Packers post game thread

[halfgiz]

That was a must win game tonight for us. AT and Diggs are unreal....
Treadwell with another drop...sigh
Remmers and Hill with a couple big whiffs.
2 missed FG's

Any game you sack Erin and Win is a good game
Hill got schooled by Adams and we was lucky it wasn't a TD.

Chris Tomasson
@christomasson
Ex-NFL team doctor speculates that #Vikings CB Xavier Rhodes might have suffered a proximal hamstring avulsion, an injury that would require surgery and end his season. twincities.com/2018/11/25/ex-…

Interested to see how we handle Tom Brady and the Pats.

[Texas Vike]

That was the most satisfying win of the season so far, by a long shot.

Highlights:
*2nd half adjustments, especially on D, holding them to 3 points after halftime.
*Thielen and Diggs both played great--nice to see them both shine on the same night.
*Harry the Hitman came up huge on that very important 4th down stop.
*Richardson had a nice night. The DL started slowly, but had a much better 2nd half, likely due in part to injuries on GB's line.
* Rudy finally caught some passes!
* I thought Kearse had a nice game, though I wish he'd celebrate less and let his play talk for him (same is true for Mac Alexander... our young DBs are cocky).


Nervous about Xavier's injury. It doesn't sound good and didn't look good the way he pulled up and then walked off the field. Did we hear about the outcome of O'Neil's concussion evaluation?

[mansquatch]

I'm very happy we beat the Packers.

I like the optimism, but it's hard for me to get very excited. With Mike Daniels out, the biggest threat GB had in the trenches was on the bench. That essentially nullified any opportunity GB had to exploit our biggest weakness. Still I'll take the win.

The biggest positive for me was seeing the Vikings employ swing passes to Dalvin Cook. Those passes were absolutely devastating, only one ended up going for low yardage. Why this isn't a strong substitute for the up front running attack I do not know? Why they were unwilling to run such plays vs. Chicago is also mind boggling? It was nice to finally see them utilized.

Next two games will make or break the season I think. They need to come out with at least one win and really it would be preferable to get two. Tom Brady in NE is going to be a TALL task next Sunday.

[halfgiz]

That was the most satisfying win of the season so far, by a long shot.

Highlights:
*2nd half adjustments, especially on D, holding them to 3 points after halftime.
*Thielen and Diggs both played great--nice to see them both shine on the same night.
*Harry the Hitman came up huge on that very important 4th down stop.
*Richardson had a nice night. The DL started slowly, but had a much better 2nd half, likely due in part to injuries on GB's line.
* Rudy finally caught some passes!
* I thought Kearse had a nice game, though I wish he'd celebrate less and let his play talk for him (same is true for Mac Alexander... our young DBs are cocky).


Nervous about Xavier's injury. It doesn't sound good and didn't look good the way he pulled up and then walked off the field. Did we hear about the outcome of O'Neil's concussion evaluation?

O'Neil come back into the game.

How could the Refs not call running into the kicker on that FG miss?

[ERIK the PURPLE]

A great win. I fully expected a win though, but still nice nonetheless. It was really satisfying to see us run the clock out at the end starting with Murray's runs from the 10 yard line.
What I didn't like was watching us try to run up the gut on 3rd and short and getting stuffed which has happened all season. Also, the decision to go for it on 4th down in the red zone. To me a 13 point lead is much harder to overcome than a 10 pt lead. The proof is what GB would have needed had we not run out the clock at the end. As bad as this season has been (compared to expectations), we've played 11 games and only lost 4. Kind of gives a different perspective, don't you think?

[Cliff]

Also - It's crazy how I've gone from yelling "Damn it! Pass it on first down every now and again" to "Damn it! Run it on first down every now and again!"

It seems like the offense is never balanced in Vikings land. We can either run it well or pass it well, pick one.

[Mothman]

Just once I want the Vikings to come out with fire. This time the adjustments worked but it's a different animal against Tom Brady.
IMO the first quarter was very flat. It seemed like the defense was slow. They got better but idk if that was because of the injuries the Packers had or if the Vikings got better.
I have to give a special shout out to Marcus Sherels. Without him our special teams would be horrific in the last few years. Imo he's the only reason priefer still has a job.
At some point you have to winder if he's partly responsible for the kicking woes. When you have the second most accurate kicker in the history of the NFL, and he misses five FGs, what else could it be?

