2022 Vikings Regular Season Thread

[nicksaviking]

20 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Then maybe don't compare him to them?

He needs to be better, but the defense needs to be way more 

I didn't. I compared him to decent pocket passers, then casually added that in addition to what's expected from an NFL QB, there is also a level above what's expected. My point is the same with or without the redacted emphasis.

Why does it seem Cousins can never correctly audible to a quick out pass when he sees a blitz? Decent pocket passers do it regularly (while Brady and Rodgers do it just about every time) but Cousins rarely gets it right.

[nicksaviking]

1 hour ago, Danchat said:

Apparently he got kicked in the groin, so methinks he'll be OK for next week. Cine, on the other hand, might have a 12+ month recovery depending on what exactly happened, but for 2022, it's not a big blow as Metellus has already shown he can be a solid backup. 

That's good. It looked like his right arm got crushed and then rolled up on. I figured something might be broken or dislocated.

[Vanimal46]

Good luck to Cine in his recovery. 

[Mike Sixel]

When I broke my femur, it wasn't the first surgery that set me back, but the second (third, sort of, actually). Good luck to him in his recovery, it looks like it will take a lot of time and effort. I just hope he recovers enough to have a normal life (football life is bonus).

[nicksaviking]

We all knew it was going to be bad when he was still down after coming back from the commercial. Best wishes. Hopefully he gets the best care and treatment  possible.

[gunnarthor]

I do think the Vikings were a bit lucky - esp against Detroit. But, after last year, I'll take it. I think the offense will improve as they get more acclimated to the new offense and KOC becomes better at his job. The defense I'm not as sure about but somehow they aren't giving up a ton of points. Don't know if that's a fluke or something we can continue to do but I'll take it for now.

[Vanimal46]

4 hours ago, gunnarthor said:

I do think the Vikings were a bit lucky - esp against Detroit. But, after last year, I'll take it. I think the offense will improve as they get more acclimated to the new offense and KOC becomes better at his job. The defense I'm not as sure about but somehow they aren't giving up a ton of points. Don't know if that's a fluke or something we can continue to do but I'll take it for now.

It’s better to be 3-1 and figure out these issues vs. 1-3. Which we easily could be. 

It seems like Kirk is struggling with the new offense. He’s trying to push the ball downfield more, but he has a mental block that’s preventing him from throwing into tight windows consistently. Unless the guy is wide open, or the game is on the line, he is programmed to not take those chances. I don’t know if that can be coached out of him. 

The defense on the other hand is a mess. The same issues show up on a weekly basis. No pass rush, and a mediocre at best secondary. It’s why this offseason was frustrating to run it back with the same core of players… Most of them don’t fit into the new 3-4 defense outside of ZaDarius Smith. 

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Only half payin' attention to the season.

 

Buti been in New England long enough to know that always being in position for that last field goal, or other clutch play at the end doesn't always happen just by chance. It may take a few more coin flips coming up heads to make me think Rosenkrantz and gentle Guildenstern rules are in play...

[Vanimal46]

Tale of 2 halves. The first half the offense was dominating, defense held their own. The second half everything is falling a part. 

[Vanimal46]

The fact that this team is 4-1 right now is amazing. I’m pretty critical of Kirk but it’s solely because of him we have this record. 

[gunnarthor]

3-0 in the division already. I'll take ugly wins over ugly losses all season but, geez, this defense has problems. Hunter, Danztler, LB Smith are pretty good. A few others are solid but mostly folks seem like they are playing out of position and/or a step slow (S Smith)

[gunnarthor]

1 minute ago, Vanimal46 said:

The fact that this team is 4-1 right now is amazing. I’m pretty critical of Kirk but it’s solely because of him we have this record. 

Yeah, and I thought for sure he had a concussion after that 6 yard run. Good thing the NFL is on top of that. Stupid that our next play was a rollout where he threw one of our few ****** passes of the game.

[LVTwinsfan]

So if you can’t force a fumble, just take the ball….. that’s brilliant

[Vanimal46]

20 minutes ago, LVTwinsfan said:

So if you can’t force a fumble, just take the ball….. that’s brilliant

Just a total bonehead move by Smith-Marsette. That was a textbook catch the ball and get out of bounds play. Which the Vikings D was gladly going to give to him. Instead he tried being the hero and ruined the comeback opportunity for the Bears. 

[LVTwinsfan]

If they had a defense they could go places

[cHawk]

Glad we’re 4-1 but we need to clean it up and actually blow teams out. A couple teams in the past have amazingly gone 13-3 winning games like this. They didn’t fare very well in the postseason though.

