Must Fix vs. Must Maintain for 2022

MidwinterViking
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Must Fix vs. Must Maintain for 2022 Jul 20, 2022 14:50:04 GMT -6 FSUVike and Krauser like this

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Post by MidwinterViking on Jul 20, 2022 14:50:04 GMT -6

Jul 19, 2022 11:51:13 GMT -6 FSUVike said:

Lol at this thread. It's all Cosuins fault that the Offense went scoreless for multiple 30 minute stretches during the season? Even the Jets could find ways to eek out Field Goals. There were multiple games where the Offense clicked early, the DC adjusted, and the Offense went completely dormant for the better part of 2 Quarters.

Hate Cousins all you want. I don't want him or the pricetag he comes with. But playcalling matters. And when you design sh*tty ones that enable DCs to never have to guess what you are doing you need to execute at a higher level to make up for the glaring lack of imagination or anything to confuse the Defense.

Everyone knows Kirk 'goes where the read takes him'. So design plays that get JJ and Adam open faster, knowing that if you don't he's going to check it down.

Cooper Kupp is not a better WR than JJ. But the Rams got him wide spanking open a lot. Robert Woods has never been as good as Adam Thielen. The Rams got him wide spanking open a lot.

Last year all DCs had to do was diagnose the new wrinkle Kubes used on his scripted drive to start the game and then focus on limiting JJ and Adam.

Shanahan and McVay have gotten to Superbowls with Garappolo and Goff. Tier 2 QBs who can't carry a Team just like Cousins. And neither Team was carried by an Elite Defense ala Dilfer or Flacco with the Ravens.

Klint Kubiak was a bad OC. Kirk Cousins is not blameless. He should be more aggressive in high pressure situations given the weapons he has. But part of being a good Coordinator is playing to your strengths and minimizing your weaknesses. Klint didn't do that.

Frankly, if O'Connell continues to design good gameplans and is good at calling plays Teddy Bridgewater could lead this Offense to a Top 10 performance. That's why the Shanahan/McVay Offense is so en vogue now. The fact that Klint was calling his father's out of date system can not be dismissed.

Wait... you mean this gem that called for nobody to run any routes was NOT a good idea?

Stats will say Cousins threw short on 2nd and long, but they won't point out that the entire plan was based on that. Then what happened after this? Adam Thielen got 3 yards and on 3rd an Long they ran Dalvin Cook into the like for -3 yards.

Funkytown Owner Purple Pain Big Dog Posts: 67,655 Likes: 31,578 Fan Since: 1998 Member is Online	Must Fix vs. Must Maintain for 2022 Jul 23, 2022 10:04:52 GMT -6 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Funkytown on Jul 23, 2022 10:04:52 GMT -6

Funkytown Owner Purple Pain Big Dog Posts: 67,655 Likes: 31,578 Fan Since: 1998 Member is Online	Must Fix vs. Must Maintain for 2022 Aug 1, 2022 8:40:10 GMT -6 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Funkytown on Aug 1, 2022 8:40:10 GMT -6 Just saw this from ESPN+ Shocking stats for all 32 NFL teams: The Vikings ranked third in the league in DVOA passing in the red zone but only 29th when running in the red zone.

Will
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Must Fix vs. Must Maintain for 2022 Aug 1, 2022 13:42:16 GMT -6

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Post by Will on Aug 1, 2022 13:42:16 GMT -6

Aug 1, 2022 8:40:10 GMT -6 Funkytown said:

Shocking stats for all 32 NFL teams:

The Vikings ranked third in the league in DVOA passing in the red zone but only 29th when running in the red zone.

Hmm?

This advanced stat shows the Vikings' passing offense is good at scoring in the Red Zone? 3rd in Passing DVOA in the NFL? 29th in Run DVOA? Well, yes, they had 3 WRs who are good Red Zone targets, and teams probably expected Zimmer to insist on runs. But wait, Cousins is involved, so there must be something wrong with this advanced stat! Cousins "haters", please explain the flaws in DVOA!

I'm just kidding. Cousins is pretty good in the red zone where you have to respect the run. And when you have some great red zone targets, you should be good if you are a QB who is good at executing plays. And the data show that Cousins is very good at execution.

