Week 1: Packers (0-0) at VIKINGS (0-0)

[Uncle Buck]

4 hours ago, Krauser said:

The game was only out of reach on the last drive.

Most of the completions on that last drive were garbage time numbers boosters, especially the checkdowns to Mattison for 8 yards a pop.

But garbage time is so called because defenses protect deep and give up easy checkdowns, in order to drain the clock.  The Vikings 4th quarter TD drives were:

• 4 plays, 77 yards in 1:16, with a 29 yard pass to Johnson and a 37 yard TD to Thielen
• 7 plays, 65 yards in 2:07, with a 11 yard pass to Smith on 3rd and 8, a 17 yard catch and run by Jefferson, and a 22 yard deep catch by Johnson inside the 5, before Cook’s TD
• 9 plays, 75 yards in 1:58. 4 checkdowns to Mattison and 1 to Rudolph, but then a 19 yard TD to Thielen on the fade route over Alexander. 

Thise first 2 drives averaged over 12 yards per play and took a little over 3 minutes to put up 16 points — not exactly wins for the Packers defense.  

If the Vikings defense had played well enough to get a stop early in the 4th quarter, the offense would have made it close. 

 

Ok, I can buy that.  I was listening to the game on the radio and probably not following it as closely as I would have if I had been watching it on tv.  Thanks for the clarification. 

 

[Uncle Buck]

1 hour ago, SemperFeist said:

I think the biggest disappointment from this game is that Zimmer didn’t make the Packers do something unexpected to beat them. 

Going into the game Rodgers’ only known weapon was DaVante Adams. How do you just let him run 1-on-1? How do you not focus on Adams, take him away, and force Rodgers to beat you with a bunch of unknown weapons? 

Rodgers could very well have beaten this team with Lazard and Valdez-Scantling, but he would have had to work for it. Nothing from the Vikings game plan made the Packers work for it. 

I've been saying this for four years.  Rodgers only wants to throw to Adams.  Take him away and Rodgers will get frustrated.  I just don't get why they don't double-team Adams, especially now, when you don't have anyone who can cover him one-on-one. 

[vegas492]

1 hour ago, HeydudemanG said:

Thanks for the write up I really appreciate it, its good to see your perspective.

 

At least we didn't get slapped like last year i saw a lot of hope for our young team and the packers were looking pretty great too. May be you guys didn't need receivers as much as you guys thought. Your guys even though they had some tough mistakes to watch, but overall played well. And hopefully you see more AJ Dillon he looked great in the small reps he got, probably a total steal. Kendricks played like a champ our D-line has some secret depth and we are still not happy with our O-line but it was a slight upgrade from last year. What i wouldn't do for the packers O-line. Kirk was way more mobile so theres a lot to be hopeful for. Hopefully we both are in the playoffs again but I don't want to play you guys if we do that's for darn sure.

Thank you.  I appreciate talking football with you guys.  And I'll make no bones about it, the Vikes have drafted many guys over the years that I've flat out loved coming out.  

For my team?  I kind of thought the WR need was over-rated.  It takes rookies years to get it...and with Rodgers under center, we needed guys who can come in right away and play.  He isn't overly kind or sympathetic to the learning curve for young WR's.  That's why I thought our 3rd year guys would have to step up.  MVS did.  Lazard did.

Meanwhile, Jefferson looked the part of the wide eyed rookie out there.  I have no doubt he will be good.  He's got all the talent to do it and I think he has the brain/maturity to do it.  But it's going to take time.  Jefferson would have looked the same, or worse, for GB.  Of that I have little doubt.

I don't know what it is about GB offensive linemen, but recently we've been able to develop starting talent and depth.  Helps to have an elite LT and center to start with.  Adding a second round lineman with unreal skills is a huge boost.

I think there is a lot of hope for your o-line.  It wasn't thrown around like it was last year.  If you had a lead, Cook would be the offensive player of the week.  One heady play by Alexander and a poor throw by Cousins (his only one) and that was all that was needed.

