Falcons at Vikings

[CharVike]

Two teams going in different directions. They are on a 3 game losing streak and we are on a 5 game win streak. We saw the mess last week against the Cards as we were beat to death at the point on both sides of the ball. When that happens everything becomes extremely difficult. We couldn't run or stop the run. Same with the pass. Luckily we started getting after Murray and he gave the ball away and our OL gave Sammy enough time to throw an accurate/on time ball. This Falcon D is horrible. The can't generate pressure or stop the run effectively. We should be able to put up 20+ points providing we don't lose the ball with TOs. The Falcon's have a good offense. Their OL is above average, they have one of the best backs, some good WRs, and a TE that can provide problems. Cousins had the worst game of his career last week so who knows what he will do. He's a sitting duck for Flores blitzes but that could leave people wide open if they are blocked. We get Oliver back and our rookie FG kicker and snapper are back at practice. They might be a go also. After last weeks melt down win I do think we will play better at the point on both sides. They have no choice if they want to win this game. I see it 27-24 us.

[Cliff]

Two teams going in different directions. They are on a 3 game losing streak and we are on a 5 game win streak. We saw the mess last week against the Cards as we were beat to death at the point on both sides of the ball. When that happens everything becomes extremely difficult. We couldn't run or stop the run. Same with the pass. Luckily we started getting after Murray and he gave the ball away and our OL gave Sammy enough time to throw an accurate/on time ball. This Falcon D is horrible. The can't generate pressure or stop the run effectively. We should be able to put up 20+ points providing we don't lose the ball with TOs. The Falcon's have a good offense. Their OL is above average, they have one of the best backs, some good WRs, and a TE that can provide problems. Cousins had the worst game of his career last week so who knows what he will do. He's a sitting duck for Flores blitzes but that could leave people wide open if they are blocked. We get Oliver back and our rookie FG kicker and snapper are back at practice. They might be a go also. After last weeks melt down win I do think we will play better at the point on both sides. They have no choice if they want to win this game. I see it 27-24 us.

It was especially bad on 3rd down. The Cardinals basically telegraphed when they were going to blitz and the oline still couldn't pick it up. The defense gave up a lot of yards last week, but they held firm in the red zone. Of course we'd all prefer them stopping teams out of FG range, but I thought they had a pretty good game.

Whether or not Cousins gets beat up is going to depend on how quickly he gets the ball out. When the defense blitzes they tend to leave the middle of the field pretty wide open. If Cousins can exploit the blitz rather than fall to it things could get ugly. I'd like to seem them rattle him though. We all know how Kirk looks when he feels that pressure.

Oliver is going to be a big piece. He played really well filling in for Hockenson and is a great compliment to him.

[CharVike]

Two teams going in different directions. They are on a 3 game losing streak and we are on a 5 game win streak. We saw the mess last week against the Cards as we were beat to death at the point on both sides of the ball. When that happens everything becomes extremely difficult. We couldn't run or stop the run. Same with the pass. Luckily we started getting after Murray and he gave the ball away and our OL gave Sammy enough time to throw an accurate/on time ball. This Falcon D is horrible. The can't generate pressure or stop the run effectively. We should be able to put up 20+ points providing we don't lose the ball with TOs. The Falcon's have a good offense. Their OL is above average, they have one of the best backs, some good WRs, and a TE that can provide problems. Cousins had the worst game of his career last week so who knows what he will do. He's a sitting duck for Flores blitzes but that could leave people wide open if they are blocked. We get Oliver back and our rookie FG kicker and snapper are back at practice. They might be a go also. After last weeks melt down win I do think we will play better at the point on both sides. They have no choice if they want to win this game. I see it 27-24 us.

It was especially bad on 3rd down. The Cardinals basically telegraphed when they were going to blitz and the oline still couldn't pick it up. The defense gave up a lot of yards last week, but they held firm in the red zone. Of course we'd all prefer them stopping teams out of FG range, but I thought they had a pretty good game.

Whether or not Cousins gets beat up is going to depend on how quickly he gets the ball out. When the defense blitzes they tend to leave the middle of the field pretty wide open. If Cousins can exploit the blitz rather than fall to it things could get ugly. I'd like to seem them rattle him though. We all know how Kirk looks when he feels that pressure.

Oliver is going to be a big piece. He played really well filling in for Hockenson and is a great compliment to him.

We did get it together to put a couple TDs on the board which was great. I'll give the entire offense credit for that because they all need to contribute. The last play to A Jones was great blocking and a perfect throw and catch. Jones didn't even need to change his stride and showed great hands. The other play which I felt was great was the deeper out to Jetts in-between the CB and Safety. That was a throw which is hard to make. The OL made it happen by holding the point. I think we will play strong against the Falcons.

