Packers @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread Week 12

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VikingPaul73
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Re: Packers @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread Week 12

Post by VikingPaul73 »

I know no one wants to hear the term "moral victory" but I'm kind of shocked that everyone is so upset. On NFL Game Day most picked the Packers as the best team in the NFC and we nearly beat them today. There were several things to be frustrated with (not being able to stop the running game, not kicking the on-side kick, some errant throws by Teddy) but overall more positives than negatives IMO and lots to build on.

I think the Vikes win the next 2 and get to 6-7.
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Re: Packers @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread Week 12

Post by Laserman »

4-7 guys. 4-7. Put all the positive spin you want to but 4-7 is 4-7 any way you spin it. All you can do is hope in the midst of losing we are slowly improving in some areas and that we have a head coach who can get us there before long. Sigh, another high draft pick this year. I wouldn't bet your paycheck on another win this season
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Re: Packers @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread Week 12

Post by Mothman »

J. Kapp 11 wrote:To pin this loss on the defense is ridiculous


I'm not pinning the loss on the defense. I'm simply saying if they had played well enough for the Vikes to win, the Vikes would have won, or at least would have had a chance to win at the end. The defense couldn't get the Packers off the field in the final minutes when it needed to happen. By no means does that make them solely responsible for the loss but they certainly played a role in it.
The Packers' offense is either the best in the league, or a close second. And we held them to less than 30 points and nearly equaled them in yardage and time of possession. That is a hell of a defensive effort. We lost primarily because we couldn't make enough plays against the Packers' 25th-ranked defense. And we had chances. Plenty of them.
They had chances to make more plays on defense too. I see no reason to give either unit a pass or to heap blame for the loss one just one of them. They lost as a team.
Here's the other thing that needs to be said. All the hand-wringing that's going on around here is masking the fact that this team is at least competitive ... WHICH WE HAVE NOT BEEN FOR FOUR OF THE LAST FIVE YEARS. The offense has played without Matt Cassel, Brandon Fusco, Kyle Rudolph and none other than Adrian Peterson for most of this season. That has caused us to play rookies and journeymen in key positions, and guess what? We're not terribly good on offense. Injuries are no excuse, but it gets old when people refuse to acknowledge ANY progress. This is not a great defense yet, but it's a good defense.
Yes, it's a pretty good defense and it looks like the team has marginally improved as a whole but basically, it feels to me like they've exchanged one set of problems for another. I don't see a significantly more competitiveVikings team than we saw last year.
Bottom line: This team is more competitive than it's been in five years. Period. Disagree if you want. I don't care.
No way is this team more competitive than it was in 2012 and their record is the same as it was at this point in 2010. It's better than it was after 11 games last year but at this point last season, they were coming off a tie at GB. This year, they're coming off a close loss a to GB. Last year's team lost a bunch of close games. This year's team has lost some close ones too. Maybe they'll close strong and get to 8-8 or 9-7. That would be impressive and maybe it will happen but I think it's more likely they end up at 6-10, slightly better than last year's team.
Making the playoffs was a long shot BEFORE all the injuries. It's simply been a pipe dream since. Progress is all we can hope for this year. Rome wasn't built in a day. I believe brighter days are ahead. We don't have enough players yet, but I believe we have the right coach, which to me means we're headed in the right direction.

All of you who think the sky is falling, well, be sure to grab an umbrella.
I don't think the sky is falling. I see progress in some areas, regression in others. The latter is discouraging but I certainly didn't expect an overnight turnaround and as you pointed out, there have been setbacks. Losing Peterson was huge.

I'm still hopeful that they're heading in the right direction and that Zimmer is the right head coach. However, I don't feel very good about where the team is at right now because overall, I just don't think they're much better. Admittedly, part of that might be because I watched them give a pretty miserable performance in person a week ago. What makes me hopeful more than anything is that they're young and by this time next year, they could be a whole lot better.
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Re: Packers @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread Week 12

Post by 808vikingsfan »

If it weren't for the injuries and suspensions, this team would be neck and neck at the top of the division. If the Vikings can somehow get Peterson back on the field next year, this season could be a blessing in disguise. A rested and angry Peterson. A young, smart QB with experience under his belt. Add a few draft picks and free agency pick ups to the offense to compliment the Vikings top 12 defense, and I believe this team will be really good next year.

I for one, like where this team is headed.
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Re: Packers @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread Week 12

Post by Mothman »

808vikingsfan wrote:When did that ever stop Brady and NE from running up the score?
It certainly looked like it did that day. ;)
IMO, the defense played well in that game. If not for the blocked FG, the halftime score would have been 17-10 instead of 24-7. The defense only allowed 2 FG's the rest of the game. Both FG's were setup by an INT and a long punt return.
All I'm saying is to me, Nrady's pass yardage total that day was cold comfort at best after a blowout loss in which the defense gave up 150 yards rushing. The last time I checked, that's not an indication that a defense played well. YMMV, but I wasn't impressed with their overall performance that day.

