NFC Championship Reaction Thread

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Purple Reign
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Re: NFC Championship Reaction Thread

Post by Purple Reign »

akvikingsfan wrote: I noticed the delay of game call that you mention, and multiple other holding calls that weren't called. Granted, this game wasn't lost due to poor officiating, the Vikings got their #### handed to them, but there was a lot of missed calls against the Eagles. If I recall correctly, the first penalty against them wasn't called until the 4th quarter.
Sorry, you don't recall correctly. The first penalty of the game was against the Eagles with the 15 yard fair catch interference in the first quarter. We had 2 penalties for 19 yards, Eagles had 4 penalties for 55 yards. I think the refs pretty much let them play yesterday, and I prefer that to when the refs call every little tick tack penalty.
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Re: NFC Championship Reaction Thread

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Maelstrom88 wrote:
Purple Reign wrote: Not sure what you are implying here. Of course it was the excuse for the pick 6. The pass rusher didn't get blocked and that was the sole reason the pass was under thrown. Are you saying that was Keenum's fault?
I'm implying that sometimes you have to know when to hold them know when to fold them and know when to take the sack instead of throwing it up for an interception run back whenever that's the thing that's going to get you beat against Nick Foles. Or at least that's what we thought before Nick Foles lit the defense up.
He basically got hit just as he was throwing it, and it's not like he got hit that hard, just enough to make the pass under thrown. If a qb should take a sack every time a defensive person is close to him, then there would be a lot more sacks. I don't think that was something you can blame Keenum for, it was a good play by Long to get a hand on him. But I do agree that he will throw it up for grabs sometimes when he shouldn't, but I don't think that was one of them.
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Re: NFC Championship Reaction Thread

Post by akvikingsfan »

Purple Reign wrote:
akvikingsfan wrote: I noticed the delay of game call that you mention, and multiple other holding calls that weren't called. Granted, this game wasn't lost due to poor officiating, the Vikings got their #### handed to them, but there was a lot of missed calls against the Eagles. If I recall correctly, the first penalty against them wasn't called until the 4th quarter.
Sorry, you don't recall correctly. The first penalty of the game was against the Eagles with the 15 yard fair catch interference in the first quarter. We had 2 penalties for 19 yards, Eagles had 4 penalties for 55 yards. I think the refs pretty much let them play yesterday, and I prefer that to when the refs call every little tick tack penalty.
Oh. Well thank you for giving me the correct information. You’re right though, the refs were just letting them play, I’m sure there are multiple plays Eagles fans would say we’re blown calls too. I just feel like there were multiple plays where holding wasn’t called and it should have been. But as I stated in my original post, even if the calls were made that I think should have been, the outcome would have been the same. The refs didn’t impact the outcome.
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Re: NFC Championship Reaction Thread

Post by 808vikingsfan »

Purple Reign wrote:
S197 wrote: Not sure about the second one but the first comment I get where he was trying to go with it, it didn't make sense in context of where the play occurred but I think he meant had it been ruled a catch outside of the endzone then the Eagles would have to use a challenge. So they were lucky the play happened in the endzone.

But yeah he's clearly on the downslope, especially when you hear guys like Romo calling games.
But he specifically said the Eagles got a break because it was in the end zone. But even if it wasn't, the Eagles would have won the challenge since it was clear the ball hit the ground and they wouldn't have lost a timeout/challenge, and I don't see how the Eagles got a break. He just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense sometimes.

Not making excuses for Aikman but i remember reading about him battling a form of cancer and depression. Whatever the r ason, i do think hes been poor as an analyst of late
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Re: NFC Championship Reaction Thread

Post by PurpleMustReign »

Didn't Aikman have a lot of concussions as a player? I hope that isn't part of what is happening in to him. I really liked him as an analyst before. I hope he can recover from whatever is bothering him.

