TSonn wrote: ↑Mon Nov 01, 2021 8:55 am
makila wrote: ↑Mon Nov 01, 2021 8:37 am
Zimmer is the opposite of a "the buck stops with me" leader. Which is ironic as he likes to fashion himself as a no-nonense do your job guy. Yet takes ZERO personal responsibility for anything. So fing sick of his bull.
Zimmer did admit he "screwed up" with the double timeout thing. That one was gonna be tough to punt to someone else though.
Fair enough.He did. I'm a bit numb to it after hearing him blame everybody else for so long. Ha.
Anyone who subscribes to the Athletic:
https://theathletic.com/2926426/2021/11 ... s-offense/
The Vikings didn’t just lose 20-16 to a backup quarterback who had never started a game this league. They didn’t just cough up a gift from the scheduling gods who extended an olive branch at the beginning of what’s supposed to be a brutal four-game span. And they didn’t just drop a home game to the Dallas Cowboys in which they didn’t trail until 51 seconds remained. They did all of that with a stuck-in-the-mud offense that was supposed to be the strength of this team, a unit that was a top-10 outfit a year ago and now looks incompetent.
They’re a group that disappears for long stretches, like their three straight three-and-outs in the second half. It’s an offense that has turned Cousins into a checkdown machine, one who completed more passes to fullback CJ Ham on Sunday than star receiver Justin Jefferson. Cousins’ passes traveled an average of 4.5 yards past the line of scrimmage Sunday. Cooper Rush’s passes averaged more than double that.
The Vikings, it seems, are out of answers for how a once-fearsome offense has turned into one that trips over its own feet while constantly aiming shy of a first down. The only predictable part of this unit is the ways in which it’ll fail. When it’s third-and-10, look for a 6-yard checkdown to the tight end. Need 4 yards? How about a 2-yard pass to the fullback? That’s how you finish 1-of-13 on third downs with the only conversion coming on the opening drive. After that first possession, Cousins had eight third-down throws. He didn’t pass beyond the sticks a single time.
Their final drive of the first half ended because their highest-paid player isn’t allowed to call timeouts and the offense couldn’t get lined up. Their best drive of the second half only happened because of 33 yards of Cowboys penalties. Their final defensive stand involved the coach calling two timeouts before the Cowboys ran a single play. Their final possession was hindered because the center picked up a false-start penalty.
Maybe that gets us to what’s most frustrating about this group. They truly are built like a modern offense. Jefferson and Thielen beat man coverage with routes that make cornerbacks’ heads spin. Dalvin Cook is the epitome of a modern running back. The offensive line is athletic and mobile. And Cousins processes the game well and throws an accurate ball.
Somehow, all of that adds up to games like Sunday when Cousins throws for a meager 184 yards and the Vikings average 4.6 yards per play. Sometimes it seems that’s on coaching. Other times, it seems like it’s on the offensive line or the quarterback.
The Vikings are in a troubling place, and it’s time for an honest conversation about the offense. I’m just not sure the Vikings are ready to have it.
https://theathletic.com/2925848/2021/11 ... -the-most/
In theory, the moment of truth arrived just how Mike Zimmer would have wanted it. The Vikings offense had just completed a 69-yard drive with the go-ahead field goal, and now it was up to Zimmer and his defense to close the door.
This is how Zimmer has built this team to win. Run the ball, control the clock, keep it close and let his defense squeeze the life out of the opponent. The Vikings had a 16-13 lead with less than three minutes to play against a backup quarterback who spent much of the game throwing loaves of bread that were begging to be intercepted. Zimmer is a defensive-minded coach in an era of offensive explosion, a proud and stubborn teacher of the old school who has been determined to show that he still has a thing or two to teach the kids.
There will be plenty of ink spilled and pounds of flesh demanded of Kirk Cousins, Klint Kubiak and the checkdown-loving offense. That unit was embarrassing with the eyes of the entire league on it against the Dallas Cowboys. But the offense’s futility should not obscure the fact that this defense, in particular two of its most important and tenured members in Zimmer and linebacker Anthony Barr, failed miserably in the game’s biggest moment of a 20-16 loss on Sunday night, just as it has failed in big spots time and again this season.
That turned a third-and-16 into third-and-11. Rush took the snap, felt some heat and dumped the ball off to Ezekiel Elliott in the middle of the field, content to play it safe and take a few more yards to make things easier on kicker Greg Zuerlein, who had already missed one field goal in the game. But Elliott caught the ball and turned upfield, confronted by Barr and Mackensie Alexander.
No one has championed Barr over the years more than Zimmer. Barr was Zimmer’s first draft pick as Vikings coach. Barr took a pay cut to stay with the Vikings this season and finish what he and Zimmer started. There are profound levels of respect and admiration between them. Right then and there, Zimmer needed Barr more than ever.
But Elliott lowered his shoulder and ran through Barr and Alexander like they weren’t even there, then carried Cameron Dantzler for the first down.
Right before the bye, languishing Carolina Panthers quarterback Sam Darnold led an 11-play, 96-yard drive in 1:27 for a game-tying touchdown that forced overtime against the Vikings. Cousins and the offense bailed the defense out in that one with a score in overtime.
Earlier in the season against the hapless Detroit Lions, Alexander Mattison fumbled the ball at the Minnesota 20 with 1:56 to play and a 16-9 lead, and that’s when the Vikings needed their defense to slam the door. It took the Lions just three plays to rip right through the defense for a touchdown and a 17-16 lead. Once again, Cousins led a crunch-time drive to get the game-winning field goal.
It certainly did not help that Cousins and the high-priced, star-studded Vikings offense proved incapable of outdueling Rush, who had thrown three passes in the previous four seasons before getting his first career start Sunday night. Whereas Rush was willing to take risks and loft the ball downfield to his talented receivers, Cousins was either unwilling to take chances throwing into tight coverage to Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson or unable because of the Cowboys pass rush that had him running around for much of the night.
“We just have to finish. We haven’t finished all year,” Woods said. “Defensively, we haven’t finished all year, and that’s been our Achilles heel.”
That is supposed to be Zimmer’s expertise. He has lobbied hard for Barr every step of the way, including when the Vikings found a little bit more money to pay him after Barr initially committed to the New York Jets in free agency in 2019. Zimmer is one of the sharpest defensive minds this league has seen in a long time, so questioning his allegiance to Barr would be foolish. Zimmer knows what he needs and has said time and again that Barr is a difference maker in his scheme.
For a coach who takes defense so personally, who handpicked the players and has stood by them every step of the way, to watch a no-name quarterback march right down the field to beat them had to be gut-wrenching. Had the Vikings gone down under a hail of Cousins interceptions or a Dalvin Cook fumble or a missed field goal from Greg Joseph, that would be one thing.
Last year’s defensive struggles were supposed to be an anomaly. Zimmer has spent eight years trying to build this team in his image, with an unyielding defense leading the way. Instead, his beloved unit is failing when he needs it the most. As Barr lay on the U.S. Bank Stadium turf and watched Elliott thunder forward for a first down, that identity of the Mike Zimmer Vikings was nowhere to be found.