I know the Vikes defense was a disaster last year and it's encouraging to see improvement in the pass defense but I just can't get that excited about a defense that's struggling like they are against the run. They were ranked 21st in the NFL coming into this game, allowing 4.3 ypc and 115 yards per game. After today's performance, those numbers won't be getting any better and depending on what happened elsewhere in the league, they may drop further in the rankings. However, it's not the rankings that matter, it's the fact that teams are running too effectively against them. That's a BIG problem for a defense. The Bears put 138 on them last week. Lacy alone had 125 today and the Packers put up over 150 on the ground. The Redskins had 116 in the game before that, which isn't horrible but note that the totals are rising from week to week. Not good...
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Re: Packers @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread Week 12

Post by PurpleKoolaid »

PurpleMustReign wrote:
Good, then you don't have to come back here.
Quit telling people wtf they can do with their time. Don't like their post, most on to the next. Your attitude is getting old.
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Re: Packers @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread Week 12

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PurpleKoolaid wrote: Quit telling people wtf they can do with their time. Don't like their post, most on to the next. Your attitude is getting old.
So is your attitude. Both of you, please knock off posts like those above. They aren't helping. It just keeps people sniping at each other.
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Re: Packers @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread Week 12

Post by PurpleKoolaid »

mmvikes wrote: I was surprised to see so much negativity on here after the game. It was disappointing to lose to the Pack, but they were a team on a tremendous offensive roll coming in and we made them work for every score. Teddy started terrible but he settled down and had a number of very long drives for scores, and looked pretty good. The secondary played tremendous today. There are always negatives that can be taken from every game, but we just took a team that was scoring 50 pts per first half before this game and came within a defensive stop of winning this game at the end. The worst thing about this game was the pencil necked, sweater vest wearing Packer fan who didn't know the rules of football sitting next to me at the bar. Annoyed the hell out of me. (I guess I have some negativity also)
We just lost 2 division games in a row. We have only won 4 games all year. We have no leader on our offense, and its looks like our best WR is a 7th rd. draft pick from last year, that's been dumped by 2 teams. We keep putting the same fools on the field, even though we know they cant play well, and they are lined up next to each other. Teddy doesn't have 2 seconds to throw the freaking ball, but if he does, it off target a lot of the time, and he gets hit on almost every single throw. Why are Greenway and jasper on the field? Its like nothing has changed since the Fraizer, and even Childress years. So and So is playing hurt, give the team some time to gel, close games, with us on the wrong side of the score. I guess Norv and Zimmer aernt magicians. Its the middle of Nov again and most of us are thinking about the draft.
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Re: Packers @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread Week 12

Post by 808vikingsfan »

Mothman wrote: It certainly looked like it did that day. ;)
All I'm saying is to me, Nrady's pass yardage total that day was cold comfort at best after a blowout loss in which the defense gave up 150 yards rushing. The last time I checked, that's not an indication that a defense played well. YMMV, but I wasn't impressed with their overall performance that day.

I know the Vikes defense was a disaster last year and it's encouraging to see improvement in the pass defense but I just can't get that excited about a defense that's struggling like they are against the run. They were ranked 21st in the NFL coming into this game, allowing 4.3 ypc and 115 yards per game. After today's performance, those numbers won't be getting any better and depending on what happened elsewhere in the league, they may drop further in the rankings. However, it's not the rankings that matter, it's the fact that teams are running too effectively against them. That's a BIG problem for a defense. The Bears put 138 on them last week. Lacy alone had 125 today and the Packers put up over 150 on the ground. The Redskins had 116 in the game before that, which isn't horrible but note that the totals are rising from week to week. Not good...
To be fair, there aren't many teams that do both well. Vikings are 5th in passing and 12th overall but most importantly, they are 14th in scoring. I do agree that they need improvement in stopping the run. I'd like to see them get a run stuffing LB for next year.
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Re: Packers @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread Week 12

Post by Mothman »

808vikingsfan wrote:To be fair, there aren't many teams that do both well. Vikings are 5th in passing and 12th overall but most importantly, they are 14th in scoring. I do agree that they need improvement in stopping the run. I'd like to see them get a run stuffing LB for next year.
I would too but run defense starts up front so somehow, they need to get better play from their d-line too.
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Re: Packers @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread Week 12

Post by Orion »

We lost for 2 reasons:

A. Teddy is still a rookie

B. We don't have a go-to wide receiver than can be trusted like D. thomas, Marshall, Nelson, calvin johnson, etc.
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Re: Packers @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread Week 12

Post by CbusVikesFan »

Orion wrote:We lost for 2 reasons:

A. Teddy is still a rookie

B. We don't have a go-to wide receiver than can be trusted like D. thomas, Marshall, Nelson, calvin johnson, etc.
And Odell Beckham? wow, this kid can play.
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Re: Packers @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread Week 12

Post by Mothman »

CbusVikesFan wrote:And Odell Beckham? wow, this kid can play.

Holy cow! Did you see that TD catch he made a few minutes ago? That was amazing!
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Re: Packers @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread Week 12

Post by purplehaze »

Mothman wrote:
Holy cow! Did you see that TD catch he made a few minutes ago? That was amazing!
Off the charts. Wish he was on our team.
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Re: Packers @ Vikings Game Day Discussion Thread Week 12

Post by mosscarter »

you have to love a performance like teddy put on today; regardless the outcome. this is our guy and all we need is better talent around him.
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