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Re: NFC Championship Reaction Thread

Post by PurpleMustReign »

I had a thought... Before the fame, the reporter said Zimmer showed them every one of their mistakes and pointed them out. Do you think the players, and maybe the coaches, were overthinking throughout the game? It was such a complete meltdown.

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Re: NFC Championship Reaction Thread

Post by HardcoreVikesFan »

It only took 18 games, but the real Minnesota Vikings finally showed up in heartbreaking fashion! :lol:

Unfortunately, Minnesota had everything aligned for them and they simply failed to show-up. They blew the best chance they had at a Super Bowl.

I am not upset or angry. Just some disappointment. Not simply for myself: For my father. It's fair to wonder if he will ever experience the Vikings winning a Super Bowl. I question whether I will witness a Super Bowl victory with him. He's in good health and still under 70, but it's not like he is getting any younger.

At the end of the day, it is just a game. We aren't promised anything but the present in life. So I am not going to sit here and dwell on the loss. It is not going to impact my life. It's a good thing I hardly use social media - I can only imagine the cesspool that has been the past few days.

My final note: As much as the end result sucked, I am going to appreciate the season. We took the division, we won 13 games and we witnessed the Minneapolis Miracle. Football is a game and it's entertainment and I try my best not to let it influence my life.

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Re: NFC Championship Reaction Thread

Post by mansquatch »

Zimmer's scheme is based on three things: Physicality, Technique, and Execution. When guys are getting 4-6 YAC on swing plays that isn't getting figured out, that is missing tackle. AKA Lack of Execution. When we are not getting sacks, it is lack of physicality. The gaps in the defense were not gaping holes in the scheme, they were there because players were not executing.

Consider that just 4 weeks ago a Dallas Defense held this team, sans Foles to a shutout. The Giants Defense, which was an atrocity this season held Foles to fewer points than the Vikings did.

In terms of New Orleans, you are leaving out the fact that 14 of their points came off of a terrible Keenum INT and a Blocked Punt. Short Fields against a HOF QB are never good no matter who you are. I'm not going to totally hammer the D for that. More blame to be shared.

The Vikings didn't give up 38 points because their scheme is invalid. They gave up 38 points because they didn't show up to play with the same intensity as the Eagles. My blame on the coaching staff is the fact this event transpired and the fact that they couldn't get the team back to being competitive.

In no way was i advocating for Zimmer to be canned. That would be asinine. Zimmer needs to grow from this. However, if we are brutally honest about his playoff performance then at best it slightly worse than OK. In 2015 the Kicker hosed them, but the team put itself in a position to win with grit and tenacity. Good on Zimmer for that, wish we would have seen that last Sunday. Bad on Zimmer for not doing something about Walsh sooner, it haunted them in 2016 also. Probably cost them a wild card spot. In 2017 the Defense loosened against the Saints which isn't shocking. But really, that come back was on a bad Keenum Pick and a blocked punt. Zimmer gets blame because he is HC, but this to me also falls on the OC and STC for those kinds of issues. The blocked punt was hideous, never should happen in a playoff game. Championship game, yeah, total Black Eye.

Bottom line is this team and this coaching staff need to develop a "playoff gear" to ratchet up the intensity. It seems to lack it at the moment.

Lastly, if Keenum is to be the starter next year then the number one thing he needs to fix is his tendency to throw up 2-3 ducks a game. He gave away points in both playoff games. Admittedly in tte pick in Philly he was hit when threw it, but the criminally bad throws can't happen on a championship team.
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Re: NFC Championship Reaction Thread

Post by 720pete »

mansquatch wrote: Lastly, if Keenum is to be the starter next year then the number one thing he needs to fix is his tendency to throw up 2-3 ducks a game. He gave away points in both playoff games. Admittedly in tte pick in Philly he was hit when threw it, but the criminally bad throws can't happen on a championship team.
Agree completely. We saw numerous throws off his back foot where he basically launched floaters into the air. I think our receiving corps did a fantastic job all season of preventing more interceptions, but that is a behavior that needs to be eliminated.
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Re: NFC Championship Reaction Thread

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mansquatch wrote:Zimmer's scheme is based on three things: Physicality, Technique, and Execution. When guys are getting 4-6 YAC on swing plays that isn't getting figured out, that is missing tackle. AKA Lack of Execution. When we are not getting sacks, it is lack of physicality. The gaps in the defense were not gaping holes in the scheme, they were there because players were not executing.

