Minnesota Sports Forum

Wow, Dalvin Cook with almost 500 yards from scrimmage in two games and Cousins on point. This team is starting to make a little noise after a horrible start.

Q12543 wrote:Wow, Dalvin Cook with almost 500 yards from scrimmage in two games and Cousins on point. This team is starting to make a little noise after a horrible start.

Yeah it's been quite the last 2 weeks. That late run Cook had for that first down where he should have been stopped in the backfield for a loss might have been his best run of the day.

Meanwhile...is Cleveland the answer at guard? One good olineman could make a pretty big difference Now and for the future. I think Reiff has been playing well also. I bet they didn't get a very good offer for him before the deadline.

The defense is playing some guys off the scrap heap. Chris Jones is a guy I'm familiar with because he played at Nebraska and played quite a bit in this game. Detroit flubbed up some and Stafford was out For a chunk of the game but still that defense looked competent again. Is it sorta for real?

I'm not getting my hopes up but with the way the schedule is laid out and the NFC teams that lost today the playoffs aren't wildly out of the question. This team might be interesting more than just high level Cooking and who is or isn't a piece for next year. Let's see if they show up next week. Also hopefully they figure out how to actually like block people when they punt. Lol yikes! The whacky thing is that Detroit has 3 blocked punts the past 2 weeks and...they lost so it's just sort of a wasted opportunity for them.

Why are we winning? Get a better draft pick. We're gonna have the Kirk Cousins special and go 7-9 and miss the playoffs because the NFC West and South are better than the North.

khans2k5 wrote:Why are we winning? Get a better draft pick. We're gonna have the Kirk Cousins special and go 7-9 and miss the playoffs because the NFC West and South are better than the North.

Well they are now halfway through their season and now sit 2 games out of the playoffs. Are they supposed to just quit now? How will they evaluate their younger players if they don't try and win? Are they likely to make the playoffs? No. FWIW 538 now gives them a 24% chance of making the playoffs now. It think going into last week's game against GB it was like 4%. A higher draft pick doesn't always mean you get a good QB. I'd prefer to have the higher pick but it's not an absolute requirement. Teddy at this point is the only guy starting games of the guys taken in the first round of that draft. Dak Prescott before injury was clearly having the best year of anyone in his draft class and there were quite a few guys picked before him.

Fun stat is that Cousins led the league in yards per completion going into this game and that number will be higher after today. This offense has some potential to be pretty good if that oline can somehow get stabilized. Chicago should be a reasonable test to see if what we have seen the last couple of weeks from the oline is at all real.

monsterpile wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:Why are we winning? Get a better draft pick. We're gonna have the Kirk Cousins special and go 7-9 and miss the playoffs because the NFC West and South are better than the North.

Well they are now halfway through their season and now sit 2 games out of the playoffs. Are they supposed to just quit now? How will they evaluate their younger players if they don't try and win? Are they likely to make the playoffs? No. FWIW 538 now gives them a 24% chance of making the playoffs now. It think going into last week's game against GB it was like 4%. A higher draft pick doesn't always mean you get a good QB. I'd prefer to have the higher pick but it's not an absolute requirement. Teddy at this point is the only guy starting games of the guys taken in the first round of that draft. Dak Prescott before injury was clearly having the best year of anyone in his draft class and there were quite a few guys picked before him.

Fun stat is that Cousins led the league in yards per completion going into this game and that number will be higher after today. This offense has some potential to be pretty good if that oline can somehow get stabilized. Chicago should be a reasonable test to see if what we have seen the last couple of weeks from the oline is at all real.

I'm not looking at QB with a top pick in this draft. Cousins just isn't going anywhere unfortunately so I'm not wasting good draft capital on his replacement 2 years before he's actually replaced. Getting more help in the trenches or getting a LB to replace Barr would be my top priorities. That 5-10 range is prime position to get undervalued guys who don't go at the top because they weren't QB's like a Roquan Smith or Quenton Nelson. Instead we're gonna go 7-9 on the mirage that the team just got off to a slow start when in reality the whole offense is a house of cards around Cook and we're right back to having a bad read from the HC and GM on how good the team is.

khans2k5 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:Why are we winning? Get a better draft pick. We're gonna have the Kirk Cousins special and go 7-9 and miss the playoffs because the NFC West and South are better than the North.

Well they are now halfway through their season and now sit 2 games out of the playoffs. Are they supposed to just quit now? How will they evaluate their younger players if they don't try and win? Are they likely to make the playoffs? No. FWIW 538 now gives them a 24% chance of making the playoffs now. It think going into last week's game against GB it was like 4%. A higher draft pick doesn't always mean you get a good QB. I'd prefer to have the higher pick but it's not an absolute requirement. Teddy at this point is the only guy starting games of the guys taken in the first round of that draft. Dak Prescott before injury was clearly having the best year of anyone in his draft class and there were quite a few guys picked before him.

