y*so*blu Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 9 hours ago, Krauser said: I expect Kubiak to have a major influence on the design of the offense. It'd be a little crazy to bring him in unless that was the plan. I expect Stefanski to be the play caller and manage more of the in-game adjustments, with Kubiak acting more as an advisor than a coordinator on Sundays. Kubiak's scheme isn't too far off what Stefanski was doing under Shurmur. The run game design will be a little different with Dennison instead of Sparano (more outside zone). They'll probably make more use of a TE2/FB/H-back (Irv) instead of a WR3. They'll probably put Cousins under center more often. But it's not going to be much of a stretch to combine that with stuff that Stefanski has done previously, and come up with an integrated scheme. Coller and the SKOR North people have been trying to drum up some controversy on this point (as their business model requires), but there should be no problem. The dynamic between Kubiak and Shurmur on offense shouldn't be much different than Zimmer and Edwards on defense, except in this case the coordinator will be the play caller. I'm pretty sure I could ask you anything about the Vikings and you would have a good answer for me. You could probably make a good living as a sportswriter if you wanted to. But don't do that, because then you might not have time to post here anymore! I did kind of get that vibe from SKOR North. I had never heard of them until stumbling across clips from their podcast, and it seemed like they were kind of grasping at straws. KFAN they are not. But I suppose with podcasts, folks expect you to go in there and talk, even when there's nothing to talk about. And that explains Gerbschmidt ... I'm not on Twitter, or any major social media platform in fact, so I was blissfully unaware of his antics. If Kubiak plus Stefanski can equal redemption for last year's embarrassment and busting other teams in the mouth, then I'm all for it. SKOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swede700 Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 If you listen to KFAN, Gerby's on with Barreiro every Friday during the season...in a predictions segment. Here's from a decade ago when Favre joined the Vikings... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Buck Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 On 6/21/2019 at 8:20 AM, swede700 said: If you listen to KFAN, Gerby's on with Barreiro every Friday during the season...in a predictions segment. Here's from a decade ago when Favre joined the Vikings... I absolutely LOVE Gerby! Some of the best segments of radio I have ever heard in my life were when they called Gerby after the Packers lost in the playoffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Buck Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 On 6/20/2019 at 12:44 PM, y*so*blu said: @Cearbhall @SemperFeist That's reassuring. Youtube commentators really will say anything. Who's Gerbschmidt BTW? Carl Gerbschmidt is a cheesehead from Elk Mound, WI who lives and breathes the Packers. He has been a regular on Dan Barriero's radio show on KFAN for a long time. Some days I'm sure that Gerby is just a bit that is put on by one of the guys at KFAN, but other days he seems so genuine that I think he probably even posts in the Packer Forum on this site. Real or not, the guy is absolutely hilarious. You can probably hear some of his stuff on Barriero's podcasts. He's definitely worth checking out if you have experience with hardcore Packer fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SemperFeist Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 On 6/27/2019 at 10:28 AM, Uncle Buck said: Carl Gerbschmidt is a cheesehead from Elk Mound, WI who lives and breathes the Packers. He has been a regular on Dan Barriero's radio show on KFAN for a long time. Some days I'm sure that Gerby is just a bit that is put on by one of the guys at KFAN, but other days he seems so genuine that I think he probably even posts in the Packer Forum on this site. Real or not, the guy is absolutely hilarious. You can probably hear some of his stuff on Barriero's podcasts. He's definitely worth checking out if you have experience with hardcore Packer fans. It’s a bit 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Buck Posted July 6, 2019 Share Posted July 6, 2019 On 7/3/2019 at 10:02 AM, SemperFeist said: It’s a bit I pretty much figured that. It's just that he sounds so much like a lot of the Packer fans on this site that it almost makes you wonder sometimes. Hahaha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swede700 Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 On 7/6/2019 at 1:19 PM, Uncle Buck said: I pretty much figured that. It's just that he sounds so much like a lot of the Packer fans on this site that it almost makes you wonder sometimes. Hahaha. That's why it's so good. We have a couple of Packers fans here at my work and their views are so similar to that of Gerby, it's downright hilarious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Buck Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 49 minutes ago, swede700 said: That's why it's so good. We have a couple of Packers fans here at my work and their views are so similar to that of Gerby, it's downright hilarious. Exactly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krauser Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 Only 2 games, and preseason doesn't count, and most of this is backups against backups, but the offense has been excellent so far. They haven't put up huge points totals but that's mainly because they haven't had many drives. On a per-drive and per-play basis, they've been very productive. Game