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


swede700

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26 minutes ago, HeydudemanG said:

I'd like to see this.

Hard to say, Cole I like more at OG then center which is not a great fit for him.  But Bradbury sure gets pushed around a lot, really sucks.  Saints have Cesar Ruiz, late 1st round draft pick and he looks to be there center for years to come.  Hell he is not even the center but is playing I think this game because of injuries, McCoy is their center but both could play either spot.  

 

Still sucks some teams like the Saints know how to develop OL and the Vikings clearly do not.  

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5 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

He is not athletic enough to do that, and struggled in pass pro holding even at OG.  I would think Ezra could make a LT switch and was thought to be a future LT, shocked they never at least tried that in preseason to see how he looked, sure they have in practice but that would allow Wyatt Davis in the lineup just to see what he can do and Hill out.  

I wasn't at all impressed with Cleveland's guard play today so I wish they would have worked him at LT in camp too. He's tall and would probably make a better tackle as that's what he did all throughout college. When the team drafted him he seemed to be the obvious successor to Reiff. It's so frustrating that Davis is on the bench right now and Darrisaw is a question mark. 

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Things are not all doom and gloom yet. The Vikings found a way to comeback and were trending towards a Vikings win in OT until that... controversial call.

The most concerning thing was how poor the Vikings were at the LOS. Not only were they unable to establish the run ending with 67 yards on 22 carries, but they gave up 149 yards on the ground across 36 carries. The Bengals averaged 4.1 YPC last year, so the Vikings were essentially holding them to an average day running the ball. Considering the additions of Tomlinson, Pierce, Hunter, Richardson, etc. that's very disappointing especially given how conservative the Bengals got after Burrow got banged. Not to mention the fact that the Bengals gave up 5.1 YPC last season!

It wasn't that the Vikings were scared into 2 high safety looks, either. Harrison Smith was near the LOS throughout the second half. Even after getting burnt by Chase for the long TD, the Vikings were still giving their corners little safety help AND couldn't stop the run.

Cousins played a fair game, dropping back more than 50 times and never turning the ball over. But if this team is going to right the ship and play meaningful games in January they have to be able to get Cook going.

Also mad props for Greg Joseph for hitting perhaps the most clutch FG since Kai Forbath was the kicker.

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9 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

He is not athletic enough to do that, and struggled in pass pro holding even at OG.  I would think Ezra could make a LT switch and was thought to be a future LT, shocked they never at least tried that in preseason to see how he looked, sure they have in practice but that would allow Wyatt Davis in the lineup just to see what he can do and Hill out.  

I just really want Hill out and Davis somewhere. I agree with you on the puzzling situation of Ezra. 
 

Another thing I’d like to see, but is unlikely to happen, is more field general traits from Cousins. To take the next step he might need to better at reading defenses and audibling out of garbage plays. Since he’s shown none of that to date it’s unlikely. I just think there are ways to mitigate against a porous OL, yet we continue to do the same BS game in game out. 

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Watching the Browns playing KC. Stefanski is calling a great game on offense.  I know it's looking backwards with 20/20 vision, but he should've been elevated to the Vikings head coach when we had the chance. 

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9 minutes ago, SemperFeist said:

I think the most disheartening thing about this game, and my reason for really souring on Zimmer, is how flat and unprepared the defense looked. 

The defense is supposed to be Zimmer’s specialty, they’ve had this scheme in place for 8 seasons. It shouldn’t look this out of sync. 

They did have three new starters in the secondary that have never played with the Vikings before, both starting DTs were both new and Hunter was a bit rusty coming of injury.  Not to mention Barr was out which was a big deal.  Since they have so many new parts one can expect a bit of that, but still the effort on the DL early was disappointing but they picked it up later on.

Still Peterson, Breeland and Woods clearly have never been in this system or played with these guys before.  

But yeah the defense is where they should shine and not sure that happened today like it should have.  They ran all over them really when that should not have happened.  Especially with the improved DTs but yeah Vigil is nothing great at LB, sure made tackles but is not a game changer that Barr can be.  

 

Oh and PS, Packers have two rookies starting on the OL one was a later round pick the other a 2nd rounder.  Not sure the Vikings could pull that off.  Oh and Josh Myers already looks more solid at the point of attack as a rookie than Bradbury does.  

 

Stinks because I liked both Myers and Newman and thought they could have done decent for the Vikings.  At least the Packers are losing and might lose the game so that helps a bit.  

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8 minutes ago, Virginia Viking said:

Watching the Browns playing KC. Stefanski is calling a great game on offense.  I know it's looking backwards with 20/20 vision, but he should've been elevated to the Vikings head coach when we had the chance. 

Stefanski is getting wildly overrated.  He is playing with the best OL in the NFL, and he has the deepest RB core in the NFL and the deepest TE room in the NFL.  Sure freaking hope you can be successful with that, and the defense is much improved off last year.

 

Sure Stefanski is great but switch places between him and Zimmer, give Zimmer the Browns roster and give Stefanski the Vikings roster not sure there would be that different of results.  You have great OL play you will most likely be a good offense.  AKA Kansas City, New Orleans etc...

 

Browns easily have one of the best rosters in the NFL and take out the QB position they probably have the best roster in the NFL.  Wills went out of the game starting LT because of injury, Hubbard is in and if he did not work out they have Hudson the rookie also.  Hubbard would easily start on the Vikings at LT most likely ahead of Darrisaw and Hill of course and he is just a backup on the Browns.  Not sure that is great coaching by Stefanski it is a freaking stacked Browns roster!

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7 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

Stefanski is getting wildly overrated.  He is playing with the best OL in the NFL, and he has the deepest RB core in the NFL and the deepest TE room in the NFL.  Sure freaking hope you can be successful with that, and the defense is much improved off last year.

 

Sure Stefanski is great but switch places between him and Zimmer, give Zimmer the Browns roster and give Stefanski the Vikings roster not sure there would be that different of results.  You have great OL play you will most likely be a good offense.  AKA Kansas City, New Orleans etc...

 

Browns easily have one of the best rosters in the NFL and take out the QB position they probably have the best roster in the NFL.  Wills went out of the game starting LT because of injury, Hubbard is in and if he did not work out they have Hudson the rookie also.  Hubbard would easily start on the Vikings at LT most likely ahead of Darrisaw and Hill of course and he is just a backup on the Browns.  Not sure that is great coaching by Stefanski it is a freaking stacked Browns roster!

Yes the talent is better, but so is the coaching play calling.  BTW, Mayfield is playing great. He's so much better than Cousins.

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23 minutes ago, CriminalMind said:

New coach, new management, new starting QB. This is not a playoff team because the offense will struggle and finish bottom 10 in pts scored. 

IF this team does not make the playoffs, then all is not lost. The Vikings have the youngest offense in the NFL. They are set up for success with an offensive minded coach and young QB on a rookie contract. With just a couple tweaks on the O-Line they could implode this year and rebuild within a couple years for a great SB window.

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2 hours ago, marshpit23 said:

Good win for your team.

Game is over, but do you honestly think that was a fumble?

Let me put it this way, It was really close, but if it went against my team I would not have been happy. Unfortunately wasn’t a lot of good angles to overturn the call. But no we were extremely lucky to get that call. 

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