Quotulatiousness

November 4, 2019

Minnesota Vikings 23, Kansas City Chiefs 26

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

On Sunday afternoon, the 6-2 Minnesota Vikings visited the 5-3 Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. Both teams were hoping to get recently injured stars back in time for the game, with Minnesota’s star wide receiver Adam Thielen recovering from a hamstring injury suffered in the Detroit Lions game and the Chiefs’ starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes (reigning NFL MVP) having suffered a knee injury (the Chiefs activated Chad Henne from injured reserve on Saturday as insurance). The Vikings hadn’t won a game at Arrowhead since December 1974, a 35-15 result, and came in hoping to change that and move to 7-2 on the season.

“4762 Arrowhead” by nickhall is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Adam Thielen started the game, but was quickly benched as his injury flared up again. Mahomes was not active for the Chiefs, so Matt Moore got the start.

Although the Vikings had the NFL rushing leader, they started the game with a run-deficient plan that saw quarterback Kirk Cousins throw three times on the opening “drive”, then yield to Britton Colquitt to punt the ball away. The second Vikings possession went by just as quickly with three plays and a punt. The Chiefs got on the scoreboard on their second possession with a long pass to Tyreek Hill that beat the Vikings’ coverage. The following drive may have featured the best play by former first-round pick wide receiver Laquon Treadwell, who had two key receptions on the drive that was capped off with a touchdown pass to Olabisi Johnson to tie the game at 7-7.

The second quarter saw each team eke out a field goal to keep the score tied 10-10 at the half. At that point, it was clear that November Kirk Cousins is a poor second to October Kirk Cousins, who was the NFC Offensive player of the month … 9 of 21 for 101 yards isn’t the kind of thing we’d been led to expect from the Vikings quarterback.

In the third quarter, the TV announcers re-iterated that Kansas City wasn’t known for their running game, just in time for a 91-yard scoring run by Damien Williams (have you ever noticed that TV announcers have a knack for pointing out something relevant about the game just before a big play happens…). The score was tied in the last few minutes, but the Chiefs were in field goal range and scored the winner just before time expired.

Matthew Coller:

You knew from the very first drive that it was Bad Kirk time on Sunday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Minnesota Vikings opened their contest against the Kansas City Chiefs in a manner that did not reflect their last four weeks of offensive excellence. Dalvin Cook had a pass bounce off his hands on the opening play and then Kirk Cousins tentatively flipped a pass into the flat in the direction of Adam Thielen but the low throw not only fell incomplete, it ended Thielen’s day. He came into the game with a “questionable” designation with a hamstring injury and did not see the field after the first drive.

[…]

Cousins overcame some frustration — that was caught, as always, by the FOX TV cameras — to give his team a chance to win.

The defense, however, showed its weakness again. After sacking Moore on second down, the Chiefs’ quarterback found Hill open over the middle for a first down. He created separation from Xavier Rhodes, who has struggled to shut down receivers as he did in the golden age of the Vikings defense. Moore then heaved the ball up to Hill down the sideline and he jumped over Trae Waynes for a 41-yard to put KC in field goal position.

Harrison Smith came through with a sack on third down but the Chiefs were still able to tie the game at 23.

Bad Kirk returned on the subsequent drive. Not only did he go three-and-out but Cousins’ only completion was a 7-yard loss.

The Vikings’ defense had a chance to redeem itself for a day of allowing big plays in big spots after Colquitt shanked a 27-yard punt to put KC at mid-field. Maybe two years ago they would have. This time around, Hill found space in the middle of the field for a first down to set up a game-winning field goal.

Here’s what it means: If the Vikings want to prove themselves as legit contenders, they can’t have Bad Kirk show up for any length of time. They can’t put everything on their defense. Otherwise they will end up walking off with the same defeated feeling as they did on Sunday at Arrowhead.

Becca Murphy:

Everybody on the Vikings is going to have a rough go of it on Monday when they watch the game film of this loss.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins, whose inaccuracy throughout the first half left first downs and points on the field, will hardly be able to re-examine some of his poor showing. His offensive line won’t have an easier time of it, watching themselves bullied by their Chief opponents from quarter one to quarter four.

Vikings’ offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanksi may have to leave the room as the film comes to its last minutes, lest he see just how bland and predictable his playcalling was in the Vikings’ final two possessions.

Mike Zimmer may be the most uncomfortable of all Viking players and coaches, having to re-experience the fact that the one player his defense should have kept in check (Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill) had six catches for 160 yards and a touchdown in the game.

Update: From the ever-reliable Daily Norseman, here’s the Buy/Sell section of Ted Glover’s Stock Market Report.

Buy: Adam Thielen was healing and close to playing. Thielen is a big part of this offense and makes it immeasurably better. His hamstring injury was described as minor all along, so it felt like missing the Redskins game and then having 10 days off would be a smart plan for him getting back on the field.

Sell: Playing Adam Thielen. Yet, that plan backfired early. Thielen tweaked his hamstring on the Vikes first or second drive and didn’t return. Now the team is dealing with an injury that can linger for weeks, and no one truly knows how long he’ll be out. The smart play would be to keep him out for the next two games, as that leads into the bye week. Will that be enough time, though? Hamstring injuries are the worst, and they can linger for a lot longer than three weeks. It’s something that can be problematic for the rest of the season if Thielen pushes too hard, and when he’s out it affects what the offense can do. One thing we all agreed on coming into the season was the Vikings WR depth after Thielen and Diggs, and now here we are two months into the season with no real go to guys after Diggs.

Treadwell had a good game today, Bisi Johnson has had his moments, and maybe we’ll see something out of Josh Doctson in the coming weeks. But not addressing WR3 in the off-season has officially come back to bite this team in the ass, at the worst possible time.

Buy: Kirk’s decisiveness to run on third and 7 early second quarter. One of the things that Mike Zimmer wanted to see from Kirk Cousins this year was more decisiveness when deciding to keep the ball and run with it. Early in the second quarter today, Kirk bailed from the pocket and took off, with a lot of open field in front of him.

Sell: Kirk sliding and coming up short of first down. Yet, with all the open field, Kansas City closed in pursuit, Kirk gave himself up, and went into the “steal second base” dive. The only problem with that was that he was a yard short of the first down, bringing up fourth down. Minnesota ended up kicking the ball away to the Chiefs, who took the ball and ended up kicking a field goal.

Buy: Getting the ball twice late in the 4th quarter with a legitimate chance to win the game. With a 23-20 lead, Minnesota got the ball with 7:47 left. A team that’s serious about putting away opponents goes on a long, clock eating drive there, and ends the game. But they didn’t. Still, with the score tied at 23, Minnesota got the ball back again with 2:30 left. All they needed to do was drive about 50 yards to get into field goal range and get out of there with a win.

Sell: Winning the game. Those last two drives were particularly frustrating. The Vikes had momentum on that first drive, as the offense had scored and then the defense forced the Chiefs to punt. A long drive there that ends in points seals the game. Even with that last drive, it was a very doable situation. They had the 2 minute warning, two timeouts, and the ball on the 25. It wouldn’t take much against one of the worst defenses in the NFL to get into scoring position, kick a field goal, and win the game. Yet, in those two drives, the VIkings ran six plays and lost seven yards. Remarkable.

Buy: Kirk Cousins with three touchdown passes. Sometimes Kirk Cousins makes a throw, and I have to rewind my DVR to make sure what I saw just happened. His TD throw to Kyle Rudolph, for example, was one of those throws. It was in traffic, down in the red zone, and he placed the ball in a spot that only Rudolph could get it. Incredible throw and catch

Sell: Kirk Cousins, airmail specialist. Other times, Kirk Cousins makes a throw and I also have to rewind my DVR to make sure what I saw just happened, because I ask myself how the hell a vet with that much time in the league airmails that many throws? It felt like he overthrew guys seven or eight times today, easy. Very frustrating to watch, when a couple of those plays looked like they were going to go for some big yards if he makes those throws.

Buy: The re-emergence of Laquon Treadwell. With Adam Thielen’s hamstring now officially “a thing”, Treadwell stepping up today was a welcome turn of events. Someone is going to need to become WR2, and why not Treadwell?

Sell: Laquon Treadwell having more receiving yards than Stefon Diggs. Still, let’s chat about Treadwell having more receiving yards than Stefon Diggs today, because THAT is NOT a recipe for success. One catch, four yards. Really??

Buy: Going for it on 4th and 1 right before the half. I loved the call. Minnesota was driving, and got down to the KC 15 with 29 seconds left. On 4th and 1, the Vikes decided to go for it, and Cousins found Irv Smith for a four yard gain, and a first down at the Chiefs 11.

Sell: The play call sequence after that 4th down conversion. Maybe it’s me, but it kind of felt that after the Vikes got the first down, they were content with settling for the field goal at that point. On first down Cousins was pressured and threw it towards Treadwell. On second down and third down Cousins threw it out of the left corner of the end zone. Really poor play calls for the pressure KC was bringing, and the Vikes still had a timeout to play with. Just seemed like a haphazard plan, and it turned out to be one of the turning points in the game.

October 25, 2019

Vikings defeat Washington 19-9 at US Bank Stadium

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

There wasn’t much excitement in advance of this Thursday night game between the 5-2 Minnesota Vikings and the 1-6 Washington Redskins, and the odds in Las Vegas had the Vikings as 17-point favourites. Thanks to a slow start, the Vikings didn’t come close to covering the spread, but did end up with a fairly comfortable win. A fumble by wide receiver Stefon Diggs gave Washington an early boost, but Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter strip-sacked Case Keenum (recovered by Shamar Stephen) that gave the ball back to Minnesota before the Redskins could capitalize.

Exterior of US Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings by “www78”
“Viking Stadium” by www78 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Washington coaches have clearly been studying recent Vikings game film, as they seemed to concentrate on cornerback Xavier Rhodes for much of the first half, picking up yardage on passes and on penalties. Rhodes still seems to be unable to get back to his early career form.

