The Vikings offense produced 329 yards and 27 points in the loss, hitting their points average on the nose at 27 (7th in NFL) and bringing their average yards down a bit to 336 (19th).
With a better conversion rate on third down than previous games (8-of-17), the Vikings ran more plays (79) than the past two contests, which averaged 58.5.
- On first downs, the Vikings ran 12 runs and 16 pass plays.
- For the second consecutive week, the Vikings defense forced four turnovers...and lost. On consecutive drives, the defense picked off Browns' quarterback Brian Hoyer and the Vikings offense gave it right back with fumbles by Ponder and Peterson. The offense produced just 10 points off the four turnovers.
AWFUL
Goat(s): The offensive line. The Vikings have surrendered 10 sacks this season, six came on Sunday. Ponder's sack-fumble to end first half was all on right tackle Phil Loadholt, who let his defender back up from the turf. Center John Sullivan was on the hook for two sacks in the first half. Sullivan picked up his play a bit in the final half, but consistently struggled with stunts and sticking to a block. Back-to-back sacks ended the Vikings' first drive in the second half, one up the middle from guard Charlie Johnson's gap and the other from Loadholt's side that caused the fumble. As a whole, the offensive line hasn't played poorly this season, but they've consistently had one player miss an assignment. There's rarely been a total failure on a play, but each guy has yet to put out a solid performance for all four quarters. Fittingly, the game ended on a sack from guard Brandon Fusco's gap, but Ponder stepped up right into the defender as he was trying to target the endzone.
“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.” --- Bill Shankly
He completed a NFL-quarterback-type throw in the face of pressure to receiver Jarius Wright on an out route for 11 yards in the first half. However, he strong-armed multiple passes, overthrowing tight end Kyle Rudolph and receivers Greg Jennings and Jerome Simpson on multiple occasions. The most egregious came in the third quarter when Simpson was wide open on a deep crossing route, but Ponder overshot everyone, including the Browns' safety. Ponder threw late multiple times, once to tight end John Carlson while he was open in the endzone, allowing Browns' cornerback Buster Skrine to close in on him on the team's first drive. Ponder was also late to receiver Jerome Simpson on a crossing route in the first half, which ended as his only interception of the day. Ponder also threw a little too far out in front of receiver Joe Webb on an end-zone corner route in the third quarter.
Don't worry about the blown head gasket. Just put some air in your tires.
TheFoxInDetox wrote:My favorite part
He completed a NFL-quarterback-type throw in the face of pressure to receiver Jarius Wright on an out route for 11 yards in the first half. However, he strong-armed multiple passes, overthrowing tight end Kyle Rudolph and receivers Greg Jennings and Jerome Simpson on multiple occasions. The most egregious came in the third quarter when Simpson was wide open on a deep crossing route, but Ponder overshot everyone, including the Browns' safety. Ponder threw late multiple times, once to tight end John Carlson while he was open in the endzone, allowing Browns' cornerback Buster Skrine to close in on him on the team's first drive. Ponder was also late to receiver Jerome Simpson on a crossing route in the first half, which ended as his only interception of the day. Ponder also threw a little too far out in front of receiver Joe Webb on an end-zone corner route in the third quarter.
The offensive line hasn't played poorly as a whole, just there has been one guy consistently messing up?
Doesn't that suggest that they are playing poorly as a whole if you can't point to one guy and say it's him?
Rarely has the whole line skrewed up at once? Really? Isn't that rare to begin with? I don't recall ever seeing every guy on the line losing on the same play...i'm sure it's happened but it would have to be rare.
This o-line is playing like trash...the QB is flat lining and the LBs and secondary field 3 legitimate starters combined. Yet somehow they are 2 plays short, out of nearly a dozen different ones to choose from, of being 2-1.
So much potential on this team and their lack of execution is killing them.
That's kind of a play on words there~
Vikes ran 70+ plays against the Browns after running in the 50's against both the Lions and Bears. That reflects the almost 50% conversion rate on 3rd downs against the Browns, so that is good and hopefully a sign of improvement.
I also like what Musgrave did spreading the receivers out and letting Ponder run in those scores. While it's depressing to think Musgrave has so little confidence in Ponder that he calls designed QB draws in order to get points, at least he found a way for Ponder to get the ball in the end zone. I'll take it at this point.
The Breeze wrote:The offensive line hasn't played poorly as a whole, just there has been one guy consistently messing up?
Doesn't that suggest that they are playing poorly as a whole if you can't point to one guy and say it's him?
Rarely has the whole line skrewed up at once? Really? Isn't that rare to begin with? I don't recall ever seeing every guy on the line losing on the same play...i'm sure it's happened but it would have to be rare.
This o-line is playing like trash...the QB is flat lining and the LBs and secondary field 3 legitimate starters combined. Yet somehow they are 2 plays short, out of nearly a dozen different ones to choose from, of being 2-1.
So much potential on this team and their lack of execution is killing them.