scores have been closer than they should've been thanks to the pick 6 vs Seattle and the fumble in the red zone in New Orleans, so I think the degree to which they've dominated on offense has been under-recognized. Here are the numbers, with context comparing them to the top offense in that category last year: Total yards: 866 (433 per game). #1 offense KC: 426 First downs: 48 (24 per game). #1 offense KC: 25.1 Yards/play: 6.8. #1 offense KC: 6.8 3rd down %: 16/25 (64%). #1 offense IND: 49% Here are their drive stats: 16 drives (excluding end-of-half and end-of game) 7 TDs (43.8%), #1 offense KC: 40.5% 2 3-and-outs (12.5%), #1 offense LARM: 10.9%, #2 NO: 14.2% Yards/drive: 49.25, #1 offense KC: 41.53 Points/drive: 3.69, #1 offense KC: 3.25, #2 NO: 3.21, #3 LARM 2.79 Drive success rate (1st downs made per set of downs): .842, #1 offense KC: .798 Only downsides are punts on 6/16 drives (37.5%), comparable to last year where they were 15th at 38.9% (#1 offense LARM 24.6%), and turnovers on 2/16 drives (12.5%), worse than last year's 10.9% which was 13th and comparable to the Eagles 12.6% at 21st (#1 offense GB at 5.7%). Again, super small sample size, and it's preseason, but the offense has been very effective so far. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swede700 Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 Even the 2nd team has looked pretty good most of the time. When the offensive line protects (which is still a work in progress, but it does do it pretty well at times), the offense looks pretty darn good. If they can pick it up, then maybe team success doesn't have to rely so much on the defense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krauser Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 (edited) The passing stats and personnel usage are worth looking at in more detail. Vikings QBs are collectively 47/58 (81%) for 519 yards (8.95 YPA), with 5 TDs and 1 INT, for a passer rating of 125.5. Those are absurd numbers: Brees led the league last year with a record 74.4% comp%, Mahomes' YPA was 8.8, and Brees' rating was 115.7. It gets better: because they've taken zero sacks, the Vikings QBs' NY/A is the same 8.95 (2018 Mahomes 8.13, Brees 7.65) and their ANY/A is 9.90 (Mahomes 8.89, Brees 8.47). The passing game has put up elite production with the following distribution of targets by position (58 in total): WR: 25 (43.1%) TE: 23 (39.7%) RB: 5 (8.6%) FB: 5 (8.6%) -- all to Blasingame Contrast that to last year (560 targets excluding one where Cousins caught his own batted pass): WR: 376 (67.1%) TE: 89 (15.9%) RB: 81 (14.5%) FB: 14 (2.5%) RB/FB combined is basically unchanged, around 17% of total targets. But the WR:TE ratio has moved from 4:1 to 1:1. The main recipient of this extra work is Irv Smith, who leads the team with 11 targets despite only running 30 routes as a receiver. Conklin (4 targets on 12 routes) and Rudolph (3 on 11) have similarly high usage. The only TE across the league with more targets than Irv is Tanner Hudson with the Bucs, who has 15 targets on 67 routes. Noah Fans (8 targets on 20 routes) is the only TE I can find with heavier than 33% target rate per route run. Blasingame is the other standout. 5 targets on 7 routes run, and an absurd 6.86 yards per route run, one of the highest totals for any receiver at any position this preseason. If the TE/FB heavy pattern of usage continues, with Dalvin Cook getting worked into the mix in the regular season, it's not hard to imagine the WR3 ending up 5th or 6th on the team in targets (after Thielen, Diggs, Rudolph, Smith and maybe Cook), and the WR4 being 8th or 9th (after one of Conklin and Blasingame). Edited August 23, 2019 by Krauser 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingsrule Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 (edited) Is it likely that Blasingame makes the team over Ham due to receiving ability? Or would they keep both if Ham could serve as a dual purpose type player. 2 FBs would seem overkill unless one fills in at RB too. Edited August 23, 2019 by vikingsrule Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krauser Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 2 minutes ago, vikingsrule said: Is it likely that Blasingame makes the team over Ham due to receiving ability? Or would they keep both if Ham could serve as a dual purpose type player. 2 FBs would seem overkill unless one fills in at RB too. I really hope so. The main value of a FB is as a receiving target. Ham is OK as a lead blocker (not great though) and short yardage back (though Blasingame’s TD shows he can do that too), but he offers next to nothing as a receiver. Blasingame moves much better and is much more natural catching the ball and turning upfield, plus he’s shown good YAC ability. I could see 2 FBs and 3 RBs, since last year they had 5 total between the 2 positions (1+4). Rather keep Blasingame as a 2nd FB than either Hikutini or Dillon as a TE4 (especially since Dillon could go to the PS). Blasingame might also be able to take some of the snaps that might go to depth TEs, line up as a wingback or in the “sniffer” position, like Morgan has the last few years. And he’s been very good on special teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingsrule Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 (edited) Could definitely see 2 FBs as an option until Morgan returns. That would assume 3 TEs, which is fine if Blasingame might see some looks there as well. 3 Rbs make sense too with Cook, Mattison and Boone. Edited August 23, 2019 by vikingsrule Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SemperFeist Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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