Do you get a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when the talking heads on the TV start digging up stats on individual players? I did, when the Fox crew started complimenting Vikings right tackle Brian O’Neill for not having given up a sack so far in his NFL career … which, of course, he promptly did on that drive (Cousins was sacked twice in the span of three plays, which snuffed out a drive and the Vikings had to settle for a field goal attempt).

There was, however, a Dalvin Cook touchdown run on the night (the only TD by either team):

In addition to Cook’s rushing, backup Alexander Mattison did some great work … that unfortunately won’t show up on the stat sheets due to penalties wiping out his runs. He’s not as shifty as Cook, but he’s an excellent 1-2 combination with Cook and I’m delighted the Vikings have him on the roster.

Matthew Coller says the Vikings didn’t earn any style points in the win:

Over the past three weeks the Minnesota Vikings played a brand of football that looked like some of the best offenses in team history. They were video-game-numbers wins, the type that fans get a thrill out of watching. Thursday night’s 19-9 win over Washington did not fall into those categories.

On the Vikings’ first drive it appeared they might be in for another track meet when quarterback Kirk Cousins — who cleared 300 yards and a 135-plus quarterback rating in each of the last three games — found star receiver Stefon Diggs wide open in Washington’s secondary. But Diggs tried to cut back and escape defenders, which resulted in a fumble, his fourth of the season.

It appeared that Washington interim head coach Bill Callahan was well aware of the only way to stay in the game with the much more gifted Vikings: By slowing things down.

[…]

Keenum suffered a concussion in the first half when defensive tackle Linval Joseph slammed him to the ground forcing rookie Dwayne Haskins into the game. It wouldn’t take long for him to show exactly why Washington has been hesitant to play him.

After an aggressive decision by Mike Zimmer to go for a fourth-and-short failed late in the third quarter, Haskins overthrew an open receiver, which bounced directly into the hands of Anthony Harris, ruining Washington’s chances to tie the game and give themselves a shot at a stunning upset.

The Vikings took advantage, grinding out a field goal drive to put them up 19-9 with 11 minutes remaining. Haskins continued his struggles, taking a third down sack and the Vikings killed clock with Cook and Alexander Mattison. Of course the Vikings’ final drive wasn’t without penalties that drove them back to first-and-25. But Mattison closed things out with a 19-yard gain on third down that put things on ice.

Mixed into the game were a total of 11 penalties for 120 yards, six sacks, less than four yards per carry for the Vikings and few targets for receivers that went in anyone’s direction outside of Diggs.

Judd Zulgad on the performance of Kirk Cousins against the team that drafted him:

… there was one curiosity that existed when it came to this matchup. That would have been the fact Kirk Cousins was facing his former team — the franchise that never believed in him — in prime time. Gulp. You did not have to look very hard to find that Cousins was 5-13 in prime-time games.

This was the exact type of game in which Cousins would try to do too much and make a key mistake. Maybe it would be an ill-timed interception, or a goofy fumble on a sack or an overthrow on a deep pass to a wide open receiver. The absence of wide receiver Adam Thielen (hamstring) didn’t help matters.

“I’m going to talk to (Cousins) a little bit about some of those things,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said a few days back. “He needs to just focus on his job, focus on getting guys in the right place and doing what he’s supposed to do. There’s always some emotions when you’re playing a team that you went against.”

Cousins might have felt those emotions but he never let them against the best of him in the Vikings’ 19-9 victory over Washington. The Vikings’ fourth consecutive victory put them at 6-2. They could be tied with Green Bay atop the NFC North if the Packers lose on Sunday night in Kansas City.

Cousins wasn’t dynamic on Thursday but he didn’t need to be. What the Vikings needed was a solid game and Cousins provided exactly that. He completed 23 of 26 passes for 285 yards with no touchdowns, no interceptions and registered a passer rating of 112.3. Cousins’ 88.5 completion percentage was the highest in franchise history. It was Cousins’ 24th start with the Vikings and only the second time he has not thrown a touchdown. The first time came in the Vikings’ Week 4 loss at Chicago. That left Vikings fan infuriated. This time? Hey, Cousins won the game, right?

Update: At the Daily Norseman, Ted Glover provides his usual post-game Stock Market Report:

Winning ugly is better than losing ugly

Coming into this game, the Minnesota Vikings had been on an historic run. QB Kirk Cousins set an NFL record with yards passing and passer rating over three games, the Vikes offense had been on a three game stretch that’s been more productive than at any other point in team history, and the 1-6 Washington Redskins were just supposed to be another bump in the road.

That bump almost turned into a pothole, as old friends Case Keenum and Adrian Peterson returned home wearing the colors of the opponent, and they gave the Vikings everything they could handle. But on an off night when things weren’t going the way things were supposed to, new friend Kirk Cousins played almost mistake free football, and the Vikings made enough big plays to get a win on night when they weren’t firing on all cylinders. […]

Solid Investments

Alexander Mattison, RB: Officially, Mattison had 61 yards on 13 carries, including a remarkable 28 yard run on third and 19 that daggered the Redskins. Unofficially, he had about 247* yards on 17 carries that were nullified due to penalties. Seriously, on that epic drive that ended the game, he had 30 yards on consecutive plays that were nullified by holding penalties. Mattison is making the folks that called him a mistake pick in the third round look foolish, and he is one of the most violent runners in the NFL.

*Maybe not that much, but it kinda seemed like it.

Kirk Cousins, QB: Tonight was bit of a weird game, and it’s kind of evidenced in Cousins’ statline: 23/26, 285 yards … and no touchdowns. But, he also had not interceptions, and no turnovers. Cousins and the Vikings did a really good job of moving the ball between the 20’s, but self destructed once they got in the red zone. Whether it was an inability to run, bad protection, or bad play calls, the Vikes were just not as efficient down there as they have been the last three weeks. But, on the flip side, Cousins played a solid game and didn’t make any mistakes, and when the Vikes did get within the shadow of the end zone, they did come away with points.

Junk Bonds

Xavier Rhodes, CB: It’s becoming more and more apparent that one of two things has happened to Xavier Rhodes: he is either playing hurt at a level that he probably shouldn’t be playing, or his skill set has diminished so much he is no longer feared by opposing teams. Tonight, Case Keenum and the Washington Redskins targeted Rhodes, and whoever he was covering they threw to, and Rhodes either allowed a completion, allowed a completion and missed a tackle, or was flagged for pass interference.

Pat Elflein, G: Elflein has had some rough games, but this might have been his worst. He was called for three holding penalties, one of which was in the red zone and one of which cancelled out a nice Mattison run. Washington was also able to generate a lot of pressure up the middle, and Elflein was a big reason for that. I still don’t know what Mike Zimmer has against Brett Jones, but I think we need to have a discussion about seeing what Jones could do. And as a Pat Elflein fan, it pains me to say that.

October 21, 2019

Minnesota Vikings 42, Detroit Lions 30

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

The 4-2 Minnesota Vikings visited the 2-2-1 Detroit Lions on Sunday afternoon. Minnesota was riding high from 18-point wins in their last two games, while the Lions were nursing a grudge from their bitter loss to the Packers on Monday night (largely due to bad officiating). By the end of the game, tempers were flaring along the line of scrimmage and there was a lot of pushing and shoving during the Vikings’ “victory formation” snaps, finally drawing a 15-yard penalty on the Lions.

Detroit Lions kicking off against the Minnesota Vikings at Ford Field, 23 December 2018. Minnesota won 27–9.
Photo by Michael Barera via Wikimedia Commons.

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins had another very good game, both statistically and also by the non-statistic “eye test” fan evaluation, with 24 completions on 34 passing attempts for 337 yards and a passer rating of 141.4. Adam Thielen caught the first of four Cousins TD passes, but was injured on the reception and did not return to the game. Other TD receptions were by Bisi Johnson, C.J. Ham, and Kyle Rudolph (all three were the first TD of the season for each player). Dalvin Cook had his fifth 100+ yard rushing game of the season with two touchdowns. Defensive ends Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen each got a sack on Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, although each was also penalized during the game. The Vikings’ secondary did not have a great day overall, giving up a season-high 30 points, and the corners seemed vulnerable to Stafford’s long passes too often.

As Matthew Coller points out, the Vikings appear to have found ways to get their tight ends involved after several weeks in the witness protection program:

The Vikings’ aim when they drafted Irv Smith in the second round was to create mismatches using him and Kyle Rudolph on the field at the same time. Throughout the victory over the Lions, the Vikings found ways to create open space with play-action throws for the third straight week and Smith played a significant role in that, catching five passes for 60 yards with two of the receptions coming on a key drive in the second half that put the Vikings up 28-21.

The tight end position has historically been difficult for young players to adapt from college to the NFL but Smith has become a weapon in the passing and blocking game early in his first season. Rudolph, who hasn’t been a big part of the offense this year, stepped up with four catches for 43 yards, including several key third down receptions.

“That was important, that will be a big part of our offense,” Cousins said of the tight ends’ big day. “We have three tight ends on the field a lot, we ask them to protect, we ask them to run block, we ask them to run the entire route tree and I can’t say enough about the way all three of them contribute.”

In other good news, the offensive line also seems to be getting better on pass protection, which will definitely make Kirk Cousins a much happier quarterback:

Most importantly the O-line gave Cousins all sorts of time to throw the ball. He was rarely pressured throughout the day, finding big plays down the field and intermediate throws that kept the chains moving. The Vikings had touchdown drives of eight, 15 and 12 plays and a missed field goal drive of 11 plays.

When kept clean, Cousins is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Coming into the matchup with their NFC North foe, he ranked third best in QB rating on throws in which he was not pressured. In the Vikings two losses — at Green Bay and at Chicago — he was under duress for most of the game and it appeared to have a cumulative effect.