That's kind of a play on words there~
I think it goes to show that we need more talent on the line too. If you have 4 solid guys and 1 guy you know is a problem, it's much easier to isolate the issue and send a RB / FB / TE over there to double team / chip. It's easy enough to shift the protection to that one area. The problem with us is who do you help? Johnson? Fusco? Loadholt? Sully? For me I think sullivan has some issues BECAUSE of the two guys next to him as well. We need better guards but that's nothing new I suppose. Still, once that was fixed it'd be easier to know who to direct help to.
Also, considering how well the Browns defense has been, I think the Vikes offnse deseves some praise for scoring and moving the ball as well as they did. They did leave points on the field and settle for 3 rather than find the end zone....some of whic needs to go on the Browns defense and their guys up front.
What is a bit shocking is how good their offense looked against us in the first half.
Edward's comment about Big Ben is truth. If they can't get pressure on him it will be hard to stop them from moving the ball. Might be one of those FG games and who ever has the ball last.
mondry wrote:I think it goes to show that we need more talent on the line too. If you have 4 solid guys and 1 guy you know is a problem, it's much easier to isolate the issue and send a RB / FB / TE over there to double team / chip. It's easy enough to shift the protection to that one area. The problem with us is who do you help? Johnson? Fusco? Loadholt? Sully? For me I think sullivan has some issues BECAUSE of the two guys next to him as well.
I think that's true but he's also been getting overpowered by huge interior linemen throughout his career. For example, it seems to me that he rarely has a good game against the Lions.
We can 'fix the line' (isn't that what Spielman was doing giving money to Load that should have went to Winfield?) all we want. but its not going to help the primary problem of a QB that cant see the open receivers, let alone throw the ball accurately to them. Ive seen other NFL QBs do just fine with the same amount of pressure on them. Some of them can even complete a pass with them hanging on him.
The Vikings defense played two very different halfs of football in the loss to the Browns on Sunday. After allowing 24 points and 252 yards in the first 24 minutes, the Vikings sacked third-string quarterback Brian Hoyer three times and held his Browns to 157 yards and seven points in the second half.
However, for the second week in a row, the only seven points allowed in the final half ended up as the dagger. Two game-ending drives against the Browns and Chicago Bears, in which the defense has allowed touchdowns with :55 and :10 seconds left on the clock, respecitvely, are one of many reasons the Vikings are 0-3 instead of 2-1.
The Vikings allowed more than 400 yards of offense for the second time this year, setting their average at 429 yards per game (29th in NFL). They allowed 31 points to the Browns, keeping their average at 32 points per game (30th).
The opportunistic nature of this defense is promising, considering they had just 22 takeaways all last season and have 10 already through three games. But if the offense can't convert those turnovers into points, it'll be a long season. For the second straight game, the Vikings produced four turnovers. But the offense came away with 10 points from the takeaways.
“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.” --- Bill Shankly
- Linebacker Desmond Bishop (12) stepped in and split snaps with base linebacker Marvin Mitchell (13) and played exceptionally well. Bishop registered three tackles, two for a loss, in his limited play -- including a six-yard loss by Browns' running back Willis McGahee after Bishop spun off the fullback and stuffed him in the backfield along with Floyd. Bishop provides an upgrade over Mitchell, who is just as capable in pass protection, but not so much in the run game, where he missed at least one tackle on Sunday.
“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.” --- Bill Shankly
Hmm, seems they're finally willing to admit Bishop maybe, just MAYBE might be better than Mitchell....See if he gets the start or at least most snaps against pitsburgh.
mondry wrote:Hmm, seems they're finally willing to admit Bishop maybe, just MAYBE might be better than Mitchell....See if he gets the start or at least most snaps against pitsburgh.
I see so many comments phrased in this way that I have to ask a question and since you're a reasonable guy, I'll ask you: do you really believe they don't understand the talent difference between Mitchell and Bishop? If so, why? I ask because I have a difficult time believing the difference between the two players would be lost on coaches with the experience of Frazier, Williams, Pagac, etc. It seems far more likely to me that they weren't completely comfortable with Bishop's grasp of the defense or that there's some other, logical reason why they've started Mitchell thus far. That doesn't mean they've made the right choice (I'm not in position to know) but I suspect they know what they have in those two players.
in the face of pressure to receiver Jarius Wright on an out route for 11 yards in the first half. However, he strong-armed multiple passes, overthrowing tight end Kyle Rudolph and receivers Greg Jennings and Jerome Simpson on multiple occasions. The most egregious came in the third quarter when Simpson was wide open on a deep crossing route, but Ponder overshot everyone, including the Browns' safety. Ponder threw late multiple times, once to tight end John Carlson while he was open in the endzone, allowing Browns' cornerback Buster Skrine to close in on him on the team's first drive. Ponder was also late to receiver Jerome Simpson on a crossing route in the first half, which ended as his only interception of the day. Ponder also threw a little too far out in front of receiver Joe Webb on an end-zone corner route in the third quarter.
