2018 Minnesota Vikings In-Season Thread

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Ewert86PC said:
I second this. That hangs on management.
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Section2 said:
Vikings blew it by ignoring the OL. Incredibly predictable.
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The OL is in a terrible terrible state but I don't know about the comment "blew it by ignoring the OL". Half the league is woeful when it comes to the OL. There just aren't enough good ones to go around. Yes, they could have went OL late in the first round last year instead of Hughes but in FA, I don't know what else they could have done.

I think they still have a viable window of another year or two of contender so we'll see what they do this offseason.
 

They didn't completely ignore the Oline in the offseason and they did go 13-3 last year with a sub par oline so it can be done if you have staff that is able to work around your strengths and weaknesses. Which I don't think flipper was able to do and I'm OK with this firing. Now they have the guy who was ironically 2nd place for the job get a few weeks and see what he can do. Remember what the gophers did after they got rid of their Dcoordinator? Maybe the vikes will do the same thing on offense. They have a TON OF TALENT. Last night I was down on this team and now I'm excited again!
 

The funny thing is, the season is far from lost. A very manageable remaining schedule (combined with more difficult schedules for those chasing the Vikings) have them firmly in command of their own fate for the final Wild Card spot.

A WC spot means a road game against either Dallas or Chicago, very winnable games for the Vikings, particularly if they show some kind of spark or rejuvenation with the OC change.

They're still alive, it was just a disappointing result last night.
 

A couple questions that are eating at me:

1. Are DeFilippo's ideas the new wave future of the league (i.e. what the Rams, Bears, Chiefs are doing), and Zimmer wants to stick with his meat and potatoes comfort food? If so, I know which direction I'd like them to go.

2. Is Zimmer capable of ironing out the interpersonal problems on the team? Seems like the QB and receivers are on each other's nerves, and who knows what other conflicts are festering among the players and coaches. When a team is this listless, there's always more going on than meets the eye. Zimmer strikes me as a guy who yells and yells until everyone finally guesses what he wants from them. Not sure that's going to work in this case.
 

Bad Gopher said:
A couple questions that are eating at me:

1. Are DeFilippo's ideas the new wave future of the league (i.e. what the Rams, Bears, Chiefs are doing), and Zimmer wants to stick with his meat and potatoes comfort food? If so, I know which direction I'd like them to go.

2. Is Zimmer capable of ironing out the interpersonal problems on the team? Seems like the QB and receivers are on each other's nerves, and who knows what other conflicts are festering among the players and coaches. When a team is this listless, there's always more going on than meets the eye. Zimmer strikes me as a guy who yells and yells until everyone finally guesses what he wants from them. Not sure that's going to work in this case.
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Good questions as I've thought about them too.

1. I think Flipper was suppose to grow into part of that new wave but for whatever reason it wasn't happening here. He was pegged as some kind of offensive genius but I wasn't seeing that at all. We have the talent at the skill positions and our offense clicked for a short time earlier in the season but sure seemed like defenses had us 100% figured out for weeks now with no good changes being made.

2. I think Zim can fix these problems because he has picked players that fit his style for the most part. I guess we'll see. Winning fixes everything and we have some winnable games coming up.
 


JimmyJamesMD said:
I was okay with the Cousins signing if they beefed up offensive line. Instead, they signed no meaningful Olineman in FA and neglected it in draft.
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I was completely dead set against signing Cousins. I don’t believe he is much better than Case the he isn’t better than Case and an improved O-Line.


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short ornery norwegian said:
NFL team is hiring an OC. 1st question - "What is your offensive philosophy?" 2nd question - to the head coach - "Does his offensive philosophy mesh with your offensive philosophy?" if the head coach says "no," you don't hire the guy.

The Vikings hired a guy who was never going to mesh with the head coach. their philosophies are diametrically opposed. And people are surprised that there was conflict.

It's like Freshman dorm - you get one guy who studies and goes to bed early, and one guy who parties and stays up all night. sooner or later, they're going to get into a fight.

