Minnesota Sports Forum

If we are average this year I would say the OL coach did a great job. It certainly is a building year on the line. I wonder if Sirles ends up as the primary backup across the line. We certainly need to start looking for a center of the future. I wonder if they feel Sirles can be that guy.

LST Norv said last week the depth at oline was thin and I can't imagine that the Sirles aquisition solves all that but they gave up a pick for him they must like him a decent amount. I can't be objective about him because I like the guy and quite frankly there isn't a lot to go off of to know how good he is. The depth is probably fine if there is one injury or if someone just sucks because you can move Berger into a spot and move someone else around. After that it gets uncertain when the guy with the most experience is Sirles who has played in a couple NFL games.

On Yanky the fact that he didn't make it probably means he still hasn't developed yet. From various chatter over on rubechat it seems he is still a guy that's not strong enough or quick/athletic enough to have a true position. He was highly thought of in last year's draft by the people ranking him but he hasn't fulfilled that promise.

Thompson had a concussion and is now an injury designation so we will see what that means for him. It sounded like he wasn't performing very well in preseason. The Vikings took a few guys in the draft and if you get one solid guy from all of them you will be doing good. Shepard seems to have shown some promise.

Keep in mind Clemmings is a rookie just like Loadholt was but I believe has a different strength weakness skill set. Phil was/is a road grader in the run game and Clem is more proficient as a pass protector and not as good at run blocking. Remember he had a basketball scholarship. It might be nice to have a RT that is better at pass protection than run blocking for once.

On the future C I would imagine that's Zac Kerin if anyone. He was a guy they used one of their visits on before the 2014 draft and he was on the PS all last year and then this Preseason they gave him a ton of snaps at C. You didn't hear much about him but that's probably a good sign because it means he didn't suck. Lol idk about Sirles at C I wonder if they were trying him out there partly because they wondered if he was going to make it at another position because they were pretty well stocked there. They dumped Harris last year so maybe they do have a lot of depth idk.

That makes sense. I have not been following the Vikings much since the end of the Dennis Green era. I really like Zimmerman as coach and now with Teddy it is hard not t be a fan again. I really worry about the OL. I always felt that is the strength of a team.

bleedspeed177 wrote:That makes sense. I have not been following the Vikings much since the end of the Dennis Green era. I really like Zimmerman as coach and now with Teddy it is hard not t be a fan again. I really worry about the OL. I always felt that is the strength of a team.

That era had a terrific Oline I think it's been something that hasn't been replicated since.

I just listened to Sirles here on the local radio show. He was sitting by the phone and when he got the can he was assuming he was released and so he was surprised that he was traded in a good way of course. He said they are working on him first being a swing tackle and then going from there.

I hope we get a good line in front of Teddy. With that old line we could throw anyone e at QB and make them look like a hof'r

bleedspeed177 wrote:I hope we get a good line in front of Teddy. With that old line we could throw anyone e at QB and make them look like a hof'r

It didn't hurt to have at least one HOF WR during that whole time. Denny Green knew offense how to play it and find and develop talent. and there was some good defensive moments as well that people forget about. Mike Tice was and is a terrific Oline coach as well which helped that era significantly. He should never do anything else but that. No shame in being a terrific assistant especially when you can pick out and develop talent like he has.

I do think Davidson the oline coach we have now is pretty good. I'll say this Ponder made the oline look bad. His pocket presence was terrible and he literally would run into sacks when guys were doing their jobs. I am not a ponder hater but that was one of the worst things about him. A QB can make an offensive line look worse or better. Remember Charlie Johnson was the LT for Peyton for a couple years. QBs can make an offensive line look better. Teddy may be that type of guy he seemed to do it with a patchwork line last year. We will see what happens this year with this mostly young group with AP running around.

Teddy can make a line look better like Peyton, but that happens through quick throws. With AP running, the box is going to be stacked again and the only way to change that is to go deep. We have the outside weapons to do that, I just don't think our line can hold up for the 3-5 seconds needed for the receivers to get downfield. I'm also confused why they never switched Harris and Clemmings. Harris has been a tackle his whole career and Clemmings was hyped as more athletic which would seem to fit better as a guard at least when compared to Harris. It's early for draft talk, but I want some of those Notre Dame linemen on our team next year.

Kahns - You make a great point. Didn't Clemmings come in a play RG in OTA's?

I think a QB can make an OL look better not only by quick throws, but also by pocket presence...and as monster said, Bridgewater and Ponder are night and day when it comes to pocket presence. I never watched Teddy in college, so I was surprised about a few things when I first watched him with the Vikings. While he wasn't as athletic as I might have guessed and didn't necessarily possess elite arm strength, he had something that can't be taught and is much more important than athleticism or arm strength. He has an amazing innate sense of who is around him when he is in the pocket, and always seems to make the optimal move possible to avoid a sack. The Vikings' pass protection was terrible last year...he seemed to be in trouble most of the team, and they ended up with the 5th most sacks allowed in the league. But I'm convinced their 51 sacks would have been 71 without Teddy's ability to avoid sacks. Much of the OL's lapses can be pinned on Kalil, who was admittedly slowed by injuries all year, and he has looked much better this pre-season...even getting kudos from the normally reluctant Zimmer. I think the combination of a healthy Kalil and Teddy's evasive actions will significantly reduce our sacks allowed this year.

That said, I share Khans' confusion about what the Vikings are doing with the right side of the line. Harris was more than adequate filling in for Loadholt last year at LT the last 5 games, and Clemmings has mostly been a guard in college. Why switch them so soon before the season starts. I have great faith in the Vikings coaching staff and am pretty sure they see something I am not smart enough to see, but it's a head-scratcher right now.

Clemmings was ranked as a tackle in the draft and remember this guy is an athlete switched over from the defensive side as a DE in college where he played as a RT. The Vikings were pretty set at tackle so they probably figured they would see if they could get the most talented players on the field putting him at RG. It didn't work out and so the switched him to RT which is what he played in college.

As for Harris IDK he has a decent chunk of experience playing RT at the NFL level and apparently that wasn't good enough and he is now at RG. He was an UFA so that makes sense to me that he ends up being a G that's what lots of teams do they take former tackles and put them inside.