TheLeviathan

I was listening to Purple Daily and I thought Zulgad made an interesting statement that might have gotten lost in this season and the catastrophic ending: We had a lot of delay of games or near penalties this year for the clock running down before the play got off. It sounds like there was some confirmation, due to media having access to KOC/Darnold communication, that those are happening because KOC was doing the same thing with Darnold that we saw him do with Dobbs in that Atlanta game. The insinuation was that this had been a year long feature that explains that tendency. Could be he's speculating, but that's not the way he came off. More of a "inside media circles" type of comment. FWIW.

Nick Mullins is similar to Darnold. He's an aggressive, chuck it deep style guy. He shouldn't change the approach IMO. (Also, context matters - several of those times he had to come were 3rd and Long situations. I'd prefer my coach not give up on a series if he doesn't have to. It's my one thing I am a bit disappointed in about the game - KOC did give up. He saw what I'm arguing: Darnold couldn't hit the ocean from the beach. I wish he had the guts to sit him) We did change things for Dobbs...not quite fully for a scrambling QB, but that's a major shift on very short notice. I thought, overall, he did well to get anything out of Dobbs. Or Mullins. Even Darnold. Some of this is being a victim of his own ability to improvise and coach from the sideline. All that said - I've been on here willing to criticize KOC. I've criticized his short yardage and goal line calls. The sneaks with freaking Brandon Powell pushing. The inconsistency in running the ball and when he goes for it/doesn't. He's not beyond criticism for me. What's frustrating, localized to these two games, is to see people keep claiming there are problems with his gameplan when the film quite clearly contradicts that. Sam Darnold didn't look like the guy from the previous 16 weeks. (Well...mostly. He was inaccurate on intermediate throws all year. And I think I might've posted in game threads two or three dozen times that he holds the ball too long) It is one of the most breath-taking, single human collapses I can ever recall in sports.

You don't get to become angry and defensive after you keep trying to revive the horse. You posted a link, am I not allowed to respond? Cmon. It's not like I've been negative on this team all year and waiting to pounce on Darnold. Up until three weeks ago I was firmly in "I don't know what to do. He's playing so well the decision is complicated" So spare me this tone you keep getting and then blaming me for it. Please. Getting the right QB matters even to smart coaches. Do you think the Rams and McVay paid the heavy price to upgrade from Goff to Stafford for no reason? Read that again - Goff, the current pilot of the NFL's best offense - was dumped so that McVay could see his offense rise to its best form by replacing him. Not every QB can be great, even given the ingredients to do so. What we saw from Darnold was evident: he was given all the ingredients. He was shown the recipe. He was told how to make it. He was instructed how to not start it on fire. Then he blow-torched it in such epic fashion it's still hard to fully comprehend it. What KOC needs is his Stafford. Let's hope JJ is that guy.

It's preposterous once you start to see it. I really appreciate what Darnold did this year. It was fun. It's also evident that he's not the guy. Nor should what happened the last two games give us pause about our head coach.

I got you my friend....

And if you can't watch the following link and finally see what the real problem is, I don't know what to say:

Thank you, I didn't have time to explore that data. It seemed off to me too. Even if we had gone max protect...does anyone feel like that would've changed the outcome? I sure don't. For those that want a visual of open, short receivers......brace yourself: https://x.com/VikesPA/status/1879224036875784332

