S197 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 16, 2020 4:45 pm
Also SF isn't some sort of unicorn. In 2018, the Rams were third in rushing and NE was 5th. The Eagles were #3 in 2017, 14th in passing. I don't need to go back 20 years, that's literally the last 3 championship teams. Two of the last three years with teams that were not very balanced at all.
Because teams were proficient in rushing doesn't mean they were built to emphasize rushing. More than likely they were able to pile up rushing yards because they got ahead early in a majority of games and had good defenses that protected those leads and could afford to run.
S197 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 16, 2020 4:45 pm
YikesVikes added even more color on the Vikings specifically so no real need to comment further there.
Yup, he did, while also ignoring the elephant. Actually, there are two elephants:
1) Cousins contract
2) The absence of an extension on Cook
If the Vikings really do want to emphasize the run and they still spent all that money to keep Cousins while not keeping Cook, they are beyond incompetent in my view.
S197 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 16, 2020 4:45 pm
And I think what's really getting lost in the shuffle is that I'm not pounding the table saying pay Cook $12M a year. All I'm saying is if you want to keep Cousins, you better make sure you have a very good run game because he is highly reliant on the rushing attack taking pressure off him and his primary strength as a QB is play action, which isn't effective without the run.
Why keep Cousins if you really want to run and just need him to basically hand it off and throw screen passes most of the time? What, for the occasional deep bomb on the odd years you make the playoffs and need a late heave to help win it?
If they are emphasizing the run, then go out and find a cheaper option at QB and make sure Cook gets paid. If Cook is the truly special player and Cousins the average one, and the one guy plays the critical position while the other plays the complementary one, why invest the money in the average, complementary player first, and not just "the" money in that player, but "THE" money?
I give up. Like I said, if they put their money where you and others here say their mouth is, I concede the point. Until that happens, all of you are basically claiming the Vikings braintrust to this point is literally insane in my opinion. They value and want to emphasize something they're neglecting while they shove their resources into something anyone could pretty much do. It makes no sense.