StumpHunter wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 12:55 pm
2019 is a Zimmer team. A team that runs the ball as much as they can, but one that has the ability to pass when needed. A passing game that compliments the run game and takes very little risks.
Spielman certainly values the RB position more than the average GM. He is the one who paid AP huge contracts, and has spent multiple 2nd and 3rd rounders on the position.
So maybe not a run first team like Baltimore, but certainly a team that puts an emphasis on the run like a Seattle or SF.
What evidence do you have that Zimmer prefers to run the ball as much as he can and views the passing game as complementary?
I provided a laundry list of evidence that suggests the opposite is true, or at the very least Zimmer prefers a more balanced approach.
- Teams that prefer to run don't need highly paid QBs. They just paid Cousins very highly. Such teams keep the Case Keenums of the NFL and don't bother making plays for guys they believe are franchise QBs.
- Teams that prefer to run stock up on OL who are better run blockers than pass blockers or, at the very least, design their blocking schemes with running in mind. Last I looked, that doesn't describe a single Vikings starting OL heading into this season.
- Teams that prefer to run retain and draft TEs who demonstrate the ability to run block. Again, when I think of run blocking TEs, neither Rudolph nor Smith come to mind.
- Teams that prefer to run place high value on receivers who likewise are proficient at run blocking. This one is slightly more debatable I guess, but if the Vikings had a WR who was capable of being a good run blocker it was Treadwell. Treadwell barely saw the field in his time with the team.
If you look at the first 4 or so games of last season, I can understand why someone might believe the Vikings wanted to resurrect the Dolphins' offense of the early '70s. But on closer examination, 2 things drove those performances, and I don't think either had to do with the overall philosophy of the offense being designed around the run.
The first factor was Cook himself being fresh and eager. He made a lot of things out of nothing and broke off a lot of big plays largely on his own efforts. That didn't last. They ran into teams that defended the run better, plus Cook started to slow down a bit and then got injured, and that changed things. I don't have the stats at hand, but the run game, with or without Cook, seemed to slow down substantially as the year went on.
The second factor that drove the early season success on the ground was the defense. The defense played pretty well early, so when the Vikings got early leads the offense could afford to be more one-dimensional and give Cook more touches. The early-season Vikings resembled the all-season 49ers in that sense - the play of the defense allowed the offense to be more one-dimensional and took the pressure off the passing game for the most part. The main difference between the 2019 Vikings and the 2019 49ers IMHO was that the 49ers played a lot more consistently all year in terms of running and on defense. Neither team was great passing the ball, and one could argue for largely the same reasons. I think the 49ers also sported an OL that was built for run blocking. Lump in their TEs who were exceptional blocking in the run game and they were less explosive than the Vikings in terms of running, but a heck of a lot more consistent.
I still think every piece of available objective evidence suggests the Vikings don't place the high value on Cook that many of the fans on this board do. I'm sure they value him and want him to be happy, but the offense is not designed around him or around run-first, and the team will live, and perhaps even thrive, without Cook breaking off 80 yarders after juking 4 defenders.
Like it or not, this team's ultimate success is going to come down to Kirk Cousins and the Vikings ability to string together drives and create explosive plays in the passing game with steady, consistent production from the running game. Offensively at least, that is the model that seems to work best in the modern NFL, and I think the Vikings are trying to emulate it. If I'm right, Cook will never sniff $10 million a year while he's a Viking. He might get it, or more, but it will be from some other team once he proves he can stay on the field for 16 games.