On Sunday the confidence in the Vikings offensive line was obvious. Rookie playcaller Kevin Stefanski, who drew up another explosive gameplan, elected to have Cousins drop back and launch the ball to Diggs with just over two minutes remaining and the Vikings up by five points. The O-line gave Cousins a completely clean pocket and his high-arching throw came down in Diggs’ hands to put the game on ice.

“There was no safety help, that corner had to defend Diggs 53 yards across the field and 80 yards deep and we just felt like we don’t want to punt back to them and give them a chance to die or win this game so lets take advantage of the fact that they are going to load the box and call a play that puts Diggsy in a position to get open and he did a great job,” Cousins said.

Update: At the Daily Norseman, Ted Glover provides his traditional post-game Stock Market Report on the Vikings.

Buy: Olabisi Johnson was very good in place of Adam Thielen. It’s really hard to come in and take over for a guy that’s close to becoming a Vikings icon. But after Thielen went out after his 25 yard touchdown catch, his only catch of the game, Johnson stepped in and played well. he didn’t drop any passes, averaged 10 yards a catch, and had a big touchdown when the game was still in doubt.

Sell: Johnson is a long term answer to Thielen. Still, Thielen is a big part of this offense, and him out for any extended time is going to be tough for this offense to absorb. WR depth was an issue heading in to the season, and if this turns out to be a serious deal, you could make an argument that the Vikings might want to make a trade before the deadline next week. Still early to hit that panic button, but WR depth may need to be addressed.

Buy: Kirk has had three great games in a row. We’ve already documented how good Cousins has been the last three games. It’s flat out undeniable. Unless you work for Pravda, comrade.

Sell: All the questions surrounding Kirk have been answered. Still, I’m sure it’s not good enough for some people. Like I mentioned in the intro, folks who think this is a fluke will say Kirk and the Vikings haven’t beaten anyone in this three game roll, and will move the goalposts until whatever inane argument they’re making works. There’s still nine games to go, yes, and there’s a lot of football left to be played, but this team is clicking right now, and they’re going to be formidable as we move to the second half of the season.

Buy: The Vikings defense had a bad day. The Lions were 6-11 on third down, amassed over 400 yards of offense, and were 4-4 in the red zone. If you look at those numbers in a vacuum, you might think the Vikings not only lost, but lost badly.

Sell: The offense couldn’t bail out the defense. But they actually kicked the hell out of the Lions, thanks to the offense. One of the more notable things about the Kirk Cousins era has been when the offense has a good day, it wasn’t quite good enough, as the defense had a particularly awful one and the Vikes would end up losing. Today, the Vikes defense had a really bad day … and the offense picked them up and carried them. Minnesota went down 7-0, 14-7, and then after taking a 21-14 lead, Detroit tied it up at 21. From there, the defense was finally able to get off the field, and the offense took control of the game. Cousins threw for over 300, Cook ran for over 140, the Vikes rolled with over 500 yards of offense and had no trouble doing whatever they wanted.

Buy: Stefon Diggs saved the season after the Bears game. I am going to go to my grave believing that after Diggs spoke up (and Thielen, for that matter) about his frustrations over the offense, there was a come to Jesus meeting between Vikings ownership/management to the Vikings coaches/players. I don’t know if ownership was involved; maybe a players only meeting, or just the coaches to the players, but something went down. And in the aftermath this team has clicked, and it wasn’t just because of who their competition has been the last three weeks. This is a completely different team than what we saw take the field in Chicago, and I honestly don’t care who said what to whom and whether or not there had to be multiple hurt feelings reports filed, I’m just glad this team is living up to their potential right now.

Sell: There is no sell. That’s it. Diggs saved the season. Sorry, he did. Bitch all you want about him being selfish, or a whiner, or a prima donna. He’s not, and him speaking up was the catalyst for this turn around. Wait, maybe he is a selfish guy. Let’s check and see:

“SAM FROM ST LOUIS PARK I THINK DIGGS PLAYING CATCH WITH FANS IS HIS WAY OF SAYING HE WANTS ANYONE THROWING TO HIM BUT COUSINS THANKS I’LL HANG UP AND LISTEN.” — Some rube on talk radio after the game who’s still butthurt about Diggs three weeks ago, probably.

October 14, 2019

Philadelphia at Minnesota – Stuffed Eagle added to Vikings’ trophy case

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

Sunday’s match-up between two 3-2 teams had the hometown Vikings slightly favoured by the bookmakers at 3 (most NFL games assume a three-point advantage to the home team, so this indicates the teams are seen to be pretty equal overall). The Eagles, coming off a high-scoring beat-down of the hapless New York Jets, hoped to carry on their winning ways, while the Vikings wanted to keep the momentum going from last week’s win against the New York Giants.

US Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings by “www78”
“Viking Stadium” by www78 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

The first quarter went as well as the Vikings could have hoped, keeping the ball away from Carson Wentz and the Eagles’ offence: at one point near the end of the first quarter, the Vikings had almost a 5:1 advantage in time of possession. Kirk Cousins opened the scoring with a pass to Adam Thielen in the corner of the end zone, and Dan Bailey scored a field goal on the Vikings’ second possession to take a 10-0 lead in the first frame. Philadelphia started to show signs of life during the second quarter, but the score at the half was 24-10, with the Eagles set to receive the second-half kickoff … after the Eagles attempted an end-of-half fake field goal that ended with an athletic Everson Griffen interception.

Of course, no game is complete without at least one head-scratcher, as the TV broadcast initially indicated a Philadelphia safety before correcting to a Vikings touchdown reception by Stefon Diggs (one of three on the day):

To start the second half, Philadelphia managed to narrow the Vikings’ lead to only four points before Minnesota found the accelerator again and ended up with a very comfortable 18-point winning margin. Overall, it was a good game, although there were a few things missing: the early running game and all the yellow hankies we’ve grown so familiar with littering the field. Kirk Cousins finished the day with 333 yards passing (22 completions on 29 attempts) with four touchdowns and one interception. Stefon Diggs had his biggest day of the 2019 season so far with 167 receiving yards with three touchdowns and two drops, one of which was intercepted by former Viking safety Andrew Sendejo. Adam Thielen had (for him) a quiet day, receiving for 57 yards on six throws and the opening TD. Dalvin Cook was mostly kept in check by the Eagles’ number-one rushing defence, tallying 16 runs for 41 yards and one TD. Backup running back Alexander Mattison had more luck, gaining 63 yards on 14 rush attempts, but also had a late fumble down near the Eagles’ goal line.

Judd Zulgad contemplates the bulletin board material a current member of the Iggles provided for Kirk Cousins:

Philadelphia linebacker Zach Brown attempted to plant doubt between the ears of Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins when given the opportunity on Friday.

“I think every defense is going to want that guy to throw the ball,” said Brown, who was a teammate of Cousins’ in Washington in 2017. “For me, that’s probably the weakest part of their offense is him. Everything else is good. They’ve got a good running game, probably one of the best in the league. They have real good receivers. You just want them to pass the ball. You want Kirk Cousins to get it in his hands.”

Brown was gambling Cousins’ reaction to his comments would be to over-think them and potentially fall apart on Sunday. Turns out Brown didn’t know Cousins as well as he thought he did and Cousins, well, he claimed he didn’t even know about Brown’s comments until after the fact. Not only did Cousins not fall apart but he put together one of his best games since signing a three-year, $84 million contract with the Vikings in March 2018.

Cousins completed 22 of 29 passes for 333 yards with four touchdowns, one interception and a 138.4 passer rating in a 38-20 victory that put the Vikings at 4-2 and will silence the Cousins’ critics (this one included) for the time being.

“I just found out about (Brown’s comments) about 20 minutes ago,” Cousins said after the game. “(An ESPN reporter) talked to me on the field and mentioned it. I didn’t even know what (Brown) said. I really do stay in here and not read anything and that’s for my best interest. Zach was a teammate in Washington, he’s one of the better linebackers I played with or against. I have a lot of respect for him. If you’re trying to write a story about how it was a motivator this week, it wasn’t because I didn’t know about it. Ignorance is bliss. I just put my head down and work and prepare the same way every week and not try to ride the roller coaster.”

At the Daily Norseman, Ted Glover provides an uncharacteristically upbeat Stock Market Report on the Eagles game:

Junk Bonds

No one. So, there were some players that had some bad individual plays, but not over the course of the whole game. Xavier Rhodes comes to mind once or twice, Pat Elflein had a bad whiff that led to a sack, and Mattison had a fumble late, for example. Overall, though, I don’t think there was anyone that stood out so poorly that deserved a junk bond. If you disagree, let me know.

Buy/Sell

Buy: Something snapped in the Vikings after the Bears game. After the Chicago shitshow, it felt like the Vikings were one bad game or locker room outburst from spiraling out of control. But, something different happened. I don’t know what it was — a locker room speech, the Diggs and Thielen comments, or something else, but whatever it was worked, and the Vikings have gone on a a little bit of a tear, kicking the hell out of two NFC East teams in a row.

Sell: It’s going to last. As much as I would love to see it happen, the chances the Vikings go 14-2 are remote. So when the next loss does come, I will really be looking at how the Vikings react, and how they rebound the following game.

Buy: Anthony Barr fumble recovery. After the Vikings had gone up 38-20, there was still enough time left for the Eagles to rally, and they had proved earlier in the game that they could, in fact, do just that. But when it looked like the Eagles were driving, Eric Kendricks stripped the ball from Zach Ertz at the Vikings 28, Barr scooped it up, and essentially put the dagger in Philly’s comeback hopes.

Sell: Anthony Barr pass coverage. Of course, Barr helped breathe life into their comeback. Down 24-10 Barr let Miles Sanders get behind him for a 45 yard gain, and that got the ball down to Vikings 4. Two plays later the Eagles were in the end zone, it was 24-17, and sphincters throughout the Upper Midwest tightened.

