Lets Complain About the Defense A Bit...

[Hunter Morrow]

Yeah, they manufacture turnovers and get sacks. Got it.

But this team nearly lost a game, on a neutral field, when the offense provided them 34 points, at one point enough
points in the game to give the defense a 16 point margin of error. AND THE GAME WENT DOWN TO THE LAST DRIVE
TO SEE IF IT WAS GOING TO OVERTIME.

I mean, CHRIST.

Our passing defense has got to be one of the very worst in the league.

Games By Yards And Touchdowns Allowed To Quarterbacks...

Matthew Stafford: 352 yards, 2 touchdowns
Jay Cutler: 292 yards, 3 touchdowns
Brian Hoyer. BRIAN. FREAKING. HOYER. 321 Yards, 3 Touchdowns
Ben Roethlisberger: 383 yards and a touchdown

3 out of 4 games had a quarterback with at least 1 touchdown and 300 yards.
The average amount of yards and touchdowns surrendered to a quarterback by this defense is 337 and 2.5 touchdowns!

The Vikings are Bottom 5 In...

Points Per Game Allowed 30.8
19th in yards per game against the rush, 105 yards per game.
32nd out of 32 teams in passing yards allowed per game and total
30th in Plays From Scrimmage Allowed
29th in Yards per game 430.8
A 3 way tie at 23rd in Yards Per Play Attempt Allowed 5.8
31st in First Downs Allowed Per Game
30th in the league on 3rd down. 47 percent of third downs are converted.
29th in Time of Possession at 33:03 minutes per game has our defense on the field

However, compare that with how we rank offensively in some categories...

5th in the league in points per game at 28.8 points a game
4th in total points
8th in rushing yards
10th in yards per game

It seems to me, looking at this schedule, if you told me the vikings were going to be scoring 29 points a game I'd say
we would be 3-1 and not 1-3. The defense is a travesty, especially against pass receiving running backs, screen plays
and tight ends.

[Funkytown]

And somehow, up until today, the offense always managed to look worse--or at least equally as bad. My eyes are deceiving me?

[The Breeze]

I really really believed it was going to be the opposite for the first 4 weeks or so.

Losing KWil hurt for sure. Maybe even moreso was losing Winfield.

The whole unit relies on pressure upfront.....but, as Kapp pointed out on the Ponder thread, they haven't had much time playing with a lead, so teams can stay balanced against them.

The secondary is just green to start with, already banged up, and not very good.

We don't seem to be very good at stopping the run anymore either.

But other than that ....

[PurpleHalo]

The defense is having some growing pains on the back end, and we know the LBs are not top level as a whole. The DBs are gaining experience, and the LBs should look a lot different next year.

[dead_poet]

And there sure is a lot to complain about I tell you what, anyways! When do you think the Vikings will start Rhodes?

Not soon enough. Starters should be: Cook and Rhodes with Sherels in the slot and Robinson a backup and special teamer. What an atrocious secondary, especially without Winfield.

[mansquatch]

I thought the LB had a decent game yesterday. Greenway finally got back to his old self. EH probably had his best game as a pro and has been coming on in the past two weeks. The Will... Meh...

IMO where we really miss Winfield is in the tackling. How many plays did we see where the CB made initial contact but failed to tackle only to be bailed out by the safety 5 yards later. That is the first place they should improve.

Robinson is not having a good season, I have no idea why Rhodes is not starting over him, it starting to get ridiculous. Scherels has been very positive so far, he has really gotten better in coverage from last season. I do not know what the deal is with the secondary. It feels like at least partially some MGMT issues.

[radar55]

I find it interesting that for the last couple of years as the offense struggled, it was NEVER the entire offenses fault for the failure. The first words out of everyones mouth was "ITS PONDERS FAULT". That being said......we now seem to have an offense that can score an average of all most 30 points a game but the defense cant stop anyone let alone hold onto a lead.......except for yesterdays fortunate fumble.