With Irv Smith back and some RBs who can catch, the Vikings should be very good in the Red Zone.

I still want the Vikings to develop Mond and draft another QB with promise.

Funkytown Owner Purple Pain Big Dog Posts: 67,655 Likes: 31,578 Fan Since: 1998 Member is Online	Must Fix vs. Must Maintain for 2022 Aug 2, 2022 3:07:08 GMT -6 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Funkytown on Aug 2, 2022 3:07:08 GMT -6 Interesting!

MidwinterViking
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Must Fix vs. Must Maintain for 2022 Aug 2, 2022 6:10:46 GMT -6 via mobile Funkytown likes this

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Post by MidwinterViking on Aug 2, 2022 6:10:46 GMT -6

Aug 2, 2022 3:07:08 GMT -6 Funkytown said:

Interesting!

A second interesting thing from that list. As I have been looking at deep passing skills like rating / accuracy / success rate / etc, the results have usually been all the good passers you'd expect plus one other guy: Davis Mills.

I haven't actually watched Mills because I don't hate my life enough to watch the Texans, but I have started to be vaguely curious if Mills is actually a good deep passer. Or apparently he just hit a few to up his ratings.

Will
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Must Fix vs. Must Maintain for 2022 Aug 2, 2022 9:42:45 GMT -6 andhesloose28 and MidwinterViking like this

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Post by Will on Aug 2, 2022 9:42:45 GMT -6

With JJ, Cook, Thielen, Osborn, and Cousins, the Vikings produced more 15+ gains than most teams.

They fell flat on 3rd down 5+ and other situations when teams knew they would pass. They had trouble sustaining drives and protecting the QB when a pass was likely.

If the KO Offense and a better O-Line fix this problem, how good can the Vikings offense be?

Funkytown Owner Purple Pain Big Dog Posts: 67,655 Likes: 31,578 Fan Since: 1998 Member is Online	Must Fix vs. Must Maintain for 2022 Aug 2, 2022 21:23:03 GMT -6 via mobile Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Funkytown on Aug 2, 2022 21:23:03 GMT -6

andhesloose28
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Must Fix vs. Must Maintain for 2022 Aug 3, 2022 9:55:05 GMT -6 Will and MidwinterViking like this

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Post by andhesloose28 on Aug 3, 2022 9:55:05 GMT -6

Aug 2, 2022 9:42:45 GMT -6 Will said:

With JJ, Cook, Thielen, Osborn, and Cousins, the Vikings produced more 15+ gains than most teams.

They fell flat on 3rd down 5+ and other situations when teams knew they would pass. They had trouble sustaining drives and protecting the QB when a pass was likely.

If the KO Offense and a better O-Line fix this problem, how good can the Vikings offense be?

This goes hand and hand with in game adjustments and not being predictable, which was the Zimmer era in a nutshell. I would expect we will improve in these situations and possibly tremendously based on where Kevin is coming from in the Rams.

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Must Fix vs. Must Maintain for 2022 Aug 3, 2022 13:08:15 GMT -6

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Post by Will on Aug 3, 2022 13:08:15 GMT -6

Aug 3, 2022 9:55:05 GMT -6 andhesloose28 said:

This goes hand and hand with in game adjustments and not being predictable, which was the Zimmer era in a nutshell. I would expect we will improve in these situations and possibly tremendously based on where Kevin is coming from in the Rams.

Being less predictable and adjusting well will help. I also think better pass protection on 3rd down and in the last few minutes of halves will make a huge difference in how Cousins and the offense perform. If QBs like Stafford and Brady are under less pressure, for example 15% of the time vs. 25%, is it a surprise that they would sustain drives and score more in the last few minutes? It is not a surprise, and if your QB processes more slowly or not as well as Brady, wouldn't it be smart to make sure they had good pass protection instead of poor protection?