Buy: 88 yard drive to ice the game. So here’s the situation. It was 31-20, and even though the Vikings defense had stopped the Eagles a couple times, and the Vikes had added a second half TD, it still felt like Philly wasn’t out of it. After a big sack by Kendricks and Mac Alexander stopped the Eagles around midfield, Philly punted and [the Vikings] took over at the 12. The Vikings went on an epic 8 play, 88 yard drive that took almost five minutes of game clock, capped by a Dalvin Cook one yard run to make the score 38-20, and it put the game out of reach. It was a killer instinct that has been lacking from this team for the better part of two seasons, and it was really nice to see.

Sell: Closing the Eagles out at 24-3. As awesome as that drive was, it didn’t come until after the Eagles had closed the score from 24-3 to 24-20. The offense started out en fuego, but, not unexpectedly, cooled off a bit. And just when they cooled off a bit, the Vikes defense went into a bit of a hibernation. Broken coverages, missed tackles, and a lack of pressure allowed the Eagles to rally, and before you could lean over and tell a bad Ole and Lena Joke, it was 24-20 with over 20 minutes of game time left. Both the offense and defense snapped out of it, but it was still a concerning lapse on both sides of the ball, and something the Vikings can’t do week in and week out.

October 7, 2019

Minnesota Vikings pillage the New York Giants, 28-10

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

The 2-2 Minnesota Vikings visited the 2-2 New York Giants on Sunday afternoon, still smarting from last week’s drubbing at the hands of the Chicago Bears. Earlier in the week, media rumours began that the Vikings were looking to trade wide receiver Stefon Diggs, followed by reports that Diggs was very unhappy with the Vikings this season (particularly the lack of receptions for him and Adam Thielen). Diggs failed to show for a team practice and meetings and was heavily fined by the Vikings for the absences. Quarterback Kirk Cousins has been taking a lot of heat for his sub-par performance in the first four games, and fans were hoping to see some signs of improvement in New Jersey. Cousins delivered … but mainly to Adam Thielen and Dalvin Cook. Cousins threw for more than 300 yards and two touchdowns, both to Thielen, while Cook had a career day with 132 yards rushing on 21 carries and six receptions for 86 yards (but he did lose a fumble at the end of a run).

Christopher Gates:

This was exactly the sort of game that Kirk Cousins needed to have after his performance in Chicago. He completed 22-of-27 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns and looked as good as he has all season. Adam Thielen was the recipient of both of Cousins’ touchdown tosses, and finished the afternoon with seven receptions for 130 yards. After causing some controversy earlier this week, Stefon Diggs had three catches for 44 yards, while rookie Olabisi Johnson had four grabs for 43 yards.

Dalvin Cook had another outstanding game, both on the ground and in the passing game. He had his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the year, rushing for 132 yards on 21 carries. He also caught six passes for 86 yards, all in the first half. Alexander Mattison picked up 35 yards on six carries, and Ameer Abdullah chipped in with three carries for 24 yards.

The Vikings move to 3-2 on the season, and will host the Philadelphia Eagles next Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Giants fall to 2-3, and have a short week ahead of them, as they’ll travel to take on the New England Patriots for Thursday Night Football.

The Minnesota Vikings get a victory over the New York Giants in Week 5 NFL action, winning by a final score of 28-10 at MetLife Stadium. Thank you to everyone that got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!

Judd Zulgad:

How fast can life in the NFL change?

A week ago, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins was offering wide receiver Adam Thielen a public apology for getting him the ball only two times for 6 yards in a loss at Chicago. Another wide receiver, Stefon Diggs, decided to stay away from the team facility for a few days because of his frustration with the Vikings going to a run-first scheme under Gary Kubiak and Kevin Stefanski.

By halftime of the Vikings’ 28-10 victory over the feeble New York Giants on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, Cousins had a season-high 278 yards passing, Thielen had a season-best six receptions for 121 yards and a touchdown and Diggs had, well, his involvement remained a work in progress (two catches for 24 yards).

Diggs added a 20-yard reception in the fourth quarter to finish with three catches for 44 yards, Thielen ended up at seven catches for 130 yards and two scores and Cousins completed 22 of 27 passes for 306 yards and the two TDs to Thielen. It was Cousins’ first 300-yard passing game since a 24-17 victory last Nov. 25 over Green Bay at U.S. Bank Stadium. That was nine games ago and also marked the last time Thielen had more than 100 yards receiving.

The Giants’ inability to stop the pass and the run didn’t hurt matters, but this was the exact type of game the Vikings needed after a week of drama that centered around a unit that isn’t even supposed to be the key to this team. Did this signify a turnaround for an offense that was held to 222 yards in a 16-6 loss to the Bears? Probably not, considering Chicago’s defense can be dominant and the Giants defense belongs in the XFL.

As usual after a Vikings game, Ted Glover provides his essential Stock Market Report on the day’s activities:

Buy: The offense was way better today. It’s really hard to find fault with an offense that had 490 yards, while the QB threw for over 300, RB1 had over 130 yards on the ground, and one of two WR1’s had 130 yards and two TD’s. It was a performance that was sorely needed for the team and the fans.

Sell: The Red Zone offense was better today. But nothing is perfect, and the Vikings struggled for the first time in the red zone today. On the opening drive of the game, they got down to the 13, but had to settle for a field goal. On their third drive Cook fumbled inside the five and the Giants recovered when it looked like he was going in to score. Granted, it turned out to not be a big deal, as the Vikings won handily, but it was mildly concerning.

Buy: What Diggs said needed to be said. Whatever the issue was had been simmering for awhile, and after the Bears game, it needed to be said. It worked, and the Vikings came together and had a whale of a football game. Hell, if it ends up with games like this, maybe he needs to call someone out every week.

Sell: The way Diggs said it. I’ve never been a fan of complaining to the press, though. Had the Vikings lost today, what Diggs said and did on Wednesday would have gone nuclear, and it would have taken on a life of its own. I get the frustration, as we all felt it, and I have no issue with calling people out when they’re underperforming. But like Diggs said himself in the locker room after the game, he could have handled it a lot differently. And yes, he wants to be in Minnesota.

Buy: This was a needed win. This win settled a lot of jittery nerves in Vikings Land. Not everything is all unicorns and rainbows yet, but at least the Vikings gave themselves a launching point to get to the unicorns and rainbows stage. A loss today would have meant death, pestilence, and plague across the land.

Sell: This win cures everything that ails the Vikings. They still have a tough schedule ahead. Philly comes to town this week, then a big road game against Detroit. The defense still had problems with drive extending penalties on third down, the offense had some issues in the red zone, and were it not for two Daniel Jones overthrows this could have been a completely different ballgame. Still, though, it was a good win, and that’s what matters for today.

Buy: The Vikings have a problem with penalties. We mentioned the defense and their mind numbing third down penalties. It killed them against the Bears last week, and it cost them again today. The Vikings are one of the most penalized teams in the NFL this year, and after five games it’s now officially “a thing”.

Sell: The amount of penalties in a typical game is good for the NFL. All of that said, it seems like the NFL is doing everything they can to make this great game unwatchable. Rules changes in recent years are making the game unrecognizable from what it was just 4-5 years ago. Referees are over legislating what penalties they do understand, are screwing up replay calls over what rules they don’t understand, and throwing ticky tack flags where everyone goes “wtf was that call” are dragging the game down.

September 30, 2019

Minnesota Vikings unable to handle the Chicago Bears at Soldier field, losing 16-6

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

The visiting Minnesota Vikings wore their usual purple uniforms, as the Bears broke out one of their (many possible) throwback uniforms for Sunday’s NFC North match-up at Soldier Field. The inactive lists for both teams included valuable players not available for the game — starting right guard Josh Kline for the Vikings and defensive tackle Akiem Hicks and linebacker Roquan Smith for the Bears, who missed the game for personal reasons. Despite missing starters, the Chicago defence kept the Vikings off-balance and away from the end zone until a garbage time touchdown by Dalvin Cook saved Minnesota from their first shut-out in more than a decade. The Vikings offensive line couldn’t keep quarterback Kirk Cousins clean and he was sacked six times.

Chris Tomasson:

The Vikings’ running game disappeared Sunday at Soldier Field, and so did the rest of their offense.

The Chicago Bears, despite being down five starters to start the game and then losing quarterback Mitchell Trubisky on the first series, easily defeated Minnesota 16-6.

The Vikings got a 2-yard touchdown run by Dalvin Cook with 2:58 left to avoid their first shutout since losing 34-0 at Green Bay on Nov. 11, 2007.

The Vikings have had plenty of struggles in Chicago, but few have been worse than this one. The Bears, with backup quarterback Chase Daniel and a rugged defense leading the way, outgained Minnesota 249 yards to 64 in first three quarters. The Vikings piled up some late yards to make the final margin 269-222.

The Vikings, who entered the game second in the NFL with an average of 193.7 yards rushing, were held to just 40 yards on the ground. Cook, who came in leading the NFL with 375 yards rushing, was held to just 35 yards on 14 carries.

The Vikings dropped to 2-2, denying them a chance to tie Green Bay (3-1) for the NFC North lead. Instead, the Bears (3-1) have moved into a tie for the lead.

On the game’s sixth play, Trubisky was knocked out of the game with a left shoulder injury after he was sacked by Danielle Hunter and lost a fumble that was recovered by Minnesota’s Everson Griffen. However, the turnover was wiped out because of defensive holding on Vikings safety Anthony Harris.

Judd Zulgad:

No one who is employed by the Minnesota Vikings, or a fan of the team, should put any stock in the team’s two victories this season. Atlanta and Oakland are bad football teams that fell apart in the din of U.S. Bank Stadium. The Vikings’ two losses? Those have been very instructive when it comes to judging this team and right now the judgment of Mike Zimmer’s collection is not kind.

