All Things 2020 Minnesota Vikings In-Season Thread

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This is what gets me.

The offense - by all accounts - is being built around Cook. The Vikes want to be a run-first team with a lot of play-action passing.

All of that ONLY works with a solid OL.

If the OL doesn't work, Cook can't run, and defenses will ignore the play-action fakes and go after Cousins.

But, instead of trying to help the OL, the Vikes sign a DE - and according to reports, tell their Starting LT that he has to take a pay cut or he'll be released.

Because the AD can't say no to the Coach when the Coach wants more toys to play with on Defense.

if this team wins 8 games, I'll be surprised.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
This is what gets me.

The offense - by all accounts - is being built around Cook. The Vikes want to be a run-first team with a lot of play-action passing.

All of that ONLY works with a solid OL.

If the OL doesn't work, Cook can't run, and defenses will ignore the play-action fakes and go after Cousins.

But, instead of trying to help the OL, the Vikes sign a DE - and according to reports, tell their Starting LT that he has to take a pay cut or he'll be released.

Because the AD can't say no to the Coach when the Coach wants more toys to play with on Defense.

if this team wins 8 games, I'll be surprised.
Click to expand...
Yep, nailed it. I mean, just read this: https://www.startribune.com/vikings...n-an-uncertain-financial-landscape/572279122/

Zimmer said on Sunday the Vikings had been pursuing another pass rusher for a while; sources said the coach was a prominent voice in the effort to bring back Griffen before he signed with the Cowboys.

The Vikings rarely use a heavy volume of blitzes, relying instead on a disruptive four-man rush. If they needed another data point to reinforce their strategy, they needed only to look at the game that cost them a chance at the NFC North title (a Week 16 loss to the Packers) or the one that ended their season (their divisional playoff defeat in San Francisco). According to Pro Football Focus, Green Bay pressured Cousins on 17 of his 36 dropbacks while blitzing him just once; the 49ers needed just six blitzes to pressure Cousins on 17 of his 35 dropbacks.

Because Ngakoue didn’t sign his franchise tag, the Vikings can’t finish a long-term deal with him until after the season. It strains credulity, though, to think they would have made the trade without intentions to keep him around after this year.

They can place the franchise tag on him again next year, or work out an extension on their own terms next spring. To do so, though, they’ll have to deal with a set of now-familiar financial constraints that come with a unique twist this time around.

A lack of fans in the stands this season could mean a lower salary cap for the 2021 league year; a cap in the range of $175-$185 million would be tricky for the Vikings, who already have $186 million committed to players on their 2021 roster without deals for Ngakoue, Anthony Harris or Dalvin Cook.


Elflein is bust city. I saw today that Ezra Cleveland has been working at guard. I hope he gets a chance to get in there, at some point in the season.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
This is what gets me.

The offense - by all accounts - is being built around Cook. The Vikes want to be a run-first team with a lot of play-action passing.

All of that ONLY works with a solid OL.

If the OL doesn't work, Cook can't run, and defenses will ignore the play-action fakes and go after Cousins.

But, instead of trying to help the OL, the Vikes sign a DE - and according to reports, tell their Starting LT that he has to take a pay cut or he'll be released.

Because the AD can't say no to the Coach when the Coach wants more toys to play with on Defense.

if this team wins 8 games, I'll be surprised.
Click to expand...

Prepare to be surprised.

And just because you're a running team, doesn't mean they are building the team around Cook. RB's are a dime a dozen and not giving Cook a large amount of money is the right thing to do.

They're building the team similar to San Francisco IMO. They do still need to improve the offensive line, but I think they're slowly getting there.
 


Media outrage about Kirk being okay with his own mortality.
 








GophersInIowa said:
Tommy Kramer is ready for the season. Even installed a Packers urinal.

Click to expand...
I've seen a lot of cool stuff in my life. But. That. Is. Awesome!

(just need to get a decent soundbar beneath that beast of a flat screen!)
 

Anyone interested in seeing Peterson come home, as a role player on a cheap deal?
 

