Colts @ Vikings 11/3/24

[Aggies7]

Reichard is really hurting. I wouldn’t have him do the KO

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

That works too 

[Aggies7]

Dude is really hurt you gotta give him credit for still doing his job 

[Mike Sixel]

Just now, Aggies7 said:

Dude is really hurt you gotta give him credit for still doing his job 

Agreed. 

[Aggies7]

Man, Flacco is older than me and I’d need an ice bath for a month after this beating

[Aggies7]

Celebrating caused a penalty smh 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Maybe Vikings should wait to celebrate until after the clock shows 0:00

[Aggies7]

Gilmore WTF

[Aggies7]

****ing bonehead penalties

[Aggies7]

Great leader Jefferson saves the day on special teams. That was a great kick 

[Mike Sixel]

A win, and the coaches have a lot to discuss. 

Keep playing Turner, he was close all night

[Aggies7]

Ugly ugly game. Defense was great against a very mediocre quarterback. Offense suspect and Darnold looks worse every week.

[Vanimal46]

I was out with the boys tonight celebrating my brother’s birthday. First half flew by. 2nd half not so much. 

Indy’s offense does not work without Richardson’s threat of running the ball. Flacco was finding pockets in our soft zone coverage and that was frustrating. 

Darnold’s red zone INT was a terrible decision and terrible throw. He did not play well tonight. 

I’m quite concerned about the state of the OL moving forward. Buckner and Stewart dominated our interior OL. Our screen game is back to being complete trash. 

All of that said, the Vikings dominated time of possession tonight, and it should have been a curb stomping if Darnold doesn’t make his dumb mistakes he’s making every game. 

[TheLeviathan]

Darnold's really bad plays, plus Bradbury getting p'owned, cost us a beatdown of a game.

I liked the offense's rhythm and variability.  Robinson played well.  Pass rush was back.

[Cap'n Piranha]

First, and most importantly, it’s a win.

Second, as bad as the offense was in the first half, there were some bright moments in the second half.  I thought running tempo was a great strategic move by KOC, it clearly gassed an Indy D-line that was just thrashing our OL.  Clearly, we just need the offense to play every game like they’re trailing in the second half against the Colts.

Third, I give most of the credit for the win to the defense, which needed a bounce back in the worst way (giving up 29, 17, 31, and 28 in their last 4 games).  Didn’t get much pressure until the end stages, but still kept the Colts out of the end zone, and really didn’t let them get much going.

Finally, let’s hope this washes the bad taste, and we can get to a 3 game win streak against two pretty terrible teams, and get to 8-2.  21 is still not a great total for offensive output, and the offense’s ability to be ineffective and explosive all in the same game is still maddening, but the 2nd half can be built off of.

Oh, and please please please prioritize interior OL in the offseason.  If any of Brandel, Bradbury, or Ingram are starting next year, the cap space has been wasted.

[Cap'n Piranha]

48 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Ugly ugly game. Defense was great against a very mediocre quarterback. Offense suspect and Darnold looks worse every week.

Darnold absolutely had two terrible throws—that first pick was about the worst INT I’ve ever seen.

That said, outside of those two mistakes, he was 28/32 (that’s 87%) for 290 and 3 TDs, with a 107.1 rating—that’s essentially his rating for the whole year (107.2)—which is 5th in the NFL, barely behind Josh Allen, and ahead of Jayden Daniels, who supposedly is going to compete for the MVP.

Those terrible decisions need to get cleaned up, they will be much more costly against better teams, but Darnold was not the problem tonight.

[Vanimal46]

2 games in a row where a ref “didn’t see it.” Except this time they threw a flag, picked it up, and claimed they didn’t see it afterward. 

[Mike Sixel]

2 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

2 games in a row where a ref “didn’t see it.” Except this time they threw a flag, picked it up, and claimed they didn’t see it afterward. 

Their one job is to protect the QB.... Guaranteed of that's Rodgers it's a flag 

[Cap'n Piranha]

The officiating guy on NBC was pretty adamant that it was clearly a flag.  I agree with Leviathan that so long as the face mask isn’t grabbed, and the contact to the head doesn’t appear to be deliberate, incidental contact to the head should not be a flag.  On the play in question, Darnold is changing where his head is, you can’t expect the defender to react that quickly.

But to state it again, under current rules, it’s a flag, and it should have been called.  I can buy the refs missing penalties, there’s 22 players on the field moving at high speed, and only like 7-8 officials.  But how illegal contact gets missed on the QB is beyond me; there should be at least 1 set of eyes on him at all times.

[TheLeviathan]

47 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Their one job is to protect the QB.... Guaranteed of that's Rodgers it's a flag 

I would like the NFL to not flag hits like that, but clearly they have been for less than the blow Darnold took.

I think what bothers me more is the inconsistency on when the league can intervene.

Take a note from the NHl and just get involved in all scoring and turnover plays across the board.

[Parfigliano]

2 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Their one job is to protect the QB.... Guaranteed of that's Rodgers it's a flag 

On Mahomes the D guy gets DQ'd and fined.

[Aggies7]

7 hours ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

Darnold absolutely had two terrible throws—that first pick was about the worst INT I’ve ever seen.

