Vikes Disappoint Against Dallas - Who Gets Deflated Ball?
Nov 26, 2020 11:04:52 GMT -6
Reignman and stocker08 like this
Post by Purple Pain on Nov 26, 2020 11:04:52 GMT -6
Purple Insider:
purpleinsider.substack.com/p/film-study-empty-protections-solving
The Athletic (Arif Hasan):
theathletic.com/2221395/2020/11/25/kirk-cousins-cowboys-vikings-mailbag/
The final drive
The focus of Sunday’s loss (even in our enthusiastic comment section) was the final drive. While it’s fair to expect him to continue smoking the Dallas defense, he wasn’t given much assistance in doing so. After a short completion to Dalvin Cook, Cousins found Jefferson wide open on a terrific route by the rookie. When the ball hit his hands, the nearest defender was about 10 yards away. It’s possible with a block or a missed tackle that he could have gotten to midfield if he makes the grab. Instead it hits him right in the hands.
The All-22 angle really shows how much room he had:
The very last play was a puzzling call. With 1:29 left, Kubiak dialed up something that looks like it would be called with 0:20 remaining. The Vikings don’t send a single receiver over the middle of the field and only have three options for Cousins. Once there is pressure, he has no outlet.
To make matters worse, the Cowboys only sent four rushers against the Vikings’ seven blockers and yet they still forced Cousins out of the pocket.
There was no option except to heave the ball to Thielen once he was pushed out of the pocket.
One thing that’s fascinating about the 2020 Vikings that was truly on display Sunday is the dichotomy of their proven star players and placeholders. Thielen and Jefferson were outstanding. Dalvin Cook, aside from a fumble in the first half, ran very effectively. Cousins made plays throughout. Eric Kendricks picked off a pass.
But Jeff Gladney had a rough outing. Chris Jones missed a key tackle (that’s putting it politely). The front four was pushed back on multiple explosive runs. Special teams allowed three returns of 10-plus yards. And, of course, they failed to close out a tight game, which has happened on three occasions this year.
The focus of Sunday’s loss (even in our enthusiastic comment section) was the final drive. While it’s fair to expect him to continue smoking the Dallas defense, he wasn’t given much assistance in doing so. After a short completion to Dalvin Cook, Cousins found Jefferson wide open on a terrific route by the rookie. When the ball hit his hands, the nearest defender was about 10 yards away. It’s possible with a block or a missed tackle that he could have gotten to midfield if he makes the grab. Instead it hits him right in the hands.
The All-22 angle really shows how much room he had:
The very last play was a puzzling call. With 1:29 left, Kubiak dialed up something that looks like it would be called with 0:20 remaining. The Vikings don’t send a single receiver over the middle of the field and only have three options for Cousins. Once there is pressure, he has no outlet.
To make matters worse, the Cowboys only sent four rushers against the Vikings’ seven blockers and yet they still forced Cousins out of the pocket.
There was no option except to heave the ball to Thielen once he was pushed out of the pocket.
One thing that’s fascinating about the 2020 Vikings that was truly on display Sunday is the dichotomy of their proven star players and placeholders. Thielen and Jefferson were outstanding. Dalvin Cook, aside from a fumble in the first half, ran very effectively. Cousins made plays throughout. Eric Kendricks picked off a pass.
But Jeff Gladney had a rough outing. Chris Jones missed a key tackle (that’s putting it politely). The front four was pushed back on multiple explosive runs. Special teams allowed three returns of 10-plus yards. And, of course, they failed to close out a tight game, which has happened on three occasions this year.
purpleinsider.substack.com/p/film-study-empty-protections-solving
The Athletic (Arif Hasan):
Can we get a breakdown of what exactly happened on that last drive? I see people both saying (Kirk) Cousins played well on it and that he choked super hard and I would like to know if he could have realistically done more to win the game. — Adam N.