So, it makes me wonder? Why isn't there an equal amount of vitriol directed at any singular player on the defense? Surely the entire units abysmal play can be explained by simply identifying that one person that's to blame for the entire units failure cant we? It seems to work for the offense.

For the record.....I AM NOT A PONDER SUPPORTER......I am simply confused why it is that some people seem to be willing to make excuses for the play of this defense (as a whole unit) while at the same time so willing to put all the blame on one player on the offense.

[maembe]

This game definitely absolves Ponder of the poor defensive play. There were people who were trying to say they were on the field too much because of Ponder or something silly like that.

Josh Robinson is the worst player on our team right now. Holy cow it is truly unbelievable how bad he is.
How in the world is Marvin Mitchell still playing ahead of Bishop?
Losing Sanford had no noticeable negative effect. Other than Robinson he had been on the wrong end of the highlight reel more than anyone else.
Harrison Smith is really good
Rhodes looks legit
Our defensive line has been terrible until this game, against maybe the worst o line in the league
Greenway has struggle. He did have a decent game yesterday though, despite a couple of missed tackles
Henderson looks all right out there. He's done a really nice job on blitzes, although he whiffed pretty hard on Big Ben yesterday (as did everyone else at least once).

[allday1991]

Sure this defence gives up a lot of yards and plays but hey they get us turnovers, the Saints and the Packers both had a bottom 25 defence when it came to total yard per game but managed to win super bowls in there respectful years due to turn overs, New England has done it the last few years as well, not the greatest defence for YPG but lots of turnovers. If Walsh hits a 44 yard field goal we don't even have to worry the last minute of the game.

[KillerPat]

I thought the LB had a decent game yesterday. Greenway finally got back to his old self. EH probably had his best game as a pro and has been coming on in the past two weeks. The Will... Meh...

IMO where we really miss Winfield is in the tackling. How many plays did we see where the CB made initial contact but failed to tackle only to be bailed out by the safety 5 yards later. That is the first place they should improve.

Robinson is not having a good season, I have no idea why Rhodes is not starting over him, it starting to get ridiculous. Scherels has been very positive so far, he has really gotten better in coverage from last season. I do not know what the deal is with the secondary. It feels like at least partially some MGMT issues.

they said during the broadcast that when they asked frazier why he wasnt starting and his response was 'he is a rookie'

sounds like a childress excuse. im very disappointed with our coaching right now.

[Demi]

For the record.....I AM NOT A PONDER SUPPORTER......I am simply confused why it is that some people seem to be willing to make excuses for the play of this defense (as a whole unit) while at the same time so willing to put all the blame on one player on the offense.

Because there was an easy change to make to improve the offense...there's not much they can do on defense. The secondary is young, and not very good. The line is old. We don't have many options at linebacker.

And because Ponder WAS the problem. If we replace any player on defense will it make a lick of difference? Two players? Three? We replaced Ponder...funny how much better the passing game is. And how much better the offensive line looks....

[allday1991]

Because there was an easy change to make to improve the offense...there's not much they can do on defense. The secondary is young, and not very good. The line is old. We don't have many options at linebacker.

And because Ponder WAS the problem. If we replace any player on defense will it make a lick of difference? Two players? Three? We replaced Ponder...funny how much better the passing game is. And how much better the offensive line looks....

and we won

[dead_poet]

Because there was an easy change to make to improve the offense...there's not much they can do on defense. The secondary is young, and not very good. The line is old. We don't have many options at linebacker.

And because Ponder WAS the problem. If we replace any player on defense will it make a lick of difference? Two players? Three? We replaced Ponder...funny how much better the passing game is. And how much better the offensive line looks....

We replaced Sanford and Cook and we won.

[Demi]

We replaced Sanford and Cook and we won.

Sure looked like the safety and corner play was improved?

[NextQuestion]

Losing Winfield was huge