Well, last night I think it was a bad hold on the first kick and the fact that the second attempt was from 56 yards away (if I remember correctly). A kick that long is far from automatic.

[PurpleMustReign]

Just once I want the Vikings to come out with fire. This time the adjustments worked but it's a different animal against Tom Brady.
IMO the first quarter was very flat. It seemed like the defense was slow. They got better but idk if that was because of the injuries the Packers had or if the Vikings got better.
I have to give a special shout out to Marcus Sherels. Without him our special teams would be horrific in the last few years. Imo he's the only reason priefer still has a job.
At some point you have to winder if he's partly responsible for the kicking woes. When you have the second most accurate kicker in the history of the NFL, and he misses five FGs, what else could it be?

Well, last night I think it was a bad hold on the first kick and the fact that the second attempt was from 56 yards away (if I remember correctly). A kick that long is far from automatic.

I know but they are still misses. I don't hold anything against a kicker on anything over 55 yards ever. But at some point you need to look at the common denominator.

[Mothman]

I'm very happy we beat the Packers.

I like the optimism, but it's hard for me to get very excited. With Mike Daniels out, the biggest threat GB had in the trenches was on the bench. That essentially nullified any opportunity GB had to exploit our biggest weakness. Still I'll take the win.

The biggest positive for me was seeing the Vikings employ swing passes to Dalvin Cook. Those passes were absolutely devastating, only one ended up going for low yardage. Why this isn't a strong substitute for the up front running attack I do not know? Why they were unwilling to run such plays vs. Chicago is also mind boggling?

They tried running plays like that against Chicago several times. The Bears blew them up.

[PurpleMustReign]

Can someone see what the Vikings are allowing for 3rd down conversions since the Arizona game? It has to be around 12%.

[Texas Vike]

Just once I want the Vikings to come out with fire. This time the adjustments worked but it's a different animal against Tom Brady.
IMO the first quarter was very flat. It seemed like the defense was slow. They got better but idk if that was because of the injuries the Packers had or if the Vikings got better.
I have to give a special shout out to Marcus Sherels. Without him our special teams would be horrific in the last few years. Imo he's the only reason priefer still has a job.
At some point you have to winder if he's partly responsible for the kicking woes. When you have the second most accurate kicker in the history of the NFL, and he misses five FGs, what else could it be?

Well, last night I think it was a bad hold on the first kick and the fact that the second attempt was from 56 yards away (if I remember correctly). A kick that long is far from automatic.

I'm guessing I'm not the only one who knew Bailey would miss from 56, after having just made it from 51 only to have a BS penalty called on us, when GB jumped first... I couldn't even watch straight on, I had to look down and glance up just to see if my fears were confirmed.

Did anyone notice whether Barr's presence made ANY difference? I personally did not notice anything better or worse with him back.

[Mothman]

That was a big win. If the Vikings had dropped that game, I suspect they could have kissed their playoff hopes goodbye.

I thought Cousins had an excellent night, as did Diggs and Thielen. They both make amazing catches. Speaking of amazing catches: Rudolph's one-handed effort was CC-like! I'm not sure it would have held up to a replay review but it was an incredible effort and thankfully, it stood. He had a great night and I hope they find ways to keep him more involved in the passing game. He's a much better alternative to Diggs and Thielen than Treadwell.

After a shaky start, the defense was excellent. I wish the Vikes could really establish their running game but I don't think they're going to be able to do so with their current personnel. I also wish Defilippo would call fewer of those essentially horizontal passing plays.

Overall, it was a solid effort although I agree with Kapp: the Vikes left too many points on the board. That could have come back to bit them at the end.

On to NE!

[Mothman]

I'm guessing I'm not the only one who knew Bailey would miss from 56, after having just made it from 51 only to have a BS penalty called on us, when GB jumped first... I couldn't even watch straight on, I had to look down and glance up just to see if my fears were confirmed.

Yeah... I knew that kick wasn't going through the uprights even before he made it. I agree about the nature of the penalty too.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Awesome win! Shut down GB once again and Cousins outplays rodgers once again. By a mile.

Also, I watched the chat all night but didn’t respond. Nobody said much about Diggs deep catch in the endzone. Was that not a “Dez catch”? He caught it, had clear possession, took two steps then the ball came out when he hit the ground. Is that not a catch or am I missing something?

What makes no sense is how can a rb barely cross the plane and get it slapped out of his hands but be a TD but when a WR doesn’t that, two steps well into the endzone with possession and it’s no TD.

