The Bucs Stop Here

[Bowhunting Viking]

Well, it's official. We have no chance.

Mike Florio and Chris Simms have declared it on Pro Football Talk.

It was nice by it lasted.

But Florio is the spurned lover now ( but his son is still a diehard Vikings fan) and Simms probably got done taking a few breakfast hits off the bong so we can dismiss their opinion

[chicagopurple]

please! the Vikes "gritty" performances were against the bottom feeders of the league...Jags 1-11, Bears- an organization about to fire their coach and GM and playing most of the game without their #1 defender........2 teams with NO QB.....Brady is not the Brady of old but he is still 1000x better than any QB we have faced recently. The Defense will have to really show up this week. The Offense needs to be creative but the current regime is incapable of that. This would be a great win agains a moderate quality team but I doubt the Vikes have it in them.

[Rhodes Closed]

please! the Vikes "gritty" performances were against the bottom feeders of the league...Jags 1-11, Bears- an organization about to fire their coach and GM and playing most of the game without their #1 defender........2 teams with NO QB.....Brady is not the Brady of old but he is still 1000x better than any QB we have faced recently. The Defense will have to really show up this week. The Offense needs to be creative but the current regime is incapable of that. This would be a great win agains a moderate quality team but I doubt the Vikes have it in them.

Better than Rodgers?

[VikingLord]

please! the Vikes "gritty" performances were against the bottom feeders of the league...Jags 1-11, Bears- an organization about to fire their coach and GM and playing most of the game without their #1 defender........2 teams with NO QB.....Brady is not the Brady of old but he is still 1000x better than any QB we have faced recently. The Defense will have to really show up this week. The Offense needs to be creative but the current regime is incapable of that. This would be a great win agains a moderate quality team but I doubt the Vikes have it in them.

Then the worst that can happen from your perspective is the Vikes win.

For now, I'm choosing to stay positive. I predicted a loss by a pretty wide margin, but I'm not giving up on them and, if they surprise to the upside, I think the Vikes can pull off th win.

[J. Kapp 11]

please! the Vikes "gritty" performances were against the bottom feeders of the league...Jags 1-11, Bears- an organization about to fire their coach and GM and playing most of the game without their #1 defender........2 teams with NO QB.....Brady is not the Brady of old but he is still 1000x better than any QB we have faced recently. The Defense will have to really show up this week. The Offense needs to be creative but the current regime is incapable of that. This would be a great win agains a moderate quality team but I doubt the Vikes have it in them.

Then the worst that can happen from your perspective is the Vikes win.

For now, I'm choosing to stay positive. I predicted a loss by a pretty wide margin, but I'm not giving up on them and, if they surprise to the upside, I think the Vikes can pull off th win.

I'm pretty sure a lot of Vikings fans want the team to lose so they can be right.

It's an attitude I simply don't understand.

[Thaumaturgist]

Then the worst that can happen from your perspective is the Vikes win.

For now, I'm choosing to stay positive. I predicted a loss by a pretty wide margin, but I'm not giving up on them and, if they surprise to the upside, I think the Vikes can pull off th win.

I'm pretty sure a lot of Vikings fans want the team to lose so they can be right.

It's an attitude I simply don't understand.

I never want the Vikings to loose. Unfortunately I've become a bit jaded and probably pessimistic over the years.
It may seem like I grumble a bit in the game chat, and I'm sorry if that brings down some of the optimists on the board. However I'm happy when they win! I think we need the good Cousins to show up in order to win. I think he's very capable of doing that, but like I said in the game chat, I think he's a bit of Jekyll and Hyde. He can make some really pretty throws, and he can make some boneheaded ones. In order to win this game, we need both of the lines to step up.

Give Krik time, give Cook some holes, and get some pressure on Brady. Has anyone heard what the status of Kendricks is? We'll probably need him to be up to par to cover Gronk.

SKOL VIKINGS! Pass the Kool Aid.

[CharVike]

This Buc team will probably make the playoffs but all the top teams they have played this year beat them except the Packers and I don't consider them as a top team. They have the best QB in the NFC which provides a huge advantage but the rest of the team is garbage. Besides Rodgers nothing stands out. This Buc D will be the main issue for us. Rodgers didn't even complete 50 pct of his passes. That's beyond bad. And they did it the only way possible by applying tremendous pressure and forcing him to throw before he wanted to. They beat the crap out of him. Our OL can't pass block at all. So I expect Cousins to get a good beating. If he makes it through this game I'll be shocked. That will lead to the same thing Rodgers did. Very low comp pct, no TDs and a few TOs. Ideally our best chance is to turn to our ground game. Big problem is Cook isn't the same player. He can't make anything happen and provides zero burst. I expect him to cough up another which will also hurt. The Bucs are a rested team who actually play dam good pass defense. So I expect them to shut down our air attack. They will bring the pressure big time. And currently with Cook a walking Zombie we won't be able to generate a ground game. On defense it will come down to putting pressure on the sitting duck Brady. Currently we can't generate enough pressure to force Brady to throw when he don't want to. Brady like all QBs doesn't play the same when the pressure is applied. I see a 34-10 type of game. We will have a hard time scoring and won't be able to apply enough pressure to make Brady crumble.