[makila]

Unrelated to game talk, related to game though.

I was able to stretch a work trip to Wisconsin for early next week, into flying up to Minneapolis on Saturday and going to the game on Sunday. I have never been to US Bank Stadium. Haven't been to a Vikings game in over 10 years.

Any recommendations on must does / things to check out around the new(ish) stadium? We are there hanging out Sat night and then going to game Sunday before heading to Wausau.

[Cliff]

Unrelated to game talk, related to game though.

I was able to stretch a work trip to Wisconsin for early next week, into flying up to Minneapolis on Saturday and going to the game on Sunday. I have never been to US Bank Stadium. Haven't been to a Vikings game in over 10 years.

Any recommendations on must does / things to check out around the new(ish) stadium? We are there hanging out Sat night and then going to game Sunday before heading to Wausau.

I've only been once but the stadium tour was so cool, definitely do it if you can. You get to walk out onto the field and everything.

[CharVike]

Good win. Our O shredded that awful Falcon D. Cpt. Kirk gave us some gifts and Murph had the one handed int. It looked tough early but they adjusted at half time. Sammy did a great job on the deep one to Jetts. OL got beat and he had to get out of the mess and make the throw. That was wide open early but no blocking which gets under my skin. Bears are next and I expect a division nail bitter.

[halfgiz]

It was good seeing Kirk throwing some balls to the Vikings again.
What a game Darnold had. Some of his throws were amazing. Addison and Jets what a tandem in today’s game.

[40for60]

Unrelated to game talk, related to game though.

I was able to stretch a work trip to Wisconsin for early next week, into flying up to Minneapolis on Saturday and going to the game on Sunday. I have never been to US Bank Stadium. Haven't been to a Vikings game in over 10 years.

Any recommendations on must does / things to check out around the new(ish) stadium? We are there hanging out Sat night and then going to game Sunday before heading to Wausau.

I wish I would have seen this earlier. I am not sure what you were looking for, restaurants or… ? Anyway, it was a great game to go to. It seemed like the crowd was really into it, unlike last week. I hope you had a great time!

[40for60]

Darnold throws 5 TDs and barely a mention on SNF. Oh well, fly under the radar I guess.

[VikingLord]

Great to get the win, but that was quiet a slog for the offense again in the 1st half. The Falcons got a lot of pressure, Darnold looked tentative, and the run game was largely bottled up. TOP was heavily tilted towards the Falcons. Things got a little better in the 3rd quarter and then the Vikings exploded in the 4th. I'm glad they were able to get things moving and scored TDs, but IMHO that final score did not reflect the way the game went for the most part. The Falcons finished with almost 500 yards of total offense. Remove the self-inflicted wounds of the turnovers and penalties, and the final score might very well have been the reverse in the Falcons' favor.

I want to be excited about this years Vikings. I really do. But something keeps telling me this is version 2.0 of the 2022 team with a slightly higher ceiling and maybe a lower floor. The offense struggles to keep drives going for long stretches of games where an opportunistic defense also struggles to get off the field. Somehow the team manages to keep the score close enough during these long periods of poor execution to enable them to storm back to win at the end, but this doesn't strike me as a sustainable way to win, much less a formula for playoff success.

At least Darnold was throwing it downfield against the Falcons. Those deep passes produced and it was nice to see that element of the offense return for at least a game. I felt that had been missing in recent weeks.

The other thing that stood out to me about the defense is the play of the DBs. Is it just me, or does it seem like some of these reserve DBs are making more plays on the ball when it's in the air?

The Vikings have one more "should-win" game on their schedule coming up at home against the Bears before finishing with 3 games against probable playoff teams, with two of those games being on the road. This stretch of games will define this season. If the Vikings are for real and want to be taken seriously as Superbowl contenders, this is their chance to step up and show it.

[CharVike]

Great to get the win, but that was quiet a slog for the offense again in the 1st half. The Falcons got a lot of pressure, Darnold looked tentative, and the run game was largely bottled up. TOP was heavily tilted towards the Falcons. Things got a little better in the 3rd quarter and then the Vikings exploded in the 4th. I'm glad they were able to get things moving and scored TDs, but IMHO that final score did not reflect the way the game went for the most part. The Falcons finished with almost 500 yards of total offense. Remove the self-inflicted wounds of the turnovers and penalties, and the final score might very well have been the reverse in the Falcons' favor.

I want to be excited about this years Vikings. I really do. But something keeps telling me this is version 2.0 of the 2022 team with a slightly higher ceiling and maybe a lower floor. The offense struggles to keep drives going for long stretches of games where an opportunistic defense also struggles to get off the field. Somehow the team manages to keep the score close enough during these long periods of poor execution to enable them to storm back to win at the end, but this doesn't strike me as a sustainable way to win, much less a formula for playoff success.

