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Week 12 GDT - Minnesota Vikings at San Francisco 49ers


J-ALL-DAY

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After having such a inconsistent and disappointing start to the season, it has been good to see two legitimate good performances in back to back games. First time all season we have put together two good games in a row.

Now on to the Vikings who are a very talented team that competes every single week. They are coming off two really good wins over the Chargers and Packers. Even though our defense has played well the last two games, I can't see them having the same type of success against the Vikings who can run the crap out of the ball with Cook and obviously have a top WR duo in Thielen/Jefferson. This is going to be a big game for our safeties as they will have to be on their game and take away the deep ball. Cousins is playing great ball right now and had they not blown some games earlier in the season, he could very well be a top 3 MVP candidate.

Offensively, we have to continue running the ball but get a bit more explosive plays. Mitchell should be back which will help but you just can't rely on 3rd down conversions to sustain drives for an entire season. Last two weeks the team and Jimmy in particular has been money on 3rd downs or 4th downs, but you are going to need to get some big plays to make it easier on the offense. This is another game that Aiyuk can go off and will need to go off. Jimmy is going to have to be able to handle the blitzes and not panic. If Hunter was still healthy, he would have had a BIG game on the right side. Speaking of the right side, I think Compton will get the start this week since Moore didn't fair too great to start the game. Jimmy is going to have to take his shots to the perimeter at times with the way the Vikings play man coverage and how they will clog the middle of the field. But I have a feeling he's going to turn back to the hesitant Jimmy G, at least to start the game and it may turn out to be ugly. I do think eventually he and the rest of the offense catches their rhythm and they make their fair share of plays. Do not see us jumping out to a big lead like the last two weeks though. This is going to be a tight game from start to finish.

Playing at home actually sucks since we are so bad here and will be playing after traveling from the EC. We know exactly how those games have gone the last few years. Dud vs the Falcons in 2019, bad performance vs the Steelers in 2019, dud vs the Eagles in 2020 and terrible start vs the Packers this season. We did play very well against the Panthers in 2019 after flying back from Washington. So conventional wisdom says we will probably lose this game, but..........

SF 27

MIN 24

I think we find a way to pull it out late with a last second FG and get ourselves to 6-5 with the playoffs in sight. 

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I'm predicting an L, but I'll be honest, I feel like these two teams are insanely close and if we were playing this on the road, I'd probably pick us to win. The margin is razor thin. Ultimately, an important game but I think both teams make the playoffs regardless of the outcome. 

A lot is simply going to be based on what Kirk Cousins we end up playing. When the guy gets on a roll, he's legitimately a tremendous QB...but he just has these weird episodes where he costs a team games. 

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10 minutes ago, Forge said:

I'm predicting an L, but I'll be honest, I feel like these two teams are insanely close and if we were playing this on the road, I'd probably pick us to win. The margin is razor thin. Ultimately, an important game but I think both teams make the playoffs regardless of the outcome. 

A lot is simply going to be based on what Kirk Cousins we end up playing. When the guy gets on a role, he's legitimately a tremendous QB...but he just has these weird episodes where he costs a team games. 

He played mainly awesome vs the Packers but threw what should have been a INT on the last drive but Savage just could not control the ball as he was going to the ground. Cousins is going to give you some chances will have some mediocre performances.

Bosa is going to have to dominate but I feel like the Vikings will be trying to run a bunch of screens against us, especially early on. So glad Tartt is back as he is so smart and money at diagnosing those. 

Both teams are closely matched. Vikings have a lot of talent and so do we but both rosters also have flaws and just have made some dumb mistakes this season. Will come down to playing a clean game offensively and taking the appropriate number of risks. Jimmy only went to the sidelines once on Sunday but I loved how he took a shot with Deebo being matched up in single coverage against Campbell. It was not completed but those are the types of plays that are available every single week but Jimmy never takes advantages of them. If he can do that and play his usual game? This offense legitimately would be unstoppable. 

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Just now, J-ALL-DAY said:

He played mainly awesome vs the Packers but threw what should have been a INT on the last drive but Savage just could not control the ball as he was going to the ground. Cousins is going to give you some chances will have some mediocre performances.

Bosa is going to have to dominate but I feel like the Vikings will be trying to run a bunch of screens against us, especially early on. So glad Tartt is back as he is so smart and money at diagnosing those. 

Both teams are closely matched. Vikings have a lot of talent and so do we but both rosters also have flaws and just have made some dumb mistakes this season. Will come down to playing a clean game offensively and taking the appropriate number of risks. Jimmy only went to the sidelines once on Sunday but I loved how he took a shot with Deebo being matched up in single coverage against Campbell. It was not completed but those are the types of plays that are available every single week but Jimmy never takes advantages of them. If he can do that and play his usual game? This offense legitimately would be unstoppable. 

I will say that I'm going to be really sad if we struggle defending the run. I've watched a weird number of Viking games this year and Dalvin is really struggling to get going most games because that is simply a really bad run blocking line. 3 yards and a cloud of dust for that team, I swear. His numbers are pretty inflated by just two games against Arizona and Baltimore this year. 

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13 minutes ago, Forge said:

I will say that I'm going to be really sad if we struggle defending the run. I've watched a weird number of Viking games this year and Dalvin is really struggling to get going most games because that is simply a really bad run blocking line. 3 yards and a cloud of dust for that team, I swear. His numbers are pretty inflated by just two games against Arizona and Baltimore this year. 

Not like our run defense is exactly great...Even though DVOA loves our run defense lol. 

Honestly, he's averaged more than 100 YPG the last four or so weeks and the Vikings will stick to it until the end. He just hasn't broken off big runs the last two weeks but Jefferson has been able to go off. So it really is a pick your poison type of deal. 

It's just going to be a physical, close ball game. Playoffs really may be on the line with this match up.

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Updated DVOA rankings:

Team - 7

Offense - 4

Defense - 11

Dropped a spot offensively but I think that was more so due to just how good the Chargers were on Sunday.

Defense creeping up to the top 10 after dominating performances the last two weeks. BIG test this week though obviously but they will need to be a top 10 caliber defense to slow down the Vikings potent offensive attack. 

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1 minute ago, N4L said:

Interesting perspective on the change

Maybe if Mitchell is playing and we are headed outside of the tackles more often, I could see this perspective. But Sermon and Wilson will likely get utilized more on the inside zone runs and 280 isn't ideal for that. 

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15 minutes ago, Forge said:

Maybe if Mitchell is playing and we are headed outside of the tackles more often, I could see this perspective. But Sermon and Wilson will likely get utilized more on the inside zone runs and 280 isn't ideal for that. 

I had the exact same thing typed out lol

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