Lions @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 9

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chicagopurple
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Re: Lions @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 9

Post by chicagopurple »

anyone who thinks this loss is mostly due to a kicker and "biased refs" is delusional. Our tackling is slipping back into the pre-Zimmer era. There were waaay too many YAC plays today. Our defensive play calling in crunch time was cowardly and exactly the kind of defense that Stafford loves. We STILL are running predictable vannilla runs up the middle, delay runs etc esp on 1st down. These last 2 weeks are TEAM losses. There is no easy answers. There is no one to fire and thereby right the ship. We are simply NOT a top notch team. We dont have the talent, especially on the front lines.....not just OL either....what did we have today, 1 sack and a miserable number of hurries? As has been obvious for years, we must replace our OL. We have too very iffy prospects for QB. And our OC is not yet clearly sufficient......The BEars and Lions are crappy teams, and they just stole our lunch. This time AT HOME.
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Re: Lions @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 9

Post by Pondering Her Percy »

chicagopurple wrote:anyone who thinks this loss is mostly due to a kicker and "biased refs" is delusional. Our tackling is slipping back into the pre-Zimmer era. There were waaay too many YAC plays today. Our defensive play calling in crunch time was cowardly and exactly the kind of defense that Stafford loves. We STILL are running predictable vannilla runs up the middle, delay runs etc esp on 1st down. These last 2 weeks are TEAM losses. There is no easy answers. There is no one to fire and thereby right the ship. We are simply NOT a top notch team. We dont have the talent, especially on the front lines.....not just OL either....what did we have today, 1 sack and a miserable number of hurries? As has been obvious for years, we must replace our OL. We have too very iffy prospects for QB. And our OC is not yet clearly sufficient......The BEars and Lions are crappy teams, and they just stole our lunch. This time AT HOME.
Well I believe Walsh cost us that game so I guess I'm delusional. You can pick apart any game and say "what we could've done better". But bottom line is, he missed an extra point that would've put us up by 4 in the end. If that extra point is made, this team wins. It wasn't. If it was a rare miss for him, then so be it. But this is becoming a regular thing. This defense can't hold up forever. He was bound to cost us a game and probably more until he is let go. It's a damn extra point for gods sake!!! Inside, with no wind, no pressure, at home. Pathetic. Did we play great? No but this defense held up enough where we could've definitely won. But when they are constantly put into bad spots, they are bound to break at some point. That overtime doesn't even exist if Walsh does his damn job. Simple as that
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Re: Lions @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 9

Post by vatusay »

Chalk up another loss on the leg of Walsh.

Call me delusional, also. He makes an xp there is no OT. Blocked field goal was terrible. Yes should have taken the points on the four yard line or whatever, but who knows if he can make that. Iirc it was on the side he doesn't like.

He has become so unreliable I EXPECT him to miss any and all FGhe attempts

Offense looked a tad better with quicker throws keeping Bradford clean, for the most part.

I'm done watching this team until Walsh is cut. Tired of seeing a guy who has ONE job absolutely blow it, week after week, for the whole team.

Nothing but red zone on sundays for me.

Im sure the team will notice in the ratings lol.
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Re: Lions @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 9

Post by PurpleMustReign »

In Zimmers press conference he said he thought the Defense played well. I really disagree. They got no pressure on Stafford, didn't wrap up, let many 3rd and longs get converted, and allowed another long run. I am not sure what Zimmer saw that gave him the impression that the Defense played well, but I surely want what he was smoking. The Lions also dropped some key passes that would have converted other 3rd downs.
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Re: Lions @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 9

Post by halfgiz »

The most emblematic drive of the game came after a Chad Greenway interception set up Sam Bradford at the 18-yard line. From there, the Vikings proceeded to lose 22 yards and were forced to punt. It was the first time a team punted on a drive that started in the red zone since the Rams accomplished that feat in Oct. 2011. The Rams quarterback that day: Sam Bradford.
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Re: Lions @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 9

