Minnesota Sports Forum

Well...at least I have some more free time the next couple weeks. Lol

If Daniel's Jones played against the Vikings and Ed Donatell Defense every week he would be in the HOF by like year 2 or 3. I'm not suggesting the Vikings D is loaded with talent but there is no way the defense with some legit really good and solid vets is THAT bad. I'd hope they can find at least an averagish DC and scheme in the offseason and get that D to like 20th in the league next year. Lol

monsterpile wrote:Well...at least I have some more free time the next couple weeks. Lol

If Daniel's Jones played against the Vikings and Ed Donatell Defense every week he would be in the HOF by like year 2 or 3. I'm not suggesting the Vikings D is loaded with talent but there is no way the defense with some legit really good and solid vets is THAT bad. I'd hope they can find at least an averagish DC and scheme in the offseason and get that D to like 20th in the league next year. Lol

Yeah, no question he's going to get fired. Hopefully the front office can re-tool the defense this offseason and put the Vikes in position to be more legit next season. They led a very charmed - and entertaining - existence this past season, but I think most Vikings fans knew in their heart that they weren't going to go very far in the playoffs with that defense.

I can't remember having less confidence in a defense than yesterday.

The Giants had 23 plays that went for 10+ yards. The only thing that kept them from scoring 40+ was that they didn't get the football enough. Even the last drive... Slayton had an easy 1st down on a simple crossing route on 3rd and 15... and dropped the ball. The Vikings best defensive strategy was relying on luck.

And obviously, it wasn't an isolated development. The Vikings had arguably the worst defense in football this season. When it's THAT bad and THAT obvious, the coach has to go.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:I can't remember having less confidence in a defense than yesterday.

The Giants had 23 plays that went for 10+ yards. The only thing that kept them from scoring 40+ was that they didn't get the football enough. Even the last drive... Slayton had an easy 1st down on a simple crossing route on 3rd and 15... and dropped the ball. The Vikings best defensive strategy was relying on luck.

And obviously, it wasn't an isolated development. The Vikings had arguably the worst defense in football this season. When it's THAT bad and THAT obvious, the coach has to go.

I'm more of a casual fan of the Vikes, so don't follow them super closely or analyze them the same way I do with the Wolves. Does anyone know what the underlying philosophy was of their defense? It seemed very conservative and I'm wondering what drove that thinking.

Q-was-here wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:I can't remember having less confidence in a defense than yesterday.

The Giants had 23 plays that went for 10+ yards. The only thing that kept them from scoring 40+ was that they didn't get the football enough. Even the last drive... Slayton had an easy 1st down on a simple crossing route on 3rd and 15... and dropped the ball. The Vikings best defensive strategy was relying on luck.

And obviously, it wasn't an isolated development. The Vikings had arguably the worst defense in football this season. When it's THAT bad and THAT obvious, the coach has to go.

I'm more of a casual fan of the Vikes, so don't follow them super closely or analyze them the same way I do with the Wolves. Does anyone know what the underlying philosophy was of their defense? It seemed very conservative and I'm wondering what drove that thinking.

I'm not well versed enough in football to really understand how these defenses work too well and certainly not enough to explain it. I think one of the big questions about the defense is how it didn't take advantage of more vet players like Kendricks, Harrison Smith and the pass rush on the outside. Sure maybe a couple of those guys finally have dropped off but I think part of it could have been the scheme. There were tweets that Hunter was dropped off in coverage. I know Zimmer did that sometimes too. Even last year when things were bad I think even the biggest Zimmer detractors would have said injuries had some to blame for the defense not being good. This year the Vikings were easily more healthy and arguably added more talent and the results were a disaster. Some people wanted to dump Ed a few weeks ago and I was like sure maybe but there were only a few weeks to go I wasn't sure that was going to solve anything unless maybe Pettine was gonna take over and save the day relatively speaking. Now that the season is over...byyyyeeee!!! It will be interesting to see if they stick with the 3-4 defense or roll with whoever they bring it wants to do.

monsterpile wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:I can't remember having less confidence in a defense than yesterday.

The Giants had 23 plays that went for 10+ yards. The only thing that kept them from scoring 40+ was that they didn't get the football enough. Even the last drive... Slayton had an easy 1st down on a simple crossing route on 3rd and 15... and dropped the ball. The Vikings best defensive strategy was relying on luck.

And obviously, it wasn't an isolated development. The Vikings had arguably the worst defense in football this season. When it's THAT bad and THAT obvious, the coach has to go.

I'm more of a casual fan of the Vikes, so don't follow them super closely or analyze them the same way I do with the Wolves. Does anyone know what the underlying philosophy was of their defense? It seemed very conservative and I'm wondering what drove that thinking.

I'm not well versed enough in football to really understand how these defenses work too well and certainly not enough to explain it. I think one of the big questions about the defense is how it didn't take advantage of more vet players like Kendricks, Harrison Smith and the pass rush on the outside. Sure maybe a couple of those guys finally have dropped off but I think part of it could have been the scheme. There were tweets that Hunter was dropped off in coverage. I know Zimmer did that sometimes too. Even last year when things were bad I think even the biggest Zimmer detractors would have said injuries had some to blame for the defense not being good. This year the Vikings were easily more healthy and arguably added more talent and the results were a disaster. Some people wanted to dump Ed a few weeks ago and I was like sure maybe but there were only a few weeks to go I wasn't sure that was going to solve anything unless maybe Pettine was gonna take over and save the day relatively speaking. Now that the season is over...byyyyeeee!!! It will be interesting to see if they stick with the 3-4 defense or roll with whoever they bring it wants to do.

Presumably someone like Ed D. had a reputable track record and some past success. So was it a mis-match between his philosophy and his talent and he wasn't willing or able to be flexible? Or do we have some real talent gaps and he did the best he could with a lack of firepower?

I suppose I could just go to a Vikings forum and get the full download from folks that rabidly follow or cover the team.

Such an interesting game yesterday. The defenses and offensive lines were so much in favor of the Giants, it was stunning to me that we were driving for a potential tying touchdown in the final minutes...the game felt like a blowout to me. I credit marvelous JJ, Cousins, and Hockenson for keeping this one close. Cousins is being ripped for throwing the 3-yard check down pass on 4th and 8, but the O line didn't give the receivers enough time to get even 5 yards off the line before Cousins was about to be clobbered. The fact that Kirk went 31 for 39 without an interception with so little help from his line was remarkable. Imagine what Kirk could do if he had the Giants' O line!

Yes, the defensive coach has to go. I'm like Monster...I don't know enough about NFL defense to say why we were so ineffective this year. But when your defense performs so poorly, you have to make a coaching change.

Tough loss, but it certainly was an amazing season!

Well losing to the Vikings cost me. (A bottle of Koval and Sagemore to my old boss in Jersey.)

As for the defense. I think the switch to 3-4 hurt to a degree. We went from second in the league in sacks to last with less INTs. I think it is time to move on from Kendricks, Harrison Smith, and Patrick Peterson. The team Will struggle be .500 next year after playing out of there minds this year and getting the ball to bounce there way an unusual amount of time.