Vikings Message Board.Com

My GOD some of you are pathetic. Whine about the previous staff, and when they get let go, you are all sad because he is such a nice guy.
Then we get a new staff, and they aren't good enough. We couldn't get Bill Belicheck and his staff because he's pretty secure where he is.
I don't know what you all want. I can't believe some of you are complaining after the years we have been through. Everything is brand new, which is something we ALL wanted. Be happy that we don't have to worry about Chili Ball or Cover-2 anymore and wait and see what happens before you jump off the cliff.

King James wrote: You disagree but have YET to name a coach who is available that is better and can replace Mike Priefer. Ok yes he made a few mistakes, BIG DEAL. It's not like we're getting Devin Hester'd every game. And this talk about players making coaches is laughable. I'm guessing that Cordarelle Patterson and Harvin just run through all 12 people on the field. Have you and all the people who agreed with you ever played football before?

Do coaches like Priefer not help guys block so Patterson? Harvin can use their speed and elusivness to cut through players and break the big return? Does he not coach players to stop them from blocking in the back? DID HE F***KING NOT HELP JEFF LOCKE HOLD THE DAMN BALL THE CORRECT WAY SO BLAIR WALSH CAN GET GOOD KICKS ON THE FIELD GOLDS? Did Blair Walsh not improve in the NFL on FGs like he did in college. In college his FG tries were kinda bad but he had a strong leg. Now Walsh BARELY miss FGs, thanks to Priefer working with him like he does. Locke is a work in progress on punts but he has been working very hard and I've seen some improvement along the way.

If anybody here knows anything about special teams, it is more than just Patterson running the damn ball down the field. It's also about the other 10 guys on the field doing their job to make the workload that much easier for Patterson. How else do young players learn how not clip players or not blocking in the back. Unlike the offense and defense who has position coaches to work on technique. Special team coaches have to do most to all the teaching themselves on kickoffs and punts. And Priefer has done a good job overall with the special teams. I remember a Vikings special teams several years ago who could barely tackle anybody or get anything going on kick/punt returns. Priefer has made this special teams a lot better which shows why he is still on the team.

But please name me a great ST coach available, who can coach better than Priefer, that we need to hire right now?

EXCELLENT post James!!

Demi wrote: Hey, something we agree on!

Blessed with 5th round P and 6th round K too.

Guy before him got credit for Harvin.

Way overrated...

True, and the only reason we led the NFL in punt return average this last year was god's gift to football, the next coming of Deion Sanders, the great and talented Marcus Sherels. Priefer is such a lucky ####, getting all the world class talent to work with. I could coach the Vikings to be the best punt return team in the league with Marcus Sherels, AM I RIGHT?!?!?!?!

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

PurpleMustReign wrote:My GOD some of you are pathetic. Whine about the previous staff, and when they get let go, you are all sad because he is such a nice guy.
Then we get a new staff, and they aren't good enough. We couldn't get Bill Belicheck and his staff because he's pretty secure where he is.
I don't know what you all want. I can't believe some of you are complaining after the years we have been through. Everything is brand new, which is something we ALL wanted. Be happy that we don't have to worry about Chili Ball or Cover-2 anymore and wait and see what happens before you jump off the cliff.

Thank you and you are spot on

PurpleMustReign wrote:Everything is brand new, which is something we ALL wanted.

Brand new?! Assistants Priefer, Davidson, Stewart, Stefanski, Kubiak, Howard and Ficken were all with the team last season. We didn't get a clean slate so that can only mean the new staff is a continuation of the "incompetence" of the previous staff, right? We're doomed! DOOMED!

VikingBolt wrote:BTW, how many games did the Cleveland Browns win this year? Where Turner was for 2013?

Norv Turner had the 11th ranked passing offense in the NFL with below average QBs and bottom of the barrel RB's. So by no means does their W/L record reflect on Turner

Mothman wrote: Brand new?! Assistants Priefer, Davidson, Stewart, Stefanski, Kubiak, Howard and Ficken were all with the team last season. We didn't get a clean slate so that can only mean the new staff is a continuation of the "incompetence" of the previous staff, right? We're doomed! DOOMED!