Post by CbusVikesFan »

Is anyone chalking this up to a tough divisional game? I didn't have much confidence in a win yesterday. Lions are more than lukewarm and since the pack lost at home as well the Vikings are far from out of it. There is still plenty of football left to be played.
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Re: Lions @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 9

Post by HardcoreVikesFan »

Third week in a row where I stopped watching the game at halftime. All were losses. I might be on to something. :lol:

Anyway, I don't really want to say much other than it looks like this team is just mailing it in. The effort is gone. The hustle on defense is gone. Fundamental football (tackling, blocking, job execution) is absent a majority of the time. Coaching wise, Zimmer is doing a poor job of making adjustment and calling plays. Quite frankly, this team deserves to have lost three in a row.

At the end of the day, it is just football. Losses just don't effect me like they used to a few years ago. It doesn't mean I am not disappointed in this team. However, life goes on, football goes on. Hopefully, this team emerges 6-3 next week.
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Re: Lions @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 9

Post by UKno1VIKING »

There were a lot of people to point fingers at, and to be honest there is no member of this team who can say they were completely blameless.
Walsh has kicked himself out of a job today. he was a fine kicker, and i expect once that confidence is back up, he'll be a welcome addition to any team. It won't be the vikings though.

Offence and O-line was much better. Just shows what changing up the playcalling to give the line and Sam a helping hand. I am excited to see what Shurmur's O can do going forward.

Defense, was better, but still lacked it's cutting edge. The stats before overtime, showed them to be very stingy. But bar Chads takeaway, we didn't do anything extraordinary, like we expect this unit to do. Plus, the lack of pressure on the QB for 3 weeks in a row is worrying. This is supposed to be a premium D-line, and they aren't getting the job done.

And the coaching left something to be desired at times. The fact that we lined up soft to allow Detroit to 30-odd yards to get to FG range i'll never understand, when the secondary have generally been so stingy.

I think overall, i am quietly confident after this showing that the ship is being turned around. This Defense will wake up and our offence is showing signs of improvement.
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Re: Lions @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 9

Post by Mothman »

PurpleMustReign wrote:In Zimmers press conference he said he thought the Defense played well. I really disagree. They got no pressure on Stafford, didn't wrap up, let many 3rd and longs get converted, and allowed another long run. I am not sure what Zimmer saw that gave him the impression that the Defense played well, but I surely want what he was smoking. The Lions also dropped some key passes that would have converted other 3rd downs.
I agree with you. It wasn't a terrible defensive performance by any means but overall, they didn't play that well. They basically collapsed and looked like the 2013 defense at the end of the game.
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Re: Lions @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 9

Post by Mothman »

halfgiz wrote:The most emblematic drive of the game came after a Chad Greenway interception set up Sam Bradford at the 18-yard line. From there, the Vikings proceeded to lose 22 yards and were forced to punt. It was the first time a team punted on a drive that started in the red zone since the Rams accomplished that feat in Oct. 2011. The Rams quarterback that day: Sam Bradford.
Ouch, I didn't know Bradford was on the field for both drives. That's rough!
CbusVikesFan wrote:Is anyone chalking this up to a tough divisional game? I didn't have much confidence in a win yesterday. Lions are more than lukewarm and since the pack lost at home as well the Vikings are far from out of it. There is still plenty of football left to be played.

I definitely consider this a tough divisional loss and we're only halfway through the season so there's time for the Vikes to get back on track. They just need to actually do it.
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Re: Lions @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 9

Post by J. Kapp 11 »

Mothman wrote: I agree with you, It wasn't a terrible defensive performance by any means but overall, they didn't play that well. They basically collapsed and looked like the 2013 defense at the end of the game.
My take on the defense is that they actually were excellent until the final FG drive and overtime. The Lions had only scored one touchdown to that point, on that strange (maddening) 10-minute drive to end the first half. In the second half, our defense dominated. We allowed only 8 total yards in the second half until there was 7:37 to play. Until the final FG drive, the Lions had gained less than 200 yards for the game, with two first downs and 31 total yards in the entire half.