That said, outside of those two mistakes, he was 28/32 (that’s 87%) for 290 and 3 TDs, with a 107.1 rating—that’s essentially his rating for the whole year (107.2)—which is 5th in the NFL, barely behind Josh Allen, and ahead of Jayden Daniels, who supposedly is going to compete for the MVP.

Those terrible decisions need to get cleaned up, they will be much more costly against better teams, but Darnold was not the problem tonight.

Problem is that he’s been missing wide open guys and forcing passes into coverage. Addison was probably going to score on that second INT. He was that open. I think he had him open on the first pick too. 
 

Would like to see him use his legs more. He’s got fair enough speed for a QB. And running backwards on clear sacks has to be stopped.

[Vanimal46]

8 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

I think what bothers me more is the inconsistency on when the league can intervene.

Absolutely this. There’s no accountability or consistency with these calls. Almost like the NBA where the stars get the calls no matter what, and guys like Darnold haven’t earned the right to get these calls. 

I was not happy with the BS explanation during the Rams game and the explanation after this game isn’t great either. 

[nicksaviking]

Dennis Allen is fired. 

Long overdue. I don't think he's good at his job and the stench of Sean Peyton and the embracement of dirty plays never left that organization when they promoted him.

[Vanimal46]

24 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Dennis Allen is fired. 

Long overdue. I don't think he's good at his job and the stench of Sean Peyton and the embracement of dirty plays never left that organization when they promoted him.

The GM is likely out after the season too. Whoever takes on this opportunity better ask for a 6+ year contract to make it worthwhile. The Saints are in awful shape cap wise until the end of 2026. 

[nicksaviking]

12 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

The GM is likely out after the season too. Whoever takes on this opportunity better ask for a 6+ year contract to make it worthwhile. The Saints are in awful shape cap wise until the end of 2026. 

And they're one of the oldest teams in the league too.

How does a non-competitive team extend a 29-year-old RB mid-season?!? GM should have been fired before he could sign that contract.

[nicksaviking]

https://fansided.com/dennis-allen-defends-saints-dt-for-blatantly-dirty-play-on-justin-herbert-chargers

When his player clearly tried to break Justin Herbert's leg two weeks ago, and then Allen defended it saying it wasn't dirty, it really bothered me.

If your player will do that, and you don't think it's dirty, then YOU'RE the problem Allen.

[gunnarthor]

Quick thoughts - 

1) I thought the offense did a good job of getting other receivers/TEs involved. Opened up the secondary a bit. Well called game by KOC who really is a very aggressive play caller. I thought for sure we'd run the ball and make Indy use their time outs but that play action pass to the left, wow. Heck of a call.

2) Darnold - he is what he is. I'm not as down on him as others. He'll make some head scratching throws and he doesn't always get to his other reads. But he's also playing pretty confidentially  and has a really strong arm. He made some legit throws all season. His season stats are basically identical to Cousins in Atlanta. 

3) We're 6-2 with the 6th best point differential (Bills, Pitt, Baltimore, Lions, and Washington ahead of us). Take a moment to appreciate that. 

4) Defensive depth - we have some good depth at edge/dl but Cashman is really hard to replace. Hopefully he comes back soon and stays healthy. The defense looks a lot better with him out there. Also, Dallas Turner had his best game for us. Looked close on several plays. Glad to see him getting more playing time.

[gunnarthor]

I thought this was a good article on some of the missed calls for player safety. https://www.dailynorseman.com/2024/11/4/24287742/player-safety-sam-darnold-minnesota-vikings

During the Lions game, Branch had a few other blows to the head on Jones and Jefferson as well. Really dirty player. 

[nicksaviking]

1 hour ago, gunnarthor said:

Quick thoughts - 

1) I thought the offense did a good job of getting other receivers/TEs involved. Opened up the secondary a bit. Well called game by KOC who really is a very aggressive play caller. I thought for sure we'd run the ball and make Indy use their time outs but that play action pass to the left, wow. Heck of a call.

2) Darnold - he is what he is. I'm not as down on him as others. He'll make some head scratching throws and he doesn't always get to his other reads. But he's also playing pretty confidentially  and has a really strong arm. He made some legit throws all season. His season stats are basically identical to Cousins in Atlanta. 

3) We're 6-2 with the 6th best point differential (Bills, Pitt, Baltimore, Lions, and Washington ahead of us). Take a moment to appreciate that. 

4) Defensive depth - we have some good depth at edge/dl but Cashman is really hard to replace. Hopefully he comes back soon and stays healthy. The defense looks a lot better with him out there. Also, Dallas Turner had his best game for us. Looked close on several plays. Glad to see him getting more playing time.

Yeah, this is Darnold's only season here I'm sure. He's not bad and he'll justifiably get a starting gig elsewhere next season, but he's probably a Geno Smith type at his peak. He can make all the throws, but his decision making will hold him back from ever being an elite QB.

I also liked the defensive adjustment. They were able to go back to a constant rotation of the edge players like they did the first several games while also covering for the disparity between Pace and Cashman's skills. That should have been particularly tough considering the Colts two best players, Taylor and Downs, tend to eat up the middle of the field. yet the Vikings pulled it off.