Lol. My bad. We are screwed. We may as well all collectively jump off the roof of the Metrodome. Oh whoops.

King James wrote:You disagree but have YET to name a coach who is available that is better and can replace Mike Priefer. Ok yes he made a few mistakes, BIG DEAL. It's not like we're getting Devin Hester'd every game. And this talk about players making coaches is laughable. I'm guessing that Cordarelle Patterson and Harvin just run through all 12 people on the field. Have you and all the people who agreed with you ever played football before?

Do coaches like Priefer not help guys block so Patterson AND Harvin can use their speed and elusivness to cut through players and break the big return? Does he not coach players to stop them from blocking in the back? DID HE F***KING NOT HELP JEFF LOCKE HOLD THE DAMN BALL THE CORRECT WAY SO BLAIR WALSH CAN GET GOOD KICKS ON THE FIELD GOALS? Did Blair Walsh not improve in the NFL on FGs like he did in college. In college his FG tries were kinda bad but he had a strong leg. Now Walsh BARELY miss FGs, thanks to Priefer working with him like he does. Locke is a work in progress on punts but he has been working very hard and I've seen some improvement along the way.

If anybody here knows anything about special teams, it is more than just Patterson running the damn ball down the field. It's also about the other 10 guys on the field doing their job to make the workload that much easier for Patterson. How else do young players learn how not clip players or not blocking in the back. Unlike the offense and defense who has position coaches to work on technique. Special team coaches have to do most to all the teaching themselves on kickoffs and punts. And Priefer has done a good job overall with the special teams. I remember a Vikings special teams several years ago who could barely tackle anybody or get anything going on kick/punt returns. Priefer has made this special teams a lot better which shows why he is still on the team.

But please name me a great ST coach available, who can coach better than Priefer, that we need to hire right now?

Big Deal??? I'm sure you wouldn't be saying that if we were in contention this year. What he did in most of those games I listed above were back-breakers. He essentially costed us the first Chicago game and the Cleveland game, killed our momentum vs. Seattle (even though we probably wouldn't have won), and nearly lost us the second Chicago game because of his "ego".

As for another ST coach....its special teams. How many special teams coaches out there do you honestly know of?? The only reason you know about Priefer is because you're a Vikings fan. Go out there and ask any other non-Viking fan who Mike Priefer is and they will look at you like you have 6 heads. Or they will know him because of what's going on with Kluwe. I don't believe it takes a rocket scientist to be a special teams coach. Obviously, you need blocking schemes, return schemes, coverage schemes etc but in the end, it all comes down to who your return man is, who is covering, your kicker, etc.

I'm not saying I'm giving him ZERO credit for everything. I will admit he has improved Walsh, helped Sherels come along but when it comes to Harvin and Patterson...not a chance. Harvin and Patterson have freakish, natural athletic ability. There is no way you can sit there and tell me that if Patterson was on any other team, he would be successful. Guys like CP and Percy create for themselves. Look on offense when Patterson runs reverses and then reverses fields once again and makes a play out of it. Are you going to say Bill Musgrave is a genius for setting up those blocks for him?? No. He creates for himself. Look at the 109 yard KR he had vs GB.....he squeezed through the smallest holes and broke about 4 players ankles. Cordarrelle Patterson was a freak athlete coming out of college, was an unbelievable runner with the football and was a great return man. He already had those skills coming to Minnesota. No different than Harvin. Harvin was back there to return how many kicks this year? Less than 5 and he nearly breaks one and makes his old team look stupid and then takes one to the house in the SB.

Mike Priefer did not make these guys....these guys are why you know who Mike Priefer is and they can no doubt in my mind go to any other team and be successful return men. Harvin had already showed you that in a very limited time period. I don't see any other way around it.

