Minnesota Sports Forum

I'd like to see more Iloka. Harrison was great for most of the game, but he got beat a couple times over the top which the last line of defense can't do. I'd prefer to keep the defensive backs fresh throughout the year with the safety and corner depth we have so they hopefully don't get torched like they did 2nd half of the Saints game and the Eagles game in the playoffs.

As for Kendrick having a bad game, I would limit that to his pass defense...he still was very good against the run. His tacking is amazing...if he gets his hands on you, you're going down.
It's incredible how many players on this defense are in the running for all-pro. I could see all four defensive linemen being in the mix, along with Kendrick, Smith and Rhodes. This defense easily has the potential to be No. 1 in the league.

longstrangetrip wrote:As for Kendrick having a bad game, I would limit that to his pass defense...he still was very good against the run. His tacking is amazing...if he gets his hands on you, you're going down.
It's incredible how many players on this defense are in the running for all-pro. I could see all four defensive linemen being in the mix, along with Kendrick, Smith and Rhodes. This defense easily has the potential to be No. 1 in the league.

Your post made me think...name the worst starter on this defense...OK its probably Gedeon who will probably only play around a third of the snaps if healthy. Who is the next worst?

Barr or Sendejo for me.

monsterpile wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:As for Kendrick having a bad game, I would limit that to his pass defense...he still was very good against the run. His tacking is amazing...if he gets his hands on you, you're going down.
It's incredible how many players on this defense are in the running for all-pro. I could see all four defensive linemen being in the mix, along with Kendrick, Smith and Rhodes. This defense easily has the potential to be No. 1 in the league.

Your post made me think...name the worst starter on this defense...OK its probably Gedeon who will probably only play around a third of the snaps if healthy. Who is the next worst?

I actually like Gedeon a lot...not as athletic as his two linebacker teammates, but so damn smart. He struggled against the pass just like the other two against SF, but he was good again against the run. I also still like Barr, so my choice for worst defender would be Sendejo or Waynes. Waynes has so much potential, but he seems to wither play too soft, or make too many dumb penalties. Right now Waynes would be my choice for worst defender, but the new safety rules may make Sendeo the clear choice for worst.

longstrangetrip wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:As for Kendrick having a bad game, I would limit that to his pass defense...he still was very good against the run. His tacking is amazing...if he gets his hands on you, you're going down.
It's incredible how many players on this defense are in the running for all-pro. I could see all four defensive linemen being in the mix, along with Kendrick, Smith and Rhodes. This defense easily has the potential to be No. 1 in the league.

Your post made me think...name the worst starter on this defense...OK its probably Gedeon who will probably only play around a third of the snaps if healthy. Who is the next worst?

I actually like Gedeon a lot...not as athletic as his two linebacker teammates, but so damn smart. He struggled against the pass just like the other two against SF, but he was good again against the run. I also still like Barr, so my choice for worst defender would be Sendejo or Waynes. Waynes has so much potential, but he seems to wither play too soft, or make too many dumb penalties. Right now Waynes would be my choice for worst defender, but the new safety rules may make Sendeo the clear choice for worst.

I think we all would agree that if these guys are the worst...it's a pretty good defense. PFF has given Gedeon solid grades including last week.

It was pointed out that last week that's sendejo made some nice plays and at least once held back when he could have or a shot on someone. There were also a couple plays he put a shot on players but he did it with his shoulder not just going in like...Sendejo. We will see how that holds up over time. I think Sendejo has always been a pretty smart player but part of what makes him good is the way he gives up his body. I don't blame him for not wanting to take too much of that away. I've always been impressed with how Harrison Smith has adjusted and puts clean hits on guys. It extremely difficult to do. If Sendejo is able to do his thing but more smartly...it will he just another evolution of an underdog player that keeps outdoing expectations for him.

As for Waynes there was an article from a national media person (I can't find it now which is so annoying) that mentioned like 10 plays/situations that really stood out to him in week 1. Waynes defending the long bomb to Pettis (it was fun seeing video of his dad playing baseball) in the end zone was #3. He pointed out that Smith was out of position and was supposed to give help but Waynes had the speed and didn't give up on the play and got in there to break up the play. The writer said that if Waynes becomes a legit playmaker in the Vikings already loaded defense...look out.

The most interesting question might be whether the Sheldon Richardson we saw last week was a sign of what he will be most of the season. If so yikes. I saw a tweet of a video that Linval basically made a tackle on Brieda by chunking the offensive lineman's into home making him fall down. Dude is just a beast. That was a hell of a signing by Spielman all those years ago.

My problem with Waynes is he gets beat deep a couple times each game and for as many that he breaks up there are others where he commits the penalty or just gets lucky the throw is off and it goes incomplete. For a speed guy he recovers well, but seems to get burned a couple times per game. We tend to sellout to stop the first move and hope the rush hits home and when the rush doesn't we get burned for big yardage. That works until the rush stops getting to the QB or the QB extends the play like the playoffs last year.

khans2k5 wrote:My problem with Waynes is he gets beat deep a couple times each game and for as many that he breaks up there are others where he commits the penalty or just gets lucky the throw is off and it goes incomplete. For a speed guy he recovers well, but seems to get burned a couple times per game. We tend to sellout to stop the first move and hope the rush hits home and when the rush doesn't we get burned for big yardage. That works until the rush stops getting to the QB or the QB extends the play like the playoffs last year.

I actually completely agree with your assessment of his play last year. That's why I found the play from game 1 by the National writer interesting. To me I'm expecting Waynes to take another step towards being a better player. It's his 4th year in the league and 2nd full year as a starter. If he takes another step like he did last year and clean up a few things that's big not only for this year but beyond. I also think there is a decent chance he is trade bait as he will be on a fairly reasonable 1 year deal, will be turning 27 and is a bigger corner that's also very willing to tackle. I won't be sad if he takes another step forward and they lock him up either. It would be pretty sweet if we were actually 5 deep at CB for a couple years.

I'm not sure if the WR's are not getting open or if Cousins is not seeing them. Both week 1 and into week 2 and much of preseason for that matter, they have not been gelling like we need. Cousins is holding the ball a bit long. Give me Josh Gordon I guess.

Pathetic display so far. Not sure Cousins is earning every penny of that contract yet.