Fun stat is that Cousins led the league in yards per completion going into this game and that number will be higher after today. This offense has some potential to be pretty good if that oline can somehow get stabilized. Chicago should be a reasonable test to see if what we have seen the last couple of weeks from the oline is at all real.

I'm not looking at QB with a top pick in this draft. Cousins just isn't going anywhere unfortunately so I'm not wasting good draft capital on his replacement 2 years before he's actually replaced. Getting more help in the trenches or getting a LB to replace Barr would be my top priorities. That 5-10 range is prime position to get undervalued guys who don't go at the top because they weren't QB's like a Roquan Smith or Quenton Nelson. Instead we're gonna go 7-9 on the mirage that the team just got off to a slow start when in reality the whole offense is a house of cards around Cook and we're right back to having a bad read from the HC and GM on how good the team is.

So what exactly are they supposed to be doing right now playing Mannion?

monsterpile wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:Why are we winning? Get a better draft pick. We're gonna have the Kirk Cousins special and go 7-9 and miss the playoffs because the NFC West and South are better than the North.

Well they are now halfway through their season and now sit 2 games out of the playoffs. Are they supposed to just quit now? How will they evaluate their younger players if they don't try and win? Are they likely to make the playoffs? No. FWIW 538 now gives them a 24% chance of making the playoffs now. It think going into last week's game against GB it was like 4%. A higher draft pick doesn't always mean you get a good QB. I'd prefer to have the higher pick but it's not an absolute requirement. Teddy at this point is the only guy starting games of the guys taken in the first round of that draft. Dak Prescott before injury was clearly having the best year of anyone in his draft class and there were quite a few guys picked before him.

Fun stat is that Cousins led the league in yards per completion going into this game and that number will be higher after today. This offense has some potential to be pretty good if that oline can somehow get stabilized. Chicago should be a reasonable test to see if what we have seen the last couple of weeks from the oline is at all real.

I'm not looking at QB with a top pick in this draft. Cousins just isn't going anywhere unfortunately so I'm not wasting good draft capital on his replacement 2 years before he's actually replaced. Getting more help in the trenches or getting a LB to replace Barr would be my top priorities. That 5-10 range is prime position to get undervalued guys who don't go at the top because they weren't QB's like a Roquan Smith or Quenton Nelson. Instead we're gonna go 7-9 on the mirage that the team just got off to a slow start when in reality the whole offense is a house of cards around Cook and we're right back to having a bad read from the HC and GM on how good the team is.

So what exactly are they supposed to be doing right now playing Mannion?

For starters I'm cutting Cook's touches to save him for future years. What good is a rushing title on a 7-9 team? Giving Mattison more snaps and dropping Cousins back to pass more is enough to tank the offense. There's nothing to change on defense. If the young guys dominate then good for them. I don't think it holds up though when Cook doesn't dominate a game from start to finish. Put the ball in Cousins hands more and everything will take care of itself really.

khans2k5 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:Why are we winning? Get a better draft pick. We're gonna have the Kirk Cousins special and go 7-9 and miss the playoffs because the NFC West and South are better than the North.

Well they are now halfway through their season and now sit 2 games out of the playoffs. Are they supposed to just quit now? How will they evaluate their younger players if they don't try and win? Are they likely to make the playoffs? No. FWIW 538 now gives them a 24% chance of making the playoffs now. It think going into last week's game against GB it was like 4%. A higher draft pick doesn't always mean you get a good QB. I'd prefer to have the higher pick but it's not an absolute requirement. Teddy at this point is the only guy starting games of the guys taken in the first round of that draft. Dak Prescott before injury was clearly having the best year of anyone in his draft class and there were quite a few guys picked before him.

Fun stat is that Cousins led the league in yards per completion going into this game and that number will be higher after today. This offense has some potential to be pretty good if that oline can somehow get stabilized. Chicago should be a reasonable test to see if what we have seen the last couple of weeks from the oline is at all real.

I'm not looking at QB with a top pick in this draft. Cousins just isn't going anywhere unfortunately so I'm not wasting good draft capital on his replacement 2 years before he's actually replaced. Getting more help in the trenches or getting a LB to replace Barr would be my top priorities. That 5-10 range is prime position to get undervalued guys who don't go at the top because they weren't QB's like a Roquan Smith or Quenton Nelson. Instead we're gonna go 7-9 on the mirage that the team just got off to a slow start when in reality the whole offense is a house of cards around Cook and we're right back to having a bad read from the HC and GM on how good the team is.

So what exactly are they supposed to be doing right now playing Mannion?

For starters I'm cutting Cook's touches to save him for future years. What good is a rushing title on a 7-9 team? Giving Mattison more snaps and dropping Cousins back to pass more is enough to tank the offense. There's nothing to change on defense. If the young guys dominate then good for them. I don't think it holds up though when Cook doesn't dominate a game from start to finish. Put the ball in Cousins hands more and everything will take care of itself really.