Two weeks after blowing a road game that the Green Bay Packers begged them to take, the Vikings traveled to Soldier Field on Sunday for another NFC North game with a chance to make a statement about themselves. They departed with a 16-6 defeat that came with Chicago missing three key players on defense and quarterback Mitch Tribusky having left on the sixth play of the day because of an injury to his left shoulder.

It was both an underwhelming and sorry-looking performance that will leave many wondering if general manager Rick Spielman and coach Mike Zimmer will be allowed to stick around after this season and also might call for Zimmer to do some of his best work since he took over as the Vikings coach in 2014.

We aren’t talking about the on-the-field stuff either. If it hasn’t started to happen already, Zimmer is about to be faced with a room full of very competitive guys wondering why the Vikings aren’t winning very-winnable games and why they aren’t being used in a more constructive fashion.

Ted Glover‘s Buy and Sell recommendations from his post-game Stock Market Report:

Buy: Everson Griffen fumble recovery on Chicago’s initial drive. The Vikings needed to start out fast today, and on the first drive of the game it looked like they might do just that. Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky rolled out to his left, got caught from behind by Danielle Hunter, who sacked Trubisky while causing him to fumble. Everson Griffen picked it up and was forced out of bounds at the Bears 32. Trubisky was helped off the field, and was knocked out of the game.

Sell: Defensive holding that negated the Everson Griffen fumble recovery. But it was all for naught. Anthony harris was called for defensive holding, giving the bears an automatic first down. So instead of the Vikings knocking out the starting QB and getting the ball in Bears territory, Chicago goes on a 14 play, 75 yard touchdown drive that eats up over 8 minutes of the first quarter, engineered by backup QB Chase Daniel. The drive ended with a Daniel to Tarik Cohen touchdown.

Buy: The theory of deferring. If you win the toss and defer, you are playing the odds of putting our stronger unit out on the field first, hopefully getting a lead at halftime, and then getting the ball to open the second half. If you have a strong defense, it’s a good theory.

Sell: Deferring. This theory sucks for the Vikings, at least against good teams. Against the Packers, Green Bay went 75 yards in a mere four plays. Against the Bears, Chicago … using their second string QB, mind you … went 75 yards in 15 plays, eating up more than half the time off the clock in the first quarter. Their second drive went 16 plays, for 72 yards, and the Bears kicked a field goal. Half over. But, wait, the Vikes get the ball to start the third quarter, and a good drive that ends in a TD to open the half, and we have a brand new ballgame. Yeah, Cousins fumbled on the first play, the Bears recovered, and the game was essentially over.

Buy: CJ Ham. I really like C.J. Ham. I think he’s a good fullback, and does his job well.

Sell: CJ Ham as primary targeted receiver over Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen. I don’t like him as the main guy targeted by the quarterback while meaningful football is being played, though. Call me crazy that way.

September 23, 2019

Oakland Raiders take home no plunder from Minnesota, losing 34-14, marking the Vikings’ 500th win in team history

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

After a very disappointing result last week at Green Bay, the Vikings welcomed the Oakland Raiders to US Bank Stadium for a week three matchup. The Vikings came in to the game favoured by the bookies in Las Vegas, but last year at this time, the Vikings were in a similar situation, having played Green Bay the previous week (a tie) and facing a down-at-the-heels AFC franchise as heavy odds favourites at home. The Bills stampeded all over the Vikings in week three last year, flying back to Buffalo with an impressive 27-6 victory to their credit. Oakland was probably hoping history would repeat this year.

A view of the Minnesota Vikings’ new home stadium by “www78”
“Viking Stadium” by www78 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Chris Tomasson:

On a day for nostalgia, the Vikings won by playing old-fashioned Minnesota football.

With the Vikings holding the 50-year reunion of their first Super Bowl team, they won the 500th game in franchise history Sunday, defeating the Oakland Raiders 34-14 at U.S. Bank Stadium.

It was a victory similar to many from back in the old days. The Vikings utilized a strong running attack and played defense that made the “Purple People Eaters” proud. The legendary linemen gathered around the Gjallarhorn before the game, with Jim Marshall sounding it, and then were introduced at halftime along with teammates and coaches from the 1969 team.

The Vikings rushed for 211 yards, including 110 on 16 carries by Dalvin Cook. He became the first player in team history to run for 100 yards in the each of the first three games of a season.

Minnesota took a 21-0 lead in the second quarter and held the Raiders to just one touchdown until they scored a meaningless TD with 1:23 left in the game.

The Vikings bounced back from last week’s 21-16 loss at Green Bay, a game in which they trailed 21-0 early in the second quarter. They were determined to start fast on Sunday, and they did, scoring on their first possession on a 35-yard pass from Kirk Cousins to Adam Thielen.

Cousins bounced back after a disastrous performance against the Packers in which he completed just 14 of 32 passes while throwing two interceptions and losing a fumble. He was turnover free Sunday, completing 15 of 21 passes for 174 yards.

The Vikings won their 500th game on second try. They are 480-398-11 in the regular season and 20-29 in the playoffs for an overall record of 500-427-11.

Matthew Coller:

If you thought the Oakland Raiders’ offseaon was bad, you should have seen their first two quarters on Sunday.

Before the smoke (not fire!) from the Minnesota Vikings’ dragon had cleared from pregame ceremonies, the Vikings were up by three scores. And the Raiders went out of their way to make each score as easy as possible for the Vikings.

On the opening play from scrimmage, quarterback Kirk Cousins heard a handful of boos from the crowd after tripping on an offensive lineman’s foot. Following a crushing loss to the Green Bay Packers last week, the possibility existed for Cousins to lose confidence out of the gate.

But the Raiders simply would not allow it.

The Vikings were shut down on their first drive on third-and-9 but Oakland committed a holding penalty, providing Cousins with a restart. Cousins quickly took advantage, hitting tight end Irv Smith with a 20-yard pass down the seam. Then Oakland showed that they didn’t bother to watch the Vikings’ loss in Green Bay as they bit hard on a play-action bootleg, leaving Adam Thielen wide open for a 35-yard touchdown.

At US Bank Stadium, seven point leads feel like double digits. The Raiders made it feel like even more than that with their first two drives of the game, in which they totaled 17 yards.

Oakland’s punting game — it’s only strength on Sunday — pinned the Vikings in their own zone on Minnesota’s third drive of the game but the Raiders promptly showed everyone that they are the Raiders with two 15-yard penalties, one late hit on Cousins by Arden Key and a facemask by cornerback Gareon Conley. Both infractions came on third down.

Over at the Daily Norseman, it seems that Ted Glover let his purple pen run wild for a paragraph before getting down to the traditional post-game Stock Market Report:

Today, like they did against Atlanta … and like they didn’t against Green Bay … Minnesota started fast, jumped out to a big lead, and then used a pummeling ground game to bludgeon and gash the Oakland Raiders like Jack The Ripper used to bludgeon and gash his East End London victims. Today, The Vikings had their blood up, US Bank Stadium transformed into Whitechapel for a few hours, and the Raiders were a smelly pirate hooker that stood no chance. For a skittish fan base that was ready to bolt and stampede, this was just what we needed…

And then the Buy/Sell recommendations:

Buy: Playing aggressively to open the game. In two games, the Vikings offense has started fast. Today, they went right down the field, scored, and once again, before you could really get settled Minnesota was up 21-0.

Sell: Playing aggressively to end the first half. During the off-season, head coach Mike Zimmer has talked about how important it is to try and score points before the half, and he’s right. Well, one of the things about the Zimmer era that has bugged the ever loving hell out of me is how rarely the Vikings, you know, actually score before the half. Today, they got the ball on their eight, with one timeout and 1:06 left on the clock. The odds of a touchdown were long there, but getting into field goal range seemed very doable. Especially after the first play, which was a Dalvin Cook draw that banged for 16 yards. Yet, with a 14 point lead, Minnesota just decided to eat the clock and call it a half. Offense was clicking, so I don’t understand why they wouldn’t at least try to get into field goal range.

Buy: You could probably call a penalty on almost every play in a typical NFL game. Look, being a referee is hard, I get it. On almost any play, if you wanted, you could call holding, or some other infraction. The game moves at a fast pace, and there is probably a technical violation of the rules committed by both sides on every play. Judgement is a big part of the job, and knowing the rules of the NFL is tough.

Sell: Calling a penalty on almost every play in this NFL game. But my God, quit throwing a flag on what seems like every play. It’s gotten so bad that no matter what, at the end of literally every play in an NFL game, no matter who is playing, I wait to see if there’s a penalty. The only thing that can kill the NFL is the NFL itself, and sometimes it really feels they’re intentionally trying to make their game unwatchable. Seriously, the only person that tunes in to watch the referee is either his wife or his Mom. No one else does, yet these guys get so much camera time they’re going to need to join the Screen Actor’s Guild and start paying union dues. Let the players play the damn game.

Buy: Eric Wilson, pass rusher guy. When the Vikings sent Wilson after Carr or had him spy him today, it was generally successful. He was credited with two sacks, and did a really good job.

Sell: Eric Wilson, pass cover guy. But as good as he generally was in run support and the pass rush, he struggled mightily in pass coverage. He was fooled badly on Oakland’s first touchdown, and on the next drive his guy was wide open, and the only reason the play failed was because of a poor throw by Carr. If Oakland completes that pass, they’re in business in Vikings territory, and it might have changed the momentum of the game.

September 16, 2019

Vikings at Green Bay – a terrible first quarter dooms the Vikings, 21-16

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

The Minnesota Vikings visited Green Bay for the first “Border Battle” of the 2019 season. Both teams had won their opening games, so the winner of this match would have the early lead in the NFC North division.