On the Cousins statement, he has the right to his own opinion. I just thought that, if you read the entire transcript, Cousins came off as - IMHO - rather smug and condescending.

for instance - this question and answer:

"If 1 is the person who says, 'Masks are stupid, you're all a bunch of lemmings' and 10 is, 'I'm not leaving my master bathroom for the next 10 years,' where do you land?"Brandt asked.

"I'm not gonna call anybody stupid, for the trouble it would get me in. But I'm about a .000001," Cousins responded.

Sorry Kurt, but according to that answer, you do think masks are stupid. You just don't want to say it because you know it would get you in trouble.

I would respect him more if he came right out and said 'masks are stupid." that, at least, would be an honest answer.
 

MplsGopher said:
Anyone interested in seeing Peterson come home, as a role player on a cheap deal?
Click to expand...
He’s be the #3 back with the Vikings, I’m not sure he’d want that. If he’s a guy you think would come in and be a mentor and leader, then it’s worth a shot I guess. I just don’t know if he’s the kind of guy that wants to be brought in as mainly a mentor.
 



MplsGopher said:
Anyone interested in seeing Peterson come home, as a role player on a cheap deal?
Click to expand...
No interest. As GopherinIowa pointed out, at this point, he's a mentor role on this team and I wouldn't want (nor could I see it happening) that he take snaps away from Mattison. Plus, don't see him as much of a mentor...I should divulge, I never looked at him in a positive light after the child abuse incident came out. I wouldn't want him mentoring a fire hydrant.
 

Crazy question; should the Vikings take a flyer on QB Josh Rosen, who was just released by the Dolphins? The guy has some skill and talent, no doubt about it. He didn't get drafted as high as he did for nothing. The Vikings QB situation after Cousins is far, FAR from ideal right now

There has to be something else going on there though. As a Cards season ticket holder, I thought he showed enough to warrant a 2nd year with the Cards before they picked Kyler Murray #1 overall. Not a lot to base it on but my perception at the time was that he rubbed people in the locker room the wrong way. He has a little bit of a spoiled rich kid vibe to him.

I wonder if he gets another chance?
 

per Sid:


This will be one of the most enjoyable weeks for the Vikings players and coaching staff as the team can finally put together a regular week of game planning to prepare to face the Green Bay Packers at noon next Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.

This entire preseason, the front office and coaching staff has had to change plans on the fly to try to create some normalcy with the NFL canceling the preseason because of the coronavirus and putting all kinds of limits on OTAs and minicamps for rookies and veterans.

But now the club can put together a standard week of meetings that should offer some familiar routines.

Head coach Mike Zimmer said the coaches have made sure not to overwhelm the players with plans for Green Bay — a game which Vegas has the Vikings favored to win at 2.5 points — because the team had so much to work on with its own schemes and player development.

“It’s important that we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves; let’s focus on us right now and then we can start worrying about Green Bay as we get closer to next week,” Zimmer said. “There is a fine line of giving them a game plan and them getting a little stale with it too early. But we want to be prepared, so we’ll work a little extra on them but not too much more than normal.”

Although this game may not have 66,000 Vikings fans going crazy, the players will still have a lot of motivation after the Packers derailed their NFC North title hopes last year. In two contests with the Packers in 2019, the Vikings were outscored 44-26, outgained 718 yards to 550 and had the ball for 48 minutes, 22 seconds compared with 71:44 for the Packers.

In Week 16, the Packers came into U.S. Bank Stadium and outgained the Vikings 383-139 to end any hopes of a division title for the Purple.

There couldn’t be a better game for the Vikings to open the season with than facing their biggest rival. And while Zimmer said it was tough not having preseason contests, he does feel like the team is moving in the right direction.

“I keep seeing improvement, you know, and as you get going the first day you start out and it looks like this and the second day it’s a little bit better. I feel like we have continued to improve,” he said. “I think both sides of the ball have improved. I guess that’s the best positive out of it.”

www.startribune.com

Facing Packers will restore some normalcy for Vikings

After an ever-changing offseason, Mike Zimmer's team will welcome familiar routines.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Skol Vikes!!
 