I write this not to excuse Cousins but to deal with what is real. You are not helping your QB if his Pressure Rate is significantly higher than other QBs. That is why it made no sense to have weak interior line protection the past four years. I hope the Vikings fix the pass protection issues with better schemes, better adjustments, and better players. It really does not matter how great a run blocker a guy is if he gets run over regularly. Just like Mike Smith says, "I'm going to put my best on your worst". The Vikings have to either replace Bradbury or give him help when he needs it. If CJ Ham blasts a DT to help and then becomes a checkdown, maybe that works. But it sure would be great if the Center could pass protect effectively. Can Reed?

andhesloose28
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Must Fix vs. Must Maintain for 2022 Aug 3, 2022 13:35:06 GMT -6

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Post by andhesloose28 on Aug 3, 2022 13:35:06 GMT -6

Aug 3, 2022 13:08:15 GMT -6 Will said:

Aug 3, 2022 9:55:05 GMT -6 andhesloose28 said:

This goes hand and hand with in game adjustments and not being predictable, which was the Zimmer era in a nutshell. I would expect we will improve in these situations and possibly tremendously based on where Kevin is coming from in the Rams.

Being less predictable and adjusting well will help. I also think better pass protection on 3rd down and in the last few minutes of halves will make a huge difference in how Cousins and the offense perform. If QBs like Stafford and Brady are under less pressure, for example 15% of the time vs. 25%, is it a surprise that they would sustain drives and score more in the last few minutes? It is not a surprise, and if your QB processes more slowly or not as well as Brady, wouldn't it be smart to make sure they had good pass protection instead of poor protection?

I write this not to excuse Cousins but to deal with what is real. You are not helping your QB if his Pressure Rate is significantly higher than other QBs. That is why it made no sense to have weak interior line protection the past four years. I hope the Vikings fix the pass protection issues with better schemes, better adjustments, and better players. It really does not matter how great a run blocker a guy is if he gets run over regularly. Just like Mike Smith says, "I'm going to put my best on your worst". The Vikings have to either replace Bradbury or give him help when he needs it. If CJ Ham blasts a DT to help and then becomes a checkdown, maybe that works. But it sure would be great if the Center could pass protect effectively. Can Reed?

I agree with you. In obvious passing downs the interior line crumbles. The pass protection thing is a whole other issue and comes back down to originally bringing Kirk in. The guy although the best QB that was availiable that year, was getting thrown into a terrible Oline. Just a fit bad fit and ill always give Zimmer credit for that one he ended up being right. Then you mix in on misses like Bradnury and even Eflien and never developing any young guards thats why we are still in these situations. Its not like we havent tried we our put in decent amount of capital on the Oline since Kirks arrival, we couldve never afforded that big FA interior guys. We've taken baby steps, not to long ago it was our Tackles that were revolving doors, until Oneil and now Darrisaw are here. The big miss is Bradbury in the first round, but I think we finally have a capable RG whoever wins the job.

Last Edit: Aug 3, 2022 13:35:36 GMT -6 by andhesloose28

Krauser
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Must Fix vs. Must Maintain for 2022 Aug 9, 2022 1:47:39 GMT -6 Funkytown, wxman91, and 1 more like this

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Post by Krauser on Aug 9, 2022 1:47:39 GMT -6

Aug 2, 2022 9:42:45 GMT -6 Will said:

With JJ, Cook, Thielen, Osborn, and Cousins, the Vikings produced more 15+ gains than most teams.

They fell flat on 3rd down 5+ and other situations when teams knew they would pass. They had trouble sustaining drives and protecting the QB when a pass was likely.

2021 Vikings had the 6th highest conversion rate on 3rd and 5+ pass plays last year, at 33.3%. The Chargers, Rams, Cards, Bills and Niners were ahead of them, with the top team (LAC) just under 40% success rate.

The Vikings had the 8th longest average yards to gain on those plays (9.7), and had the 11th longest average yards gained on those plays (6.4).

The problem was that they had the most plays in that situation of any team: 141. Only 5 teams had more than 130 (Vikings, Steelers, Panthers, Titans, Giants). Minnesota actually tied for the most 1st downs of any team in that situation, at 47. The Chargers had the same total on much fewer opportunities (118), which is more impressive.

But the problem with the Vikings offense last year wasn't that they "fell flat" on 3rd and long, it's that they ended up in 3rd and long way too often. Their run game was terrible, their short passing and screen game were anemic, and they took way too many penalties.