At least Darnold was throwing it downfield against the Falcons. Those deep passes produced and it was nice to see that element of the offense return for at least a game. I felt that had been missing in recent weeks.

The other thing that stood out to me about the defense is the play of the DBs. Is it just me, or does it seem like some of these reserve DBs are making more plays on the ball when it's in the air?

The Vikings have one more "should-win" game on their schedule coming up at home against the Bears before finishing with 3 games against probable playoff teams, with two of those games being on the road. This stretch of games will define this season. If the Vikings are for real and want to be taken seriously as Superbowl contenders, this is their chance to step up and show it.

If you mean not making the SB I would have to agree. That 22 team was blown out badly like the 40-3 whipping the Cowboys laid on us at home and the Packers 41-17 drilling. We were getting beat like 30-0 at half time once. The D was probably the worst we ever put on the field. I don't see teams hammering us into the ground now. We create close games when we turn the ball over. Jones was benched for his TOs. Sammy had a couple bad outings. Also once we get inside the 10 running the ball is impossible so we always need to throw it. Zero balance. The interior of our OL is very weak and if we get beat they will be the main contributor. They let guys come storming up the middle which creates all kinds of problems. Sometimes it's a free run and other times guys are pushed into Darnold's lap or the RB is stopped cold. We saw it against this junk Falcon D. 3 sacks very quickly. Sacks are drive killers. It's too late to fix it now so we will need to ride with the current garbage pile and make in game adjustments as we go along and hope they work.

[StpViking]

A little premature, but it's shocking to think either us or the Lions could finish 15-2 and still and have to play the entire playoffs on the road because of stupid division champs ranking rule.

[psjordan]

Great to get the win ... I want to be excited about this years Vikings. I really do ... but this doesn't strike me as a sustainable way to win, much less a formula for playoff success.

To your earlier point about lack of posts here for a (now 11-2) team, at least for me your above quotes sum up why I don't post much. The wins are great, but I have ZERO faith in this conglomerate's ability to pull off 2-3 crucial wins in a row. I won't post about how well Darnold may be doing at certain points of a game for instance, because I JUST KNOW either he or the OL or Phillips or KOC or the combination will completely screw up a game and it won't be salvageable at the end.

I JUST KNOW that BFlo's approach is going to gut us against a good-to-great team that can sustain success against this "porous for three quarters" groove we are in. While watching, my in-game comments of "holy cow I sure hope someone hires BFlo away from us!" BY FAR outweigh any "gosh what a great defensive game-plan" comments.

This team is the epitome of a team that will end up with the 27th pick in the draft while losing a first-round playoff game.

So far (for me), both our offensive and defensive game plans are mediocre at best and suck at worst. Can't tell you how many times I've muttered "what a sh!!tty play call!" this season. I keep hoping they'll break out the unused portion of the playbook, at least once or twice. I still contend we have 16 offensive plays and 67 ways to disguise them pre-snap. As a former coach, I absolutely ABHOR letting another team "take away" my best player, and I have conniptions when JJ doesn't see the ball for 1.5 quarters at a time. In my book this is just a recipe for long-term disaster - I've had teams with one superstar and I stayed up nights figuring out ways to not allow other teams to take him out of the game. I get really disappointed with KOC when I see this happening.

I agree with all comments on the OL play and how critical they are/will be to our success. Killer to not have Darrisaw out there. Sigh.

So that's a long-winded way of saying I love the wins to date but mostly hate the approach, as I don't think it is sustainable under pressure. And unfortunately for me, that leads to apathy about 15 minutes after yet another late-game win.

[Cliff]

To your earlier point about lack of posts here for a (now 11-2) team, at least for me your above quotes sum up why I don't post much.

Your points are valid but they're only a part of the story. In some respects a mix of people that "believe" in the team and people that don't make for more conversation and not less. Disagreement is a big part of what drives the conversation. For example, Cousins generated a lot of talk because people were so split on him. To a lesser extent Darnold is the same, there are people that believe in him and people that are waiting for the other shoe to drop.

More than anything we just don't see a ton of traffic anymore. It's not so much that people are reading and deciding not to post, it's that they're not coming in the first place. Partially the board never recovered from when GLG shut it down several years back. The board lost over half it's members when that happened. Partially it's because people tend to use social media for this stuff now. And partially it's my fault because I let a member or two stay that were running people off in the name of "free speech". I've definitely learned that just because a person isn't blatantly violating the rules doesn't mean they should be allowed to stay.

[chicagopurple]

I am at a loss on how JJ can be the forgotten man in our offense. He is running good routes, seems to get open. I mean its great to spread the ball around and keep the defense guessing but he is being criminally under utilized.