Kirk Cousins in favor of going with heavy sets

[fiestavike]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... f-wr-diggs

Kirk Cousins isn't afraid of embracing a throwback approach.

The quarterback lost his No. 1 receiver via offseason trade last month, but he's not stressing over it. He instead thinks adding a tight end or a fullback to the offense could be an ideal -- and undoubtedly traditional -- way to run an offense for his Vikings.

"Quite frankly, I'm someone who is a proponent of a two or three tight end offense, of having a fullback in the game -- especially when you have C.J. Ham," Cousins said, via The Athletic's Chad Graff. "There's no rule that says we have to play four or five wide receivers at a time."

I like this approach. The Vikings may need to trade or at least replace Dalvin Cook, but rather than heavily investing in skill positions on the offensive side of the ball, let's build up the OL, DL, and Secondary.

[J. Kapp 11]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... f-wr-diggs

Kirk Cousins isn't afraid of embracing a throwback approach.

The quarterback lost his No. 1 receiver via offseason trade last month, but he's not stressing over it. He instead thinks adding a tight end or a fullback to the offense could be an ideal -- and undoubtedly traditional -- way to run an offense for his Vikings.

"Quite frankly, I'm someone who is a proponent of a two or three tight end offense, of having a fullback in the game -- especially when you have C.J. Ham," Cousins said, via The Athletic's Chad Graff. "There's no rule that says we have to play four or five wide receivers at a time."

I like this approach. The Vikings may need to trade or at least replace Dalvin Cook, but rather than heavily investing in skill positions on the offensive side of the ball, let's build up the OL, DL, and Secondary.

Couldn't agree more. To play 4 wide, you need to have 4 capable receivers. Those don't grow on trees.

Not to mention, we've already got two good tight ends and a really good fullback.

[fiestavike]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... f-wr-diggs



I like this approach. The Vikings may need to trade or at least replace Dalvin Cook, but rather than heavily investing in skill positions on the offensive side of the ball, let's build up the OL, DL, and Secondary.

Couldn't agree more. To play 4 wide, you need to have 4 capable receivers. Those don't grow on trees.

Not to mention, we've already got two good tight ends and a really good fullback.

I am so sad that David Morgan seems not to have recovered from his injury. That guy had serious ability as a blocker and was an excellent receiver in small areas and in terms of YAC. He was the key to having a decent year running the football with McKinnon/Latavius Murray despite a shoddy OL.

I hope we invest heavily in OL and go 22, 13, and 12 all year, with Aviante Collins functioning primarily as a blocking TE.

[S197]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... f-wr-diggs



I like this approach. The Vikings may need to trade or at least replace Dalvin Cook, but rather than heavily investing in skill positions on the offensive side of the ball, let's build up the OL, DL, and Secondary.

Couldn't agree more. To play 4 wide, you need to have 4 capable receivers. Those don't grow on trees.

Not to mention, we've already got two good tight ends and a really good fullback.

To be fair, to run heavy sets you need capable guards and a center.

Systematically it makes sense as Cousins is good at play action and this plays to that strength. Plus our talent concentration in FB/RB vs WR.

My major concern with this approach is it's hard for teams to come from behind in an "old school" offense and it's also hard to convert on 3rd and long. There were so many times in recent memory that the offense is in 3rd and long because Cook is getting hit almost before he gets the ball on 1st and 2nd. And you could really tell they had little answer for 3rd and long. Defenses pin their ears back and often it ends with a sack or a screen to try and get away from the pressure.

Honestly I have no qualms with an old school approach but I think what this team really needs is more balance. They don't have to run 4 wide but they also don't need to run bunch sets on 1st down all the time too. I think Kubiak really has his work cut out for him, this offense struggled with identify at times last year. When the run game failed, you could really see they had no answers or adjustments.

[fiestavike]

Couldn't agree more. To play 4 wide, you need to have 4 capable receivers. Those don't grow on trees.

Not to mention, we've already got two good tight ends and a really good fullback.

To be fair, to run heavy sets you need capable guards and a center.

Systematically it makes sense as Cousins is good at play action and this plays to that strength. Plus our talent concentration in FB/RB vs WR.

My major concern with this approach is it's hard for teams to come from behind in an "old school" offense and it's also hard to convert on 3rd and long. There were so many times in recent memory that the offense is in 3rd and long because Cook is getting hit almost before he gets the ball on 1st and 2nd. And you could really tell they had little answer for 3rd and long. Defenses pin their ears back and often it ends with a sack or a screen to try and get away from the pressure.

Honestly I have no qualms with an old school approach but I think what this team really needs is more balance. They don't have to run 4 wide but they also don't need to run bunch sets on 1st down all the time too. I think Kubiak really has his work cut out for him, this offense struggled with identify at times last year. When the run game failed, you could really see they had no answers or adjustments.

Very good points. I'm comfortable with the offense having limitations in terms of coming from behind or putting up lots of points, because I trust those things less than physicality and complimentary football in big moments, in bad weather, and in the post season. I also like being able to finish building the offense with guards, another te, another rb, rather than needing to find wrs and elite pass blocking tackles. It's much easier and cheaper to find/retain the former.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Couldn't agree more. To play 4 wide, you need to have 4 capable receivers. Those don't grow on trees.

Not to mention, we've already got two good tight ends and a really good fullback.

To be fair, to run heavy sets you need capable guards and a center.

Systematically it makes sense as Cousins is good at play action and this plays to that strength. Plus our talent concentration in FB/RB vs WR.

My major concern with this approach is it's hard for teams to come from behind in an "old school" offense and it's also hard to convert on 3rd and long. There were so many times in recent memory that the offense is in 3rd and long because Cook is getting hit almost before he gets the ball on 1st and 2nd. And you could really tell they had little answer for 3rd and long. Defenses pin their ears back and often it ends with a sack or a screen to try and get away from the pressure.

Honestly I have no qualms with an old school approach but I think what this team really needs is more balance. They don't have to run 4 wide but they also don't need to run bunch sets on 1st down all the time too. I think Kubiak really has his work cut out for him, this offense struggled with identify at times last year. When the run game failed, you could really see they had no answers or adjustments.

Good post and I agree. I mean the old school approach fits this staff given most of them will be in nursing homes in 10 years (jk lol). But I worry that if we get down, we’re going to struggle to come back. I can almost guarantee Zim is thinking “play good defense, kill clock on offense and win 14-13”. But until he finds a way to get this defense back to elite level, idk if we can go with that approach. Especially given our CB room is compiled of a few high school players right now.

I mean I don’t think or want us to go into shotgun /spread formations all game similar to what Flip tried doing. I think we HAVE to find ways to get irv smith in the game as much as possible. He’s like a WR and going to be a stud IMO. But I’m also not for going with the old RB, FB, under center with 1 WR outside running dives up the gut all game lol. I’d honestly like to just continue what we did last year in terms of scheme but using Smith more than Rudy

[Vikings09]

That’s why Alabama has been great for so many years they just pound the ball down your throat...but we surely need to fix our OL first for this to happen.

[Maelstrom88]

Improving the oline is definitely critical to whatever approach they take. Right now playing the best guys would definitely suit heavy personnel with two tight ends in a fullback. However, I do hope they are able to bring in some more talented receivers because if all you can do is run the ball eventually you're going to run into a defense that can stop it and you have to be able to open it up a little bit with play action.