I don’t wanna hear the “Packers were depleted” excuse. We started a little flat but Cousins played excellent. And for those that say he’s “immobile” tonight showed that’s not the case. Also, some of you are saying “throw the ball” in the chat with some of those sacks. They were coverage sacks. Cousins doesn’t miss open guys very often. He does an excellent job going through progressions when he has the time. Coverage sacks happen. They are a thing. I’d rather take the sack then throw a pick. He can’t throw it away in the pocket and get intentional grounding.

Either way, give credit to where credit is due. Cousins was a stud tonight and now outplayed the “best in the game” twice this year. By a long shot no less

I agree Kirk played great 129.50 rating is pretty awesome. Gonna be reserved Kuz his record in prime time is I believe 5-13 after tonight. And again he beat a team that is sub .500. Kirk should take the defense out for dinner again tonight. Give the line a little credit too folks.

Agreed its a below .500 team but to be honest, that doesnt matter to me. The Packers will always be tough with Rodgers. The Packers nearly beat the Rams (an probably would have if Montgomery didnt fumble the kickoff) and beat the Bears. They can beat any team in this league. And we handled them most of the game. We didnt give Keenum less credit for beating bad teams or below .500 teams. Not sure why we have to do it to Cousins. It was a solid game from a team standpoint and an exceptional game by Cousins.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Super glad to beat the Packers. There's little else more satisfying in sports.

Cousins may have played his best game of the season. I think his willingness to run made a huge difference. Yes, he'll be more sore than usual today, but the threat of him running the ball led to completions he otherwise wouldn't have made, such as the TD to Thielen. He ran the offense with precision, audibled when he needed to, made solid reads, and threw the vast majority of balls with accuracy. He also wasn't close to a turnover, which is key.

Adam Thielen is amazing. He just keeps getting open and coming up with great plays. Chris Collinsworth's "not very athletic" comment was absolutely ridiculous. Adam is the very definition of an athlete. Stefon Diggs played great last night, as well. I love that we had him run the ball a couple of times. Getting him the ball in space is so important. He's so good with the ball after the catch. Good to see Kyle Rudolph as an important part of the offense. He had become a forgotten man lately.

In my view, the defense played well except for the two drives in the first half. Other than that, Rodgers did very little, and they harassed the heck out of him. Four sacks is great, but I loved how they forced him into several errant throws. Aaron Jones got a few yards, but nothing huge. Holding a Rodgers-led Green Bay offense to 254 yards and 17 points is an accomplishment. Sheldon Richardson had his best game as a Viking with 7 tackles, 2 sacks and 2 TFL.

I know a lot of people will disagree with this, but the O-line, while not spectacular, played pretty well in the passing game. Cousins wasn't hit or pressured all that much, and that's against a team that came in 3rd in the league in sacks. Yes, Remmers had an ... interesting play with the matador move late in the game, but the O-line mostly held up. It still bothers me that we can't get a true running game going, but I suppose we'd better get used to that.

Kicking ... hard to know what to say. I agree with those who say the common denominator is Mike Priefer. What else could it be?

I hate that we allowed Green Bay to be in this game. We left a lot of points on the field -- again -- last night. Moving the ball is great. Scoring is what needs to happen. We missed out on at least 13 points last night, which would have made the fourth quarter pretty much inconsequential. As it was, a successful onside kick could have doomed us in a game we should have won easily.

Now the attention turns to New England. I'm not going to say it's a game we should win, but I'll say it's a game we CAN win. They are more vulnerable than they've been in recent years, in spite of their 8-3 record. We need to tackle well. I can't imagine they can hit a lot of deep passes against our defense, but they get the ball out quick, so it's important to tackle well. We also have to stop the run. They've quietly become a pretty respectable running team this year, so you can't just fly in there and rush Brady. They'll be favored, as they should be, but if we can stop the run and avoid turnovers, we'll have a chance.

Couple notes to add on, I hope we give whatever money we can free up, to Sheldon Richardson. He makes this DL complete top to bottom. We have great depth in Johnson and Weatherly.

Also, this happens every year with Rodgers. They march down the field on us early and Zim shuts him down time after time. They throw some things at Zim he hasnt seen which gets them down the field and after or drive or two, they are dead in the water because they have nothing left to throw at him. Zim continues to out-coach McCarthy year after year now.