Pluses: Teddy looked calm and clearly went through progressions. On his first completion, you can see him moving his eyes to deceive the secondary. Nice rapport with Rudy. I get the sense that he's due for a big year.
Nice juke by McKinnon.
Nice catch by Jarius Wright, got slaughtered at the end though. Looked fine afterwards.
Minuses: McKinnon's 4th down run. FB seemed slow to get his block laid. Looked like the LB knew where the play was going before our guys did.
I really wish Teddy had hit Wallace's hands on that rollout. I'd like to see some rapport between the two. Wallace had a quiet night.
Texas Vike wrote:Minuses: McKinnon's 4th down run. FB seemed slow to get his block laid. Looked like the LB knew where the play was going before our guys did.
First off, if McKinnon takes a fourth-and-1 carry during the regular season Zimmer should backhand slap Norv immediately after. It's very odd why he was up instead of Asiata on that one other than because maybe Norv wanted to see McKinnon's short yardage abilities. Secondly, it was a good play by the linebacker, who went low. I'm not sure there was much the FB could've done there but maybe it was a missed assignment by someone supposed to put a mitt on the guy, I'm not sure.
I really wish Teddy had hit Wallace's hands on that rollout. I'd like to see some rapport between the two. Wallace had a quiet night.
Yeah, Teddy said that he was "coached" after that series that Wallace was the first read there and he said he got greedy and wanted to pull the trigger to Rudolph on a deeper route. Hopefully we get the starters playing a bit more in the next couple of games. Hard to evaluate and come to conclusions on the starters after 10 (or fewer) snaps.
“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.” --- Bill Shankly
dead_poet wrote:Yeah, Teddy said that he was "coached" after that series that Wallace was the first read there and he said he got greedy and wanted to pull the trigger to Rudolph on a deeper route. Hopefully we get the starters playing a bit more in the next couple of games. Hard to evaluate and come to conclusions on the starters after 10 (or fewer) snaps.
I agree. Perhaps we should slam Zimmer now and throughout the season about that.
Sorry, the devil on my shoulder made me write that sentence. He's whispering in my ear about the summer of 2013.
Minuses: McKinnon's 4th down run. FB seemed slow to get his block laid. Looked like the LB knew where the play was going before our guys did.
Fusco and Sullivan were the reason that play didn't work. Fusco came out of his stance too high and was pushed back 3 yards into the backfield. Sullivan should have picked-up Shazier but let him come free up the middle.
dead_poet wrote:
First off, if McKinnon takes a fourth-and-1 carry during the regular season Zimmer should backhand slap Norv immediately after. It's very odd why he was up instead of Asiata on that one other than because maybe Norv wanted to see McKinnon's short yardage abilities. Secondly, it was a good play by the linebacker, who went low. I'm not sure there was much the FB could've done there but maybe it was a missed assignment by someone supposed to put a mitt on the guy, I'm not sure.
Yeah, Teddy said that he was "coached" after that series that Wallace was the first read there and he said he got greedy and wanted to pull the trigger to Rudolph on a deeper route. Hopefully we get the starters playing a bit more in the next couple of games. Hard to evaluate and come to conclusions on the starters after 10 (or fewer) snaps.
Well, it is preseason, so Norv experimenting is to be expected. Not everything will work, it's a good time to learn your guys' limits. McKinnon's a tough little dude, but I agree that Asiata or AD is a better bet on 4th and 1. I do agree that the LB (Shazier) made a heck of a play. I still believe our FB could have gotten a better hit on him. YMMV. Pitt played the 4th and 1s better both on D and O.
As for your last sentence--I'm not sure if that's a shot at me or not, hard to read tone on the web. 10 snaps is a minuscule sample, definitely. But we finally have something closer to a real game to ruminate on, which is a welcome fact for me. I'm certainly not drawing any conclusions about anyone based on last night's game.
Texas Vike wrote:As for your last sentence--I'm not sure if that's a shot at me or not, hard to read tone on the web. 10 snaps is a minuscule sample, definitely. But we finally have something closer to a real game to ruminate on, which is a welcome fact for me. I'm certainly not drawing any conclusions about anyone based on last night's game.
Not meant as a shot at all, just preaching general patience while acknowledging it's frustrating to be waiting SO LONG FOR FOOTBALL then only getting to see the starters for a handful of plays. But we'll take it for sure. I saw a stat that last night's game pulled in TV ratings higher than the clinching game for this year's Stanley Cup. It just goes to show you just how starved America is for football. Even if it's pre-preseason.
“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.” --- Bill Shankly
Pseudo Everything wrote:
Fusco and Sullivan were the reason that play didn't work. Fusco came out of his stance too high and was pushed back 3 yards into the backfield. Sullivan should have picked-up Shazier but let him come free up the middle.