This is on the people who interviewed and hired DeFlip. I assume that includes Spielman, Zimmer and maybe Zygi. (don't know if Zygi had any input or signed off on the hire....)
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Great points![emoji1531][emoji1531]


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Bad Gopher said:
A couple questions that are eating at me:

1. Are DeFilippo's ideas the new wave future of the league (i.e. what the Rams, Bears, Chiefs are doing), and Zimmer wants to stick with his meat and potatoes comfort food? If so, I know which direction I'd like them to go.

2. Is Zimmer capable of ironing out the interpersonal problems on the team? Seems like the QB and receivers are on each other's nerves, and who knows what other conflicts are festering among the players and coaches. When a team is this listless, there's always more going on than meets the eye. Zimmer strikes me as a guy who yells and yells until everyone finally guesses what he wants from them. Not sure that's going to work in this case.
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The new waves never stick for very long. I remember in Chip Kelly's first game with the Eagles and they were just going up and down the field and everyone thought he just changed the NFL forever. Look what happened to the Rams on Sunday when they couldn't run the ball? Look how much KC is struggling without Hunt compared to before.
 



Ogee Oglethorpe said:
The OL is in a terrible terrible state but I don't know about the comment "blew it by ignoring the OL". Half the league is woeful when it comes to the OL. There just aren't enough good ones to go around. Yes, they could have went OL late in the first round last year instead of Hughes but in FA, I don't know what else they could have done.

I think they still have a viable window of another year or two of contender so we'll see what they do this offseason.
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No matter how good Hughes might be, it's hard to look at how good Holton Hill is as an un-drafted FA and think corner was what we needed in round 1. In FA, I agree, they only had so much $$. Could have have signed a RT instead of Sheldon Richardson? Yes. Would we be better? I don't know.
 

GophersInIowa said:
He has not been the only problem but he has certainly been one of them. I rarely watch ESPN outside of games but after the game last night there were multiple people ripping the play calling. They broke down the play calling when we turned it over on downs at the goal line in the 2nd half. First play we run it up the middle for about a yard and a half. Then a pass, run out of shotgun and pass. There were no rub or crossing routes. On the 3rd down run, both Thielen and Rudolph went out into the flats as if they were running a route. That didn't fool anyone. I just didn't see the creativity that I thought we would out of DeFilippo.
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The ESPN post-game analysis was excellent, and far, far better than the in-game coverage and that announcing crew.

Bad Gopher said:
As there always is, I'm sure there's plenty of blame to go around, and DeFilippo certainly has some culpability here. That said, four OCs in three years definitely reflects on the head coach and the organization, especially considering the manner in which Turner departed.
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Definitely, and it has me very sour on the Vikings' future. I'm as disappointed in the defense as I am in the offense, however. That defense has not come even close - except last night, finally - to playing like they were supposed to play. Ironically, another team in the division (Chc) is playing D the way we expected from the Vikings, and is poised for that potential deep playoff run, instead.
 
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howeda7 said:
No matter how good Hughes might be, it's hard to look at how good Holton Hill is as an un-drafted FA and think corner was what we needed in round 1. In FA, I agree, they only had so much $$. Could have have signed a RT instead of Sheldon Richardson? Yes. Would we be better? I don't know.
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Without doing research, I don't remember a ton of good OL options out there.
 

howeda7 said:
The new waves never stick for very long. I remember in Chip Kelly's first game with the Eagles and they were just going up and down the field and everyone thought he just changed the NFL forever. Look what happened to the Rams on Sunday when they couldn't run the ball? Look how much KC is struggling without Hunt compared to before.
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That's a very good point. But I would say that, since Sid Gillman in the 1960s, the continuing revolution in football has been the innovative use of the forward pass. To the extent DeFilippo was trying to do that and Zimmer was holding him back, Zim's on the wrong side of history.

Mostly i want to know more of what was happening behind the scenes.
 



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Bad Gopher said:
That's a very good point. But I would say that, since Sid Gillman in the 1960s, the continuing revolution in football has been the innovative use of the forward pass. To the extent DeFilippo was trying to do that and Zimmer was holding him back, Zim's on the wrong side of history.

