Zimmer Era Rewatches: A Dominating Debut

That's mah coach!

Holy crap Zimmer looks 20 years younger! See what Vikings stress does to a person?






...the good ol days! *lol

Cassel, Jennings, baby Thielen, Ellison, etc. Plenty of "WHO?!" guys on defense. Those were the days. When Purple Pain was born...

Seeing that huge play by Patterson is going to get people fired up about not using him correctly here. Thank you Atlanta for finally figuring it out after all these years. Regardless, what a career he's had as a returner. One of the best ever. He was so fun to watch and easy to root for. Great personality and goofball.

Oh man, Baby Teddy. Young Zim and Hey Teddy! ...my heart!

For the record, I was never for blowing it up. I agree more with the balancing act of the "competitive rebuild", but man, wasn't 2014 refreshing? Exciting? Maybe it was because I was younger and more naive, lol, but it definitely felt a lot different than the start of this new regime. New attitude. New young quarterback. New expectations. More of the same but "new culture" isn't giving me quite the same good vibes of a bright future. Time will tell, but now I see why ripping the band-aid off and starting fresh sometimes instills more optimism. I think sometimes the naivity associated with the unknown allows for more hope.

People criticize Zimmer for not using Patterson correctly, but neither did Oakland, New England, or Chicago.

"He's an amazing athlete! Find a way to get him the ball!" - all of us all of those years ago.

...just imagine if all of his teams used him as Atlanta has. Just imagine.

I wonder if JABF and friends had the same frustrations. Although, we probably don't want to get him/them started on Nagy. lol.

Going into the season, I think, similarly, some of us hoped to see Nwangwu get a few opportunities on offense. Can never have too much speed and athleticism on the field!

Bears fans in general loved Patterson and wanted to retain him.  I don't remember them calling for him to be used differently (he did have 64 rushes in his final year there, the most of his career up until that point).  

Does anyone know if Patterson put on more muscle prior to going to Atlanta versus when he was elsewhere?  The only thing I can think of for so many coaches to get it wrong was that he didn't have the physique yet to be a full time running back.

...are you crazy?!? lol

It's almost criminal how "less" they used him after that game. He had 1 whole carry over the next 4 games, and 7 whole carries for 15 yards the rest of the season, followed by 2 whole carries in 2015.

I'm sure everyone has just been DYING to hear my follow-up to this original post. In all seriousness, I want to do more of these. I believe my recall is up there with anyone and even I can get thrown off by what I see in these classic videos. I was tasked with doing a Marcus Davenport film review for another site. But since the All-22 isn't available for games before 2022 on NFL+, I'm watching the condensed TV copy of the 2018 Saints-Vikings game on Sunday Night Football.

The Saints head into the game 5-1. The Vikings are 4-2-1 and have bounced back since the tie against the Packers and the humiliating defeat to the Josh Allen-led Bills in Week 3. Since then, the team had only lost a barnburner to the Rams on Thursday Night Football and the defense had appeared to find its groove again. This matchup, of course, was a rematch of the Minneapolis Miracle. And here is my pseudo-breakdown of the game:

-Saints are in their all-whites. We obviously all hate the Saints, but I've always thought their uniforms are great. The all-whites are spectacular.

-Good God, Holton Hill is starting opposite Trae Waynes.

-Lol George Iloka is starting in place of Andrew Sendejo. Eric Wilson is in for Anthony Barr, but that was a fairly common thing, and I liked Barr.

-Oh boy, Illoka got burned by Michael Thomas on a deep pass from Taysom Hill.

-The Saints have 2nd and goal with Hill lined up in shotgun. Drew Brees is lined up wide-left and Teddy Bridgewater is lined up wide-right. Hill ultimately loses a yard on a QB keeper, but it's a fun design.

-Touchdown on the next play to Alvin Kamara. Not much you can do there. I see Tom Johnson on screen. Miss that guy.

-Roc Thomas is returning the kickoff???

-Danny Isadora is starting. God help us.

