HitStickAllDay Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 4 hours ago, wcblack34 said: It's year 8. I'm pretty sure that the list of QB's improving drastically after their 8th season is a an incredibly short one. I’m an optimist . I also believe in neuroplasticity and the capacity for people to dig deep and find ways to be successful. George Dyson, of the eponymous Dyson vacuum company failed on like 1,000 prototypes before creating a successful product. Kurt Warner was bagging groceries. OK, one example!!!!!! But I prefer to have hope over despair. Never give up, never surrender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TENINCH Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 Refs should have called King for pass interference on his int. Maybe we would have ran the ball on the next play. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nozizaki Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 As garbage as Kirk played, the team was still in a position to win and I feel they would have if not for the OPI call on Dalvin Cook at the goal line and the phantom OPI calls and holding by Bradbury. If that game had been at US Bank Stadium, where those would not be called, Vikings win going away. With Kirk trying to throw the game. Kirk will play better, we will be fine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HitStickAllDay Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 https://twitter.com/nfloncbs/status/1173351003393073152?s=21 Watch this play by Mahomes. Then watch the entire game. His protection is unreal. I can’t tell you when I’ve seen such a clean pocket for Cousins. Almost always seems to be collapsing. This is not to excuse his decision making, just don’t think it’s solely on his shoulders. So, it’s up to Cousins and the coaches to figure it out and put him in better positions. I think zone run/passing out of the shotgun might help Cousins. Might allow him to see the field and pressure more and not get so flustered in a congested pocket. The play action is nice in theory, but when the middle of the pocket gets collapsed or the bootleg consistently is well defended, you have to try something different. We shall see if Kubiak/Stefanski/Cousins can adjust. This is where great coaches figure out a way. Back when I was in college studying finance, I took in a presentation by a plant manager at McCormick. He said if one of his employees fails or is a “D or C” employee it is his responsibility to manage them to become an A or B employee. This is accomplished by finding out how they work and what motivates them. No two people are the same and therein lies the issue with coaching/managing people. Bad managers think it’s my way or the highway. Well, good luck finding perfect fits for your system. A lot of times you have to deal with what you’ve got and that’s where great managers thrive and mediocre managers fail. Unfortunately, it’s a rarity to have the meta-cognitive ability to figure this all out. It takes hard work and persistence rather than letting your reptile brain take over and stubbornly demand that everyone conform to your idea of reality. I have hope given what we’ve seen from Stefanski that he can be great. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingsrule Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 6 minutes ago, HitStickAllDay said: https://twitter.com/nfloncbs/status/1173351003393073152?s=21 Watch this play by Mahomes. Then watch the entire game. His protection is unreal. I can’t tell you when I’ve seen such a clean pocket for Cousins. Almost always seems to be collapsing. This is not to excuse his decision making, just don’t think it’s solely on his shoulders. So, it’s up to Cousins and the coaches to figure it out and put him in better positions. I think zone run/passing out of the shotgun might help Cousins. Might allow him to see the field and pressure more and not get so flustered in a congested pocket. The play action is nice in theory, but when the middle of the pocket gets collapsed or the bootleg consistently is well defended, you have to try something different. We shall see if Kubiak/Stefanski/Cousins can adjust. This is where great coaches figure out a way. Back when I was in college studying finance, I took in a presentation by a plant manager at McCormick. He said if one of his employees fails or is a “D or C” employee it is his responsibility to manage them to become an A or B employee. This is accomplished by finding out how they work and what motivates them. No two people are the same and therein lies the issue with coaching/managing people. Bad managers think it’s my way or the highway. Well, good luck finding perfect fits for your system. A lot of times you have to deal with what you’ve got and that’s where great managers thrive and mediocre managers fail. Unfortunately, it’s a rarity to have the meta-cognitive ability to figure this all out. It takes hard work and persistence rather than letting your reptile brain take over and stubbornly demand that everyone conform to your idea of reality. I have hope given what we’ve seen from Stefanski that he can be great. Cousins is being paid $30M. The first fully guaranteed deal, very unique contract. There has to be a certain expectation given that Cousins has reached a pinnacle that very few QBs have obtained. He was paid to be a franchise QB and deliver when called upon. Cousins made several bad decisions and threw several erratic passes and this is a theme against meaningful competition. I just don’t know what else anyone can expect from coaching to fix this. If he’s rattled and can’t handle the pressure, that’s on him and likely hard to coach out of him at this stage of his career. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthCountryEvo Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 All things considered, I'm willing to garner some positives moving forward from this game: - We very quickly fell into a 21-0 deficit, which for a lot of teams (including many previous Vikings teams) means that the game was simply over. After that, though, we didn't allow GB to score again. That in and of itself is pretty impressive that we were able to hold the Packers scoreless for the better part of 3 quarters. - Dalvin had yet another very impressive game, which bodes well for the future of our rushing offense. - When it came down to the end of the game, we only lost by 5.. that's one score. We had a TD taken away on a call that is at least arguably bogus. We missed a FG and an extra point. We had a day where all the penalties seemed to favor the home team, and in the end, we fought back to within one score. A loss like this sucks. A loss to a big rival sucks even more. At the end of the day, though, this was week 2, a road contest vs what is expected to be a tough team, and we made mistakes along with not having certain things fall our way. We can make corrections on those mistakes. Cousins may not "improve" on his ability, but he still has time to settle into things a bit and shift towards making better decisions. The defense made mistakes early, but they turned it around and they still look solid. The run game looks to be on point. Once we figure out how to correctly scheme for our O-line and passing game, Kirk can become a bit more of a game manager rather than having excess pressure put on his shoulders. You can win a championship that way. The Ravens did it with Dilfer, and I think Cousins is better than that. Would I like better play out of our QB? Yes, of course, but the fact is that he is who we have for the near future, and we have to adjust to making the best of the situation. It could be a lot worse... 