Mostly i want to know more of what was happening behind the scenes.
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I don't think Zim is trying to take us back to the days of run it up the gut 30 times per game. He just wants balance. The way they were using Cook is idiotic. He's not a between the tackles back. Throw some screen passes. Run some reverses. Some pitches etc. To be fair they did try a few screens on Monday, and Seattle was terrific tackling them.
 

howeda7 said:
I don't think Zim is trying to take us back to the days of run it up the gut 30 times per game. He just wants balance. The way they were using Cook is idiotic. He's not a between the tackles back. Throw some screen passes. Run some reverses. Some pitches etc. To be fair they did try a few screens on Monday, and Seattle was terrific tackling them.
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I agree with you. Also, seems like another problem is predictability. Wagner, the LB on Seattle, said they knew exactly what the Vikings were doing almost every play.
 

JimmyJamesMD said:
I agree with you. Also, seems like another problem is predictability. Wagner, the LB on Seattle, said they knew exactly what the Vikings were doing almost every play.
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It feels like Flip changed it up for the Green Bay game after Zim reamed him out but then reverted right back to his old stuff the very next game. If that's the case, it's not hard to see why he fired him.
 



JimmyJamesMD said:
That's so midleading. Everyone of those QB's would love to have the Vikings roster.
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I get that. I just thought it was interesting to see what other QB's were getting paid around what he is. Everyone is pointing at Cousins' salary.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I get that. I just thought it was interesting to see what other QB's were getting paid around what he is. Everyone is pointing at Cousins' salary.
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Not that there's an ironclad correlation, but I believe it's somewhat reflective of the phenomenon of star quarterbacks taking up an increasing percentage of their teams' payrolls. As a rule, those other teams have declined in overall talent since signing their QBs to the big contract. To what extent has the QB signing affected their abilities to sign other talent?
 


Bad Gopher said:
Not that there's an ironclad correlation, but I believe it's somewhat reflective of the phenomenon of star quarterbacks taking up an increasing percentage of their teams' payrolls. As a rule, those other teams have declined in overall talent since signing their QBs to the big contract. To what extent has the QB signing affected their abilities to sign other talent?
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very good question..................

thats why ive been a big advocate of always having a top offensive line. Thats where a ton of my resources would go. Lots of QB's look good with a running game and time to throw
 

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per Shama:

Boo-Birds Poised for Vikings Sunday

Mike Zimmer likes to implore Vikings fans to make U.S. Bank Stadium incredibly noisy to distract the opposing team’s on-field communications. But Sunday those purple-crazed and skol chanting fans could turn on the head coach and other key Viking figures.

With three games left in the season, the 6-6-1 Vikings are precariously positioned for earning their way into the playoffs. Win out the rest of the way and the Vikings—who were among offseason 2019 Super Bowl favorites—will finish 9-6-1 and become an NFC Wild Card entry in the playoffs. Mixed success in upcoming games at home against the Dolphins and Bears, and away at Detroit, will spell out a less certain path as Minnesota competes with the Seahawks and other NFC clubs trying to earn one of the two wild card entries.

No need to be a Drama Queen to see that Zimmer and others with key roles for the Vikings are on the spot while results are determined over the next three games, starting with the Dolphins game Sunday. With the offense stagnant in recent games, it won’t take much for those frisky Vikings fans to scream jeers instead of cheers.

The Wilf family won’t be booing Sunday if things go poorly, but make no mistake Zygi and his relatives are passionate fans. They are also serious business folks who have approved one of the NFL’s higher player payrolls and bankrolled state-of-the art practice and office facilities.

Spielman hired Zimmer in 2014 and he has been at work for the Wilfs since 2006. Spielman has upgraded the personnel in multiple areas, yet doubts remain about the quarterback position and offensive line. Zimmer is working now with his fourth offensive coordinator, with very mixed results over the years including last season when the Vikings under Pat Shurmur earned a 13-3 record even with a patchwork offensive line and substitute quarterback.

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Skol Vikes!!
 




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Skol Vikes!!
 

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