Week 6:. Vikings at Panthers

[bleedspeed]

Not a pretty win, but they have figured out how to win close games. They could easily be 6-0 or 0-6. They are 3-3 going into bye.

What an interesting season. The offense has shown huge potential, but the defense has not in my eyes.

[Monster]

Not a pretty win, but they have figured out how to win close games. They could easily be 6-0 or 0-6. They are 3-3 going into bye.

What an interesting season. The offense has shown huge potential, but the defense has not in my eyes.

The defense was a couple bad penalties away from turning in a pretty good performance. Of course they did also benefit from panthers Receivers forgetting on how to actually catch the ball.

To me both units have talent but are uneven right now. The offense is somewhat underwhelming at times even with the oline struggles. Cook ended up with a nice stat line but there were plenty of times the line didn't get him or whoever was running the ball much room. Udoh had a couple of costly penalties. Darrisaw could really be a big improvement for the offense if he is just average-ish.

Like you said this team could be 5-1 or have a worse record. Like you said they have found a way to win some of these games even though it probably shouldn't have been that close. They aren't playing like a good team right now. Can they clean things up? Does the defense take a step forward soon after having some experience in the system and with each other? This isn't a bad spot for a bye but there are 11 games to go. Hopefully they can also stay relatively healthy going forward.

[thedoper]

This team is insane. They have always found new ways to suck me in only to rip my heart out. This year they seem to be doing it every single game. If they can beat the Packers a couple of times I'll be all in though.

[TAFKASP]

Cousins keeps saving Zim's bacon. At what point do they just let him rip for 4 quarters instead of playing 3 quarters of ball control and then trying to get back into games they should have already put away?

[Monster]

Cousins keeps saving Zim's bacon. At what point do they just let him rip for 4 quarters instead of playing 3 quarters of ball control and then trying to get back into games they should have already put away?

The problem with doing that (although I agree they should probably pass more) is that the oline over the past couple years hasn't held up enough to be a pure passing team and Cook is arguably the best player on the whole offense. Of course he can catch the ball out of the backfield too. If the oline is able to pass protect well I believe you will see Zimmer and the Vikings open things up more especially at the end of quarters that aren't the 4th or overtime.

[Porckchop]

I don't understand the offensive play call at the end of the fourth quarter. 3rd n 8 from the 37 and they run the ball. They were having all kinds of success throwing the ball down the middle. Even if they only get 6/7 yards it's a makeable ft. Instead they run the ball to avoid a possible turnover. Even tho it's been the rbs that have fumbled away the ball in crucial end of game situations. Twice so far this year. Utterly nonsense. This defense hasn't been good enough to simply put the game in their hands just becuz they had played well up to that point. Sigh

[TAFKASP]

Cousins keeps saving Zim's bacon. At what point do they just let him rip for 4 quarters instead of playing 3 quarters of ball control and then trying to get back into games they should have already put away?

The problem with doing that (although I agree they should probably pass more) is that the oline over the past couple years hasn't held up enough to be a pure passing team and Cook is arguably the best player on the whole offense. Of course he can catch the ball out of the backfield too. If the oline is able to pass protect well I believe you will see Zimmer and the Vikings open things up more especially at the end of quarters that aren't the 4th or overtime.

The line has actually been blocking better for the pass than the run this season.

[Monster]

Cousins keeps saving Zim's bacon. At what point do they just let him rip for 4 quarters instead of playing 3 quarters of ball control and then trying to get back into games they should have already put away?

The problem with doing that (although I agree they should probably pass more) is that the oline over the past couple years hasn't held up enough to be a pure passing team and Cook is arguably the best player on the whole offense. Of course he can catch the ball out of the backfield too. If the oline is able to pass protect well I believe you will see Zimmer and the Vikings open things up more especially at the end of quarters that aren't the 4th or overtime.

The line has actually been blocking better for the pass than the run this season.

If they keep that up (we will see this oline hasn't been consistent for over 3 years) then like I said I think the play calling will get more aggressive and I think just as important Kirk Cousins will also get more aggressive. Apparently Thielen was wide open on that last play in the middle of the field and he threw the ball to Osborn.

[FNG]

I think I heard yesterday that Darrisaw ranked as the third best tackle in PFF this week...that's extraordinary for a guy making his first start. I think we're seeing that Cousins is a top 5 QB when the line gives him time, and they are giving him time now. Bradbury is improved and while penalty-challenged, Udoh hasn't given up a sack this season. I'm quite impressed with the offense. Sunday was an amazing performance, especially considering Carolina was the #1 defense in the league coming into the game.

The defense is another story with Peterson now out for at least 3 weeks. I'm quite concerned about Breeland and (Tiny) Dantzler at CB.

[Monster]

I think I heard yesterday that Darrisaw ranked as the third best tackle in PFF this week...that's extraordinary for a guy making his first start. I think we're seeing that Cousins is a top 5 QB when the line gives him time, and they are giving him time now. Bradbury is improved and while penalty-challenged, Udoh hasn't given up a sack this season. I'm quite impressed with the offense. Sunday was an amazing performance, especially considering Carolina was the #1 defense in the league coming into the game.

The defense is another story with Peterson now out for at least 3 weeks. I'm quite concerned about Breeland and (Tiny) Dantzler at CB.

I think the stat you saw was Darrisaw had the 3rd best PFF grade for a rookie tackle in the draft class not in the whole NFL.

If you like the PFF grades you will be just fine with Dantzler starting as he has a higher grade than the other 2 starters. :)

Meanwhile that interior of the Vikings line is currently graded on PFF pretty poorly. They are all near the bottom of the league including Bradbury at 28th.

Like you said though the offense should get credit for what they did against the Panthers D. Still it also felt like they could/should have done more especially if they want to actually be a good team which they simply aren't right now. 13th in PPG isn't good enough with the talent on offense they have.