Vikings at Saints Game Thread - Week Three

[DK Sweets]

Our defense played better than I expected, but our offense felt like a kick to the balls.

(Can I even say that?)

[frosted]

It's pretty unlikely.

On the other hand, injuries are piling up and the offense is struggling big time, so they need to find some answers. I think they'll find enough to win some more games.

I didn't see much of today's game but from what I saw (and mostly heard), Norv was way too conservative and I'm talking "Brad Childress" conservative. You have to take shots at the end zone to score TDs.

16 points in two weeks... and the Saints didn't exactly bring an elite defense to the table. A few more games like these last two and we might be longing for Musgrave. Come on, Norv, you can do better.

I think the cirumstances surrounding today's game had something to do with that, as well. A gameplan for Matt Cassel was installed, and Ted came into the game unexpectedly. I am assuming the gameplan would have been altered had Ted been taking 1st team reps all week. FWIW, they did take a couple shots down the field. YMMV

[PurpleMustReign]

Stupid St. Louis lost to Dallas after being up 21-0.

[frosted]

Without the keystone in place the bridge can't stay standing. The offense is constructed around AD and running. Without him, they're going to have a lot of games where they are lucky to score 10 points like this one, and without a defense that can consistently stop opponents (and the Vikes don't have one of those, either), they're going to need a lot of good bounces to win games this year. This team doesn't strike me as lucky.

Oh - I just don't agree, but I guess part of that is seeing them without AD at times last season (2-0). If they lose every single game from here on out, I'll leave this board forever. I promise.

[S197]

I don't know why the defense came out so slow but at least they made adjustments. Giving up 3rd and long conversions were killer though. Not just the Munnerlyn penalty, Robinson had blown coverage on another 3rd and long and there were several other 3rd and 10s that were converted.

I thought Hodges looked pretty good in relief duty of Greenway, he had a few tackles for loss. Barr also had good penetration, he beat two guys on his sack. Hopefully he continues to progress. I liked TB's poise in the pocket, he's incredibly elusive. Hopefully with more of the playbook and some 1st team reps the offense will look less anemic.

Most impressive today was Harrison Smith, guy was everywhere. Least impressive, Kalil, but Rudolph has been disappointing too. I was hoping he would have a big year but he continues to struggle to stay on the field and had a critical 3rd down drop. If the defense doesn't start so poorly and AD is in the backfield, I think it's a different outcome. I think the defense will be okay going forward but the obvious problem now is how do you replace a guy like AD and I guess really you can't. All you can do is hope guys step up.

[mondry]

Defense started out rocky but really buckled down there for a large portion of the game. I really like seeing our guys make plays on the ball, Smith broke up a number of passes, Jimmy Graham didn't do much either.

Teddy looked good, as much as we hate the saints and playing down there, it IS one of the hardest places to play on the road and I thought he did decent.

I thought we fought hard and made it interesting. Obviously the big roughing drew brees penalty crushed our chances but I think we have a lot to be encouraged about. With that said, without Adrian this team gets a lot less scary and going against this tough schedule (why do we always play the saints / seahawks in THEIR building?) it's going to be a rough few weeks but I'm confident we can nab a few wins here and there.

[DavidKarki]

It's pretty unlikely.

On the other hand, injuries are piling up and the offense is struggling big time, so they need to find some answers. I think they'll find enough to win some more games.

I didn't see much of today's game but from what I saw (and mostly heard), Norv was way too conservative and I'm talking "Brad Childress" conservative. You have to take shots at the end zone to score TDs.

16 points in two weeks... and the Saints didn't exactly bring an elite defense to the table. A few more games like these last two and we might be longing for Musgrave. Come on, Norv, you can do better.

This OL is awful. I mean, hideous. Some of that play-calling was due to them not blocking anybody. No run game, no time for TB.

We'll see after TB gets the whole week to practice, but right now this OL and a lack of explosiveness at skill positions means points will be very hard to come by, even with an upgrade at QB. Jennings is #2 WR, Patterson still more gimmick than anything, and Rudolph is a total bust and now hurt. Kalil could be a bust too, Johnson has always stunk, and Fusco is now hurt.

