Cowboys @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 13

[Mothman]

The alternative is that the coaches are incompetent and acting against their own interests.

I wouldn't phrase it that way. As I said, I'm inclined to attribute it to poor judgment which is not the same as complete incompetence. It is acting against their own best interests but it's not doing so intentionally.

Another possibility to consider: perhaps Wright has had physical issues that have kept him off the field this year and we just haven't heard much about them. He hurt his leg in the summer and he's barely played since.

There's something unusual going on here: the Vikings signed Wright to a four-year, $14.8 million contract extension. I think he's the team’s highest-paid receiver in 2016. If I'm not mistaken, he was getting reps with the first unit before getting hurt this summer. His drop to the bottom of the depth chart is very strange.

So the choice is the coaches are incompetent and not playing their best players, or the fans are making unwarranted assumptions regarding who the best players are based on incomplete information and blaming the coaches when those players sit and the team doesn't have success.

Which is more reasonable?

I've already said what I consider a reasonable explanation but I'll add this: my views on this are not unwarranted. My assessment of Wright's abilities isn't based on simplistic, uninformed assumptions, it's based on past performance, plays he's made and put on film over a period of years. It was basically the same story when I spent last season advocating for increased opportunities for Patterson, although he didn't have as much on-field history as Wright. All indications were that he was working hard. His abilities were already apparent (and on film) yet he touched the ball just 4 times on offense last season. When he started getting more opportunities this season, he did well with them. That's not a surprising result. It was an entirely predictable result, based on what he had shown in the past.

Wright literally made some of the most explosive plays the team had in the previous two seasons and that's something this offense is sorely missing this season. It's more than reasonable to ask why players like Johnson and Treadwell, who have done very little, are playing ahead of him, especially when he has better RAC ability than either and Shurmur is running a short passing offense that desperately needs the receivers to gain additional yardage after the catch. If he's healthy, he should be getting more playing time.

[Purple Martin]

I used to say Thielen was better then Wright and guys like PhP our draft guru, said I was nuts. Diggs, Thielen and Wright are ok. Wright and CJ are ok. Diggs is great, Kyle would be if he would stopped dropping the ball. Sammy would be good if he had any peripheral vision and all and could outrun a turtle. I just hate these wasted years, we dont even get a first round pick

Umm...We already have 2 first round picks at QB and one at WR. One can't outrun a turtle another is scared to throw the ball so he runs pretty fast and the other can't catch a ball or run a route. I don't lament the loss of our first round pick at all. They are all a gamble and too few turn out to be actual winners.

[losperros]

Well, he wasn't beaten by Patterson earlier in the game either, so who's left that is a better choice to go deep?

Oh, for crying out loud! Why are you having such a fit about this? We are talking about Brandon Carr, are we not? The same Brandon Carr that Mike Wallace beat last year for a 36 yard gain. Carr can be and has been beaten. You and I both know that, Edward.

I'd love to have seen Patterson take Carr on again instead of Treadwell. Diggs, Johnson, or even Wright (gasp!) would have been preferred. Better experience and superior sustained speed. I'm not saying any of them are Randy Moss. I'm saying they would have been better suited to run the route in question against Carr. That's my viewpoint.

If your view is every WR runs all routes the same and Brandon Carr can't be beaten, that's your choice. It's faulty thinking and can't be proven, but believe what you want. Or you can admit WR experience and speed can be advantageous at times in the NFL.

Neither one of us knows what would have happened if someone with better experience and speed than Treadwell would have gone against Carr at that moment. I'm just saying I would have preferred seeing the Vikings make a stronger choice, given the nature of the play and when it happened.

[Purple Martin]

Neither one of us knows what would have happened if someone with better experience and speed than Treadwell would have gone against Carr at that moment. I'm just saying I would have preferred seeing the Vikings make a stronger choice, given the nature of the play and when it happened.

B-b-b-buuuuuuut....that's what makes us The Vikings.

[losperros]

B-b-b-buuuuuuut....that's what makes us The Vikings.

No doubt.