10th in total defense can’t possibly be terrible or the worst. They can play bad yeah. But they are up in the top 10 for a reason. Again, the numbers don’t lie

There was also SF at the goalline not mentioned, which was again, lucky.

One DE should not change a great defense. It just doesn't.

The #### of it is, in the long run, I agree with you, but as we stand today, this defense SUCKS. Too many blown assignments, missed tackles, limited pressure, lax coverage. It very much appears that teams have figured out their defense and Zimmer has yet to figure out how to adjust to that. They are 1-2-1...Very easily could be 1-3. Even if I gave us 2-2, that doesn't make me feel better about the defense getting blasted.

Massive holes at LB...Weak coverage skills outside of Rhodes who got ate up tonight, cramps or not and ever since teams have adjusted, the pressure has been few and far between. Vikings weren't even great at sacking the Q last season. When the Vikes play good teams (Eagles, Rams) guys like Richardson and Linval disappear. And it's much like how Minnesota was beating the Rams when they only had Suh and Donald getting close to the Q. We ate them up...You GOTTA have edge pressure. They aren't generating that right now...Griff or not. All-world everything, Harrison has been taken all the way out of the game. That's all offensive game plans. It's not like Zimmer is saying, "Okay, Smith, you just roam around this game, but DO NOT make an impact. Got it?"

[fiestavike]

What a genuinely boring game to watch.

[halfgiz]

Rams is definitely one of the better teams in the NFL.
I'm disappointed that teams continually beat us with running backs and TE's and Zimmer does nothing to fix it. This has been going on since last year.
I didn't think the D got that much pressure on Geoff most of the time. Hunter did have one heck of a game and Barr had a lousy home coming.
I don't really feel Barr should be covering WR's...maybe in a pinch,and if we get good pressure on the QB, but were not and QB's have plenty of time to throw.

Where has Ilkoka been??

Good to not have to worry about the kicking game for once! But we did come close to having a couple punts blocked which is another problem which still hasn't been fixed.

No matter what PFF sais I still think Comptom is a problem at guard that we should try and fix.
Reiff is having a bad year and I still think Remmers is out of position but we are probably stuck with him there.

Glad we have a long week we need it...

[Purple Domination]

What a genuinely boring game to watch.

Really?

[Mothman]

This has been evident since the NFCCG game, bruh. They never got it fixed. They just got lucky against SF, but we saw all those blown assignments on the TE and such.

Zimmer is getting schooled. The book is out.

I'm inclined to agree.

They'd better find and commit to their running game too. Cousins has thrown the ball over 50 times in each of the last few games. That's not a winning formula for this team.

[Cliff]

The offense looked really good, I thought. They had a couple of miscues but Cousins was really sharp which was great to see.

The defense got burned. Plain and simple. Guys were running wide open, they couldn't contain the run game. They didn't get good pressure. People are still missing tackles. Definitely miss EG out on that edge.

Overall the team does have me excited a bit even with a losing record. The offense looks really good and the defense has players to be a good to great unit. If they can put it back together this is a very good team.

The Vikings were 2-2 last season at this time of the year. Without the missed FGs in the Green Bay game that's what the record would be right now too. Still plenty of time to clean this stuff up.

That's if it can be. It could very well be that Zimmer has been "figured out". The defense is definitely getting exploited in seemingly the same ways every week.

[Cliff]

The Minnesota Vikings had to turn to a backup long snapper David Morgan for a pair of special teams snaps on Thursday as regular long snapper Kevin McDermott had to exit the game due to an injury.

According to Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com, McDermott lost part of the pinky finger on his left hand after getting it caught in a helmet. He had to go to the locker room to get stitches before returning to the game.

Read more

[mansquatch]

I voiced my overall opinions in the 1/4 season thread.

Quite simply: Did the Gopher Defense play for us last night? Offense really made strides. Very happy with DeFelippo last night. ST was... adequate.

[purplenoway]

OK, so the defense stinks, the run game is non existent and the O line was faltering. That all being said, we were driving and moving the ball at the end of the game to tie it up until the fumble so we were somewhat keeping pace with the Ram's offense that everyone is bragging about today.

[Fat Stupid Loser]

Side note: once again, Kirk cousins gets overshadowed. This game and the GB game (given we had Rodgers shut down but he had a boo boo knee so the media flocked to him). Tonight and in the GB game were two of the best quarterback performances I have seen in a long time out of a Vikings QB. And he went toe to toe on the ROAD, and kept us in these games. And should’ve had the game won vs gb if Carlson wasn’t a bum

OMG, its like watching the Skins. Have been very excited about watching Kirk on a real team. He gets here, I dye my Cousins jersey purple, (not really) and the Vikes' D becomes incompetent. The running game melts to nothing. Kirk led rushing last night! 14 yards rushing against the Bills. Kirk comes to the Vikings and the Vikings turn in to the Skins. He plays lights out and they lose anyway. Just like watching the Skins the last 3 years. I can't win. Neither can Kirk. Bizarre.

[Pondering Her Percy]

There was also SF at the goalline not mentioned, which was again, lucky.

One DE should not change a great defense. It just doesn't.

The #### of it is, in the long run, I agree with you, but as we stand today, this defense SUCKS. Too many blown assignments, missed tackles, limited pressure, lax coverage. It very much appears that teams have figured out their defense and Zimmer has yet to figure out how to adjust to that. They are 1-2-1...Very easily could be 1-3. Even if I gave us 2-2, that doesn't make me feel better about the defense getting blasted.

