StumpHunter wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 9:30 pm
With what you called "a practice squad" defense if I am not mistaken?
I did call them a practice squad defense and I will continue to. That's not my point. It's becoming more and more apparent that Zim has held back this offense for quite a while. More and more behind the scenes talk is coming out about Zimmer. Read the article I posted (and it's not the first one that's came out). I've always been a Zimmer fan but as of late, my eyes are starting to open. I've gone back and forth with Jim a few times about him and I can now start to see where he is coming from. I never believed he was "all about his defense" but I do think that is the case. He supposedly treats Spielman like garbage. He got "snarky" I guess you could say when Spielman said he was going to go WR at 22 last year and corner with the 2nd first rounder. Like I said before, if this was a Bill O'Brien situation and Zim had full control, Justin Jefferson would not be on this team right now. Tell me I'm wrong.
Maybe if you said it a million more times it might be true. How is he holding back the offense? By not running RPO and instead sticking with the offense his QB is most comfortable with? By emphasizing the run with one of the best RBs in the NFL?
Running RPO? No just throwing the damn ball more. You have two elite WRs and two solid TEs. You have a stud RB that can catch the ball out of the backfield.
Cook had the 2nd most rushing attempts in the NFL and 3rd place wasnt even close. Cook had 312 rushing attempts!! Do you realize that only 4 other RBs since Demarco Murray in 2014 have had more rushing attempts than Cook did this year? AP in 2015 (327) Zeke in 2016 (322), Bell in 2017 (321) and Henry in 2020 (378). No less Cook missed 2 games this year. So you can basically chalk up that he would have the 2nd most rushing attempts than any RB since Demarco Murray in 2014. Only Henry in 2020 would've had him beat and not by much. Henry is a freak of nature that can take that beating. Cook is never going to come close to making it to the end of his contract at this rate. And you have Mattison who is a solid backup that was barely used.
You call that "emphasizing"?? You can emphasize your elite RB without beating him to a pulp. You can learn a lesson on how to balance an offense by watching Pat Shurmur in 2017. Ran a ~60-40 split with two RBs that year and still had a successful passing game. And let's be honest, Case Keenum is not some all world passer. Nor does he even touch Cousins' pure passing ability. And dont say they could run that type of offense because Keenum could scramble because he literally ran for 160 yards in 2017 vs. Cousins 156 yards in 2020. What Shurmur did was constantly keep a defense on their toes. Something as simple as running that pitch to McKinnon vs. New Orleans in the miracle game. An unexpected play that nobody saw us run all year. Never saw it coming. With this offense now? Holy cow I could call out "run" or "pass" before it even happened.
The problem this year was that Kubiak was forced to open up the offense following our failed 1st half game plans of just "pounding the ball and playing good defense" because we'd get behind. Kirk Cousins threw 97 passes in the first quarter all season! However, in the 2nd quarter he threw 137, third quarter 136 and 4th quarter 142. To put that into perspective, Russell Wilson threw 133 first quarter passes. Rodgers threw 130. Hell even Ryan Tannehill who practically rides the coat tails of Derrick Henry threw for 106 and there is no team in the NFL that emphasizes their elite RB like Tennessee.
This stat alone just shows how unbalanced our offense was early on in the game. There was a reason Cousins was a 2nd half machine this year, especially during that run...because these smash mouth offense/play good defense game plans did not work. Out of Cousins 35 TDs passes, 30 of them came within quarters 2-4. 25 in the 2nd half alone. For the most part, their entire first half game plan was shi* all year.
And this is exactly what I mean by Zim harnessing this offense. They threw way less in the first half to basically see if Zims game plan of smash mouth offense/play stout defense game plan worked. It usually didnt and in turn, Kubiak was able to open up this offense in the 2nd half. And we saw a lot more success in the 2nd half of many of these games.
When has this team under performed with the talent on the roster? 2017 they went to the NFCCG after losing their starting QB and RB and lost to a team with far more talent.
2018 they lost the final game of the season to a team with far more talent and missed the playoffs.
2019 they lost the divisional round game to a team with far more talent.
The Vikings have never been the most talented team in the NFL with Rick as GM, and that is why the farthest they have gotten is the NFCCG and have only won 2 playoff games, 3 in the past 15 years.
uhhh what? 2017 the Vikings had the #1 defense in the NFL. Two stud WRs,solid TE, a good RB duo, an overachieving OL. The question mark was the QB. Which was just as big of a question mark for Philly with Foles. They massively under performed.
2018- Again, what? The downfall in 2018 was the OC/play calling by a country mile. They returned practically their entire squad from 2017. But during the 2018 season, they were the complete opposite of what they are right now. They had Dalvin Cook and Latavius Murray and downright refused to run the ball. They had a better QB than Chicago, better RBs and better WRs. All by large margins. Chicago had the better defense but this defense was still solid enough to the point there was a drastic difference between the two. This defense took a step back from 2017 but it was still a good defense
2019- sure I'll give you that one. SF was 100% a more talented overall team.
But where in gods name are you coming up with the Eagles and Bears being "FAR" more talented that the Vikings. That's just so far off it's not even funny,
I would say in 2017 the Vikings were 100% top 3 most talented teams. They easily had the most talented defense in the league. Following that many of those players stuck around for a few years but again, this is the NFL. It's hard to sustain success year after year unless you're the Patriots or Chiefs. Think about it. The Rams offense couldnt be touched. That lasted for how many years? One. The Bears defense couldnt be touched. That lasted for how many years? One. Not that these offenses or defenses completely crapped the bed but they werent nearly as elite as the year prior. It's called hitting their peak which is exactly what the 2017 Vikings did. Following that, players on the team are now another year older, your very successful OC is out the door, schedule gets much tougher, etc. Teams at times will sustain being "good". Like the Saints. But look what that has gotten them? They havent been to the SB since 09 with a HOF QB.
Kirk is great. Teams are banging on Rick's door to trade for him I am sure. Maybe we can offload him for a 2nd, our 2nd to take his contract I mean.
I never said Kirk is "great". And your trade argument is weak. Pat Mahomes IS great, whos pounding on Reid's door? What about Wilson? Rodgers? Etc. Like just because a team isnt "pounding on Ricks door" doesnt mean he hasnt played well. I just find it hilarious that you want to point the finger at Rick and Kirk and blindly ignore Zim's problem.
Cook, Theilen and Jefferson are great. The rest you just listed aren't even top 32 at their positions. Oops, sorry , Irv was 27th in yards among TEs this year.
What on earth are you even trying to prove here? First of all Mattison is a solid backup that is underutilized. I explained that above already. And for Irv and Conklin, are they not solid TEs? Sorry I didnt know we needed Travis Kelce at TE for you to give Spielman any sort of credit. Regardless, in terms of weapons, Cousins has plenty of weapons to work with.
Above average is never going to win us a SB. Ever. Why do you want to settle for that?
uh, I'm not settling for that because I'm not settling for our HC? That's what this entire conversation points back to. He's where the current problem is IMO because he's coaching like it's 1992 still.
At this point, as critical as you are about anyone involved in this organization from the owners down to the stadium custodians, you might be the only one right now hating on Spielman and Cousins and supporting Mike Zimmer. Usually when you're that outnumbered, there's an extremely good chance you are wrong.