Shooter: Charley Walters: Vikings come out ahead in Ngakoue-Griffen swap

By not re-signing defensive end Everson Griffen, and with running back Dalvin Cook declining a contract extension, the Minnesota Vikings may have ended up with the NFL’s top pass-rushing tandem.

The Vikings used the $12 million they were willing to spend on Griffen and Cook to pay Yannick Ngakoue, acquired for a couple draft picks in an absolute steal of trade with Jacksonville.

www.twincities.com

Charley Walters: Vikings come out ahead in Ngakoue-Griffen swap

By not re-signing defensive end Everson Griffen, and with running back Dalvin Cook declining a contract extension, the Minnesota Vikings may have ended up with the NFL’s top pass-rushing tandem. Th…
www.twincities.com www.twincities.com

Skol Vikes!!
https://www.twincities.com/2020/09/...-in-ngakoue-griffen-swap/?share=facebook&nb=1
 




Ogee Oglethorpe said:
I think it's great for Cook, and I think he runs even stronger this year because of it, but I'd be shocked if there's a scenario where the Vikings don't regret this at some point. I hope I'm wrong!!

SKOL!
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Its not a terrible deal, with only $28MM guaranteed. Even if they only get 2 or 3 years out of him and cut him, it’s still not a bad deal. He was $14MM cheaper than Kamara over the same number of years. NO will be regretting their deal before the Vikes do.

With that said, I keep pounding the drum with this signing and the DE they traded for- good players, but let’s get a competent OL and an upgrade at QB.
 

Sid: Vikings' Kirk Cousins motivated after Packers left him feeling ill

Since Kirk Cousins arrived here in 2018, he has statistically been a better quarterback than Aaron Rodgers, who he will go up against Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium as the Vikings open their 60th season.

Cousins has posted a 103.0 passer rating compared with Rodgers’ 96.5. He has thrown 56 touchdowns compared with Rodgers’ 51 and has completed 69.7% of his passes compared with Rodgers’ 62.2%.

But where it matters most, Rodgers has gotten the better of Cousins and the Vikings — going 2-1-1 against the Purple since 2018, including two dominant victories in 2019.

“I mean, I think it’s motivating. They did a great job. They beat us twice last year,” Cousins said. “When you remember how sick you felt after those games, you don’t want to let that happen again for a third time. It’s certainly some level of motivation there. But in pro football nobody wants to feel that way, and the motivation is pretty high every week regardless of the past games.”

www.startribune.com

Vikings' Kirk Cousins motivated after Packers left him feeling ill

www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Skol Vikes!!
 

4th and 3, lets throw the deep ball!

The secondary is going to be so bad this year.
 


It’s only one week, but this team looks so average. Without Hunter, the new DE playing limited snaps, and Pierce opting out, the defensive front is not applying ANY pressure. The big money spent on Harris and Barr was sooooo misused.

What combination of losses and trade would it take to get up to the top 5 and get Justin Fields? Flush the Cousins, Harris, Barr money off the books and retool.
 





per Shama:


Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer—known for his no nonsense ways—was in character while making his postgame comments today after his team lost its opening game of the season to the Green Bay Packers, 43-34.

“We did a lot of things that were uncharacteristic,” Zimmer said on KFAN Radio. “We jumped off side three times. We had three penalties that extended drives. We let the quarterback get out of the pocket.

“We gave up a safety and then we throw an interception right before the half. …Our time of possession the first half was really lopsided—ended up for the game the same way. There’s a lot of things we gotta get better at, that’s for sure.”

The 43 points is the most scored on a Minnesota Zimmer team. In 2014, Zimmer’s first season, the Packers earned a 42-10 win in Green Bay. The Packers are the only team to put up 40 points against Zimmer during the last seven seasons. He has, of course, earned a NFL reputation (as both a coordinator and head coach) for being a gifted defensive instructor and schemer.

When asked about the record at his postgame press conference, Zimmer said: “It’s not the best thing. We didn’t play very well defensively. We didn’t make enough plays. Guys got out of position a couple of times. So we’ll just get back to work. We’ll be all right.’’


Skol VIkes!!
 

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