Ok that makes sense. I think tanking in football is harder especially if your team actually has talented players on offense like the Vikings do have. Players are very in tune with what the plan is for each week. They are gonna know if you are are trying to not put your best foot forward.

Meanwhile McCaffrey came back from injury and had a bunch of touches in his first game. I loved it even though I didn't really need hi to have a big week for my fantasy team. Honestly I'm not sure how much wear and tear Cook is really having on the last couple games. He has gotten to gallop around quite a bit. He has ground out some carries too but I'd also bet he isn't not really wanting to come out of these games. He is a captain and the most talented healthy player on the roster. Is he supposed to be ok kinda sitting when the season might not be over?

monsterpile wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:Why are we winning? Get a better draft pick. We're gonna have the Kirk Cousins special and go 7-9 and miss the playoffs because the NFC West and South are better than the North.

Well they are now halfway through their season and now sit 2 games out of the playoffs. Are they supposed to just quit now? How will they evaluate their younger players if they don't try and win? Are they likely to make the playoffs? No. FWIW 538 now gives them a 24% chance of making the playoffs now. It think going into last week's game against GB it was like 4%. A higher draft pick doesn't always mean you get a good QB. I'd prefer to have the higher pick but it's not an absolute requirement. Teddy at this point is the only guy starting games of the guys taken in the first round of that draft. Dak Prescott before injury was clearly having the best year of anyone in his draft class and there were quite a few guys picked before him.

Fun stat is that Cousins led the league in yards per completion going into this game and that number will be higher after today. This offense has some potential to be pretty good if that oline can somehow get stabilized. Chicago should be a reasonable test to see if what we have seen the last couple of weeks from the oline is at all real.

I'm not looking at QB with a top pick in this draft. Cousins just isn't going anywhere unfortunately so I'm not wasting good draft capital on his replacement 2 years before he's actually replaced. Getting more help in the trenches or getting a LB to replace Barr would be my top priorities. That 5-10 range is prime position to get undervalued guys who don't go at the top because they weren't QB's like a Roquan Smith or Quenton Nelson. Instead we're gonna go 7-9 on the mirage that the team just got off to a slow start when in reality the whole offense is a house of cards around Cook and we're right back to having a bad read from the HC and GM on how good the team is.

So what exactly are they supposed to be doing right now playing Mannion?

For starters I'm cutting Cook's touches to save him for future years. What good is a rushing title on a 7-9 team? Giving Mattison more snaps and dropping Cousins back to pass more is enough to tank the offense. There's nothing to change on defense. If the young guys dominate then good for them. I don't think it holds up though when Cook doesn't dominate a game from start to finish. Put the ball in Cousins hands more and everything will take care of itself really.

Ok that makes sense. I think tanking in football is harder especially if your team actually has talented players on offense like the Vikings do have. Players are very in tune with what the plan is for each week. They are gonna know if you are are trying to not put your best foot forward.

Meanwhile McCaffrey came back from injury and had a bunch of touches in his first game. I loved it even though I didn't really need hi to have a big week for my fantasy team. Honestly I'm not sure how much wear and tear Cook is really having on the last couple games. He has gotten to gallop around quite a bit. He has ground out some carries too but I'd also bet he isn't not really wanting to come out of these games. He is a captain and the most talented healthy player on the roster. Is he supposed to be ok kinda sitting when the season might not be over?

He's already been hurt once this year and he leads the league in breaking tackles so he is getting hit out there and just making the most of it. He probably does want to play the whole game but a smart team doesn't blow 300 carries on a missed playoff year. And they can do all the math they want. Playoffs are not really realistic this year. Even the 5-4 Bears are on the outside looking in right now with a 7th team making the playoffs. We have to pull out a better record than the Bears AND one of Arizona, LA and Tampa Bay and they all have 2 game leads on us minimum (3 for Tampa). That means even going 6-2 the rest of the way for us means they have to go 4-4 or worse for us to get in. There's a reason teams who start as bad as we do don't really make the playoffs. Are we really a team you see going 8-2 in the last 12 games to make the playoffs after a 1-5 start? We have 2 games against the Bears, 1 against the conference best Saints, 1 against the Bucs and 1 against the Panthers. We can only lose 2 of those to even have a shot.

I certainly want Cooks carries to be limited as I said before. We've seen backs wear out or drop off as all the hits take a toll. It's very common so don't drill the dude into the ground trying to sneak out a few more wins. I would simply say 7 runs max per quarter. Once you hit that your done. That would be a limit of 28 but more likely in that 25 range. Maybe do 6 max per quarter.

Tell Cook, hey we are looking out for your longterm future. We NEED you healthy for the next 3-4 years. Not just this season.