Consider that just 4 weeks ago a Dallas Defense held this team, sans Foles to a shutout. The Giants Defense, which was an atrocity this season held Foles to fewer points than the Vikings did.

In terms of New Orleans, you are leaving out the fact that 14 of their points came off of a terrible Keenum INT and a Blocked Punt. Short Fields against a HOF QB are never good no matter who you are. I'm not going to totally hammer the D for that. More blame to be shared.

The Vikings didn't give up 38 points because their scheme is invalid. They gave up 38 points because they didn't show up to play with the same intensity as the Eagles. My blame on the coaching staff is the fact this event transpired and the fact that they couldn't get the team back to being competitive.
The Vikings scheme isn't invalid but it is vulnerable and make no mistake, they didn't just get hammered because they executed poorly (although they did execute poorly). They were out-schemed. The Eagles clearly studied Zimmer's defense, were well-prepared for it and they repeatedly took advantage of it. The team's website actually has a good article and breakdown of some of the ways they did this if anybody is interested:

http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/news/ ... 8752dd465e

I think we as fans, and the Vikings themselves, need to consider the possibility that Zimmer's defensive philosophy has a ceiling and it may not be high enough. Note that I said possibility because I don't know with any certainty that this is the case but if his approach to defense was really capable of the kind of postseason dominance that has carried some great defensive teams of the past to Super Bowl wins, it sure seems like we should see that manifested more clearly in his overall record. He's been around a long time and has coached in quite a few playoff games. In frigid conditions, his defense held Seattle to a very low point total in 2015 but other than that, the tendency has been for Zimmer's defenses to allow 20+ points in postseason games, and a few times considerably more.

Again, I'm not trying to beat up on Zimmer but winning it all with dominant defense clearly seems like it's the plan in Minnesota and if that's the case, Zimmer needs to start figuring out how his defense can actually dominate in the playoffs.
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Re: NFC Championship Reaction Thread

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Mothman wrote:
mansquatch wrote:Zimmer's scheme is based on three things: Physicality, Technique, and Execution. When guys are getting 4-6 YAC on swing plays that isn't getting figured out, that is missing tackle. AKA Lack of Execution. When we are not getting sacks, it is lack of physicality. The gaps in the defense were not gaping holes in the scheme, they were there because players were not executing.

Consider that just 4 weeks ago a Dallas Defense held this team, sans Foles to a shutout. The Giants Defense, which was an atrocity this season held Foles to fewer points than the Vikings did.

In terms of New Orleans, you are leaving out the fact that 14 of their points came off of a terrible Keenum INT and a Blocked Punt. Short Fields against a HOF QB are never good no matter who you are. I'm not going to totally hammer the D for that. More blame to be shared.

The Vikings didn't give up 38 points because their scheme is invalid. They gave up 38 points because they didn't show up to play with the same intensity as the Eagles. My blame on the coaching staff is the fact this event transpired and the fact that they couldn't get the team back to being competitive.
The Vikings scheme isn't invalid but it is vulnerable and make no mistake, they didn't just get hammered because they executed poorly (although they did execute poorly). They were out-schemed. The Eagles clearly studied Zimmer's defense, were well-prepared for it and they repeatedly took advantage of it. The team's website actually has a good article and breakdown of some of the ways they did this if anybody is interested:

http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/news/ ... 8752dd465e

I think we as fans, and the Vikings themselves, need to consider the possibility that Zimmer's defensive philosophy has a ceiling and it may not be high enough. Note that I said possibility because I don't know with any certainty that this is the case but if his approach to defense was really capable of the kind of postseason dominance that has carried some great defensive teams of the past to Super Bowl wins, it sure seems like we should see that manifested more clearly in his overall record. He's been around a long time and has coached in quite a few playoff games. In frigid conditions, his defense held Seattle to a very low point total in 2015 but other than that, the tendency has been for Zimmer's defenses to allow 20+ points in postseason games, and a few times considerably more.