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vike daddy Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 12 minutes ago, NorthCountryEvo said: All things considered, I'm willing to garner some positives moving forward from this game: - We very quickly fell into a 21-0 deficit, which for a lot of teams (including many previous Vikings teams) means that the game was simply over. After that, though, we didn't allow GB to score again. That in and of itself is pretty impressive that we were able to hold the Packers scoreless for the better part of 3 quarters. - Dalvin had yet another very impressive game, which bodes well for the future of our rushing offense. - When it came down to the end of the game, we only lost by 5.. that's one score. We had a TD taken away on a call that is at least arguably bogus. We missed a FG and an extra point. We had a day where all the penalties seemed to favor the home team, and in the end, we fought back to within one score. A loss like this sucks. A loss to a big rival sucks even more. At the end of the day, though, this was week 2, a road contest vs what is expected to be a tough team, and we made mistakes along with not having certain things fall our way. We can make corrections on those mistakes. Cousins may not "improve" on his ability, but he still has time to settle into things a bit and shift towards making better decisions. The defense made mistakes early, but they turned it around and they still look solid. The run game looks to be on point. Once we figure out how to correctly scheme for our O-line and passing game, Kirk can become a bit more of a game manager rather than having excess pressure put on his shoulders. You can win a championship that way. The Ravens did it with Dilfer, and I think Cousins is better than that. Would I like better play out of our QB? Yes, of course, but the fact is that he is who we have for the near future, and we have to adjust to making the best of the situation. It could be a lot worse... thank you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HitStickAllDay Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 28 minutes ago, vikingsrule said: Cousins is being paid $30M. The first fully guaranteed deal, very unique contract. There has to be a certain expectation given that Cousins has reached a pinnacle that very few QBs have obtained. He was paid to be a franchise QB and deliver when called upon. Cousins made several bad decisions and threw several erratic passes and this is a theme against meaningful competition. I just don’t know what else anyone can expect from coaching to fix this. If he’s rattled and can’t handle the pressure, that’s on him and likely hard to coach out of him at this stage of his career. Sure he was paid to be something. He just might not be (isn’t?). So, here we are. Heaping more pressure on him will do nothing to make the situation better. The o-line was horrendous yesterday in pass protection, allowing 22 pressures on 35 drop backs. Kirk isn’t good under pressure. I don’t think many quarterbacks are. Cousins is especially susceptible to getting rattled. We can lament the fact or grind and find a way. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klomp Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vike daddy Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 2 minutes ago, Klomp said: yes, but... how does that stat change if you take out the largest Cook rushing gain and the largest pass completion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klomp Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 4 minutes ago, vike daddy said: yes, but... how does that stat change if you take out the largest Cook rushing gain and the largest pass completion? 4.73 per rush 5.45 per pass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vike daddy Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 always have to watch for the outliers in an analysis... reminds me of the year Bernard Berrian had a near 1000 yard season receiving total, but also had a 99 yarder on one play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake Plissken Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 Positives: The Run Game: Cook is dynamic. Not just the homerun plays, but all the plays he turned nothing into something. Mattison is a great complement as a power back with vision. Love the depth behind them with Boone and The Defense: Proved it can be dominant when it wants to. So much talent. Week one Barr and Harris were the stars. Week 2 Hunter and Harrison. The WRs: The drops hurt, but big plays and tough catches by Diggs and Thielen. Beebe made a showing. The Attitude: So many times the team would have layed down at minus 21. Really surprised they didn't. Hopefully a sign of good things to come. Negatives: Cousins: I just don't think he is cable of doing the job he was brought here to do. The team will win some games and he will contribute, but he just isn't good enough. The plan for a future QB needs to start now. Game Prep: Came out flat and unprepared. Zim has got to get better than this. Kicking: Nothing new here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWood21 Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 First things first, the Vikings are IMO a bigger threat to win the division than the Bears are. I don't buy the Bears' having that same kind of success they did last year. Last year, the Bears' finished 3rd in turnover differential at +12. Right now, the Bears are at 0. They led the league far and away in interceptions 13 hours ago, HitStickAllDay said: I actually think Cousins has a chance to improve. How much more improvement do you think is going to happen? Kirk is the epitome of QB purgatory. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klomp Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 2 minutes ago, CWood21 said: How much more improvement do you think is going to happen? Kirk is the epitome of QB purgatory. Is he going to come out throwing like Pat Mahomes? Of course not. Is he capable of more efficient performances like in Week 1? Of course. That would be improvement from what we saw yesterday, would it not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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