How to Field an Ineffective Offense

[losperros]

IMO the answer to "what happened to our defense" is Chris Cook broke his arm. Tampa fields 2 quality "big" WR. When Cook went down it created mismatches dues to our poor secondary depth. Now you have Scherels trying to cover Mike Williams. Hopefully they can get it together over a 10 day rest and/or the Bye Week.

I very much agree. I'm not saying Cook going out automatically explains the bad tackling but I believe his absence was immediately felt on the field. Cook may be a bit underrated because the guy has been a solid DB this season. Fortunately, the Vikings do have better DB depth this year with Jefferson and Robinson on the team.

[mansquatch]

I very much agree. I'm not saying Cook going out automatically explains the bad tackling but I believe his absence was immediately felt on the field. Cook may be a bit underrated because the guy has been a solid DB this season. Fortunately, the Vikings do have better DB depth this year with Jefferson and Robinson on the team.

That is my point. There were plenty of instances in the 2nd half, especially the last scoring drive where the D got them to 3rd and 10 and then they converted on a long pass play. The 1st half had the D playing badly, which was a different issue. As I've said previously: They had a bad game. The long term issue is the Cook injury and what that means for our 3rd down defense. Our whole defensive philosophy is built on creating 3 and outs. If we can't defend the pass on 3rd down we are in trouble.

[smoothoperator]

missing cook certainly hurt us in the second half of the bucs game and will likely affect us from here on out. however, jefferson had good coverage on the plays thrown his away, especially the third and long where mike williams made an insane leaping catch. he also made a nice play in the 4th qtr and almost intercepted a pass. hopefully jefferson can work hard and become a difference maker and fill the void with cook being out.

[dead_poet]

@TomPelissero: Percy Harvin said Bucs players told him after the game their plan was to throw every blitz at them, knowing they hadn't had time to prepare.

[Mothman]

Good plan... it certainly worked.

[losperros]

Good plan... it certainly worked.

My thoughts exactly. I mean, there were times when it looked like a feeding frenzy of sharks out there.

[J. Kapp 11]

That is my point. There were plenty of instances in the 2nd half, especially the last scoring drive where the D got them to 3rd and 10 and then they converted on a long pass play. The 1st half had the D playing badly, which was a different issue. As I've said previously: They had a bad game. The long term issue is the Cook injury and what that means for our 3rd down defense. Our whole defensive philosophy is built on creating 3 and outs. If we can't defend the pass on 3rd down we are in trouble.

The most frustrating part of the game, for me, was not the Vikings' passing game (although that would rank pretty highly).

It was a) the Vikings' plethora of missed tackles in the first half, as well as the long screen pass for a TD in the third quarter, and b) their utter inability to get off the field on third down. On Tampa's final TD drive, the Bucs converted five straight third-downs (including the touchdown, which came on third down). It was brutal. Any of you who have been to a Vikings game know what it's like when the opponent gets to third down. The fans work themselves into that incredible frenzy. When that happened and then Tampa converted -- time and time again -- the air just went out of the building. I'm surprised the roof didn't collapse. The exodus after that touchdown rivaled Moses and the Israelites. Any momentum the Vikings hoped to gain was just gone. So incredibly frustrating.

[NextQuestion]

There's only so many 3 and outs you can take, and turnovers on your own side of the field

Carly Rae Jepsen is your avatar? hahah

[VikingLord]

Thanks for the summarization Jim. That takes time and it's appreciated.

What stands out to me is the number and duration of the 3rd quarter drives. Ouch. Vikes come out at home down and basically the Bucs hold the ball for way too long. Defense could not get off the field. While the Viking offense didn't help matters with their own drives, the defense was amazingly inept to allow the Bucs to dominate that quarter.

[Mothman]

Thanks for the summarization Jim. That takes time and it's appreciated.

Thanks. It's fun!

What stands out to me is the number and duration of the 3rd quarter drives. Ouch. Vikes come out at home down and basically the Bucs hold the ball for way too long. Defense could not get off the field. While the Viking offense didn't help matters with their own drives, the defense was amazingly inept to allow the Bucs to dominate that quarter.