Among the inactives for the game were Vikings cornerbacks Mackensie Alexander and Mike Hughes along with starting left guard Pat Elflein and starting linebacker Ben Gedeon. I didn’t recognize any of the names on the Packers’ inactive list, so I assumed they returned all their starters from week one.

The game could hardly have started better for the hometown Packers, as they scored touchdowns on their first three possessions and looked unstoppable. Minnesota’s defence appeared to have been replaced by tackling dummies, as they could neither cover Pack receivers or stop Pack running backs. Dalvin Cook finally got the Vikings on the scoreboard with a 75-yard touchdown run to pull the Vikings back into the game. The Vikings defence finally got their act together after that, and kept the Packers out of the end zone for the rest of the game.

As several people pointed out on Twitter, it always seems as though the Vikings manage to be the first team to get screwed by new rule changes, as the decision to make pass interference a reviewable call turned into a touchdown taken off the scoreboard as review officials in New York decreed that OPI had taken place on the play and overturned the ruling on the field. Instead of seven points, the Vikings had to settle for a field goal from Dan Bailey. The next official ruling that took points away indirectly was an unsportsmanlike conduct call against Stefon Diggs for removing his helmet after scoring a touchdown. The fifteen yard penalty pushed the extra point attempt back and Green Bay was able to deflect the kick.

The Vikings’ last chance to win the game ended on a Kirk Cousins interception in the end zone. The Vikings defence held the Packers to a three-and-out, but Cousins and the Vikings offence did the same, and the Vikings only got the ball back after that with bare seconds left on the game clock, too far out for even a Hail Mary attempt.

Matthew Coller correctly says the Vikings wasted every comeback chance they had (and they had several):

Through sixteen minutes of football at Lambeau Field on Sunday afternoon, the Green Bay Packers looked like a juggernaut. Over the final 44 minutes, the Packers played only slightly better than one of the teams hoping to draft No. 1 overall. And — to paraphrase Denny Green — the Minnesota Vikings let them off the hook.

Aaron Rodgers and the Packers received the opening kickoff immediately hit Davante Adams for a 39-yard pass. Seconds later they were in the end zone, going 75 yards for a touchdown in just 2:10. Following a Vikings missed field goal, they did it again, driving 63 yards for another TD pass by Rodgers, this time picking on the Vikings’ depth at defensive back, tossing the ball easily over recently-elevated safety Nate Meadors.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins then fumbled twice on the same drive, setting up Rodgers and the Packers at the Minnesota 33-yard line. That drive ended as quickly as the first and with the same result.

Before Packers fans were even inside the building from their morning tailgating efforts, it was a three-score game.

[…]

The Vikings’ loss in Green Bay had a little bit of everything — bad calls, missed kicks, turnovers, big plays and inexplicable decisions. Ultimately Cousins and the offense were given every chance to overcome the bad start and pull off a remarkable comeback. Instead another big game in the Cousins era ends with regret and missed opportunities.

September 9, 2019

Minnesota Vikings defeat Atlanta 28-12 in home opener

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

The home opener for the 2019 NFL season saw the Minnesota Vikings welcome the Atlanta Falcons to US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The Las Vegas oddsmakers had the Vikings as four-point favourites to win this game, but Atlanta had trouble from the get-go and didn’t manage to score until the fourth quarter, then were unable to get the two-point conversion. The final score of the game came with just over a minute left to go, but Atlanta was once again unable to convert the two-point attempt. Despite the final score, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins set a career low for pass attempts, tallying 8 of 10 for 98 yards and one passing touchdown (but he did score another on a quarterback sneak). The running game, however more than compensated as Dalvin Cook ran 21 times for 111 yards and two scores and rookie Alexander Mattison added nine carries for 49 yards.

Defensively, the star of the game was safety Anthony Harris who had two interceptions (one in the end zone) and also recovered a fumble forced by cornerback Trae Waynes. The Vikings defence tallied four sacks of Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, one each for Anthony Barr, Everson Griffen, Linval Joseph, and Danielle Hunter (a second sack by Griffen was negated by a penalty).

A view of the Minnesota Vikings’ home stadium by “www78”
“Viking Stadium” by www78 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Chris Tomasson reported on the game for the Pioneer Press:

The Vikings vowed to run the ball more this season, and did they ever on Sunday.

They rolled up 174 yards rushing, including 111 by Dalvin Cook, in drubbing the Atlanta Falcons 28-12 in the season opener at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Cook had touchdown runs of 19 yards in the first quarter and seven yards in the third quarter. It was the third career 100-yard game by Cook, who is one of the keys to Vikings’ hopes of bouncing back after missing the playoffs last season.

The game was never in doubt as Minnesota took leads of 14-0 after the first quarter, 21-0 at halftime and 28-0 after the third quarter. The Vikings were dominant on offense, defense and special teams.

On defense, safety Anthony Harris intercepted two Matt Ryan passes and recovered a fumble. The Vikings sacked Ryan four times.

On the first possession of the game, linebacker Eric Wilson broke through to block a punt by Matt Bosher and the Vikings recovered at the Atlanta 21. It was Minnesota’s first blocked punt since Jasper Brinkley had one Nov. 30, 2014 against Carolina.

At the Daily Norseman, Eric Thompson fills in for Ted Glover on the post-game Stock Market Report:

Buy: Establishing the run is something this team can do going forward. The Vikings’ run blocking was very sound for the most part on Sunday, and it appears that should be replicable. The offensive scheme seems to fit the personnel when it comes to the ground attack.

Sell: Leaning THAT much on the run going forward. The Vikings aren’t going to jump out to a 14-0 lead every week. There will be plenty of times where they have to move the ball through the air throughout the season. Even with the extremely small sample size, the pass blocking was pretty suspect at times. It’s an area of the offense worth paying attention to going forward.

Buy: This was a great defensive performance against a very good offense. Atlanta, a team that had the sixth ranked offense in the league a year ago, didn’t score a single point for the first 50 minutes of the game. Of their 345 total offensive yards, 129 of them came on their final two drives when the game was all but decided. Julio Jones had 31 yards a day after signing a contract extension worth $64 million guaranteed. The Vikings defense kept a very dangerous Falcons offense in check until garbage time.

Sell: This was a clean defensive performance against a very good offense. The defensive performance could have been even better if they hadn’t jumped offside FOUR times on Sunday. I’m sure that drove Mike Zimmer as crazy at it drove us. The Vikings need to cut down on the mental mistakes going forward. The opposing quarterback next week has a reputation for making defenses pay on free plays.

Buy: It’s tough to start the season much better than the Vikings did on Sunday. Punt block. Touchdown. Interception. Touchdown. Exchange punts. Force a fumble. Touchdown. If Sunday’s game was being played out on Madden 20, there’s a 100% chance the guy controlling the Falcons rage quits by halftime. The Vikings didn’t just hit the ground running; they hit the ground driving a Bugatti.

Sell: It’ll be that easy going forward. While the Vikings forced the Falcons into most of their mistakes, Atlanta did some of it to themselves with drive-extending penalties and uncharacteristically bad decisions from Ryan. The Vikings have historically done very well hanging onto an early lead under Mike Zimmer; we’ll see just how good this team is when they don’t get off to such a hot start.

Buy: Special teams were outstanding. As we touched on with Maalouf, the special teams phase was virtually flawless on Sunday. Anxiety levels have been significantly lowered for the time being.

Sell: We’re completely out of the woods there. There weren’t any field goal attempts by Bailey, and there were was some space for Kenjon Barner to make a few decent returns. We should know better than to completely let our guard down when it comes to the Vikings kicking game.

August 31, 2019

Buffalo 27, Minnesota 23 – The magic is gone … Kyle Sloter finally threw an interception

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

The fourth and final preseason game is usually a pretty harum-scarum event … few of the starters will even dress for the game, meaning that it’s the very last chance for a lot of players to impress the coaches before the final cutdown deadline (which is 4pm Eastern time). With that “do or die” mentality, the chance for injuries goes up, because the difference between an amazing play that impresses the coaches and a bone-headed stunt that amazes the paramedics can be microscopic. Fortunately, neither the Buffalo Bills nor the Minnesota Vikings appeared to suffer any serious injuries at Ralph Wilson stadium on Thursday night.

Minnesota’s preseason MVP, quarterback Kyle Sloter, got the start and did … okay. Unlike his other appearances for the Vikings, he didn’t seem to electrify the team, although he only made one serious error that hurt the Vikings (his first-ever NFL interception). He finished the night with a stat line that wasn’t bad, but failed to achieve the gaudy levels he’s put up in the past: 16 of 24 for 163 yards and a touchdown. His passer rating was 82.5.

Vikings quarterback Kyle Sloter prepares to receive the snap from centre Brett Jones during the first half of the last 2019 preseason game in Buffalo. The Bills won the game 27-23.
Screencapture from a YouTube video on the Minnesota Vikings official channel.

At Vikings Territory, Joe Johnson sums up the action on the field:

The Vikings dominated time of possession, something that has to make Zimmer happy despite the fact the Vikings lost the game, thanks to the strong run game across the board. De’Angelo Henderson led the running back group with 59-yards on 16 carries and a touchdown, while Ameer “I’m Still Here” Abdullah had 21-yards rushing on five carries and a 15-yard touchdown completion. Mike Boone had 19 yards rushing on six carries and Khari Blasingame had 19-yards as well, though on one more carry than Boone. That helped the Vikings control the clock for over 36 minutes and outpaced the Bills in terms of first-downs (with 25 to their 15).

Despite that control, Browning and the Vikings were unable to convert late-game possessions to extend drives and keep the game out of reach for the Bills. That allowed the Bills to score three touchdowns in the final four minutes of the game to stun the Vikings third-stringers, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with under ten seconds left.