Pondering Her Percy wrote:
Big Deal??? I'm sure you wouldn't be saying that if we were in contention this year. What he did in most of those games I listed above were back-breakers. He essentially costed us the first Chicago game and the Cleveland game, killed our momentum vs. Seattle (even though we probably wouldn't have won), and nearly lost us the second Chicago game because of his "ego".

As for another ST coach....its special teams. How many special teams coaches out there do you honestly know of?? The only reason you know about Priefer is because you're a Vikings fan. Go out there and ask any other non-Viking fan who Mike Priefer is and they will look at you like you have 6 heads. Or they will know him because of what's going on with Kluwe. I don't believe it takes a rocket scientist to be a special teams coach. Obviously, you need blocking schemes, return schemes, coverage schemes etc but in the end, it all comes down to who your return man is, how well you cover, kicking, etc.

I'm not saying I'm giving him ZERO credit for everything. I will admit he has improved Walsh, helped Sherels come along but when it comes to Harvin and Patterson...not a chance. Harvin and Patterson have freakish, natural athletic ability. There is no way you can sit there and tell me that if Patterson was on any other team, he would be successful. Guys like CP and Percy create for themselves. Look on offense when Patterson runs reverses and then reverses fields once again and makes a play out of it. Are you going to say Bill Musgrave is a genius for setting up those blocks for him?? No. He creates for himself. Look at the 109 yard KR he had vs GB.....he squeezed through the smallest holes and broke about 4 players ankles. Cordarrelle Patterson was a freak athlete coming out of college, was an unbelievable runner with the football and was a great return man. He already had those skills coming to Minnesota. No different than Harvin. Harvin was back there to return how many kicks this year? Less than 5 and he nearly breaks one and makes his old team look stupid and then takes one to the house in the SB.

Mike Priefer did not make these guys....these guys are why you know who Mike Priefer is and they can no doubt in my mind go to any other team and be successful return men. Harvin had already showed you that in a very limited time period. I don't see any other way around it.

Oh my goodness. You ARE STILL missing the point. I did not say that Priefer made Harvin or Patterson. HOWEVER, Patterson and Harvin are not the only players on special teams. Specials teams is Kickoffs, Punts, and FG. So far we are doing fairly good in each department. You've only named one flaw in our system, that still doesn't out weight the positves and warrant enough for him to get fired. Harvin is a beast, he is going to get his no matter what. Denver actually tried to kick it short so Harvin wouldn't get it but Harvin ran up like 20 yards to catch the ball and take it to the house. But that's just one player, as a whole Priefer has improved the entire special teams as a whole. You're only looking at two players, not the entire special teams unit.

And FYI it wasn't Musgrave's job to teach guys how to block. The POSITION COACHES teaches players how to block. Musgrave's job was to gameplan and find good plays to dissect a defense. Do you really think Patterson and Harvin will cut to the outside with ease without some blocking????? Maybe you only pay attention to Harvin or Patterson running that you forget the guys who are like 20 yards in front of them trying to hold their blocks.

I guess maybe we should let Patterson run kickoffs by himself and keep everyone else on the sidelines. Since he creates his own lanes right?

King James wrote:
Oh my goodness. You ARE STILL missing the point. I did not say that Priefer made Harvin or Patterson. HOWEVER, Patterson and Harvin are not the only players on special teams. Specials teams is Kickoffs, Punts, and FG. So far we are doing fairly good in each department. You've only named one flaw in our system, that still doesn't out weight the positves and warrant enough for him to get fired. Harvin is a beast, he is going to get his no matter what. Denver actually tried to kick it short so Harvin wouldn't get it but Harvin ran up like 20 yards to catch the ball and take it to the house. But that's just one player, as a whole Priefer has improved the entire special teams as a whole. You're only looking at two players, not the entire special teams unit.

And FYI it wasn't Musgrave's job to teach guys how to block. The POSITION COACHES teaches players how to block. Musgrave's job was to gameplan and find good plays to dissect a defense. Do you really think Patterson and Harvin will cut to the outside with ease without some blocking????? Maybe you only pay attention to Harvin or Patterson running that you forget the guys who are like 20 yards in front of them trying to hold their blocks.

