VikeManDan Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 50 minutes ago, swede700 said: Outside of a miracle, it doesn't appear that Mackensie is going to be able to play, which means Hughes will have to move into the slot. That sucks. Hasn't Kearse gotten some time there as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelKing728 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 1 hour ago, VikeManDan said: Hasn't Kearse gotten some time there as well? Yes, but he lost a lot of time as soon as Mack got healthy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torchezim Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Yeah I had no idea Alexander was injured either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitehops Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 here's a GREAT video breakdown by brett kollman on michael thomas: if you don't have ~12 minutes to watch the whole thing, then the gist is that beyond thomas' individual ability (polished route runner, great ball skills, strong, etc.), the chemistry between brees and thomas and brees' ball placement make them an unstoppable connection. i highly recommend at least watching the breakdown of the play at 4:47. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nozizaki Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 8 hours ago, swede700 said: Outside of a miracle, it doesn't appear that Mackensie is going to be able to play, which means Hughes will have to move into the slot. That sucks. While that sucks (I'm still of the opinion Mack was their best CB in coverage this season), more pressing is that Eric Kendricks got in a limited practice and is trending towards playing Sunday. I'm assuming Barr will be good to go after the stinger he suffered against GB. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Buck Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 TIme to get rid of the Elvis sig. The King got us into the playoffs, but a "bye week" loss to 'da Bears meant it was time to change things up, get back to my normal theme, and get a new sig that would lead us on our run through the next 4 game winning streak! SKOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikesfan89 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 3 hours ago, Uncle Buck said: TIme to get rid of the Elvis sig. The King got us into the playoffs, but a "bye week" loss to 'da Bears meant it was time to change things up, get back to my normal theme, and get a new sig that would lead us on our run through the next 4 game winning streak! SKOL! I take it those don't show up on mobile Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cearbhall Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 6 minutes ago, vikesfan89 said: I take it those don't show up on mobile They don't show up for me either, but I think I found a setting the first day I was on this board and disabled them. Maybe there is a similar setting for mobile to enable/disable. I personally found the signatures to be annoying, but I had to set one once after losing a sig line bet. I hope I don't still have that sig line. I think it said something about @SteelKing728 being a far superior evaluator of talent than me owing to the nature of the bet he won that related to what we expected out of some player. Iirc, the terms of the bet only involved me having to display that sig for some period of time but that does not mean that SteelKing is not still a superior evaluator. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nozizaki Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 (edited) I'm starting to actually believe the Vikings have a real shot to win this game. I have not watched the film, but according to Alex Boone's film review what New Orleans struggles with is outside zone runs and play action off that. Their corners struggle to set the edge and be physcial against RBs, especially toss plays out of bunch sets. Then the safeties and corners get very aggressive off play action and allow deep completions. Also New Orleans is actually average overall against the run, while they allow the 4th lowest rush YPG on defense, that's more a function of teams abandoning gameplans of running the ball. They had the 2nd fewest rush attempts against them (behind only Baltimore). They do allow 4.2 YPC (Vikings allow 4.3), so the Vikings should be able to run their usual offense, with Cook and Mattison back. The opponent who had the most success on the ground was the 49ers, where Kyle Shanahan didn't get cute and abandon the run but rather stuck to their gameplan and offensive scheme and rolled up 162 yards on the ground on just 24 carries (6.3 carries). Sheldon Rankins and Marcus Davenport are also out, and Eli Apple is trending towards not playing for them. However, the Vikings did fail to take advantage of the Bears Akiem Hicks being out in week 4, so I'm not sure how large this looms on this game. I think there are two big keys to this game: The Vikings need to keep this game within 7 points at all times, so they can run their normal offense. I would even lean towards choosing to receive the ball if the Vikings win the toss, to settle Cousins in and establish a lead if possible. They also need to win the turnover battle, which is my only area of real concern. The Saints have done a fantastic job of limiting turnovers this season, with only 6 fumbles (2 lost) and 6 total interceptions (only 4 of which Bress threw). The Vikings have also done a good job limiting turnovers, Kirk only had 6 interceptions on the season, but the team did fumble 30 times on the season, they only lost 12, however, which is... fortunate to say the least. (Fun note: Cousins was not mostly to blame here, he fumbled 10 times, losing 3. Cook fumbled 4 times, but only lost one. Diggs was the worst, in my humble opinion, fumbling 4 times, but losing 3.) If I haven't convinced you this game should at least be close, here is an in depth betting look at the game and you can see how even this matchup is. I also haven't mentioned that the Saints are a far worse home team than a road team this season (7-1 on the road vs 6-2 at home). Vegas rates them as 2.9 points above average at home this season, as opposed to 12.0 points above average on the road. The Vikings also have an advantage in the red zone, scoring a TD on 60.7% of red zone trips, while the Saints give up a TD 59.6% of the time. The Saints score TDs on about 59.7% of red zone trips, but the Vikings have a far superior red zone defense, giving up a TD on 43.75% of red zone opportunities. Edited January 3, 2020 by Nozizaki 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gopherwrestler Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 37 minutes ago, Nozizaki said: Their corners struggle to set the edge and be physcial against RBs, especially toss plays out of bunch sets. Then the safeties and corners get very aggressive off play action and allow deep completions. Not really a huge secret to this either. Lattimore is a solid tackler, but he focus’s in on the receiver. He will make that tackle, but it might be for a chunk gain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gopherwrestler Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Either way to win this game, we are realistically going to have to put up around 34 points (ish) barring how well our defense plays. With a healthy offense, we can do it, but it will be a battle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VikeManDan Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Does anyone know why the Divisional Round doesn't follow the Wild Card format in that both AFC/NFC games are on the same days? Some teams will be disadvantaged in terms of rest (Vikings if they win will be in that boat.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swede700 Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 Just now, VikeManDan said: Does anyone know why the Divisional Round doesn't follow the Wild Card format in that both AFC/NFC games are on the same days? Some teams will be disadvantaged in terms of rest (Vikings if they win will be in that boat.). Because they don't care. It was more about the Bye teams than the Wildcard winners, as they didn't want to have the 49ers and Packers on the same day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VikeManDan Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 51 minutes ago, gopherwrestler said: Either way to win this game, we are realistically going to have to put up around 34 points (ish) barring how well our defense plays. With a healthy offense, we can do it, but it will be a battle. I'll add to this in that we'll need to possess the ball for 29+ minutes. We're 1-6 when having a TOP of under 29 minutes (25:54, 24:33, 28:12, 20:15, 22:28, 22:20) We beat Denver, miraculously with 23:17 TOP. I mean look at how skewed some of those games are, 4 out of 6 losses, we didn't even have the ball for 25 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VikeManDan Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Just now, swede700 said: Because they don't care. It was more about the Bye teams than the Wildcard winners, as they didn't want to have the 49ers and Packers on the same day. I figured. One would think it would be super easy to schedule it that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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