Vikings @ Bills Game Day Discussion Thread -- Preseaon #2

[Ohjay]

That sure was a painful game...

Our O-line looked like toddlers playing against veteran NFL players, no one could pick up the blitz. Heck the entire offense looked bad but I blame most of it on the O-line, Ponder barely had time to get to his 2nd read and the recievers couldn't get open despite the blitz-heavy D of the Bills.
Why the @£§#%¤"€$ was Asiata allowed to play so much in this game? Did he do anything that was good? Couldn't run, couldn't block...

Bishop looked extremely slow and sluggish in the first couple of series he was in, then suddenly came alive. Not sure what I think about it.
Cole... a year on the PS apparantly did nothing for his hunger to play an NFL game. Just cut him.
Mauti needs more reps and with the 2nd string guys at least, the kid looks good!
The enigma that is Sanford. Makes a horrible play and then suddenly on the next he grabs an INT to redeem himself, I can't decide if I like him or if I want him gone.
It's a shame that Randle didn't get more reps, I really like his style when he runs the ball, but how good is he at blocking(I haven't noticed much in that department)? If he's a decent blocker he should be right behind Gerhart on the depth chart and take Toby's spot when he's gone from our team.

Rhodes looked good, still has some learning to do but it looks promising.
Patterson was a bit invisible in this game, the little he showed was good though.
Floyd, barely noticed him. Did he do anything noteworthy?

Locke seems good, only one semi-bad punt that I could tell.
Walsh seems to have some troubles this season, maybe it's the new holder that is throwing him off. Last game he hooked several field goal kicks and his first FG-kick in this game was plain bad for being Walsh. I'm sure they figure it out 'til the first real game.
On a related note, two poor snaps from the center today(Sullivan / Berger), absolutely unforgiving. Get on that and squash it ASAP Frazier!


This game was not a pretty sight, not at all. Thank god it's just preseason

[CbusVikesFan]

It was hard to watch Ponder run for his life over and over again. The Oline should be referred to as the "PURPLE SIEVE". Then when Cassel came in, same thing. Great Ceasar's Ghost!!! I thought we had a top notch O-line? Ponder did make a throwing error or two, made some decent throws, and I was hoping to see more of the 1st team offense, but the way the Line looked lackluster(to be kind), I am glad I did not see more. lol
Chris Summers had a nice catch later on. I like Banyard's vision in the hole, like the cutbacks. MBT is decent. Walsh was solid after the miss which is good to see. The touchbacks are awesome. Locke was impressive with the pin inside the 10 punts. But it seems that he can outpunt the coverage at times. That is very fixable. Looks like we have a couple of decent returners.

Brandon Burton needs work to say the least. Most of the secondary backups need serious work. Was not impressed at all there. Actually that goes for most of the backups on defense. they need to step it up more than a little to help the club out. Right now, I see a ton of liabilities out there.
I am hoping that the coaches tighten the screws this week and crack the whip!!!

[The Breeze]

Sounds like it could be a long week around here.

As for the way the offense played, I would have to suggest that the line's pass blocking has been suspect for seasons now, with blitz issues being the biggest glitch for the whole offense. To have it so exposed in the 2nd week of preseason is a very good thing IMO. Whether/wether/weather or not they are able to fix it is anybodys guess....but they have some nice tape that shows them that they are not as great as everyone seems to think they are in spite of having a RB gain 2000yds.

All the time spent wrangling back and forth about Ponder is what it is, but I would like to see a thread breaking down the details of how this team is so god-awful in blitz situations. I really don't get it and it doesn't seem plausible to just assume that certain players are just crap along the line. Although, that seems to be what the general vibe is. I know this particular game was irregular in the sense that the Vikes did not prepare for the Bills blitz packages....but C'mon,

Anyway, just a quick thought~

[Just Me]

That sure was a painful game...
The enigma that is Sanford. Makes a horrible play and then suddenly on the next he grabs an INT to redeem himself, I can't decide if I like him or if I want him gone.

Not taking anything away from his INT (well...maybe I am I guess), but that play was really Rhodes'. He tipped the ball high enough on the defensed pass that 3 Vikings had a shot at the INT. In fact, I thought Sanford was going to knock all three of them out of contention for the INT but he came down with it, so all is forgiven.

[jackal]

I'm wondering if Cole figured he has no chance with the Vikings bringing in both FA's and multiple LB draft picks
for a spot he wants to compete for.. Sometimes if you have many people for one spot you have no one for the spot.

Sounds like Rhodes might be legit that makes me happy ..

We need to get our LB resolved and right now ...