New Vikings kicker Kaare Vedvik missed a 37-yard field goal early in the game after starting the game with a made extra point. That was the third miss in a row to start his Vikings career for the new kicker (that the Vikings gave a 2020 5th-round pick for last weekend), and while he made his next kick, it was a gimme (outside of the 2015 Wildcard Round) of only 27-yards. Veteran kicker Dan Bailey most likely solidified his role as the-2019 kicker (with Chad Beebe most likely holding for him), which makes you wonder what the Vikings will do with Vedvik and punter Matt Wile.

August 25, 2019

Vikings beat Cardinals 20-9 in sloppy “all-important 3rd preseason game™”

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

The third NFL preseason game is traditionally the last chance for teams’ starters to get together in a game environment and show that they’re ready for the regular season to begin. This certainly wasn’t true for Saturday’s match at US Bank Stadium between the Minnesota Vikings and the Arizona Cardinals. Neither team’s starters looked fully awake, never mind ready to play in games that matter. Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins in particular looked to be struggling with accuracy issues, as he registered a lot of incomplete passes in his first-half appearances (3 of 13 for 35 yards and a 39.6 passer rating), while Arizona’s rookie quarterback Kyler Murray kept the Vikings’ starting defence on its heels with his unpredictable mobility (although they did manage to keep Arizona out of the end zone).

With the notable exception of Dalvin Cook’s 85-yard touchdown run, Cousins and the starting offence seemed to be going backwards nearly as often as they went forward. The second team, under Sean Mannion didn’t do much better, and it took the third team to inject some energy in the fading minutes of the second half with All-Preseason Quarterback Kyle Sloter working his traditional magic to put the game out of reach. Sloter ended up with a gaudy stats line against Arizona’s third team: 6 of 7 passing for 102 yards with a touchdown, yielding a 158.3 passer rating. All he does is win games…

An exterior view of US Bank Stadium, the Minnesota Vikings’ home field by “www78”
“Viking Stadium” by www78 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Christopher Gates sums up the action for Daily Norseman readers:

It wasn’t pretty, but it was a victory

On Saturday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Minnesota Vikings played host to the Arizona Cardinals in the third preseason game, which is generally viewed as a “dress rehearsal” for the regular season. The starters on both sides of the ball played most of the first half, and for the Vikings … at least on offense … it wasn’t good.

The final score showed that the Vikings defeated the Cardinals by a final score of 20-9, but the first team for the purple on both sides of the ball was less than impressive.

The offense for the Vikings in the first half provided just one highlight … but it was a really, really cool one. Dalvin Cook, seeing his first action of the preseason, saw just two carries. The first one went for three yards. The second one went for a lot more.

Cook took a handoff from Kirk Cousins and blasted for an 85-yard touchdown, giving him the longest run from scrimmage in Vikings’ preseason history.

The passing offense was, to put it mildly, awful. Between inaccuracy from Cousins and a handful of drops, with Stefon Diggs and Chad Beebe being the primary culprits, Cousins completed just 3-of-13 passes in the first half for 35 yards. A good chunk of those yards … 29 of them, to be exact … came on one pass to Diggs in the two-minute drill at the end of the half. Adam Thielen did not play in this one for the Vikings, but the pass offense was still bowling shoe ugly for the entire first half of play.

At SKOR North, Judd Zulgad discussed Kirk Cousins’ performance after the post-game interviews:

Murray’s performance provided hope. Cousins’ performance? Even the veteran knew it wasn’t close to acceptable.

“I’ll just start by saying, it’s a disappointing performance,” Cousins said. “Put it on me, it wasn’t good enough. If we play that way during the season it’s going to be a very tough year so we have to be much better than we were today. I really should say, I have to be much better than I was today and it’s about as simple as that. … I’m going to have a lot to look back at and learn from and correct.”

Cousins wasn’t exaggerating. The highlights with him in the game were few.

After the Vikings went three-and-out on their opening drive, running back Dalvin Cook, seeing his first preseason action, took a handoff on the first play of the second drive and went 85 yards on first-and-20 for a touchdown. Late in the second quarter, Cousins completed a 29-yard pass to Stefon Diggs on second-and-10 from the Vikings’ 46.

Got all that?

Otherwise, Kubiak and offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski had to be disappointed and at least a little (to a lot) concerned. Vikings coach Mike Zimmer was far more succinct in summing up his quarterback’s play. “I think he can play a lot better than that,” Zimmer said.

The Vikings’ opening drive ended with Cousins overthrowing Diggs on a deep pass over the middle. After Cook’s feel-good moment, Cousins’ poorly thrown screen pass for fullback C.J. Ham was nearly picked by Cardinals linebacker Terrell Suggs on the Vikings’ third drive. Cousins had been sacked for an 8-yard loss on the previous play to set up a third-and-13 from the Minnesota 37. Cousins’ struggles to throw screen passes remain a mystery but the problem is very real.

It didn’t get better in the second quarter. After an incompletion for Diggs and a 1-yard run by rookie Alexander Mattison, Cousins was sacked again for a 3-yard loss on third-and-9 from the Minnesota 26. That sack was on tight end Kyle Rudolph.

“I think at the end of the day, I can get rid of the football,” Cousins said, taking responsibility for being sacked. “You can always as a quarterback, throw out of bounds, find an eligible (receiver) to throw it over his head so it’s in the direction of him or even try to skate out and start a new play.”

The Vikings did get a first down on their next possession — it came on a 7-yard Cousins completion to Brandon Zylstra — but that drive opened with a poorly thrown pass to wide receiver Chad Beebe and ended with a third-down pass that Beebe dropped.

Cousins’ struggles partially masked the Vikings’ ongoing kicker issues: recently acquired punter/kicker Kaare Vedvik missed both of his field goal attempts (43 yards wide left and 54 yards wide right). That won’t endear him to his head coach: Mike Zimmer has been noted as not being fond of kickers at the best of times.

August 20, 2019

Vikings beat Seattle 25-19 in second preseason game

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

The Vikings’ preseason home opener went well enough, although neither team’s starters were able to score a touchdown during their respective series before the backups and long-shot hopefuls took the field. Vikings presumptive backup quarterback Sean Mannion had one of his passes picked off and run back for a defensive score, but other than that the Vikings quarterbacks did well. Recently acquired punter/kicker Kaare Vedvik did well in both punting (averaging 46 yards) and kicking (one made extra point and kickoffs). Embattled cornerback Holton Hill — who already faces an eight-game suspension — may have flushed his chances of sticking with the team after a couple of penalties culminating in an ejection from the game after a nasty helmet-to-helmet tackle of Seattle backup quarterback Paxton Lynch.

A view of the Minnesota Vikings’ new home stadium by “www78”
“Viking Stadium” by www78 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

As usual, Ted Glover posted his impressions of the game at the Daily Norseman fan site:

Buy: Duke Thomas strip. Thomas has had a rough camp and first preseason game, and he really needed to make a play. He did, forcing a fumble after a completed pass.

Sell: Duke Thomas premature celebration after the strip. But he celebrated a bit too early, and the Seahawks ended up recovering the football. Granted, he wasn’t really in position to jump on the ball, as momentum from the strip kind of moved him away from where the ball was bouncing. Still not a good look, though.

Buy: First team offensive line pass protection, kind of. There were a couple breakdowns, most notably when Kirk Cousins had to bail out of the pocket and throw the ball away just so he wasn’t murdered. But overall, Cousins had time to set up and make throws, and made some nice plays.

Sell: First team offensive line run blocking, kind of. Like last week, the first team offensive line had trouble opening holes for Mattison. I thought he had a little more room to run, but it wasn’t consistent, and the best run Mattison had with the first team unit was only five yards.

Buy: Sean Mannion-led TD drive at the end of the first half. After a pick six that gave Seattle the lead midway through the second quarter, the Vikings got the ball back with just under two minutes, down 10-3. Mannion led the offense 63 yards on seven plays, and it was capped by his three yard pass to Irv Smith for the game-tying score. I know it’s only preseason, but last year the Vikings just seemed to pack it in when a play went against them last year. I know the two aren’t related, but it was still nice to see.

Sell: Mannion pick-six. But Mannion’s interception was brutal. It looked like there was a miscommunication between him and Chad Beebe, so it could have been a wrong route that was run, but the ball should have never been thrown. Just a bad sequence all the way around,

Buy: Mike Boone is RB3. Mike Boone and Ameer Abdullah were locked in a pretty pitched battle for RB3, but it feels that after two preseason games, Boone has taken the lead. Abdullah didn’t play against Seattle, and Boone made the most of the opportunity. He had over 20 carries, and one reception for 45 yards. He’s looked very good so far this year, and is earning the RB3 spot.

Sell: Kyle Sloter is QB3. Sloter needs a serious look at QB2. He just plays football very well when the lights come on, and if nothing else, has earned a look with the rest of the second team.

Buy: Brandon Zylstra and Laquon Treadwell both flashed. Both Zylstra and Treadwell had good games. Zylstra had five catches, and Treadwell took over in the fourth quarter. Zylstra finished with five catches, 37 yards, and a touchdown. Treadwell had four catches for 47 yards, and led the team in receiving yards. And based on that alone, you would think there was a pitched battle for WR4 right now.

Sell: The Laquon Treadwell bandwagon. But if you thought Treadwell was making a final push to secure roster spot, you would be wrong, gentle reader. NAY! So, what was going on? Per Mike Zimmer, the team was showcasing Treadwell for other teams. I don’t know how you need any more clarity on that situation; Laquon Treadwell is as good as gone.

August 13, 2019

Vikings trade for P/K Kaare Vedvik, release LS Kevin McDermott

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

It had been an uncharacteristically quiet training camp for the Minnesota Vikings so far this year, with very little in the way of drama or even news. Until Sunday, when the team sent their 2020 5th-round draft pick to Baltimore to acquire punter/kicker Kaare Vedvik and then released their veteran long snapper Kevin McDermott.

