Thoughts about the debacle

[chicagopurple]

the sad truth is that there is a very high likelihood that you are BOTH right.....the OL sucks AND Teddy is not panning out to be the next coming of Fran the Man.......we need a Quarterback Whisperer to try to uncover his potential, if it is there at all.

[autobon7]

I think the moving of Fusco to the left side may have compounded the OL issues. I understand why they made the move but I don't think it has worked out. The drawing of straws in a lose lose situation.

[mansquatch]

I'm still not convinced that the play of TB was the reason we lost on Sunday. How was his performance in any way worse than the inconsistent tackling on Rush D, Penalties, and dreadful OL play? I would say those three items contributed far more to the loss that TB. More importantly, 2 of those three items should be fixable before the next game. The third is an issue, but again, not TB.

It sounds like most of the criticism can be boiled down to the fact that TB isn't AROG. I think guys need to realize how boom/bust AROG was on Sunday. Under 50% completion. Some of his completions were throws on the run that maybe a 3-4 guys in the NFL can make and only AROG makes with any consistency. That TD in the corner of the endzone might be one of the most spectacular throws of the season. That is unique and special talent from arguably the best mobile QB playing the game today. So yeah, we don't have THAT guy. But do we need THAT guy to win a SB? Russel Wilson might disagree... Even Brady isn't that guy. His style is completely different. So is Peyton Manning.

[Purple Reign]

In order for teddy to put up the td stats you guys want we would have to cut adrians attempts in half but do you guys really want the best running back in the league to get it less? I don't and i think the coachs agree

I guess if it means the team scores more points by throwing (which in turn equates to a better chance of winning), then why not? Scoring more points should take priority over the number of attempts AP gets.

[dead_poet]

Teddy was pressured on 62% of his passes on Sunday. That's unacceptable and, frankly, the offensive line should be embarrassed. The Packers won the game in the trenches on both sides of the ball (so few running lanes) and the Vikings ultimately shot themselves in the foot multiple times. You're not going to beat the Packers like that and they didn't. It was a poor team "effort."

With Kalil now playing injured (again), the line just got even worse for the rest of the season. I'm about done with trying to fairly analyze Teddy right now and am more concerned with him not making it through the rest of the year. He's the most pressured QB in the league behind a line filled with replacements, injured and flat sub-par linemen. It's disgusting to watch this line and this offense as a result.

[mansquatch]

I guess if it means the team scores more points by throwing (which in turn equates to a better chance of winning), then why not? Scoring more points should take priority over the number of attempts AP gets.

That isn't what works for this team. We have a top 10 defense, maybe top 5. We have the #1 Rusher in the league. Great Defense + Power Rushing won the superbowl for the Seahawks 2 years ago. Russel Wilson was what, #30 in the league in passing that year? We've won 7 games out of 10 playing that style. 2 of the losses were games where we didn't have discipline on defense or offense and didn't play to our identity. One loss w we played our game and if not for a missed field goal would have gone to OT.

Yet despite the above everyone wants to abandon our identity?

[Purple Reign]

At the risk of looking like a contrarian, how many years has Brady had an O line outside of the top 10 in the league? I know it is a little off the topic but your comment got me thinking and I really don't recall a time any time recently especially, where Brady had a subpar O line, as you put it. The Pats have been fantastic in that area.

You have to look no further back than this year. New England's offensive line is in shambles because of injuries but they are still undefeated. Did you see Monday night's game? I think Brady got knocked down about 12 times but only got sacked once and that's only because he gets rid of the ball so quick.

[The Breeze]

I got no problem with this teams identity in terms of D and power running...but they aren't in the same league as the Seahawk D of 2 years ago and Wilson has one of the most accurate deep balls in the league IMO.
The Vikes have a good thing brewing on D and will likely continue to get better over time...but the offenseive ineptitiude leaves little margin for error when it comes to playing the better teams in the league.
In fact, i don't really consider the Vikes a power running team. They have a freak at RB who covers up for the fact that the line is trash compared to every other aspect of the team. Power running teams have competent lines and use the run to set up the pass...especially the deep ball.
Not the Vikes. They are missing important pieces in the trenches and it will get more exposed as they face the better teams.
They need to take a break from picking the wideouts and LBs and bite the bullet like Jerry Jones did or TB is gonna get carried off the field or wind up like Ponder.

[J. Kapp 11]

You have to look no further back than this year. New England's offensive line is in shambles because of injuries but they are still undefeated. Did you see Monday night's game? I think Brady got knocked down about 12 times but only got sacked once and that's only because he gets rid of the ball so quick.

Very true. But remember, Brady has been doing this for 15 years. Right now, TB needs protection, and he's simply not getting it.

[Pondering Her Percy]

I'm really not understanding some of the logic going on around here. Let's take a look at a few facts.
When does a QB throw for 4-5 TDs? Normally when a QB has a cohesive Offensive Line, that on average can give a QB at least 3-4 seconds to make a throw/completion. So my question then turns into this, why are we consistently blaming Bridgewater for having less than savvy stats? The answer? Because he is given no time to make reads/throws into completions. When you give a solid QB time to throw and to assess a Defensive Unit the QB is more than likely to put up bigger numbers. Hold on now! We expect Bridgewater to be passing like Drew Brees, Tom Brady, or the younger version of Peyton Manning? HAH. Get real guys. Let's put together Sullivan, Loadholt, perhaps Kalil, and a few better players on the OL and see how much production the guy can give. Right now I think it's impossible to judge TB on the games he's played with this Offense. Give him better protection!