That stood out to me too and I suspect it will look just as bad in the 4th quarter because the Bucs put together a long drive late in the game.

[losperros]

What stands out to me is the number and duration of the 3rd quarter drives. Ouch. Vikes come out at home down and basically the Bucs hold the ball for way too long. Defense could not get off the field. While the Viking offense didn't help matters with their own drives, the defense was amazingly inept to allow the Bucs to dominate that quarter.

Yes, it does stick out and it's something that has to change asap. The Vikings offense is not going to be a juggernaut at this point, so it's up to the D to force three and outs whenever possible. What gets to me is the sloppy tackling that I'm seeing over the last couple games.

[Mothman]

PART FOUR
4TH QUARTER

12th possession
1-10-MIN 20 Shotgun, 3 WR set. Ponder throws a quick toss to Harvin in the left flat for a 10 yard gain.
2-1-MIN 29 Shotgun. Swing pass to Harvin in the right flat for 10.
1-10-MIN 39 Shotgun. Empty backfield. Ponder hit as he throws. Incomplete. DE #71 looped around and came unblocked through the gap between RG and C. Sullivan never saw him and wasn't blocking anyone else either.
2-10-MIN 39 Shotgun. Ponder takes snap, steps up into a nice pocket and delivers a strike down the left sideline to Michael Jenkins. Jenkins got between the CB and safety in zone coverage. Great job by Ponder, who held the safety down the middle with his eyes then turned his head and made the throw to the left.
1-10-TB 32 Shotgun. #71 overpowers Loadholt, pushing him into the backfield but he doesn't get by him. Ponder steps left and dumps it to Gerhart, who rumbles for 10.
1-10-TB 22 Shotgun. Empty backfield. Swing pass to Harvin for a 2 yard gain.
2-8-TB 20 Shotgun. DE #71 loops inside again, shoving the RG to the ground and immediately bringing pressure and forcing Ponder to his left. Ponder rolls left, tries to square his shoulders to throw, sees nothing and runs out of bounds.
3-2-TB 14 Shotgun. O-line provides a nice pocket. Ponder pump fakes left toward Harvin on the outside and then throws left to Jenkins, who is well-covered at the 2. Incomplete. Jenkins came in motion from right to left on the play and lined up in the slot.
4-2-TB 14 Shotgun. Penalty. False start on Kalil.
4-7-TB 19 Shotgun. Overload blitz left. Blitzer (I couldn't see his number) comes right through that ago between Kalil and Johnson again. Kalil engages a defender and johnson whiffs on the blitzed. Ponder gets hit as he throws. Incomplete.


13th possession
1-10-MIN 29 Shotgun. Low snap. Ponder snags it and hits Jenkins on a quick slant for a nice 23 yard gain.
1-10-TB 49 Shotgun. Quick slant to Jenkins again for 19 yards.
1-10-TB 31 Shotgun. Bucs rush 3 and are still able to sack Ponder inside of 3 seconds. #71 Bennett went right past Loadholt.
2-15-TB 35 Shotgun. Quick flare to Rudolph for 5.
3-10-TB 30 Shotgun. Ponder steps up into a clean pocket and throws a short pass to Gerhart over the middle. 10 yard gain. First down.
1-10-TB 20 Shotgun. Ponder sets, takes a short step up, pump fakes and throws toward Jenkins on the right. Intercepted. Jenkins is trying to split the coverage between the CB and the safety but there's no room for that play. He isn't open. The CB plays underneath/inside the route, trusting the safety, and easily cuts off the pass to make the pick. Ponder forced this one but there's nobody open anywhere else either.

--------------------

That's it, the bad ending to a bad game for the Vikes offense. they moved the ball pretty easily against soft zone coverage eon the last two drives but still didn't get any points out of it, not that it would have been enough anyway.

