Vikings Week 2: Good, Bad, and the Ugly

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soflavike
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Re: Vikings Week 2: Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Post by soflavike »

There ain't much good... lots of bad, and plenty of downright ugly.

Pretty sad state of affairs... the talent has been drained from the team to a degree that is not easily recovered. I fear we are in for a very painful season. I don't see us beating anybody right now.

On defense
We lost both starting CB's (admittedly one of them was not playing well) and replaced them with Hill, Hughes and two rookies. Bright side: the rookies are getting playing time and may prove to be good players. Not reaching into the FA market for a quality CB is looking like a bad decision right now. We are also very thin at safety. One injury and we're in really deep doo-doo (Josh Metellus is our only backup, and Sendejo hasn't lost his job in Cleveland yet, so we're on thin ice.

At linebacker we were looking okay-ish and then Barr goes down. Now, we look really vulnerable there. Apart from Kendricks and Wilson, it's amateur hour.

The D-Line is awful. No Danielle Hunter, Griffen gone, Linval gone... it's a liability. Shamar and Jaleel are backup quality. Ngakoue has some talent, but he needs a bookend on the other side. The rest of them are practice squad quality. Get better, Danielle.

On offense
Cousins loses his shine when the wheels start coming off, and they are definitely coming off. He becomes indecisive and his throws are off. He's not going to carry this team with all these dysfunctions.

The TE's disappeared against the Colts, especially Rudolph. Irv Smith, Jr. does not look anything better than average.

At WR, we have a stud (19), a dud (81) and a rookie (18)... Bisi is an average backup receiver, at best. He's out of his league. Jefferson could be a good player and it's good he's getting reps. We have no long-ball threat right now.

RB is our strongest group, Cook and Mattison are wasted in this clown show. When we get behind by a couple of scores, their value diminishes.

We are pretty used to shaky O-lines recently, but this O-Line is just not NFL-grade. When Elflein getting hurt is a major downgrade, you know your depth sucks. Samia and Dozier aren't scaring anybody in this league. Let's give Cleveland some reps.

Special Teams
Kicker and Punter are fine... and Osborn looks good so far. He's getting plenty of KO return opportunities.

Coaching
I think we've seen the best of Zimmer and it's just not good enough. Could be his swan song. The search for a coach who can take us to the promised land continues.
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Re: Vikings Week 2: Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Post by Texas Vike »

Mothman wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 5:41 am
Pondering Her Percy wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 10:22 pmI focused on the diggs part because guys still want to beat that drum. If diggs was that smart and “saw the writing on the wall”, other players would too and he definitely wouldn’t be the only guy wanting out. Again, diggs is selfish and all about himself. As long as he’s the center of attention, his team could win 1 game or the SB. It doesn’t matter. As long as he’s “the guy”

I seriously doubt that. Here's a more nuanced view that seems more likely to be accurate:

https://www.skornorth.com/2020/03/what- ... fon-diggs/

I think Diggs cares about winning and that was one of several problems he had with Minnesota. Yes, he wanted the ball but there's almost certainly more to his departure than selfishness.
Great article. Here's some excellent pieces that hopefully convince some of you to read the whole piece:
The difficulty with being an inquisitive-minded football player, however, is that it’s a game that often asks its players to be chess pieces and not chess players.
In training camp, Diggs was noticeably upset on several occasions, once having to be restrained by Zimmer and another time barking angrily toward Cousins when the QB checked down to the fullback rather than heaving it in his direction.
Alex Boone's quote gets to the heart of the matter:
You know Diggs wants it. He’s constantly in the huddle with those big eyes and he’s looking at you like, ‘come on man, come on man…’ He was the guy that would get you fired up and he’s a receiver. I equate him to Anquan Boldin because Anquan was one of the guys I would have stepped in front of a truck for. Anquan and Randy [Moss] and Stefon, those guys will give you everything they have and never shortchange you and I respect that about their game.”
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Re: Vikings Week 2: Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Post by MikethePurple »

Texas Vike wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 12:18 pm
Mothman wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 5:41 am


I seriously doubt that. Here's a more nuanced view that seems more likely to be accurate:

https://www.skornorth.com/2020/03/what- ... fon-diggs/

I think Diggs cares about winning and that was one of several problems he had with Minnesota. Yes, he wanted the ball but there's almost certainly more to his departure than selfishness.
Great article. Here's some excellent pieces that hopefully convince some of you to read the whole piece:
The difficulty with being an inquisitive-minded football player, however, is that it’s a game that often asks its players to be chess pieces and not chess players.
In training camp, Diggs was noticeably upset on several occasions, once having to be restrained by Zimmer and another time barking angrily toward Cousins when the QB checked down to the fullback rather than heaving it in his direction.
Alex Boone's quote gets to the heart of the matter:
You know Diggs wants it. He’s constantly in the huddle with those big eyes and he’s looking at you like, ‘come on man, come on man…’ He was the guy that would get you fired up and he’s a receiver. I equate him to Anquan Boldin because Anquan was one of the guys I would have stepped in front of a truck for. Anquan and Randy [Moss] and Stefon, those guys will give you everything they have and never shortchange you and I respect that about their game.”
Thanks for sharing the link and this article actually is what had informed my opinion on the matter. I was a little reluctant to go down the Diggs wormhole but it does give an important insight into player perspective. Also, I remember when he re-signed it was a relatively team friendly deal, which doesn't scream selfishness to me.....
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Re: Vikings Week 2: Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Post by S197 »

Let's not forget Thielen and Cousins had some heated exchanges on the sidelines as well. Or Sage Rosenfels more or less putting Cousins on blast and breaking down about 8 plays where he flat out missed open receivers in the 49ers playoff game.