[psjordan]

It may seem like I grumble a bit in the game chat, and I'm sorry if that brings down some of the optimists on the board.

I think it’s a Mt. Everest jump from “jeez Kirk, did you REALLY just do that? WTF!?” or “Zim you are a freaking idiot!!” in the game chat to “you are a fool for being optimistic about this team and you are contributing to it’s stagnation/decline by doing so”. However I really don’t think every fan has to be optimistic about their team. I’m fine with the full spectrum. We’re all different.

But at the end of the day this is entertainment for me. I enjoy having a team to root for/analyze, and enjoy when they do well. When they don’t do well, I might vent and then I simply move on with my day. It’s really not a biggie for me. I think there are a LOT of fans in this category.

Other folks get the most enjoyment out of their team being the best, and not so much out of the day-to-day/play-to-play successes, if there are any. Honestly I am fine with that, it’s just different strokes for different folks. I do think these folks get the most frustrated, simply because of the odds of “your team” winning it all in any sport is not very high.

Being a born and bred Red Sox fan has been great training to be a Vikings fan, I guess. I only had to wait 45 years for the Red Sox to reach the Promised Land.

The Vikes are wearing me out man, but imma keep marching forward.

Back to the original thread though, I fully expect I will be yelling some “SERIOUSLY? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!?” missives at the TV on Sunday.

The only good news is that I won’t be able to scream “we are making this scrub QB look like Brady for carps sake!!!”

[VikingPaul73]

Not to be a whiner, but isn't this like the 2nd or 3rd team we will have played this year that is coming off a bye?

Each team only has a single bye, so only gets 1 game coming off their own bye.
It seems like they should make the schedule such that each team gets a bye and each team has to play ONE team coming off a bye. Given the parity of the league, a week off makes a huge difference!!!

I don't know, maybe there are just not enough degrees of freedom in the scheduling process, and it would be impossible to schedule as I suggest.

[VikeFanInEagleLand]

To be completely over-simplistic.....the Vikings are due for a good game. I'm not nearly as worried about the players as I am about the coaching. My focus of frustration has been transferred from Cousins (who has won me over with is play this year) to the coaching staff who seems unable to properly prepare for games or make good game time decisions.

[RandyMoss84]

We need a healthy Eric Kendricks to contain their running game and disrupt the short passing game.

Anyone heard any updates on him?

I just saw an update, Eric is out on Sunday

[Thaumaturgist]

Anyone heard any updates on him?

I just saw an update, Eric is out on Sunday

Bummer! Next man up! Let's go!

[S197]

Rudolph is also listed as doubtful.

[J. Kapp 11]

I'm pretty sure a lot of Vikings fans want the team to lose so they can be right.

It's an attitude I simply don't understand.

I never want the Vikings to loose. Unfortunately I've become a bit jaded and probably pessimistic over the years.
It may seem like I grumble a bit in the game chat, and I'm sorry if that brings down some of the optimists on the board. However I'm happy when they win! I think we need the good Cousins to show up in order to win. I think he's very capable of doing that, but like I said in the game chat, I think he's a bit of Jekyll and Hyde. He can make some really pretty throws, and he can make some boneheaded ones. In order to win this game, we need both of the lines to step up.

Give Krik time, give Cook some holes, and get some pressure on Brady. Has anyone heard what the status of Kendricks is? We'll probably need him to be up to par to cover Gronk.

SKOL VIKINGS! Pass the Kool Aid.

Hey man, we all grumble in the game chat. It's all good!

It's going to be hard to run on this team. They're near the top of the league in rush defense. Their D-line is really stout against the run. We're going to have to throw to win, and we're going to have to stop Brady, Evans and company. It's not going to be like playing the Jags.

But SOMETHING is amiss with the Bucs. A lot of people looked at this team on paper at the beginning of the season and put them in the Super Bowl. But they're 7-5 and losers of 3 of their last 4. And don't forget, these guys lost to the BEARS. They are fully capable of losing to us.

The Bucs are coming off a bye. I could see that going one of two ways. Either they have fixed their issues, rested up and are ready to play their best football of the season — like we did coming off the bye into Green Bay. Or they could come back worse, like we did in 2016, when we were 5-0 going into the bye and 1-6 coming out of it. And here's the interesting thing. They're not even assured of making the playoffs if they lose to us. Fall to 7-6 and watch the Giants and Washington both win, and suddenly there's only a game separating the Bucs and the NFC Least representatives.

Meanwhile we've won 5 of 6. Yes, the past couple have been ugly, but they count, and they give us momentum.

Nobody is picking us to win. Many are predicting a blowout. Watch out if we're close at halftime.

Oh, and the question about Kendricks ... vikings.com says he's been ruled out.

[J. Kapp 11]

One other thing.

I read today that Tampa Bay's defense blitzes on 40% of opponent plays.

That sets up a real feast-or-famine situation for opposing offenses. They may shut you down for periods of time, but they also get burned.

Should be interesting.