Conclusions? As others have said, this was a bad game for the defense and that's reflected again in this quarter, with the Vikes first possession of the quarter beginning at the 7:03 mark.One way to field an ineffective offense is not to play them at all.The defense has to do a better job of getting off the field.

Ponder seems to operate more comfortably out of the shotgun. His performance was mixed, with the meaningless INT at the end, the two missed short passes to Harvin early and the terrible decision right before the half being the big negatives. Otherwise, he played well, reading the defense, throwing catchable passes (sometimes under some serious pressure) and scrambling or throwing it away when there was nothing there.

The o-line really struggled to pick up blitzes and even to handle TB's front four. It's a disturbing trend. Unless they get it together, the Vikings will struggle to find consistency in the passing game every week.

Other than Harvin and the RBs, it was hard to see anyone getting open consistently. Jenkins did it against soft coverage late but otherwise, he was invisible. Rudolph and Simpson were open a few times but not very consistently. The entire passing offense was out of sync and I'm not surprised that the Vikes are talking about fine tuning and re-focusing on fundamentals this week. That appears to be what's needed.

[losperros]

PART FOUR
4TH QUARTER

Other than Harvin and the RBs, it was hard to see anyone getting open consistently. Jenkins did it against soft coverage late but otherwise, he was invisible. Rudolph and Simpson were open a few times but not very consistently. The entire passing offense was out of sync and I'm not surprised that the Vikes are talking about fine tuning and re-focusing on fundamentals this week. That appears to be what's needed.

Thanks again for the analytical posts, Jim.

This isn't the first time that I thought Ponder looked comfortable in the shotgun formation. I don't think the shotgun should be used all the time but maybe it should be utilized more often, including times where the Vikings run with the ball. As it is now, it seems the shotgun is mostly used during 3rd and long or during late game plays. Maybe I'm wrong about that.

I still say the entire passing game is a broken machine. Yes, Ponder played poorly and the receivers really need to step up their game, but there's also no reason for the Bucs to be able to rush only three guys and still get a sack, especially with Ponder in the shotgun.

[Mothman]

This isn't the first time that I thought Ponder looked comfortable in the shotgun formation. I don't think the shotgun should be used all the time but maybe it should be utilized more often, including times where the Vikings run with the ball. As it is now, it seems the shotgun is mostly used during 3rd and long or during late game plays. Maybe I'm wrong about that.

After the first quarter, they used it pretty liberally in this game, perhaps in response to TB's pressure. I'm not sure how much they use it overall.

I still say the entire passing game is a broken machine. Yes, Ponder played poorly and the receivers really need to step up their game, but there's also no reason for the Bucs to be able to rush only three guys and still get a sack, especially with Ponder in the shotgun.

Here's the thing: overall, I don't even think Ponder played poorly in this game. His numbers weren't great and he played poorly on the 4 plays I mentioned in my last post (the INT, the near-INT at the end of the first half and the two missed screen/swing passes to Harvin) but most of the time he made good decisions, threw accurate (or at least catchable) passes, etc. His mobility prevented what could have been another 3 or 4 sacks and with one exception, when nobody was open he threw the ball away rather than forcing it. Considering the overall results in the passing game, I don't think it can be called a good game for Ponder because it wasn't a good game for the passing offense. Statistically, I'd say Ponder had a poor game. In terms of his personal performance, it wasn't bad. However, that's a pretty meaningless distinction when the passing offense as a whole wasn't very good.

You described it perfectly: it's a broken machine. It only takes one or two parts to fail and a play is dead. I haven't gone through and counted them but I'm guessing plays where blocks were completely missed or were executed so poorly that they allowed a quick breakdown in protection easily numbered in the double digits. That kills plays. A badly thrown pass kills a play too. A dropped pass kills a play. A false start kills a play and takes away yardage. A lost fumble kills a drive. Over the course of the game, this stuff added up to stall too many drives. It just can't keep happening. The entire offense needs to step up if the Vikes are going to beat Seattle.

The defense has to stop allowing long, methodical scoring drives too but that's an entirely different story.