Vikings @ Bills Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 7

[fiestavike]

gotta put this loss primarily on Bridgewater. It was a bad game for him. Worst so far as a pro.

[mossbutt]

lot of missed opportunities in this one.

Yeah, you're right. I couldve gone fishing.

[vikesfan87]

At least last year when they were giving up all those 4th quarter comebacks you knew the defense stunk. This game the defense plays well for 56 minutes (or whatever TOP for Buffalo was subtracted by 3 or 4 minutes) and they still break our hearts.

[VikingPaul73]

That falls squarely on the coaches. 4th and 20 and they don't blitz after they just sacked him twice on blitzes! Instead, they rush 4 and let him find the open receiver. Sad...

EXACTLY!
Whenever they blitzed, good things happened. When they rushed 4, Orton had time and he torched them. Its a pattern game after game. And its also a pattern that the coaches get conservative in pressure situations. And it happened again.

And the TO at the end to give the Bills time to gather themselves and get the right play called? Silly.

Oh well, I expected a loss today, and thought it would be worse. Still, a little frustrating.

[vikesfan87]

EXACTLY!
Whenever they blitzed, good things happened. When they rushed 4, Orton had time and he torched them. Its a pattern game after game. And its also a pattern that the coaches get conservative in pressure situations. And it happened again.

And the TO at the end to give the Bills time to gather themselves and get the right play called? Silly.

Oh well, I expected a loss today, and thought it would be worse. Still, a little frustrating.

The worst part was that the 4th and 20 was a pass to a TE was it not?

[DavidKarki]

The worst part was that the 4th and 20 was a pass to a TE was it not?

Yes it was.

The hurry-up was actually to the Bills' benefit. Vikings defense was not ready and just as gassed as their offense, if not more so.

Zimmer should have called timeout just before the snap, then sent the house at Orton to force a quick throw and tackle well short of the sticks.

No timeout = 4th & 20 versus vanilla defense that's gassed = time enough to get past the sticks = conversion on a simple TE seam route.

Rookie coaching mistake, twice over. No TO and no aggressive call to force a quick throw.

Shame on you, Zimmer. And you had BETTER learn the clear, easy lesson from that enormous blunder...

[S197]

EXACTLY!
Whenever they blitzed, good things happened. When they rushed 4, Orton had time and he torched them. Its a pattern game after game. And its also a pattern that the coaches get conservative in pressure situations. And it happened again.

And the TO at the end to give the Bills time to gather themselves and get the right play called? Silly.

Oh well, I expected a loss today, and thought it would be worse. Still, a little frustrating.

They actually had a number of sacks on 4 man rushes as well. If you watch the replay Greenway is still calling out the play when the ball is snapped allowing the TE to get behind him. Would have liked to have seen zim or a vet on the defense call a timeout in that situation, clock was irrelevant if they stop them.

[me4get]

Kalil needs to sit a game or two. He is not getting any better. The OL is hurting.

[DavidKarki]

They actually had a number of sacks on 4 man rushes as well. If you watch the replay Greenway is still calling out the play when the ball is snapped allowing the TE to get behind him. Would have liked to have seen zim or a vet on the defense call a timeout in that situation, clock was irrelevant if they stop them.

Zimmer lost this game.

1) Didn't call timeout to stop a delay of game penalty on the last offensive possession. They weren't going to need TOs to stop the clock and this offense can't overcome ANY loss of yardage, as bad as the OL is.

2) Didn't call timeout on 4th & 20 when defense wasn't ready and gassed, and thus didn't blitz to force a quick throw short of the sticks.

3) DID call timeout after the spike and then DIDN'T double-cover Watkins, when you KNOW that's where they're going if at all possible, with the timeout to plan. You HAVE to force someone else to beat you than the last star player they have left on the field with all the injuries.


Horrifically awful end-of-game coaching from a rookie head coach. Didn't have his head in the game at all, or if he did, everything that went on was way, WAY OVER that head...Zimmer stunk on the last two drives today.

[Cliff]

Hauntingly familiar last minute loss where the defense finally breaks down after carrying the team the entire game.

