Texas Vike wrote: ↑Fri Aug 26, 2022 8:32 am
If you perceive irony here, please elaborate. Perhaps one of us is missing something. I suppose I could make a guess: in addition to other justifications for Mond's interception, you would like to also blame the vanilla offense?
The irony was that Zulgad said people are eager to deflect blame for poor QB play from the QB, but it seems like it's OK to blame poor offensive performance overall on the players/situation/preseason and not the coach. Maybe I read what you wrote wrong, and if so I apologize. Also, it is preseason, but at the same time, everyone is evaluating players and everyone is playing vanilla and yet the Vikings offense and defense have been woefully outperformed in both games. Preseason or not, backups or not, vanilla schemes or not, I don't think that should be happening, and I don't think KOC should get a pass and the benefit of mitigating factors if a young QB like Mond doesn't also.
Texas Vike wrote: ↑Fri Aug 26, 2022 8:32 am
Couple of things here. 1) I know you didn't watch at least one of the preseason games while posting in one of the threads. Have you watched them now?
I watched both of them, so I saw both QBs play as well as the overall team play. That's one of the reasons why I'm not dumping on Mond or too high on KOC's performance thus far.
Texas Vike wrote: ↑Fri Aug 26, 2022 8:32 am
They did play their starters during joint practices mid week, which were, by all accounts, very competitive and even nearly boiled over into fights (Bradbury threw a punch, apparently, but did not get kicked out). So anything we saw during the game on Saturday? I don't think it will reflect what our team will look like vs. GB on 9/11.
I hope you're right. I'm getting less convinced by the preseason game that KOC is suddenly going to unleash on the rest of the league, but if he is, then doing it against the Packers in the opener is the perfect time.
Texas Vike wrote: ↑Fri Aug 26, 2022 8:32 am
Last point: KOC being a rookie HC is not lost on me at all. I am sure there will be bumps in the road. You seem to imply that I have a great amount of faith in him, but I'm not sure what led to that assumption/ conclusion. I just think Mond sucks and is in no way ready to be a QB2 and is still very much a project. That doesn't mean I have huge faith in KOC. I do think he's very articulate, intelligent, and has a much better communication style and ability than Zimmer. Whether that translates to wins? Time will tell.
I was reading into what you said in the quoted post about this being the preseason, vanilla offense, backups, etc. I probably read more into that than you intended.
As for Mond, we do see him differently. He's definitely not ready for prime time as even a backup, and I think we agree on that, but I see potential that can be developed. Whether it is developed depends on said head coach being willing to help coach him along with other coaches and also being willing to be patient while Mond is willing to put in the work. So I see a project with potential in Mond where I think many others already have written him off.
To be fully transparent, I wasn't a big fan of the Mond draft pick. I wanted the Vikings to take Trask from Florida State or Mills from Stanford. So I wasn't enthused by the pick, but Mond is growing on me based on some of the things I've seen him do.
And to be further transparent, I felt in large part the same about the Booth pick in this last draft. I wasn't too happy about that one either, and while he's made a few mistakes (2 penalties on the same play as an example), I also see a lot of potential there and want to see him get a chance to grow and improve as well.
Anyway, I appreciate your posts on this board as well. You add a lot of great perspective to the discussion.
Thanks for all the Likes too...