Probably true, especially regarding Sully. There was a huge gap between C and RG, but they filled it better than we did.
dead_poet wrote:
Not meant as a shot at all, just preaching general patience while acknowledging it's frustrating to be waiting SO LONG FOR FOOTBALL then only getting to see the starters for a handful of plays. But we'll take it for sure. I saw a stat that last night's game pulled in TV ratings higher than the clinching game for this year's Stanley Cup. It just goes to show you just how starved America is for football. Even if it's pre-preseason.
OK, cool. I couldn't tell. I hear you, I was VERY thirsty for some Vikings football. Interesting stat on the comparative ratings. Despite some of its warts, the NFL continues to draw huge numbers. There was a point in the telecast when they mention all of the guys that will not play in the season opener that they'll televise because of punishments or legal issues... you could sense Goodell yelling at his screen somewhere.
The only play I saw or noticed exum in he seemed good. Also he looks like he a monster or freak of nature. Dude is huge. I hope he is our other safety.
Huh. Not a lot of people talking about the kicking issues last night.
Coverage and returns on special teams were fine, Diggs' return being the bright spot...but the kicking sucked.
Walsh nearly missed that PAT and did miss a 48 yarder that he'd normally nail. Can't tell if it's the holding or if it's the snapping, but something has been off since early last year.
Locke couldn't average more than 37 yards per punt. His one long one went out of the end zone. 2-6 punts were inside the 20. The fact that the team didn't bring in some competition there at punter is still odd and unsettling. Especially when you blew a draft pick on a punter (which is probably WHY they didn't bring in competition there...but not being able to accept that he might be a bust is a problem).
Casual fans don't put a lot of effort into thinking about special teams until your team can't pin the other team back far enough in a playoff game or misses a huge kick. I don't know how many times over my lifetime I've seen a Vikings team lose because their kickers/punters didn't give their defense enough to work with. And I've seen them win a fair amount BECAUSE their kicker hit that field goal in overtime or pin the other team back so far that they couldn't move the ball far enough with the time left on the clock.
(I know it's preseason...but if your kicking units look out of whack, that usually means there's a problem and that it's not for lack of them giving less than 100% effort.)
DK Sweets wrote:I'm sorry, I just couldn't let this go.
I double checked every post in this thread and nobody has said he is a bust. One person said they thought he would be a bust and tonight he looked poor, but literally nobody said he is a bust.
Many people mentioned he had some rough plays. This is a fair criticism. Mike defended Waynes on the PI call (I will respectfully disagree with his analysis; I thought it was close and the ref could have kept the flag in his pocket, but I thought it was a fair call) and many have said they still expect him to improve greatly.
We are all entitled to our opinions. Nobody should be banned for their opinions, especially when they did not say what you are accusing them of saying.
[EDIT:] I hope I don't come across as high and mighty. I don't remember ever having an issue with you, Josh, and this is absolutely nothing personal. I just feel like many of us have been a little worked up at one point or another over people not seeing things the same way we do, and in those instances we need to exercise a bit of restraint.
This is a great place to discuss football and I think it is every members' obligation to police ourselves in moments of passion.
Well said Dakota!
The saddest thing in life is wasted talent and the choices you make will shape your life forever.
-Chazz Palminteri
Dirtyswabby wrote:Not Concerned about Waynes at all, I like his Fire, looks a lot like Rhodes during his rookie year.
Kalil looked surprisingly good in that first series. (PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BE TRUE)
Diggs Is a freaking Rockstar
The first time in years......We have good linebacker Depth.
Teddy looks a lot more comfortable going through progressions this year compared to last year, he isn't drinking from the firehouse any longer and the games has definitely slowed down for him.
Not Worried about Walsh either.
Bye Locke
Agree with all of this 100%
The saddest thing in life is wasted talent and the choices you make will shape your life forever.
-Chazz Palminteri
DK Sweets wrote:I'm sorry, I just couldn't let this go.
I double checked every post in this thread and nobody has said he is a bust. One person said they thought he would be a bust and tonight he looked poor, but literally nobody said he is a bust.
Many people mentioned he had some rough plays. This is a fair criticism. Mike defended Waynes on the PI call (I will respectfully disagree with his analysis; I thought it was close and the ref could have kept the flag in his pocket, but I thought it was a fair call) and many have said they still expect him to improve greatly.
We are all entitled to our opinions. Nobody should be banned for their opinions, especially when they did not say what you are accusing them of saying.
[EDIT:] I hope I don't come across as high and mighty. I don't remember ever having an issue with you, Josh, and this is absolutely nothing personal. I just feel like many of us have been a little worked up at one point or another over people not seeing things the same way we do, and in those instances we need to exercise a bit of restraint.
This is a great place to discuss football and I think it is every members' obligation to police ourselves in moments of passion.
Well, maybe I let some of the Facebook comments sneak in to my thoughts
But still, for people to get up set after the Hall of Fame game is just silly.
The Devil whispered in the Viking's ear, "There's a storm coming." The Viking replied, "I am the storm." #SKOL2018