It feels easy to blame the defense for letting them score at the end ... but it shouldn't have been that close in the first place. Can't blame the unit that kept us in the entire game for one bad drive. This is on the offense ... might have been different if Sullivan hadn't gone out. Penetration up the middle was horrible after that.

It feels like Patterson isn't at full speed ... he doesn't look the same.

The offensive line needs help bad. Bridgewater didn't do great ... missed a couple easy throws ... hard to tell how he would look without constant pressure though. Patchwork offensive line, regression at LT. Just a mess.

[TSonn]

I've had low expectations this entire year. Anyone who thought we'd still be competitive after losing AD and our starting QB was probably wearing their purple sunglasses a little too tinted. But that loss still hurt. It was rough to walk back across campus in my Vikings jersey after that one.

Positive Takeaways:
- The defensive takeaways.
- Teddy's first throwing TD.
- In general, Teddy looked much better today than against Detroit. (Still not as good as against Atlanta)
- McKinnon looks like a legitimate RB. He's not AD, but he might be an average running back (which is good).
- Blair Wal$h tying his longest FG.

Negative Takeaways:
- The offensive line. C'mon. Be a leader, Kalil.
- Injuries.
- Questionable coaching calls. Challenging the spot? No timeout on 4th and 20? Use a timeout before the last play?

[me4get]

Hauntingly familiar last minute loss where the defense finally breaks down after carrying the team the entire game.

It feels easy to blame the defense for letting them score at the end ... but it shouldn't have been that close in the first place. Can't blame the unit that kept us in the entire game for one bad drive. This is on the offense ... might have been different if Sullivan hadn't gone out. Penetration up the middle was horrible after that.

It feels like Patterson isn't at full speed ... he doesn't look the same.

The offensive line needs help bad. Bridgewater didn't do great ... missed a couple easy throws ... hard to tell how he would look without constant pressure though. Patchwork offensive line, regression at LT. Just a mess.

What LT? Kalil's head just isn't in the game.

[TSonn]

It feels like Patterson isn't at full speed ... he doesn't look the same.

Yeah, I was kind of glad he got slammed on the last return just as he was giving up. Maybe that will teach him not to give up on any play even if the ball isn't being thrown to him.

[ThePiper]

Yeah, I was kind of glad he got slammed on the last return just as he was giving up. Maybe that will teach him not to give up on any play even if the ball isn't being thrown to him.

Thats pretty harsh....

[S197]

I've had low expectations this entire year. Anyone who thought we'd still be competitive after losing AD and our starting QB was probably wearing their purple sunglasses a little too tinted. But that loss still hurt. It was rough to walk back across campus in my Vikings jersey after that one.

Positive Takeaways:
- The defensive takeaways.
- Teddy's first throwing TD.
- In general, Teddy looked much better today than against Detroit. (Still not as good as against Atlanta)
- McKinnon looks like a legitimate RB. He's not AD, but he might be an average running back (which is good).
- Blair Wal$h tying his longest FG.

Negative Takeaways:
- The offensive line. C'mon. Be a leader, Kalil.
- Injuries.
- Questionable coaching calls. Challenging the spot? No timeout on 4th and 20? Use a timeout before the last play?

Just to add a few:

- Thought Rhodes had a good game, a little over physical at times but generally in position to make plays. He did give up the long catch at the end but that's a real tough pass to defend as is Watkins one-on-one.

- Tom Johnson gets his fourth sack and at a pretty critical time. He's looking more and more like a good depth signing. Nice to see Floyd have a better game too.

- Barr was a shade late on some throws but he also had a nice pass defense and good pressure on the QB. I think as he progresses he's going to be a solid contributor.

As for negatives, someone on the offense needs to step up and it probably needs to be a guy like Chase Ford. Buffalo's TE stepped up big as did Logan at the end of the game, the Vikings were basically Jennings, Wright and McKinnon the entire game. They either need to find a TE (maybe Gray) to attack the middle of the field or try to work a guy like Thielen into the offense a little more. It's clear that TB isn't going to get a lot of 7-step drops behind this line so we need to find some possession guys that can catch over the middle.