Even if their 3rd down pass game doesn't get any better, they can be much more successful just by staying ahead of the sticks and not putting themselves in a hole on early downs.

Last Edit: Aug 9, 2022 1:48:39 GMT -6 by Krauser

Purple Pain
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Must Fix vs. Must Maintain for 2022 Aug 19, 2022 11:49:08 GMT -6

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Post by Purple Pain on Aug 19, 2022 11:49:08 GMT -6

Zone Coverage: Minnesota's Secondary May End Up Being Their Achilles’ Heel by Trevor Ripley

AGING VETERAN TALENT

Harrison Smith is 33 years old, and Patrick Peterson turned 32 over the summer. You might think to yourself, Oh, that’s not too bad. Terence Newman was like 57 when he finally retired. However, that is not common. You can count on one hand the number of defensive backs on a roster this year who are older than the pair. I’m not saying these two are washed up or should swap their shoulder pads for an AARP card. But I am saying it’s fair to expect some regression. The Vikings are starting two of the seven oldest defensive backs in the league.

Minnesota is expected to run more zone this year, which might help cover up some of the issues they may have had trying to stay step-for-step with receivers and tight ends 10 years their junior. It’s still reasonable to expect Smith could be the best safety on the field and Peterson to be the best cornerback, but that may not be a sure thing like last year. It’s a young man’s game. While this duo has defied Father Time longer than most, this could be the year age catches up to them.

- ROOKIES STILL HAVE A LOT TO PROVE
- THE WILD CARDS

Rest at link above.

Last Edit: Aug 19, 2022 11:49:27 GMT -6 by Purple Pain

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Must Fix vs. Must Maintain for 2022 Aug 27, 2022 8:46:35 GMT -6

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Post by Funkytown on Aug 27, 2022 8:46:35 GMT -6

Purple Insider's SKOL Searching by Paul Hodowanic

Cousins and Jefferson’s slot prowess

Football Outsiders has published a series of articles recently looking at the performance of different positions when in the slot or lined up out wide. They’ve looked at how defenses have performed against both (spoiler: the Vikings defense was bad at both in 2021) and where running backs line up most frequently. But most interesting to Minnesota is how the wide receivers perform in each situation and how Kirk Cousins does when throwing to them.

The results paint a very clear picture. Cousins and Justin Jefferson’s connection when the star wideout is lined up in the slot is amongst the best in the NFL according to DVOA, Football Outsiders’ main statistic.

(If you don’t know, Defense-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA), measures a team's efficiency by comparing success on every single play to a league average based on situation and opponent. In very simple terms: it measures how efficient a player/team is at certain things.

So, let’s take a look at this chart.

This shows the top 10 wide receivers in DVOA when lined up in the slot. Jefferson is No. 1. He was the most efficient wide receiver when lined up in the slot and he did that with twice as many targets as the rest of the top-10, which averaged 40 targets.

While he was the most efficient wide receiver when lined up in the slot, Jefferson ranked 16th in the NFL in slot targets. It’s no surprise who had the most targets. The Cooper Kupp role has been thrown out a lot for Jefferson and by looking at these metrics, it shows he’s very capable of doing it. The way he plays doesn’t have to change much, it’s just how often he does it. Jefferson operated in the slot 47% of the time last season, which ranked 63rd in the NFL. Kupp ranked 10th, with 87.2% of his snaps in the slot. Now, Jefferson doesn’t need to jump that significantly, and he certainly shouldn’t rank first in the league in slot percentage because he can clearly do more, but aiming towards a greater shift towards slot usage would be wise. When lined up out wide, Jefferson’s DVOA dropped to 64th in the NFL.

More at link:

purpleinsider.substack.com/p/skol-searching-backup-qb-success

Funkytown Owner Purple Pain Big Dog Posts: 67,655 Likes: 31,578 Fan Since: 1998 Member is Online	Must Fix vs. Must Maintain for 2022 Aug 31, 2022 8:05:30 GMT -6 via mobile Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Funkytown on Aug 31, 2022 8:05:30 GMT -6 Must. Fix.
	Last Edit: Aug 31, 2022 8:06:16 GMT -6 by Funkytown