[Mike Sixel]

14 minutes ago, LVTwinsfan said:

If they had a defense they could go places

They need to stop dropping Hunter in coverage. They need to let Smith play closer to the line. Other than that, not sure they can fix this with these players. The offense is going to have to score 35 plus some games....

[Vanimal46]

The first axe has been used on a Head Coach. Carolina fires Matt Rhule after yet another slow start to their season. 

Others that are highly likely to get fired:

Nathaniel Hackett - DEN, Josh McDaniels - OAK, Ron Rivera - WAS

Likely to get fired if the season doesn’t turn around:

Brandon Staley - Chargers, Kliff Kingsbury - Cardinals

Low chance, but not 0%, of getting fired:

Dan Campbell - Lions, Dennis Allen - Saints, Frank Reicht - Colts 

[nicksaviking]

Hackett seems lost, he could and probably should be a one-and-done coach. Dumb hire anyway considering he made his name coaching a HOF QB who notoriously does what he wants on the field, not what the coaches tell him.

The Raiders are unpredictable for sure, but I'd guess after the turmoil of last year, they'd stick with McDaniel next year if only to have a year of stability. Washington is also unpredictable, but Rivera would hopefully get another job ASAP; they've never given him anything to work with since he's been there.

Kingsbury could have been gone last year. That team just doesn't seem to know how to play the NFL version of football.

Lovie Smith will also probably be unfairly chopped so a hot-shot-du-jour can come in there with a shiny new franchise QB and a chance to turn things around.

Also, I know they are 4-1 now, but that's just going to make Dallas' inevitable collapse that more frustrating so I'd predict that McCarthy goes. Heck, Jerry Jones might even help manufacture frustration just so he has an excuse to chase Sean Payton.

[nicksaviking]

Seems like Daniel Carlson was a pretty good pick after all.

[Mike Sixel]

McDaniel should be fired for going for two there. No idea why Reid did either. Mind. Boggling.

[nicksaviking]

1 minute ago, Mike Sixel said:

McDaniel should be fired for going for two there. No idea why Reid did either. Mind. Boggling.

Yeah, if they get the two and go ahead, that puts KC in four down situation the rest of regulation. Take the tie and hope they punt on fourth down.

[nicksaviking]

Wow. If Jefferson and Thielan ran into each other on a blown route to lose the game for the Vikings, I can only imagine the finger pointing around here. Haha, good luck Raiders!

[Mike Sixel]

Third and fourth and short ... Long passes. Awful coaching. 

[RpR]

The Vikings are where they are by the grace of God, not because they are a good team that deserves their record.

[Danchat]

10 hours ago, RpR said:

The Vikings are where they are by the grace of God, not because they are a good team that deserves their record.

They are a decent team in a very bad NFC conference, and would probably be 2-3 if they were in the AFC.

[nicksaviking]

This will be an interesting test for the Vikings with a rookie 7th round QB starting against them. They should tee off on this guy and rattle him until he can't make proper decisions, but that hasn't been their MO this year. Jalen Hurts and Justin Fields are pretty poor passing QBs and the Vikings should have taken advantage of that, but the Vikings let their completion percentages jump 10-15% higher than what they ever accomplish, which can only give a young QB extra confidence. Are they still going to play this soft let-them-catch-everything coverage against a guy with an even more dubious track record?

[Mike Sixel]

Watching this Thursday..... The Vikings must be truly awful on defense. Chicago is terrible. 

[nicksaviking]

12 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Watching this Thursday..... The Vikings must be truly awful on defense. Chicago is terrible. 

That was just another ugly Thursday Night game all around. Justin Fields is good at exactly one thing. Unless he plays the Vikings of course.  Fields' completion % by game:

SF - 47%

GB - 63%

Hou - 47%

NYG - 50%

MIN - 71% !!!!!!!!!

Was - 51%

Fields isn't doing CJ Stroud any favors. The 'OSU QBs are NFL busts' stereotypes is holding more water with every passing game. I'm glad the Vikings dodged that bullet.

[Mike Sixel]

17 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

That was just another ugly Thursday Night game all around. Justin Fields is good at exactly one thing. Unless he plays the Vikings of course.  Fields' completion % by game:

SF - 47%

GB - 63%

Hou - 47%

NYG - 50%

MIN - 71% !!!!!!!!!

Was - 51%

Fields isn't doing CJ Stroud any favors. The 'OSU QBs are NFL busts' stereotypes is holding more water with every passing game. I'm glad the Vikings dodged that bullet.

In fairness, he's running for his life and the WR are terrible. But, ya.