I’ll be honest, I rarely glance at news for those 31 other, less-important NFL teams, so Vedvik was a total unknown to me, but apparently he’s already been annointed as the saviour for the Chicago Bears, according to his Wikipedia entry:

It’s not clear whether Vedvik will be competing for the role of kicker (against Dan Bailey) or punter (against Matt Wile) or even both. The moves make sense financially for the Vikings, as they’re one of the worst-off teams against the salary cap this season: they gain $119,742 in cap space for releasing Kevin McDermott (with $200,000 “dead” money). Rookie Austin Cutting will earn $513,644 for the season.

And while I’m looking at Vikings coverage, I’ll include Ted Glover’s Buy/Sell ratings from his belated Stock Market Report on the New Orleans game:

Buy: Sean Mannion has the inside track for the backup QB job. Mannion had a nice night, and didn’t play himself out of the backup job, like a lot of us felt Trevor Siemian did last year. His TD to Johnson was a bit underthrown, but he stood tall in the pocket and delivered the ball right as he was getting hit. He did make at least one throw that should or could have been picked, but overall it was a respectable night for Mannion.

Sell: Kyle Sloter has lost the backup QB battle. His first drive in the second half was impressive. He made two great throws to Conklin and Khari Blasingame for over 40 yards, and hit Blasingame for a two yard TD pass to cap the drive. Sloter just looks like a guy that could be the backup, and if nothing else, I’d like to at least see him get some work with the second team.

Buy: There was some encouraging play from the rookie class. I gotta say, there’s a lot to like from this draft class so far, at least in the somewhat limited action. Garrett Bradbury looked very much like the real deal in his only drive, and we’ve already talked about Mattison, Smith, Blasingame, and Johnson.

Sell: It was all unicorns and rainbows for the rookie class. Still, it was and up and down night for these guys. Smith had the untimely penalty, Mattison never really got it going on the ground, and other than the two catches Johnson had in the second quarter, he didn’t do anything else. Fourth round pick Dru Samia had a holding penalty called on him and graded out very poorly per PFF, but I don’t recall any horrible missed blocks or assignments, though.

Buy: Nate Meadors pick six. Heck of an effort by Meadors to pick the bobbled ball out of mid air and take it to the house. It was a tough adjustment on the bobble, and a really nice play.

Sell: Nate Meadors made the roster with that play. I still don’t know that was enough to get him ahead of a guy like Kris Boyd or Holton Hill and his doghouse on the back end of the roster, though. I mean let’s face it, if the Saints tight end holds on to the ball, it’s a seven or 8 yard gain, more than likely, and a very routine play.

Buy: Preseason games are inherently sloppy. Young players are trying to learn the game at the NFL level, veterans haven’t played in seven months, and with all the substitutions constantly going in and out it and at times, it almost looks like a hockey game when lines are shifting. Both teams were bumbling and stumbling, and the referees are throwing more flags as they are wanting to highlight what the league is emphasizing in terms of fouls this year.

Sell: The amount of penalties can be excused because it was preseason. Eric Wilson had a nice TFL erased, Ifeadi Odenigbo had a sack that was almost a strip sack nullified, the first team defense had a penalty on a third and goal that gave the Saints a fresh set of downs … and that was all in the first half. The Vikings had 13 penalties for 176 yards, which is unacceptable for any game, preseason or otherwise. That has GOT to be cleaned up, as no team in the NFL can overcome that many mistakes and win consistently.

August 11, 2019

Vikings ruin Saints’ preseason home opener, 34-25

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

It’s only the preseason, so there’s no real “need” to win, aside from the natural urge to beat your opponent that comes with any competitive activity, but it’s always nice to win at someone else’s home field. The Minnesota Vikings visited the New Orleans Saints on Friday night, coming away with a comfortable victory.

As is typical in the first preseason game, the presumptive starters only play for a limited time in order to both limit injury possibilities and to provide more snaps for players further down the depth chart. Chris Tomasson reported on the game for the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

Kirk Cousins was close to perfect to start the preseason last year. On Friday night, he was perfect.

At least according to the NFL’s passer rating.

In a 34-25 win over New Orleans at the Superdome, the Vikings quarterback completed 4 of 4 passes for 65 yards and a touchdown for a perfect passer rating of 158.3.

In last year’s preseason opener at Denver, Cousins completed 4 of 4 passes for 42 yards and a touchdown with a passer rating of 150.0.

And once again the Vikings won an exhibition opener. Head coach Mike Zimmer is now 6-0 in such games since taking over in 2014.

It initially looked Friday as if Cousins had hit Adam Thielen for a 35-yard touchdown pass after the receiver made a diving catch. However, a replay showed Thielen was down just shy of the goal line, and Cousins connected on the next play with rookie running back Alexander Mattison on a 1-yard touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead.

For the Saints, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater also impressive, and he played a lot longer. With starter Drew Brees held out, the former Vikings quarterback went the distance in the first half, and completed 14 of 19 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown.

Bridgewater, who played for the Vikings from 2013-17, suffered a severe knee injury in August 2016. He said on Wednesday he is fully recovered, and it certainly looked that way against his former teammates.

Cousins had expressed hope earlier in the week that the Vikings would score a touchdown on his only possession, and they delivered. Cousins also helped out with his legs, running for 10 yards on third-and-9 at the Minnesota 25 for the initial first down of the game.

At the Daily Norseman, Christopher Gates mentions some players who might have been buried in the depth chart before the game, but who materially changed their chances for making the final 53-man roster with their work on Friday night:

Bisi Johnson, WR – With the competition for the Vikings’ #3 wide receiver spot still pretty wide open, the seventh-round pick from Colorado State may have just jumped himself up to the top spot. He had two very nice catches on Friday night, including an 18-yard touchdown catch on a throw by Sean Mannion into very good coverage. He also got an opportunity as a kick returner in this one.

Nate Meadors, CB – I’m not sure what his odds of actually making the roster at this point are, but there’s no scenario where a pick-six is going to go down as a negative, so he pretty clearly helped himself. As we’ve said all offseason, with Mike Hughes’ status up in the air and Holton Hill’s status very well-known, there could be some room at the bottom of the cornerback depth chart in Minnesota, and Meadors is making his case.

Tyler Conklin, TE – Fellow tight end Cole Hikutini has been one of the hot names at Training Camp so far this year, but if the Vikings are going to keep four tight ends, it looked tonight like Conklin is comfortably in the lead for that spot at this point. He led the Vikings in receiving yardage on Friday, despite having just two catches. He averaged 28 yards/reception, and showed some nifty skills after the catch on a screen pass in the second quarter.

The Vikings’ young defensive linemen – With both the Vikings’ starting defensive tackles out of this one, some of the younger players up front got some chances to shine, and both Hercules Mata’afa and Jalyn Holmes did just that. Ifeadi Odenigbo also made the most of his opportunities on Friday night. There are going to be some very, very difficult decisions that have to be made among the defensive linemen on cutdown day, as has been the case the past few years.

July 13, 2019

How to decode NFL training camp clichés

Filed under: Football, Humour — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

Ted Glover posted this earlier in the week, but — it being the deadest of dead spots in the NFL year — I didn’t see it until just now. While this is oriented to the upcoming Minnesota Vikings training camp (now in Eagan instead of the decades-long tradition of Mankata, MN), it almost certainly applies to your favourite NFL team’s training camp too:

In just under three weeks, the Minnesota Vikings will begin their second training camp in Eagan, MN. Although where they conduct training camp is still new, what they do at training camp is no different than when they spent over 50 years in Mankato. They will practice, assemble the 53 best players possible, and then compete to try and win the Super Bowl in February break our hearts in December or January.

During training camp, though, we want to know how our beloved Purple and Gold are doing, and whether or not they’re improving. Along with the offensive, defensive, and special teams drills and practice updates, the Vikings players and coaches will tell you how things are coming along using tried and true clichés. Some clichés have very specific meanings, while others can mean a wide variety of things, or apply to many players.

Obviously, players can’t say what they REALLY mean, especially if someone’s performance is substandard, or their coach is an idiot. So these tried and true clichés help us get to the real meaning of what is being said.

[…]

I/He am/is in the best shape of my/his career: This is used by a player that is clearly on the downside of their career, and is in serious danger of getting cut. This is usually used by either the player or his agent, or maybe a close friend on the team, to help aging player find a different team once the Turk comes calling.

He added 15 pounds of muscle: This describes an aging free agent desperately trying to make the roster for one last ride. Normally used in conjunction with “he’s in the best shape of his career.”

Example: “Player X has added 15 pounds of muscle in the off season and is in the best shape of his career.”

Player X is really turning heads: This is used to describe a late round draft pick or undrafted player that virtually no one knew about three months ago. This player has made a minimum of three good plays in four days of practice, and the punditry is now doing feature stories on him. There is no guarantee of a roster spot, but he is now the clubhouse leader for Mr. Mankato. Anyone on Draft Twitter who even mentioned his name is now madly tweeting “LOOK AT MY BOIIIIIII I TOLD YOU SO!!”

Every team is 0-0/tied for first place: This is used by the players and staff of the Arizona Cardinals, Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions, and Buffalo Bills to convince their fans that they can somehow sneak in to the playoffs as a wildcard with a 9-7 record. This will not happen, as these teams will be a combined 6- 14 in October. They are terrible.

He’s just a blue collar guy: This is used to describe the player that has little to no physical ability compared to other guys at his position, but outworks everyone. This player will generally be beloved, as he is the “scrappy underdog” story that captivates training camp. If he is a “player that’s turning heads” guy, he is on the fast track to the Hall of Fame after week one of camp. After this player has been on the team two years, every training camp hot take will begin with “this year finally being the year player X gets cut.” Player X will not get cut.

Who is this year’s Jim Kleinsasser? This is asked every year by Viking punditry to desperately find a guy to love as much as we loved Jim Kleinsasser, the ultimate blue collar player. This player does not exist, as there is only one People’s Champion.

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