Massive holes at LB...Weak coverage skills outside of Rhodes who got ate up tonight, cramps or not and ever since teams have adjusted, the pressure has been few and far between. Vikings weren't even great at sacking the Q last season. When the Vikes play good teams (Eagles, Rams) guys like Richardson and Linval disappear. And it's much like how Minnesota was beating the Rams when they only had Suh and Donald getting close to the Q. We ate them up...You GOTTA have edge pressure. They aren't generating that right now...Griff or not. All-world everything, Harrison has been taken all the way out of the game. That's all offensive game plans. It's not like Zimmer is saying, "Okay, Smith, you just roam around this game, but DO NOT make an impact. Got it?"

Stopping SF at the goal line isnt lucky. It's called making a big play at a big time. And they did that. George Kittle dropping one ball doesnt mean our performance was lucky. We made plays all over the field that game. There is no denying that.

As for losing Griff, the Rams are considered a legit defense and they didnt have Talib. Did it effect them? Yeah. Did they look good? No. If losing Talib effects the Rams and obviously their pass defense, how does losing Griff not effect our defense and our pass rush (something we DESPERATELY needed when you're facing the #1 offense in the NFL). It's not like we lost Barr or Alexander. We lost arguably the best player on our defense. That would be like the Rams losing Donald. It's going to effect their performance. No doubt about it. And Griff is more of an impact player than Talib is. Talib clearly effected their D. How does the same not go for Griffen. No less it turns into a domino effect. Our next best pass rusher (Hunter) now has to go against one of the better LTs in the league and the Rams RT gets a fringe practice squad player going against him all game. If we have Griff, we get a dominant pass rusher to go against Whitworth and Hunter going against Havestein who isnt the best pass blocker in the world. HUGE difference. Much bigger than people think.

As for the overall defense, if you look at my posts regarding this game, not once did I say this defense was good or even average. I was referring to the 3 games prior to that. Nobody in the right mind can sit there and say our D was good or even average last night. They werent. They were terrible. But for those that say the D is the "first to worst" or not good at all anymore, I disagree with. Again, prior to this game, we were 10th in total defense, 9th vs the pass, 14th vs. the run, 6th in 3rd down defense, 5th in sacks. Those numbers to not show a "bad" defense or the "worst" defense by any means. And the total defense stat is also partly based on points allowed which is also flawed. Blocked punt vs. GB (7 points allowed), two turnovers inside the 25 vs. Buffalo (10 points allowed), missed FG by Carlson vs GB which gave them good field position (3 points allowed), drop by Treadwell that results in a INT and puts the D inside the 15 (3 points allowed). That's 23 points in just those two games (GB and Buf) alone where either the ST or offense put our defense in a bad position.

After we go down 17-0 after running FIVE offensive plays vs. Buffalo, we allowed 10 points the rest of the game. Do you want to know just how far the Buffalo offense had to travel to gain 10 points after the 2 turnovers? 29 TOTAL. They had to go 29 yards to gain 10 points. THATs how bad of a position this defense was put in that game. Sorry but that's not on the defense. At all. Buffalo was just about guaranteed points unless they turned it over or missed a chip shot FG on those two possessions.

Overall, this defense (prior to last night) has allowed 4 TRUE TDs that went from end to end in 3 games. That is pretty good if you ask me. It's actually very good. Averaging just over 1 TD a game given up.


Again, I am NOT trying to make excuses for this defense. I am just as frustrated as everyone else. Last night was a terrible defensive game against an excellent offense. But overall, I know this defense is good. I know this will get corrected and I am truly not worried about this team. Philly is going to be tough but I see us beating them. Especially if this offense continues to play like this. Philly's offense is nowhere near comparable to the Rams. Philly is 19th in total offense right now. Dont have much of a running game. Wentz is back but didnt look so hot against one of the worst defenses of the past 5 years in Indy. Following Philly, we have Arizona, Jets, Saints (d needs to show up, their D is brutal), Detroit and Chicago all before we hit GB and NE. All of those are very winnable games and could put us at 7-2-1 before GB. Or even if we drop one, 6-3-1. Our season also ends with Miami (dont wanna hear it, they arent good and have played nobody), Detroit and Chicago. I have full confidence that we still win this division and make a deep run this year. This will get fixed and hopefully Griff is back soon

[allday1991]

OK, so the defense stinks, the run game is non existent and the O line was faltering. That all being said, we were driving and moving the ball at the end of the game to tie it up until the fumble so we were somewhat keeping pace with the Ram's offense that everyone is bragging about today.

Finally someone mentions it. Our running game looks worst in the league, our start rb is averaging 2.7 ypc and we often lose yards on running plays. I think we were 4th last year? Dunno how the viking pulled that off after getting cook back, either way it what makes our offence far from great.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Finally someone mentions it. Our running game looks worst in the league, our start rb is averaging 2.7 ypc and we often lose yards on running plays. I think we were 4th last year? Dunno how the viking pulled that off after getting cook back, either way it what makes our offence far from great.

We are also being forced to abandon the run ever since SF. GB we were down 20-7, Buffalo we're down 17-0 before you know it, and then we start to fall back vs the Rams. Go look at his attempts. They are some of the lowest in the entire NFL for a starting RB. When you dont start off good and get down, you have to abandon the run game. Zim said it in his presser too.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Another side note: The deep ball Theilen caught and was never touched, resulted in a FG. And if the ref was paying any attention, he doesnt blow that whistle. THAT is a huge game changer