Mark Craig: Defense grades well, Offense will need building

[jackal]

Yeah our OL is my biggest concern...look at Dallas last year...best rusher in the leaque and
Romo tearing defenses up...I think Teddy could beat that season with a very good line.

[John_Viveiros]

I think I'm going to invalidate my own chosen stat - although it seems to be useful in a broad sense. I've just finished watching the Jets game from last year. In it, the Vikings averaged a relatively low 1.7 points per drive. But wait - they only punted the ball twice all game! And if you look at yards per drive, the Vikings averaged over 41 yards per drive in that game, second best of all season to the Atlanta game. What the %^&*?

As it turns out, the Vikings "ended" ten drives, but two started only seconds before half's end. In the first half, they drove to midfield and put up a hail mary as time expired that was intercepted (had it been knocked down, the half would have ended on the play, and it wouldn't have been a drive that ended in any of the various ways drives end - punt, FG, TD etc.). In the second half, the Vikings made a heroic drive into field goal range, gaining something like 40 yards in two plays, to give Walsh the chance at a 56 yarder that he missed. In the points per drive stat, that's failure, but in real life, that was a great drive. Oh, and in a really unusual convergence of everything going against the stat, there was a special teams fumble that was counted as a drive. So in reality, the Vikings had 7 drives in that game and got 17 points, a much more representative 2.43 points per drive.

Third best game of the season in yards per drive? The second Bears game. I'll have to see that to believe it. My recollection is that we didn't have much offensive success there.

[Jordysghost]

.....told you so PB. I've fought this battle way too many times so I'm going to stay out of it. The only thing I will say is that this past offseason, Bleacher Report ranked Spielman the #1 GM in the NFL

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2089 ... erformance

Bleacher report, lmao. Comon man.....

Anyway, I do think Spielman is a good gm, but trading up into the first round constantly is far from the reason why.

[fiestavike]

Bleacher report, lmao. Comon man.....

Anyway, I do think Spielman is a good gm, but trading up into the first round constantly is far from the reason why.

In my opinion he is ahead of the curve on this because so many teams seem to still be using the old trade chart, and the MUCH lower cost of first round picks has invalidated that chart (driving up the real value of 1st round picks).

[jackal]

Bleacher report, lmao. Comon man.....

Anyway, I do think Spielman is a good gm, but trading up into the first round constantly is far from the reason why.

First of all what makes a NFL team great is a coaching staff, GM, and scouting department that can spot talent and get if to perform
at a very high level, consistently.

Secondly, the Vikings are getting better at this, because we have a really good coach, in Zimmer, who our GM, helped choose.
probably reason we are gaining ground in the NFL; is grabbing players, Green Bay and others whiffed on(even when
they had them in their organization). I.E. Charles Johnson and Tom Johnson

Finally, half the league missed on Bridgewater, because of his pro day, last year. Our GM and scouting did their homework
and we got a guy that broke dozens of records. Other teams are having like the Browns, Titans, Jets, etc etc.. are having to use
a very high pick this year on two lesser performing QB's(Winston's off the field record, is horrible) Chances are they fail in the
long run, in the NFL. Unless they have several years to learn and develop as QB's, in the NFL.

[Jordysghost]

First of all what makes a NFL team great is a coaching staff, GM, and scouting department that can spot talent and get if to perform
at a very high level, consistently.

Secondly, the Vikings are getting better at this, because we have a really good coach, in Zimmer, who our GM, helped choose.
probably reason we are gaining ground in the NFL; is grabbing players, Green Bay and others whiffed on(even when
they had them in their organization). I.E. Charles Johnson and Tom Johnson

Finally, half the league missed on Bridgewater, because of his pro day, last year. Our GM and scouting did their homework
and we got a guy that broke dozens of records. Other teams are having like the Browns, Titans, Jets, etc etc.. are having to use
a very high pick this year on two lesser performing QB's(Winston's off the field record, is horrible) Chances are they fail in the
long run, in the NFL. Unless they have several years to learn and develop as QB's, in the NFL.