[RpMc]

2 hours ago, SemperFeist said:

Going into the game Rodgers’ only known weapon was DaVante Adams. How do you just let him run 1-on-1? How do you not focus on Adams, take him away, and force Rodgers to beat you with a bunch of unknown weapons? 

So much of this is schemed.

Shifts and motions to identify man vs zone coverage, and I'd be willing to bet that if Rodgers diagnosed man his first read on progression went to Adams often.  They moved him around the formation a decent amount as well to prevent bracket coverage.

The bigger problem is the sheer amount of 2-man and quarters (which can turn to man pretty quickly) that we played.

-------

Going back and thinking on it, our run defense was not bad at all considering the amount of two high safety/light boxes we used.

Edited September 14, 2020 by RpMc

[Purplepride323]

54 minutes ago, RpMc said:

So much of this is schemed.

Shifts and motions to identify man vs zone coverage, and I'd be willing to bet that if Rodgers diagnosed man his first read on progression went to Adams often.  They moved him around the formation a decent amount as well to prevent bracket coverage.

The bigger problem is the sheer amount of 2-man and quarters (which can turn to man pretty quickly) that we played.

-------

Going back and thinking on it, our run defense was not bad at all considering the amount of two high safety/light boxes we used.

Great points. I think our corners are not as good as I thought they were. Especially in man-coverage. Holton Hill looks like he’s better suited in zone coverage. Looks a little slow-footed when he’s covering deep. I think if he doesn’t step it up in a big way he won’t be back next year. The only corner that impressed me last night was Dantzler. I hope Gladney plays more next game so we can see if he’s better than Hughes (who might be better as a nickel). Zimmer’s got a lot of work to do but I got faith in him, especially when it comes to coaching cornerbacks. 

Edited September 14, 2020 by Purplepride323

[SemperFeist]

I’d say that’s a bit of an improvement. 

[swede700]

8 minutes ago, SemperFeist said:

I’d say that’s a bit of an improvement. 

That is a good sign.  Hopefully, he'll continue to improve.  

[NoDakViking]

31 minutes ago, swede700 said:

That is a good sign.  Hopefully, he'll continue to improve.  

How about the rest of the OL?  I don't remember seeing a ton of pressure yesterday.   Kenny Clark left the game but I think it went fairly well compared to last year.

[RpMc]

2 hours ago, NoDakViking said:

How about the rest of the OL?  I don't remember seeing a ton of pressure yesterday.   Kenny Clark left the game but I think it went fairly well compared to last year.

Apparently Elflein gave up 5 of our 7 pressures against - I didn't see it that way, but I only got to look at it live.

[vegas492]

Clark only played like 15 snaps, and the GB interior DL is a bunch of guys that couldn't start on most good college teams.

But...Z Smith moves around and rushes inside a lot.  He got pressures early and a sack.

Gary had two pressures from an Edge slot.  

P Smith was invisible in the rush.

I thought your line was night and day better this time around as compared to last year.  If you had the lead, Cook would have had 200 yards rushing.  I saw your guys mauling the inside and taking out linebackers.

[twslhs20]

19 hours ago, swede700 said:

That is a good sign.  Hopefully, he'll continue to improve.  

I'd be interested to see grades on pre and post Kenny Clark injury.

[SteelKing728]

The defense needs to get better.

And I was worried about the offense! Haha

[swede700]

1 hour ago, SteelKing728 said:

The defense needs to get better.

And I was worried about the offense! Haha

I have full faith that they will get back to being a top-5 to 10 defense in short order.  Zim won't accept any less.

[vikesfan89]

I'm surprised Kendricks wasn't higher. It seemed like he was all over the place

[SteelKing728]

4 hours ago, swede700 said:

I have full faith that they will get back to being a top-5 to 10 defense in short order.  Zim won't accept any less.

Maybe. For all we know, this could be a retooling year though.