Then, suddenly and inexplicably with 23 seconds to play, the defense fell apart. That's what's baffling to me. It was a total collapse out of nowhere. They couldn't have been gassed ... the Vikings dominated time of possession in the second half. They just fell apart. They stopped tackling well. They stopped covering well. They couldn't get close to Stafford.

Sure hope Zimmer figures out what the heck happened and does something to keep it from happening again.
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Re: Lions @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 9

Post by Mothman »

From Peter King's column today:

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/11/07/oakl ... ton-week-9
My favorite scene of the weekend, though, came at a tense time in Minneapolis, and is a huge reason why the Lions passed Green Bay and moved to within a half-game of the slumping Vikings in the NFC North on Sunday. And there’s a very good chance you have no idea it even happened.

Two seconds. Jim Caldwell got two seconds added to the clock in the game’s 58th minute, and two seconds turned out to be an eternity for Detroit. Two seconds gave the Lions life at the end of the fourth quarter.

TV didn’t catch it. Nobody caught it. The key people in the game didn’t know about it, not even three-and-a-half hours after it was over.
There's quite a bit more at the link. King goes through the whole scenario and I found it very interesting, even though the end of the game didn't play out in the Vikings favor.
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Re: Lions @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 9

Post by chicagopurple »

the defense showed horrible tackling technique yesterday. Its like they forgot everything they learned the last few years.
Zim would love to pretend that the Defense wasn't a problem yesterday because he sees himself as the defensive coach. Trying to lay it all on the Offense is just deflecting blame since he has passed off responsibility for the offense onto other coaches but in the end he IS the guy responsible for ALL the team.....And going into a prevent shell and turtling up in the last 2 minutes of a game was simply moronic and feeble, especially against Stafford who lives on that crap.
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Re: Lions @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 9

Post by joe h »

Always been top down problem with this team. Even when the pieces somehow fit together, our coaching staff lets us down. Never been fan of defensive minded coaches, because offense is simply more important in today's game, but offensive minded coaches are almost always too stubborn to realize their flaws.

Zimmer waits until 15 seconds to call a timeout, we all celebrate a hard fought, potentially season turning victory, instead of calling for Walsh's head, and watching any hope for a first round bye disappear. Hell, nothing this team is doing gives me confidence we'll win another game.

If our GM wasn't a stubborn fool and addressed the two most glaring weakness(kicking and offensive line) during the offseason, instead wasting a first round pick on another basket case receiver, we would be discussing a super bowl run. Hell, we were only a piece or two away from a perfect defense, another gator arm receiver is the last thing this team needed.

As much love as priefer gets, he forced the team to cut an average punter, and replace him with the worst punter in 40 years. When was the last time the Vikings had problems with a weak legged punter? And somehow this punter cannot even hold a damn ball right, since our once nearly rookie of the year kicker, cannot even make a damn extra point 10% of the time.

And then the injuries, I've long suspected incompetence among the conditioning staff, nutritionist, medical staff, or someone ordering the wrong shoes. We're losing way too many starters before the seasons even starts, for this to be a freak thing.
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Re: Lions @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 9

Post by Purple Reign »

Mothman wrote:From Peter King's column today:

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/11/07/oakl ... ton-week-9
There's quite a bit more at the link. King goes through the whole scenario and I found it very interesting, even though the end of the game didn't play out in the Vikings favor.
Meh - makes for a good story but that's about it. IMO, looked like Stafford had plenty of time to spike the ball before time ran out so he took an extra second or 2 to make sure the line was set before he spiked the ball to stop the clock. I'm sure he would have gotten the ball spiked in time even if there were 2 less seconds on the clock. Saying the 2 extra seconds added were the reason they had enough time is pretty much the same as saying if Walsh made the PAT then we definitely would have won the game.
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