Below are freeze frames from the top of every drop in the four downs of the final drive. Receivers that are a little more open are circled in orange, while the receivers that are covered are in red.
For the most part, Cousins played the first two downs perfectly and was victimized on second down by a Justin Jefferson drop. On third down, he declined an open Kyle Rudolph for Adam Thielen. While Thielen versus Jourdan Lewis should be a win, it might have been smarter to take Rudolph, who was running a route short of the sticks on third down.
I think it’s fairly understandable that he’d take the matchup over the open receiver short of the sticks, and it’s easier to criticize it in hindsight. The fourth-down play was probably a poor decision, and his choice to scramble before pressure arrived is somewhat questionable.
But I think for the most part, Cousins played the final drive well. The criticism of Cousins following the game is more a product of his history, not his specific performance here. He had a brilliant game and was forced to put the team on his back once more. He mostly did his job and did it better than the players around him. When we’re figuring out “what more he could’ve done,” we’re entering the realm of nitpicking.
While it’s tempting to argue that he was, at the end of the day, unsuccessful, it gets the framing wrong. He wasn’t unsuccessful, the team was. And the team failed him more than the other way around. The fact that the quarterback is more responsible for team outcomes most of the time doesn’t mean the quarterback is solely responsible all of the time.
I’m not shy about criticizing Cousins. But the reason that Cousins gets more criticism following this two-minute drill than Tom Brady does, despite the latter throwing a pick right to an opposing defensive back last week, is because Brady has built up credit and has a history.
He did well here and better than a lot of QBs typically do in that situation, including himself. Pointing to a result without evaluating the process to get there is not super meaningful, especially if the standard is essentially perfection — zero mistakes or even moments of suboptimal play. Many successful two-minute drills include inaccurate throws (like the Minneapolis Miracle) or subpar decision-making and worse performances than what we saw from Cousins yet have resulted in wins for the comeback team.
He’s the last person I would criticize for this game.
Below are freeze frames from the top of every drop in the four downs of the final drive. Receivers that are a little more open are circled in orange, while the receivers that are covered are in red.
For the most part, Cousins played the first two downs perfectly and was victimized on second down by a Justin Jefferson drop. On third down, he declined an open Kyle Rudolph for Adam Thielen. While Thielen versus Jourdan Lewis should be a win, it might have been smarter to take Rudolph, who was running a route short of the sticks on third down.
I think it’s fairly understandable that he’d take the matchup over the open receiver short of the sticks, and it’s easier to criticize it in hindsight. The fourth-down play was probably a poor decision, and his choice to scramble before pressure arrived is somewhat questionable.
But I think for the most part, Cousins played the final drive well. The criticism of Cousins following the game is more a product of his history, not his specific performance here. He had a brilliant game and was forced to put the team on his back once more. He mostly did his job and did it better than the players around him. When we’re figuring out “what more he could’ve done,” we’re entering the realm of nitpicking.
While it’s tempting to argue that he was, at the end of the day, unsuccessful, it gets the framing wrong. He wasn’t unsuccessful, the team was. And the team failed him more than the other way around. The fact that the quarterback is more responsible for team outcomes most of the time doesn’t mean the quarterback is solely responsible all of the time.
I’m not shy about criticizing Cousins. But the reason that Cousins gets more criticism following this two-minute drill than Tom Brady does, despite the latter throwing a pick right to an opposing defensive back last week, is because Brady has built up credit and has a history.
He did well here and better than a lot of QBs typically do in that situation, including himself. Pointing to a result without evaluating the process to get there is not super meaningful, especially if the standard is essentially perfection — zero mistakes or even moments of suboptimal play. Many successful two-minute drills include inaccurate throws (like the Minneapolis Miracle) or subpar decision-making and worse performances than what we saw from Cousins yet have resulted in wins for the comeback team.
He’s the last person I would criticize for this game.
theathletic.com/2221395/2020/11/25/kirk-cousins-cowboys-vikings-mailbag/
... and neither is this Chris guy.