[PurpleKoolaid]

We found out how unprepared and poorly coached this team is (in the first 2 games, not just this game). We still don't know what to do when blitzed, nor do we know how to stop the hurry up offense. Its like the teams never learns froms its mistakes and expects AD to step in and take over everything yet again.

[Ohjay]

Not taking anything away from his INT (well...maybe I am I guess), but that play was really Rhodes'. He tipped the ball high enough on the defensed pass that 3 Vikings had a shot at the INT. In fact, I thought Sanford was going to knock all three of them out of contention for the INT but he came down with it, so all is forgiven.

Yeah Rhodes made the play no doubt about that, but Sanford actually caught the ball so he deserves some credit for it

[NDVikeFan]

Do we get a choice??

It's posts like this that really makes you wonder what kind of posters we have here. I mean seriously doesn this guy think the Vikings schedule there own preseason games?

To me it seems like 60 percent of the posters just rag on everything for the sake of ragging. Dont get me wrong it was an bad game but its like some people don't even enjoy anything, and just get there jollies from being negative.

Its just not here either. TV, radio, other sites its the same thing. It really takes the enjoyment out of it all at times. When did everyone become so negative?

[Eli]

It really takes the enjoyment out of it all at times.

That's VERY easily remedied.

Just like the Vikings don't get to select who they play or what the opposition does in the game, you don't get to select who posts or what they post.

[mondry]

Alright so something that's been on my mind for the 1st string offense. I saw a number of plays where the fb/rb's had to block defensive ends and at the time I thought it was a busted blocking scheme / assignment. Then Ben Leber was talking about "trying things out" and the preseason is the time for that. I don't disagree about that but apparently what we wanted to "try out" was very very strange.

I can't see the benefit in forcing your backs to pick up defensive ends at all, in fact I feel like that's almost the last thing you ever want to have happen. I wouldn't expect any back to handle Jared Allen for example coming with a full head of steam unblocked, so I really just don't get that design from musgrave. It clearly didn't work and the protection was atrocious. Any stunt or blitz meant there would be no pocket to step into and they blitzed a lot. This forced Ponder to go outside the tackle box and put loadholt and kalil in really bad positions fundamentally. I get wanting to try things out in the preseason and see if it works but this could have easily gotten both our QB's killed.

I really thought Musgrave had turned the corner in the second half of last year as a playcaller and offensive coordinator but that was probably the worst I've seen a Vikings offense play in quite a while. Talking Brad Childress bad! Hopefully Frazier burnt that part of the playbook last night.

[Eli]

I saw that Leber quote somewhere, too. I think there could be a couple of reasons for trying such a strategy.

One, it may be to cut off an inside blitzing backer using offensive linemen, rather than letting him get a full head of steam and hoping that the running back picks him up three or four yards deep in the backfield.

It could also be a reaction to having a couple of mediocre guards and an undersized center. Having a tackle double up on the interior of the line could give the QB a more solid pocket to step into and avoid the outside rush. The Vikings had a lot of problems last year with collapsing pockets and the whole interior OL getting bullrushed into Ponder's face. Of course, it only really works if the running back can successfully redirect that outside rusher.

[NextQuestion]

It seems like Ponder tries to get the ball out at the last possible second. Has no zip on his passes at all. I'm pretty nervous

[King James]

Ponder has his struggles but I find it hard to put any blame on him yesterday. Blitzes were coming from everywhere. Outside and inside, and a lot of unblock men were able to take him down within a blink of an eye. So how can he step in the pocket when he has unblock linemen right in his face?

I see people putting blame on the guards but I put blame in the entire line. We know the guards suck. Phil Loadholt is only good during the run. Mr. Overrated aka John Sullivan, can't snap the ball or block that good. Matt Kalil may be going through the sophomore slump this year. We are in trouble! But it's definitely not Ponder fault. I see the Vikings are really trying to get him to work on his passing but we can't do that if he doesn't even have a second to throw!

[SLCVikefan]

It seems like Ponder tries to get the ball out at the last possible second. Has no zip on his passes at all. I'm pretty nervous

Considering most plays all he had was 1 second, that's a great take...

[Arma]

We found out how unprepared and poorly coached this team is (in the first 2 games, not just this game). We still don't know what to do when blitzed, nor do we know how to stop the hurry up offense. Its like the teams never learns froms its mistakes and expects AD to step in and take over everything yet again.

It's a preseason game, there is no adjustments to be made; that's pointless as it just puts free film out for week 1. It was a vanilla offense made to do some quick reads, take a few hits to get used to playing football again, and maybe a good drive. The fact that the Bills took this game seriously and ran a full-fledged defense is the reason we looked so bad. I hate Musgrave way more then most, but you really shouldn't expect changes to be made.