The analysis on the extra blockers is a legitimate criticism. We might have tried that as an adjustment. However, that article doesn't do the same level of analysis on the pressures. 13 of the 24 pressures came after 2.5 seconds. If Matthew Stafford had held the ball 4-7 seconds, I guarantee you our pressure stats would've also been in the 50% range. Any QB who thinks they can hold the ball 4-5 seconds is going to make pressure statistics pop off the page. Unfortunately, as fans, we have the camera zoomed in on the pocket and our inclination is to blame all pressure on the OL. But the QB has a huge role in pre-snap reads, throwing the ball away, and making quick reads in limiting the damage of pressure. Or eluding it at all. Stafford and Goff demonstrated what a true starter does to limit this. Josh Allen is insane at avoiding these sorts of problems. Mahomes too. Those are high bars and obviously Sam can't be expected to be at that level....but he has to be better than he was to be a viable starting QB or not shoulder the lionshare of hte blame. The coach is no longer in his ear when those things have to happen and with Darnold, it shows. There is 10% of this KOC probably could've changed. He can't change calling a screen left and his QB takes a sack looking right. He can't fix calling a 2 yard swing pass and his QB misses by 5 yards. Or an open dig over the middle missed by 5 yards. Or literally scheming Addison open for a TD, telling his QB to throw there or throw away, only to result in a 7 second sack. You can lead a horse to water, but the SOB has to drink. Just like with Cousins doing the inverse in the past. I'm hoping, in JJ, we have someone willing to take what is given but also try to snatch big plays. (While also hoping our coach and GM invest into the running game much more heavily)

That would be a good swap depending on costs! Holland definitely fits.

I do like Henderson. Part of why I recommend Giddens and Skattebo is the thunder/lightning combo they provide. I'm all in on Skattebo, I think he's a culture changer type player. The kind of guy who can single-handedly change the way we view our running game. "Add some nasty" type of guy. While Giddens is the freak who you can throw to and gash with. One of my personal priorities, if I were the GM, would be to look to add 2-3 key pieces who add some nasty/physicality to the Vikings game. DJ Reed. Trey Smith. Skattebo. Calais Campbell. Javon Hargrave is another that I considered.

I think one thing we haven't mentioned is that as good as the Wilfs are as owners, their requirement not to tear down and rebuild has made the process more difficult to fix some of those roster issues. This is the first offseason where KAM really has the tools to do whatever it is he wants to do. Hopefully there is some investment in the running game. I have ZERO concerns about route diversity. People seem to forget that our complaint about the KOC system under Cousins was that we didn't push the ball enough and were too content to throw underneath. KOC has plenty of short, intermediate, and deep concepts. The problem the first two years was a QB who didn't have the guts to push the ball. This year we had a QB who could ONLY push the ball. (He was a dreadful intermediate and short thrower, even when we were doing well) What does need to change is the running game. That piece has remained an issue and the personnel going into next year is in desperate need of an overhaul.

The next QB will hopefully not think 7 second drop backs are doable in the NFL. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6060488/2025/01/14/vikings-playoffs-loss-sam-darnold-kevin-oconnell/ KOC literally told Darnold who to look for on the play, Addison had an easy touchdown, and he even told him the fail safe to throw it away. Darnold did the hokey pokey and took another sack.

Asamoah is an excellent ST player, he'll be back. I could see them focus on guard and keep Bradbury, but I think I'm just done with him. In that scenario...I'll take Kelly and Smith to change out C and G and let the best man win between Brandel and Ingram at LG.