They can absolutely lose every game the rest of the way because this offense can't score a TD right now. And the defense is nowhere near good enough, especially on third-and-long at which they are still just as hideous as the OL. They're coming along, finding ways to stay in games with smoke and mirrors, and I'm confident Zimmer will get them better still in 2015. But right now, it's still shaky and with this non-existent offense, losses will pile up.

[Vikings28]

To make things even worse, Rudolph said something "popped" and he's going to have a MRI tomorrow.

That was brutal but at least we'll get to see Bridgewater going forward. I thought he showed as well as he could given the circumstances. I'm excited to see what he can do.

[Mothman]

I think the cirumstances surrounding today's game had something to do with that, as well. A gameplan for Matt Cassel was installed, and Ted came into the game unexpectedly. I am assuming the gameplan would have been altered had Ted been taking 1st team reps all week. FWIW, they did take a couple shots down the field. YMMV

Good point about the game plan...

I know they threw downfield a little and I didn't expect them to go overboard in that department but overall, they seemed too conservative to me particularly when they moved into scoring position. Maybe that impression of the game will change a bit when i can watch the whole thing.

[Pondering Her Percy]

To be honest, a big thing that costed us that game was that horrible call on Munnerlyn's sack. That was a pathetic call and it costed us. We would have gotten the ball, down by 4, and in good field position. Instead it costed us 7 points.

As much as everyone is saying the offense was "bad" you have to remember, we are missing our best player and are limited at RB, the game plan was designed for Cassel and Zimmer even said the playbook for Teddy was "limited", our best lineman (Fusco) went down and horrible Ducasse filled in, Rudy went down, and that horrible penalty potentially costed our offense more points

[Pseudo Everything]

This just in ... Josh Robinson still isn't very good.

A lot of people will point to the Munnerlyn roughing-the-passer call as the pivotal play in the game, but I thought an equally important play was on the Saints first series of the 3rd quarter (after we had a nice opening drive with a FG to cut the lead to 4). We had the Saints in a 3rd and 16 on their own 14 yard line and Brees converts an 18 yard pass to Cooks for a first down. Who was covering Cooks? Josh Robinson who got turned around leaving Cooks wide open.

[maembe]

Our third down defense was an absolute disaster. And of course, the one time we stop them on third and long a stupid penalty gives them the first down

[Pseudo Everything]

Defense started out rocky but really buckled down there for a large portion of the game. I really like seeing our guys make plays on the ball, Smith broke up a number of passes, Jimmy Graham didn't do much either.

Teddy looked good, as much as we hate the saints and playing down there, it IS one of the hardest places to play on the road and I thought he did decent.

I thought we fought hard and made it interesting. Obviously the big roughing drew brees penalty crushed our chances but I think we have a lot to be encouraged about. With that said, without Adrian this team gets a lot less scary and going against this tough schedule (why do we always play the saints / seahawks in THEIR building?) it's going to be a rough few weeks but I'm confident we can nab a few wins here and there.

I saw it the same way. We were competitive in a game where I thought the probability of a blow-out was fairly high. Our defense played well for a large chunk of the game against a team that has the ability to hang a lot of points on the board (especially at home). Thought Linval Joseph had a really good game.

[Vikings28]

Is it just me or should they be giving Greenway less snaps and using Hodges more?

[maembe]

+ Hodges looks a heck of a lot better than Greenway
+ Barr was a beast again. Even when he wasn't making the tackle he was disrupting the play
+ After an atrocious start on defense we seemed to make some adjustments that completely changed the game
+ Harrison Smith was Harrison Smith
+ Teddy was decent. Not great, but it was a tough situation to be in, and it didn't seem like they were calling real plays for him at first. I'm pretty sure he had either our two or three longest completions in the air this season though.
+ We may never have to see Cassel behind center again

- Robinson struggled with that one third and long being the worst. He had safety help. He needs to recognize that.
- Our entire defense was unbelievably bad on third down
- Kalil is really bad. No idea what happened to him
- Asiata is terrible, and McKinnon can't seem to get going.
- Our defensive line couldn't get any pressure on Brees, especially on third down. They also struggled against the run, especially early on.