-Kirk threw one of the better passes I've ever seen to Diggs to get the Vikings to the 2-yard line. Before this game, I was convince Kirk was a top 5 QB because of some of his passes. If I remember right, the pick-6 he threw in the 3rd quarter led Zimmer to tell him, "Hey, a lot of people's jobs are on the line." I didn't think he was ever the same this season and maybe ever before Zim was fired.

-Kirk finds Diggs for a nice TD at the sideline. Beautiful.

-Linval Joseph just sniffed out a screen to Kamara for a six-yard loss.

-Thielen just picked up 14 yards on an end-around. His wife claims he would have gained 30 on the same play next year.

-Aldrick Robinson draws a pass interference in the endzone on 3rd and 8. Vikings are set up at the 1-yard line and Latavius Murray leaps over the line to give the team a 13-7 lead. Dan Bailey misses the extra point wide-left.

-Iloka must have been benched because Anthony Harris just made a tackle. Jayron Kearse is also seeing lots of time at nickel (even though Mackensie Alexander got the start).

-Saints face 3rd and 1 so Everson Griffen spares us of all the suspense and jumps offsides. Saints end up kicking a field goal and the Vikes lead 13-10.

-The Saints cannot cover Thielen.

-Lmao Isadora just got lightly pushed out of the way by Sheldon Rankins who buries Cousins.

-Good. God. 2nd and 25 and the Vikings opt to hand off to CJ Ham right up the gut. Unsurprisingly, it nets about one yard.

-Man. Matt Wile is punting. He's about as obscure as Ryan Quigley a year before. Anyway, he punts it and Laquon Treadwell has already fallen so far that he's covering punts.

-Brees gets pressured by Stephen Weatherly and airmails a pass to Harrison Smith. Vikings are in business at their own 30-yard line with 3:05 left before half.

-Mike Boone just took a handoff for no gain. The offensive line, from left to right, is Rashod Hill, Isadora, Pat Elflein, Mike Remmers, and rookie Brian O'Neill.

-If you remember the 2018 season, this is the turning point. The Vikings are at the Saints' 18-yard line with 1:10 left in the first half. Kirk throws a bubble screen to Thielen who fumbles on the hit. Marshon Lattimore returns the ball to the Vikings' 3-yard line with :57 left in the half. The Vikings also get penalized because Treadwell throws his helmet after the play. Kamara scores two plays later and all of a sudden the Saints are up 17-13 at half.

-Out of half, Roc Thomas has been benched as KR for Marcus Sherels lol

-Oh MAN. The Vikings face 4th and 1 at their own 45-yard line. They line up in an empty set and throw to TREADWELL. Shocker, the ball falls incomplete. Odd decision because the Vikings are running pretty damn well. The Saints kick a field goal to go up 20-13.

-Welp, Davenport sacks Kirk and nearly causes a fumble.

-Aaaaaand Kirk throws a pass right to PJ Williams who runs the pick back for a touchdown. Diggs stopped his route on a drag but Kirk had more than enough time to not throw this IMO. 27-13 Saints.

-3rd and 4 at the Saints' 49 and Elflein gets obliterated as Rankins gets to Kirk for the sack. This is as over as over.

-We're into the 4th quarter and Brees has only thrown two passes more than 10 yards downfield. Saints kick a field goal to go up 30-13 and this is over-over.

-Lol Eli Apple literally tackled Stefon Diggs. He got beat and just grabbed Diggs' foot.

-On 4th and goal, Kirk connects with Thielen for the touchdown. Unfortunately, this drive took over five minutes and only 4:26 remains in the game. Saints lead 30-20.

-And the Vikings get one final attempt to do anything with this. The final snap is high and almost forces Kirk to bail the pocket. But he throws a 10-yard pass to Diggs who throws up a half-hearted lateral. Ball game.

I always liked Zimmer, but this game felt like too many others felt like in his final four years. The team was good for a good portion of the game, but once the wheels came off, things went haywire for awhile. By the time everyone settled down, the lead was insurmountable against a quality opponent. Kirk had the pick-6, but this feels like a classic "yeah-but" Kirk game in Minnesota. I really don't think he was the reason for this loss. He also wasn't the reason the Vikings shook off the Thielen fumble and took control back.