Guest Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 Just like the age old question of what came first, the chicken or the egg, or New York Style Pizza vs Chicago Style...comes another crucial philosophical question to ponder and debate. What kind of player do you hope the Vikings draft? I'm not talking about position...rather, would you rather have someone who is a great athlete and relies on his superior athletic skills; or would you prefer someone who learns and plays with great technique, position, and intelligence? I know my own preference. Give me the smart guys who are great with technique, and know the game of football. I think of Viking players like Fran Tarkenton, and Paul Krause from the golden era, and players like Thielen, O'Neill and Kendricks today. Other players who fit this mold are Johnny Unitas, Fred Blitnikoff, Art Monk, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Gene Upshaw, and Deacon Jones. Then there are those players who rely on their superior athletic talent for their whole careers. Some of them wind up having great careers like Gayle Sayers, Barry Sanders, Adrian Peterson, Randy Moss or Deion Sanders. Others had to learn more about technique and position as opponents began to figure out how to neutralize their athleticism. Jerry Rice comes to mind as does Ronnie Lott and Bruce Smith and Randall Cunningham to some degree. And then there are some who just never figure it all out...Cordarelle Patterson and Percy Harvin. What's your preference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SemperFeist Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 Technique trumps all else by the time you get to the NFL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gnat Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 Technique for sure. You can once in a while get by with freakish athleticism if it is that freakish, but even those players are still interested in learning and have decent technique. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swede700 Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 1 hour ago, SemperFeist said: Technique trumps all else by the time you get to the NFL. No, work ethic trumps all by the time you get to the NFL. In the scenario VV provides above, 100 out of 100 times, the 2nd guy will be better over the long haul, because his work ethic will help him overcome his average talent. You only have to show one example to prove that...Randy Moss vs. Jerry Rice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDBrocks Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 Can I have both? I think it's selling guys like Thielen and O'Neill short to say that they are "technique" guys. Using RAS, O'Neill was in the top 4% of his draft class. Thielen was top 30%. In fact I would argue that O'Neill fits in the other category. Certainly better technique will help overcome some athletic deficiencies, but only to a point. Give me someone that is willing to work on technique that has at least baseline athletic ability to succeed in the NFL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vike daddy Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 Chicago style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDBrocks Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 What do you consider Chicago style? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vike daddy Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 3 hours ago, JDBrocks said: What do you consider Chicago style? the original deep dish pan pizza. i actually don't like thick, doughy crusts, but NY style pizza is sort of... wet. which i like even less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDBrocks Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 Deep dish is tourist pizza. Real Chicago-style pizza is cracker thin crust cut tavern style. It predates deep dish pizza by about 20-30 years. Neighborhood bars used to make it and serve it free as a way to get laborers to buy a couple of extra beers after work before heading home. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vike daddy Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 1 hour ago, JDBrocks said: Deep dish is tourist pizza. oh i disagree. many a native Chicagoan will take you out for deep dish and proudly exclaim its merits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelKing728 Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 Smarts (technique) over brawn, please. As I see it, great physical ability gets you Cordarrelle Patterson. Great technique gets you Adam Thielen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDBrocks Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 Great physical ability also gets you Jevon Kearse, Aaron Donald, and Calvin Johnson. I guess I don't understand why this is an either/or proposition. It's more about desire in my mind. Guys that have baseline NFL athleticism will differentiate themselves by effort. Guys that have greater physical ability and an equal desire to improve will always be better players in a vacuum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 1 hour ago, JDBrocks said: Great physical ability also gets you Jevon Kearse, Aaron Donald, and Calvin Johnson. I guess I don't understand why this is an either/or proposition. It's more about desire in my mind. Guys that have baseline NFL athleticism will differentiate themselves by effort. Guys that have greater physical ability and an equal desire to improve will always be better players in a vacuum. I understand your thinking. Those great athletes that also become great technicians and improve their football intelligence are, by far, the optimum. Yet, there are some great, great athletes that for whatever reason refuse to "learn" the finer aspects of playing their position. Eventually, the really good defensive coordinators find ways to counter their athleticism and minimize their impact on the games. I remember when Washington, during the George Allen era, had a DB by the name of Pat Fischer. He was undersized and slower than molasses in January. Yet, he was such a smart player and a great technician that he usually covered the other teams best receivers and minimized their effectiveness. I hated the little twerp!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VikeManDan Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 2 hours ago, SteelKing728 said: Great technique gets you Adam Thielen. Yet he's no slouch athletically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.