Again, I'm not trying to beat up on Zimmer but winning it all with dominant defense clearly seems like it's the plan in Minnesota and if that's the case, Zimmer needs to start figuring out how his defense can actually dominate in the playoffs.
Wow that article was pretty unsettling. Doug Peterson completely out coached Mike Zimmer in this game. They had answers for all of his blitzes and seem to know what coverages the Vikings were in all the time. It was not a good game for Anthony Barr based on those videos or Johnson the defensive tackle. I really think this team needs to get a pass-rushing defensive tackle who won't get mauled in the run game either. That breakdown was very impressive if you are an Eagles fan.
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Re: NFC Championship Reaction Thread

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I highly doubt their plan is “win it all with a dominant defense”. They had a pretty damn good offense this year. One that he drastically improved in one year. Along with a very good defense. I can tell you Zim wants a complete team. Not just a dominant defense. Not sure why that’s being portrayed.
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Re: NFC Championship Reaction Thread

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Pondering Her Percy wrote:I highly doubt their plan is “win it all with a dominant defense”. They had a pretty damn good offense this year. One that he drastically improved in one year. Along with a very good defense. I can tell you Zim wants a complete team. Not just a dominant defense. Not sure why that’s being portrayed.
He's got one way to win in my opinion, and no idea how to manufacture a comeback at all like zero.
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Re: NFC Championship Reaction Thread

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Maelstrom88 wrote:Wow that article was pretty unsettling. Doug Peterson completely out coached Mike Zimmer in this game. They had answers for all of his blitzes and seem to know what coverages the Vikings were in all the time. It was not a good game for Anthony Barr based on those videos or Johnson the defensive tackle. I really think this team needs to get a pass-rushing defensive tackle who won't get mauled in the run game either. That breakdown was very impressive if you are an Eagles fan.
It's definitely unsettling to see a team so successfully diagnose and dismantle the Vikings defense but as you said, it's encouraging if you're an Eagles fan.

Pondering Her Percy wrote:I highly doubt their plan is “win it all with a dominant defense”. They had a pretty damn good offense this year. One that he drastically improved in one year. Along with a very good defense. I can tell you Zim wants a complete team. Not just a dominant defense. Not sure why that’s being portrayed.
It's truly mystifying!
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Re: NFC Championship Reaction Thread

Post by Pondering Her Percy »

Mothman wrote:
Maelstrom88 wrote:Wow that article was pretty unsettling. Doug Peterson completely out coached Mike Zimmer in this game. They had answers for all of his blitzes and seem to know what coverages the Vikings were in all the time. It was not a good game for Anthony Barr based on those videos or Johnson the defensive tackle. I really think this team needs to get a pass-rushing defensive tackle who won't get mauled in the run game either. That breakdown was very impressive if you are an Eagles fan.
It's definitely unsettling to see a team so successfully diagnose and dismantle the Vikings defense but as you said, it's encouraging if you're an Eagles fan.

Pondering Her Percy wrote:I highly doubt their plan is “win it all with a dominant defense”. They had a pretty damn good offense this year. One that he drastically improved in one year. Along with a very good defense. I can tell you Zim wants a complete team. Not just a dominant defense. Not sure why that’s being portrayed.
It's truly mystifying!
You’re right. It is mystifying. Went from the 28th total offense last year to 11th this year. But yeah, just wants to “win it all with a dominant defense”. That’s all he’s trying to do. That’s the big plan! :roll:
Last edited by Pondering Her Percy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 1:54 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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