We didn't whiff on Charles Johnson, the Browns snatched him off our PS, I believe.

You dont gotta tell me anything bout Bridgewater my man, the guy was my favorite player coming out of the entire draft.

[dead_poet]

We didn't whiff on Charles Johnson, the Browns snatched him off our PS, I believe.

Yep. I suppose that's one of the "challenges" of having a bunch of talented receivers; you can only keep so many. I don't think the Packers are necessarily missing him.

[Jordysghost]

Yep. I suppose that's one of the "challenges" of having a bunch of talented receivers; you can only keep so many. I don't think the Packers are necessarily missing him.

Nah, but he would definitely be a nice addition. He would have been better then Jarret Boykin last year, for sure.

[jackal]

We didn't whiff on Charles Johnson, the Browns snatched him off our PS, I believe.

I think that is correct, it is still a whiff though, when you kept Boykin on the roster and had Charles Johnson.
I will give Green Bay credit I don't know a team that has done better drafting wide outs with very few misses.

The Vikings sure have missed with wide outs, over the years.

[KSViking]

Bleacher Report ranking Spielman as Top GM? BR is becoming as satirical as the Onion. Rick has made some good moves, and some bad ones over the past few years, I don't think he is the worst GM out there, but he hasn't been anything special. If we even take last years events into mind. While we ended up with Teddy, in which looks and appears to be a great move by Rick. But, depending who you ask, that only happened as a 2nd option when their deal to move down to the 22nd pick and get Manziel failed. Luck would have it, that we came out MUCH MUCH better in that deal, but what if Rick had succeeded instead of failed in his plan? Are we giving him praise because his plan that would have netted us yet another failed QB just happened to fall through? Its just funny to me that what may end up becoming a mark of his biggest success here in MN (Time will tell) happened as a mistake or failure to execute on his plan that would have marked his biggest failure as a GM. Alot of the rest of the draft was pretty pedestrian as well. Crichton, Yankee, couple of backup CBs/S.

As far as his genius to hire Zimmer. I think he made a good choice, but their were plenty of good people to pick from as well. He made a pretty safe pick in grabbing a guy who many felt was long past due a shot at being a head coach. Glad we got Zim, but it wasn't a shocking or innovative move, I probably would have made the same choice, and Im certainly not qualified to be the GM of an NFL organization.

The one thing I will give Rick credit for, is that he saw that last year was a good time for a full reboot on this team, not just a minor change at the top like when Frazier came aboard, and pulled the trigger. New Coach, New Coordinators, New feel in the locker room, new Faces of the Franchise. That can be a scary proposition, and he pulled it off, generating support both from the locker room and the fans.

[Jordysghost]

I think that is correct, it is still a whiff though, when you kept Boykin on the roster and had Charles Johnson.
I will give Green Bay credit I don't know a team that has done better drafting wide outs with very few misses.

The Vikings sure have missed with wide outs, over the years.

Eh, maybe. It would have taken a crystal ball to see it, Boykin started of his Packers career rather impressive while Johnson looked utterly confused the few snaps he got in preseason, but regardless, it is what it is, and it worked out rather well for you guys.

[Cliff]

Anyway, I do think Spielman is a good gm, but trading up into the first round constantly is far from the reason why.

You know, I actually think trading back up into the first round is one of the reasons he's a good GM. It highlights his ability to see a trend before others, I think. Trading back up for higher picks is something that wasn't very feasible when you still had to pay 1st round rookies a crazy amount of money. Since the rookie wage scale was implemented in 2011 Spielman has drafted 8 players in the 1st round.

[nightowl]

You know, I actually think trading back up into the first round is one of the reasons he's a good GM. It highlights his ability to see a trend before others, I think. Trading back up for higher picks is something that wasn't very feasible when you still had to pay 1st round rookies a crazy amount of money. Since the rookie wage scale was implemented in 2011 Spielman has drafted 8 players in the 1st round.

IIRC Rick said one reason they like to do it is because you get a 5th year option on the player. For Teddy that could be huge considering the money QB's get. To be able to stall a potentialy huge second contract 1 more year works out well for the team.