It also would not negatively effect us to grab an actual #1 WR, that can and will make the big plays for us. Ahem, Mike Wallace, that isn't you... Anyway, I'm failing to understand the negativity because all it is in the end, it's all based on the Offense as a Unit. Yes, the QB is held to a higher standard, but I can guarantee you that not even Rodgers, or Brady could have great numbers with an Offensive Line like this and WR's that are extremely inconsistent. Want an example? Look at how Rodgers is doing right now. Don't get me wrong, I hate the guy as much as any other Viking Fan but he is having a slump because of the protection he's getting and the inconsistency of his WR's. Can you look someone in the eye and say that Rodgers is the main reason why the Packers Offense has been sputtering as of late?

In the end, we need to give Teddy a good line to work behind before we can deem him incapable of actually being a Franchise QB.

And I 100% agree the offensive line is bad but you're also discounting the 6 underthrows/overthrows he had to Wallace. Not one of those were Wallaces fault. So there is close to 6 more TDs right there. And I'm pretty sure he had a clean pocket on every one of them. So that is where some of the harp is coming on Teddy for. You can blame the line all you want and they are definitely at fault to a certain extent but misses like that are 100% on Teddy and I feel like many on here pay no attention to that and want to blame the offensive line, WRs, Norv, etc.

Watch Zims press conference from yesterday. He specifically said its not all the offensive lines fault and said that Teddy needs to get rid of the ball quicker. He said he missed a good amount of throws. I have to imagine Zim knows more than we do

[losperros]

Teddy was pressured on 62% of his passes on Sunday. That's unacceptable and, frankly, the offensive line should be embarrassed. The Packers won the game in the trenches on both sides of the ball (so few running lanes) and the Vikings ultimately shot themselves in the foot multiple times. You're not going to beat the Packers like that and they didn't. It was a poor team "effort."

With Kalil now playing injured (again), the line just got even worse for the rest of the season. I'm about done with trying to fairly analyze Teddy right now and am more concerned with him not making it through the rest of the year. He's the most pressured QB in the league behind a line filled with replacements, injured and flat sub-par linemen. It's disgusting to watch this line and this offense as a result.

I agree. Words cannot describe my frustration with the current offensive line. The game is still a war of the trenches and the Vikings offensive line loses far too many battles there, not only for the passing game but last Sunday the running game suffered as well.

As for Bridgewater making it through the rest of the year, that is a justifiable concern. Sure, I'll agree that Teddy needs to improve his game but he's the best QB the team has right now and he's taking a hammering. I understand that the OL has backups playing most of the positions but these are supposed to be NFL caliber backups and not scrubs. This has to be one of the slowest offensive lines off the snap that I've ever seen, plus the amount of panicked flailing that goes on during pass rushes looks like a scene from a Mack Sennett Keystone Cops film.

I don't know how much of the offensive line can truly be fixed at this point in the season. That said, the OL absolutely needs to be a chief concern for the Vikings during next year's draft and free agency.

[Mothman]

Bridgewater's under pressure too often and most of the responsibility for that is on the protection. However, he also needs to help his own cause by improving his ability to recognize where blitz pressure is likely to come from (Aikman pointed this out during the broadcast) and by being decisive and getting rid of the ball more quickly. On Sunday, his own play sometimes compounded problems created by the pressure.

The Vikes also have to stay committed to the run, even if it's not always gaining much for them. Getting Bridgewater sacked 6 times a game instead isn't helpful.

[Mothman]

Any thoughts or observations about the run defense?

[purpletinted66]

Any thoughts or observations about the run defense?

With the threat and increase of opportunities for their qb, it makes lacy look like jerome bettis. Never saw what the lions did to them, but i hope the bears can repeat that performance.

sent from tapatio talk

[VikingLord]

You're right. The camera doesn't lie. It clearly, very clearly, shows a porous OL that completely let down both the passing and running game against the Pack. Go to NFL Game Pass and watch the coaches film and then tell me how the camera doesn't show that. We both know that it does.

I agree. The offensive line didn't help things.

It also wasn't a factor on the overthrow on the single deep throw the Vikings attempted against the Packers, and usually Bridgewater has had good protection on his multiple deep overthrows this year. So I don't think its as big a factor as you're making it out to be for this particular aspect of Bridgewater's game.

Regarding Wallace, I'm not bashing him but the camera doesn't lie about his drops, especially when a critical one blows a chance for a first down.

True again, but not relevant to the deep throw accuracy issue. When Wallace starts punting those I'll hold him accountable for the failure, but for now the issue is Bridgewater's inaccuracy on those throws, at least for me.

I just don't understand why Turner or anyone else believes that Wallace is the only deep WR option the Vikings have. I have yet to see even a calorie of chemistry between Bridgewater and Wallace this season, whereas TB has it with Diggs, for example.

I don't know if that is true. Like I said, against San Fran the cameras showed Wright running a deep route and being wide open while Bridgewater had good protection, but the ball never came out. Diggs was the guy who made the circus catch on another deep ball. I think Turner has multiple guys who can get deep at the WR position and I would be shocked if his plays are designed to send just one particular receiver on deep routes. Maybe the fact Wallace seems to be the only guy has more to do with Wallace and his speed/ability to fool defenders and thus more consistently gain separation deep than it does Turner's play design.