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How much more offensive will the Vikings be under Kubiak?


RpMc

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Just now, Klomp said:

I meant 12 personnel. I get them confused sometimes.

Completely agree that 12 personnel is a great look for us with Cook, Rudolph, Smith (who can be in line, flexed out, or out wide himself), Thielen, and Jefferson.

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2 hours ago, Krauser said:

Very promising!

TEs usually take a year or two to get up to speed, so for Smith to contribute that much as a 21 year-old rookie is impressive. 

I think he'll be their top TE in targets this year. I think his snap count could match Rudolph's if he gets used as the TE1 in passing situations (3rd downs, end of half/game, when they're in 11 personnel). 

The receiving is positive obviously, but him blocking well would maximize his snap count. I don't have a PFF account, what did they grade his blocking as last season?

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1 hour ago, RpMc said:

Completely agree that 12 personnel is a great look for us with Cook, Rudolph, Smith (who can be in line, flexed out, or out wide himself), Thielen, and Jefferson.

It'd be interesting to see whether defenses treat that like 12 or 11 personnel, given Smith's strength as a receiver.

 

 

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1 minute ago, whitehops said:

It'd be interesting to see whether defenses treat that like 12 or 11 personnel, given Smith's strength as a receiver.

Does it really matter? If they bring in an extra DB, run the ball down their throats. If they bring in an extra LB, split Irv out wide and attack.

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9 minutes ago, whitehops said:

The receiving is positive obviously, but him blocking well would maximize his snap count. I don't have a PFF account, what did they grade his blocking as last season?

Smith: 64.8 run blocking grade on 269 snaps
Rudolph: 60.0 on 353
Conklin: 51.2 on 169

Irv's run blocking grade was 17th among 79 TEs who played at least 20% of snaps.

That was the 2nd highest run blocking grade by a rookie TE, trailing only Dawson Knox of the Bills. Knox was the lowest graded receiving TE with more than 20 targets (he had 9 drops), while Smith was the 2nd highest, trailing only Foster Moreau of the Raiders.

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8 minutes ago, Krauser said:

Smith: 64.8 run blocking grade on 269 snaps
Rudolph: 60.0 on 353
Conklin: 51.2 on 169

Irv's run blocking grade was 17th among 79 TEs who played at least 20% of snaps.

That was the 2nd highest run blocking grade by a rookie TE, trailing only Dawson Knox of the Bills. Knox was the lowest graded receiving TE with more than 20 targets (he had 9 drops), while Smith was the 2nd highest, trailing only Foster Moreau of the Raiders.

That's awesome, I knew Smith started the season well blocking-wise but I didn't realize he sustained it. 

 

Wonder if he gets more snaps than Rudolph this season.

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6 minutes ago, Krauser said:

Smith: 64.8 run blocking grade on 269 snaps
Rudolph: 60.0 on 353
Conklin: 51.2 on 169

Irv's run blocking grade was 17th among 79 TEs who played at least 20% of snaps.

That was the 2nd highest run blocking grade by a rookie TE, trailing only Dawson Knox of the Bills. Knox was the lowest graded receiving TE with more than 20 targets (he had 9 drops), while Smith was the 2nd highest, trailing only Foster Moreau of the Raiders.

So, is he our return to Steve Jordan...i.e the last TE who could actually both catch and block pretty well?

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2 hours ago, Krauser said:

 

Here's the second year for those players:

9d05nKm.jpg

Based on that, something in the range of ~650 yards and 5 touchdowns wouldn't be unrealistic for Smith. Hopefully they use him downfield more often, as Smith's YPR was way lower than the other top guys as rookies.

 

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20 minutes ago, whitehops said:

That's awesome, I knew Smith started the season well blocking-wise but I didn't realize he sustained it. 

Wonder if he gets more snaps than Rudolph this season.

I think Smith did have a bit of an advantage as a blocker compared to Rudolph. He lines up mostly more often in the slot, backfield or sniffer position and would tend to get more blocks against second level defenders (LBs, S), while Rudy is more often in line and matched up against DEs.

I think they'll continue using Rudolph as the Y, so more often the single TE in 21 personnel (with a FB) and on early downs. 

But Smith might get some of Rudolph's snaps as a receiver especially in 3WR sets on 3rd downs or in obvious passing situations. Last year, Rudolph ran 338 routes, Smith 305. I think it should probably be a 250:400 split in favor of the young guy. 

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On 5/7/2020 at 2:03 PM, Virginia Viking said:

I don't think there will be much change.  Kubiaks' offenses have traditionally been pretty conservative.  I think he will try to bolster the OL and attempt to eliminate as many mistakes as possible. 

It's not flashy, but it would be enough to take us to the next level. I'm optimistic.

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  • 2 weeks later...

While I can't read the whole article, since I'm not a premium member, it's still interesting...

Quote

 

It’s finally happening. After years of living in the shadow of first the remnants of the West Coast offense and then the new spread offenses of the 2000s, the Mike Shanahan/Gary Kubiak/Alex Gibbs offense is finally making a breakthrough.

It’s about time. The system, built on the “wide zone” play, has always produced greater results than the sum of the parts involved would indicate, but its spread never took off, even after the 1997 and 1998 Super Bowl wins. It has now, though. In fact, six of the top seven teams in terms of outside- or wide-zone percentage in 2019 have connections to Mike Shanahan.

 

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-new-nfl-offense-49ers-titans-packers-mike-shanahan-offense

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  • 4 months later...

what are people's first impressions with the offense under kubiak vs. stefanski? 

 

one thing i've noticed is less screens, which is a little disappointing given how deadly they were for us last season. i also don't have the numbers in front of me but i feel like we're running play action less (though that could be skewed by the game week one).

 

and i don't know if this is play calling or kirk (plus small sample size) but only 15% of targets this year have gone to tight ends - last season was 24%.

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11 hours ago, whitehops said:

what are people's first impressions with the offense under kubiak vs. stefanski? 

 

one thing i've noticed is less screens, which is a little disappointing given how deadly they were for us last season. i also don't have the numbers in front of me but i feel like we're running play action less (though that could be skewed by the game week one).

 

and i don't know if this is play calling or kirk (plus small sample size) but only 15% of targets this year have gone to tight ends - last season was 24%.

It's been a very conservative offense.  I thought Stefanski's play calling is what ultimately won the playoff game last season.  I really think the talent is lacking at QB and OL for this team to run Kubiaks offense efficiently.

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