Alright, I love this sort of thing, so I'm going to dig in on nick's topic using Spotrac's "Manage Team" tool. Restructures/Cuts: Brian O'Neill - Convert part of salary to a bonus and add one void year - cap hit goes from 26M to 15M Release Garrett Bradbury (Save about 3.5M) Total Savings: 14.5M FAs: Release Cam Robinson, Sam Darnold, Aaron Jones, Stephon Gilmore, Shaquill Griffin, Jerry Tillery, Dalton Risner, Jonathan Bullard, Brandon Powell, Johnny Mundt, David Quessenberry, Dan Feeney, Trent Sherfield, Jihad Ward, FAbian Moreau, Patrick Jones, Cam Akers, Brett Rypien, Ryan Wright. Resign: Theo Jackson - 3 years 9M Cam Bynum - 4 years, 60M Byron Murphy - 4 years, 60M Jalen Redmond - 2 years 3M Kamu Greiger-Hill - 2 years 3M Daniel Jones - 1 year 7M Nick Mullens - 1 year 2M Cap Space entering FA: 47M Sign Trey Smith for 5 years 110M Sign Ryan Kelly for 2 years 15M Sign Calais Campbell 1 year 5M Sign Javon Kinlaw 1 year 5M Sign KJ Osborn 1 year 2M Sign Kristian Fulton 3 years 27M (Will have to adjust yearly salaries a bit, but all doable) Draft: Trade pick 24 and 160 to Philly for 30 and 94 Pick 30: DT Deone Walker 94: CB Will Lee III 100: HB Cam Skattebo 139: HB DJ Giddens Roster: QB: JJ, Jones, Mullens HB: Skattebo, Chandler, Giddens FB: Ham WR - Jefferson, Addison, Nailor, Trishton Jackson, Osborn TE - Hockenson, Oliver, Muse OT - Darrisaw, O'Neill, Rouse OG - Smith, Brandel, Ingram C - Kelly, Jurgens NT - Walker DL - Phillips, Campbell, Kinlaw, Redmond, LDR OLB - Greenard, Van Ginkel, Turner, Asamoah, Richter MLB - Cashman, Pace, Grugier-Hill CB - Murphy, Fulton, Blackmon, Hill, McGlothern S - Jackson, Metellus, Bynum, Ward K - Reichard P - Who gives a ****, sign a guy You probably need another cheap OL and CB to round out the group.

The ultimate failure is frustrating, but I try not to let that stain the fact that I had fun watching them this year. Someday, we'll get the whole package!

That Dak contract seems impossible to move off.

I don't love that KOC felt like he gave up and kept Darnold in there. If he gave up, he should've put in Mullens. I don't love the 4th down call, both strategically or schematically. It did feel like the moment was too big for his team and that part is on the coach for preparedness. I put that all on KOC and he should learn from it. But I can't blame him at all for the game plan. They did have run plays and short/quick passes called. As you say, the QB passed them up. Most of the sacks came after 4 seconds. There isn't an offensive line in the league that holds up that long on a regular basis. It wasn't pressure most of the time...it was pure....I don't know what to call it? Frenetic brain? There is no rational reason to pass up that JJ screen. To miss checkdowns to TJ and Jones all over the field. Nailor over the middle. The only explanation is a complete mental breakdown by the QB. It's what happened last week and it happened again. He literally crashed the car as the race began. It was a level of incompetence that no game plan could overcome.

If I built the best race car ever, spent weeks training the driver not to drive into walls, had everything prepped and ready to go.....and the driver takes a hard left into the wall....all my work will be lost. I may even look like part of the problem. But I didn't actually whip the wheel to the left and hit a wall.

Maybe Cousins had a more eclectic series of games than I remember. I just feel like (so it's more emotional than a logical argument) that the misery that was Sam Darnold the last two games felt more gut-punching than Cousins ever did.

It was, but my recollection is that Cousins tended to make the big moment mistake. Huge turnover. Throw short of the sticks. Throw a pick. That sort of thing. Not have a catastrophically terrible game from snap one. It might be pretty demoralizing as a defense to watch your offense keep going out there and your leader and QB looks that freaking terrible. Not even a turnover or a big play feels like enough to get them across the line. It felt like that at home on the couch in the Detroit game. Darnold was so bad they handed him the ball inside the ten like 3 times and still went 0-fer. That has to hit your psyche at some point. Or maybe not, that kind of pressure is unlike anything I've experience personally.

It's amazing how we went from Captain Checkdown in big games to Captain Never Checkdown in one year.

Jones was fine, but absolutely this needs to be a focus.

11 pressures on that many dropbacks isn't as much as it sounds. High end pressure teams are generally between 35-40%. So 11 normal pressures on 40 drop backs isn't an insane number. You'd like it to be better, obviously.

Here are two stats to support your point: Of the 24 pressures, only 11 came before 2.5 seconds. He averaged 4.73 seconds holding the ball per sack.

I hope, for his sake, that this is the case. It doesn't fully explain how frozen and frantic he was, but it at least helps protect him a bit as a person and a pro. Gives him a shot to keep playing ball.