Some of those exchanges may just be passionate guys about the game showing their competitiveness. We'll never know.

And honestly Cousins is really a symptom more than the problem. We have a top down problem but we only address problems at the middle. The OC is a continual scapegoat as a perfect example.

The primary problem is Spielman. He's had 8 years to put his vision to work and this is what he came up with. The other problem is Zimmer who has a penchant for getting outcoached in key games. This is not just a one season issue. The OL has NEVER been good under Rick. Zimmer has been badly outcoached in the most important game of the season for 3 years in a row.

And what did Zygi do? Hand out extensions to everyone. None of those 3 deserved it and maybe Diggs saw that. A lot of people on this forum sure did and we're just fans.
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Re: Vikings Week 2: Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Post by J. Kapp 11 »

Mothman wrote: Sun Sep 20, 2020 4:03 pm
S197 wrote: Sun Sep 20, 2020 3:05 pm The good is people are starting to wake up that Zimmer and Spielman are not the answer.

The Vikings are bad.

That stadium is ugly.
Lucas Oil? I went to a game there last year and really liked the experience. It's quite nice inside.
I'm sure it is.

Unfortunately, those harsh shadows don't work on TV. The human eye is an amazing thing ... a camera, not so much.

It was borderline unwatchable. And that was before the Vikings took the field.
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Re: Vikings Week 2: Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Post by J. Kapp 11 »

The good
I found a great place to watch Vikings games! We've got a William Hill sports book 10 minutes from my house, and they had the game on this enormous video wall that must've been 20 feet high. I'm pretty sure the local Fox affiliate will show very few Vikings games this year, so it's nice to know I can always catch my team.

The bad
Watching the Vikings on a 20-foot high video wall. Also calling the Vikings "my team."

The ugly
OK, this is just cruel, and admittedly a cheap shot. But the frequent shots of Zimmer's angry, beet-red face fogging up his plastic shield had me ready to barf up my buffalo wings. Good god, man ... wear a mask!
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Re: Vikings Week 2: Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Post by Mothman »

J. Kapp 11 wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 4:54 pm The good
I found a great place to watch Vikings games! We've got a William Hill sports book 10 minutes from my house, and they had the game on this enormous video wall that must've been 20 feet high. I'm pretty sure the local Fox affiliate will show very few Vikings games this year, so it's nice to know I can always catch my team.

The bad
Watching the Vikings on a 20-foot high video wall. Also calling the Vikings "my team."

The ugly
OK, this is just cruel, and admittedly a cheap shot. But the frequent shots of Zimmer's angry, beet-red face fogging up his plastic shield had me ready to barf up my buffalo wings. Good god, man ... wear a mask!
:lol: I imagine that's quite a sight at 20 feet high!
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Re: Vikings Week 2: Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Post by J. Kapp 11 »

Mothman wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 5:12 pm
J. Kapp 11 wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 4:54 pm The good
I found a great place to watch Vikings games! We've got a William Hill sports book 10 minutes from my house, and they had the game on this enormous video wall that must've been 20 feet high. I'm pretty sure the local Fox affiliate will show very few Vikings games this year, so it's nice to know I can always catch my team.

The bad
Watching the Vikings on a 20-foot high video wall. Also calling the Vikings "my team."

The ugly
OK, this is just cruel, and admittedly a cheap shot. But the frequent shots of Zimmer's angry, beet-red face fogging up his plastic shield had me ready to barf up my buffalo wings. Good god, man ... wear a mask!
:lol: I imagine that's quite a sight at 20 feet high!
It was amazing, man.

Like I was right in the middle of the beatdown. I could almost feel Quenton Nelson flattening our DTs.
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Re: Vikings Week 2: Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Post by J. Kapp 11 »

S197 wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 4:21 pm Let's not forget Thielen and Cousins had some heated exchanges on the sidelines as well. Or Sage Rosenfels more or less putting Cousins on blast and breaking down about 8 plays where he flat out missed open receivers in the 49ers playoff game.

Some of those exchanges may just be passionate guys about the game showing their competitiveness. We'll never know.

And honestly Cousins is really a symptom more than the problem. We have a top down problem but we only address problems at the middle. The OC is a continual scapegoat as a perfect example.

The primary problem is Spielman. He's had 8 years to put his vision to work and this is what he came up with. The other problem is Zimmer who has a penchant for getting outcoached in key games. This is not just a one season issue. The OL has NEVER been good under Rick. Zimmer has been badly outcoached in the most important game of the season for 3 years in a row.

And what did Zygi do? Hand out extensions to everyone. None of those 3 deserved it and maybe Diggs saw that. A lot of people on this forum sure did and we're just fans.
Funny how Diggs is tearing it up in Buffalo with a less polished — and far less compensated — quarterback throwing to him.
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Re: Vikings Week 2: Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Post by YikesVikes »

I will say it time and time about Diggs. His issue wasn't that he wanted the ball. The issue was that he was often open, not getting the ball, and poor decisions were being made. No one talks about AT's comment about the offense week 4 last season. We rather bash Diggs. The fact is, Cousin locks into AT and misses a lot of open WRs. As long as Adam is healthy and Cousins is the QB, Diggs was going to get limited touches and this team wasn't going to take the next step.
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