I guess maybe we should let Patterson run kickoffs by himself and keep everyone else on the sidelines. Since he creates his own lanes right?

Oh my goodness and you are missing my point!! It doesn't matter who is out there blocking, with Patterson natural talent, he's going to make the best out of it. If you put CP on any other team, he would still be successful. No different than Harvin regardless of who is coaching or who is blocking. Take Patterson off this team and then let me know how good our KR game is. Then we will really see how well everyone is "blocking". And you also missed my point when I said ...it's not like I wasn't giving him credit for anything. He obviously helped Walsh and Sherels come along. But I highly doubt we would have a good return game if it wasn't for CP and Harvin. And in turn, many fans probably wouldn't have any idea who Mike Priefer is.

Let's look at Mike Priefer's resume as of now. As noted by Vikings.com:



-Helped Cordarrelle Patterson rank #1 in the NFL with a 32.4 kick return average and Marcus Sherels rank #2 in the NFL with a 15.2 punt return average. Both players set Vikings records with their averages.

-Helped the Vikings lead the NFL in 2013 in average starting position following a kickoff at the 27.2 yard line, the highest since the NFL changed the kickoff rules following the 2010 season.

-Aided rookie punter Jeff Locke in his 1st NFL season where he set the team rookie-record for gross punting average with 44.2 yards. Locke’s 39.2 net average ranks 3rd all-time in team history.

-Had rookies named First-Team All-Pro in back-to-back years with Blair Walsh in 2012 and Cordarrelle Patterson in 2013.

-Since joining the Vikings in 2011, the Vikings lead the NFL with 4 kick return TDs. Their 6 combined TDs (4 KR, 2 PR) are tied for tops in the NFL.

-Was named the 2012 Special Teams Coach of the Year as voted on by his NFL counterparts. As a unit, the Vikings committed the fewest turnovers (0), made the most FGs (35) and allowed the fewest points (0) in the NFL on special teams.

-Worked with Blair Walsh who made an NFL record 12 consecutive field goals over 50 yards during the 2012 and 2013 seasons.


So outside of blocking and bullets I've posted, he has still helped Harvin and Patterson whether you want to believe it or not. The fact that Harvin and Patterson are already good makes Preifer's job a little easier but that does not mean players do all the work without the guidance of the coach. My main point is that Priefer has done well enough to get his job. Just because guys like Patterson run with easy does not mean Priefer isn't doing anything.

So in other words you are saying that since we have Patterson, that ANYONE can coach our special teams and have the same success? So you're telling me YOU can go out there and coach special teams, and get the same or better results than Priefer is getting?

King James wrote:Let's look at Mike Priefer's resume as of now. As noted by Vikings.com:



-Helped Cordarrelle Patterson rank #1 in the NFL with a 32.4 kick return average and Marcus Sherels rank #2 in the NFL with a 15.2 punt return average. Both players set Vikings records with their averages.

-Helped the Vikings lead the NFL in 2013 in average starting position following a kickoff at the 27.2 yard line, the highest since the NFL changed the kickoff rules following the 2010 season.

-Aided rookie punter Jeff Locke in his 1st NFL season where he set the team rookie-record for gross punting average with 44.2 yards. Locke’s 39.2 net average ranks 3rd all-time in team history.

-Had rookies named First-Team All-Pro in back-to-back years with Blair Walsh in 2012 and Cordarrelle Patterson in 2013.

-Since joining the Vikings in 2011, the Vikings lead the NFL with 4 kick return TDs. Their 6 combined TDs (4 KR, 2 PR) are tied for tops in the NFL.

-Was named the 2012 Special Teams Coach of the Year as voted on by his NFL counterparts. As a unit, the Vikings committed the fewest turnovers (0), made the most FGs (35) and allowed the fewest points (0) in the NFL on special teams.

-Worked with Blair Walsh who made an NFL record 12 consecutive field goals over 50 yards during the 2012 and 2013 seasons.


So outside of blocking and bullets I've posted, he has still helped Harvin and Patterson whether you want to believe it or not. The fact that Harvin and Patterson are already good makes Preifer's job a little easier but that does not mean players do all the work without the guidance of the coach. My main point is that Priefer has done well enough to get his job. Just because guys like Patterson run with easy does not mean Priefer isn't doing anything.

So in other words you are saying that since we have Patterson, that ANYONE can coach our special teams and have the same success? So you're telling me YOU can go out there and coach special teams, and get the same or better results than Priefer is getting?

You're blowing this out of proportion. Once again, the main reason I don't have much confidence in Priefer is because of his lack of making adjustments. Our special teams should rarely serve as a big reason we lose games and in 2 instances this year....that happened. It should have happened 3 times if it wasn't for Gould missing that field goal. Hester kills us all game and what does Priefer do....continue to kick to him, even when the game is on the line. He was dumb enough to kick to a guy that was great for us and he nearly burned us. He doesn't prepare for a "tanking" Cleveland team. I mean he kicks to these guys all game and after they burn us 2-3 times, he finally decides to pooch it....give me a break.

As for Patterson, watch his tape from Tennessee. What you see him doing on punts and kicks in college is exactly what you see him doing in the NFL. You can put him on any team in this league and he will make his plays. I give Priefer credit for Walsh, Locke, and Sherels but in no way would I give him credit for Patterson or Harvin. Not a chance. These guys were already developed return men and freak athletes before they got to Priefer. There are only so many blocking schemes you can have on special teams. The majority of the load is on the return man and his ability to make plays.

I'm not saying he is some horrible coach because he has done a lot of good things as you have stated. But he has some major flaws and making adjustments is his biggest one. You don't sit there and kick to guys like Hester and Harvin non-stop when the game is on the line or even in general. It's just arrogant and he really needs to throw his "ego" out the door because it's crap.

The Staffer that I was sort of shocked to see stay was Davidson. I know that we lost Hutch, and that was a big blow to the O-Line. But it seems to me that ever since Davidson came here, our Offensive line has went backwards. Matt Kalil doesn't seem to be reaching his potential, our Guards are horrible. Might be one of the worst guard tandems in the NFL. Sully is alright, but I think there are guys alot better. Loadholt seems to be the only one that has improved over the past 4 years. Why are they keeping this guy around, am I missing something?

KSViking wrote:The Staffer that I was sort of shocked to see stay was Davidson. I know that we lost Hutch, and that was a big blow to the O-Line. But it seems to me that ever since Davidson came here, our Offensive line has went backwards. Matt Kalil doesn't seem to be reaching his potential, our Guards are horrible. Might be one of the worst guard tandems in the NFL. Sully is alright, but I think there are guys alot better. Loadholt seems to be the only one that has improved over the past 4 years. Why are they keeping this guy around, am I missing something?

Wow a little over exagerated there maybe. Kalil has not reached his potential? He is 24 years old and although he stepped back from his rookie year he is a very good LT. Fusco is also highly rated as is Sullivan. Loadholt is a road grader but definately needs to improve his pass blocking skills. Johnson is the weak link and does need to be replaced no doubt. Over all I would say that the Vikes have a B- o-line and it is one aspect of the team that I worry the least about.

KSViking wrote:The Staffer that I was sort of shocked to see stay was Davidson. I know that we lost Hutch, and that was a big blow to the O-Line. But it seems to me that ever since Davidson came here, our Offensive line has went backwards. Matt Kalil doesn't seem to be reaching his potential, our Guards are horrible. Might be one of the worst guard tandems in the NFL. Sully is alright, but I think there are guys alot better. Loadholt seems to be the only one that has improved over the past 4 years. Why are they keeping this guy around, am I missing something?

I feel the same. Maybe Zimmer/Turner will have a different scheme that Davidson will be able to coach?

Sent from my SGH-T769 using Tapatalk