What if? 2013 Edition

[Eli]

What if the Vikings had started Matt Cassel at QB every game this season, beginning in game 1?

What if Audie Cole had been the starter at MLB from game 1, with Desmond Bishop starting at OLB and Erin Henderson watching from the bench or subbing for injuries?

What if the Vikings hadn't released Antoine Winfield?

What if Xavier Rhodes had been starting at CB from game 1?

What if the Vikings had realized the value of John Carlson, before losing Kyle Rudolph to injury?


. . . . . . . whole other season.

[Purple Reign]

Pretty much all speculation - we don't know for sure what would have happened. The only thing the 'what if' game is good for is fodder for the forum.

[Reignman]

Pretty much all speculation - we don't know for sure what would have happened. The only thing the 'what if' game is good for is fodder for the forum.

So pretty much the whole point of a fan message board? Of course it's all speculation. I didn't know we should all be thinking, acting, and speaking like NFL GM's just in case Wilf and Spielman were perusing the board looking for ideas.

[Hunter Morrow]

What if the Vikings had started Matt Cassel at QB every game this season, beginning in game 1?

What if Audie Cole had been the starter at MLB from game 1, with Desmond Bishop starting at OLB and Erin Henderson watching from the bench or subbing for injuries?

What if the Vikings hadn't released Antoine Winfield?

What if Xavier Rhodes had been starting at CB from game 1?

What if the Vikings had realized the value of John Carlson, before losing Kyle Rudolph to injury?


. . . . . . . whole other season.

If we started who we were supposed to and used who we were supposed to we'd be a .500 team.

Now, the defense would still be pretty pitiful but still.

I think with right personnel calls and using guys like Patterson and Rhodes more we would have at least won the Giants game.
Freeman was 3 million dollars flushed down the toilet. We didn't even have the option of bringing in Cassel because he wasn't dressed
for the game, we dressed our bottom of the league QB with a rib injury.

:/

That Giants game really sticks in my craw.

[Webbfann]

If we had done none of those things....and only started Matt Cassel since he proved he deserved to start in London....we would probably be in the playoff picture. That's about all I know for sure.

Most importantly though, Matt wouldn't have been treated like crap by this organization and we would have a better chance of keeping him next year. It would be hard to blame him if he left. Hopefully a new coach comes in ASAP and makes it clear that he is our starter until he proves himself unworthy. And that means he's allowed more than a bad game or two.

[Hunter Morrow]

That Panthers game was the turning point. The Panthers D is strong and that was only the guy's second start with the team
after getting nothing but 2nd and 3rd stringer practice reps. I wouldn't have pulled the plug on the guy after losing to the Panthers.

The rest of the season vindicated the opinions of people who thought Panthers were a sleeper team and Cassel should have gotten another
shot. The Panthers are 8-1 in their last 9 games and 10-4 right now overall.

I want to know why Ponder looked better than Cassel in practice, too. Or was that just more Spielman front office bullheaded behavior and
Frazier sticking with "his guy?" Is practice really that different than game time?

The whole "eyeball test" thing during games seems to throw whatever practice stuff was accomplished out of the water.

[thatguy]

What if Matt Cassel had actually played well for KC last season?

These "what ifs" are ridiculous because if you're gonna do it for this season, you have to do it for all of the seasons that led up to this one as well. There's no guarantee that Cassel wouldn't have played well for a few games and sucked down the stretch.

[Webbfann]

These "what ifs" are ridiculous

...but we know that. Or at least some of us do.

[thatguy]

...but we know that. Or at least some of us do.

But people too often try to make a point with these "what if" posts - like somehow they were more right/wrong about the whole QB battle simply because they can look at recent successes of Cassel over Ponder. I'm just saying that if you're gonna make a "what if" about the situation, you have to look at the whole picture - not just something as specific as the starting QB for 14 games for the 2013 Minnesota Vikings.

[S197]

That Panthers game was the turning point. The Panthers D is strong and that was only the guy's second start with the team
after getting nothing but 2nd and 3rd stringer practice reps. I wouldn't have pulled the plug on the guy after losing to the Panthers.

The rest of the season vindicated the opinions of people who thought Panthers were a sleeper team and Cassel should have gotten another
shot. The Panthers are 8-1 in their last 9 games and 10-4 right now overall.

I want to know why Ponder looked better than Cassel in practice, too. Or was that just more Spielman front office bullheaded behavior and
Frazier sticking with "his guy?" Is practice really that different than game time?

The whole "eyeball test" thing during games seems to throw whatever practice stuff was accomplished out of the water.

To be honest I think it's because Ponder gets to wear a red jersey during practice and knows he won't get hit. There's certain people that excel under pressure and others who crumple. Unfortunately Ponder seems to be the latter and I don't know that you can fix it. You either have it or you don't, that's why we've seen little progress with him since he got here.

[Eli]

People are constantly talking about personnel moves. Who to draft, to trade, to sign in free agency. It's non-stop, and for good reason. But then what does all that matter if your coaching staff isn't even capable of placing your best players on the field?

[cstelter]

What if the Vikings had started Matt Cassel at QB every game this season, beginning in game 1?

He'd have probably struggled along the lines of the Carolina game. Question is would he have been given time to gel with his new receivers, new team, new offense.... He probably wouldn't have looked like he did after a number of starts against a 31st ranked pass defense as he did last week. He may have won one more game than Ponder, but our defense would likely have still have had its share in our losses. Plenty of folks would have found fault with the coaching staff for having made this move while Ponder was still 'unproven' and ended last season so well.

What if Audie Cole had been the starter at MLB from game 1, with Desmond Bishop starting at OLB and Erin Henderson watching from the bench or subbing for injuries?

He'd have probably made key mistakes contributing to losses. Folks would have said we should have gotten Urlacher. Probably would not have played as well week 1 as he did when he started the GB game. May not have gotten chance to develop.

What if the Vikings hadn't released Antoine Winfield?

This one alone may have made the difference in all those close losses... Or since he couldn't make Seattle's team, perhaps he really lost a step and the defensive collapse would have been more pronounced... Hard to say.

What if Xavier Rhodes had been starting at CB from game 1?

More mistakes in early games leading to certain losses with Cassle at QB leading us to start Ponder later in the season. Kid needs time to develop-- starting early may hasten development but at a cost of in-game mistakes...

What if the Vikings had realized the value of John Carlson, before losing Kyle Rudolph to injury?

???

. . . . . . . whole other season.

Perhaps... Perhaps not. What if we hadn't traded Moss and took Aaron Rodgers instead of Erasmus James back in 2005? What then? My guess is if anything had gone wrong we'd have posts about 'what if we'd hired Brad Childress instead'...

The NFL is a distraction, a show-- I may see the Vikings win a SB in my lifetime. I may not. But I'm sure I'll see some noteworthy moments along the way like the most TD's scored in the last 2 mins of a game or whatnot. And that's why I watch....

Don't lose sight of life by focusing on what may have been as life is complicated and rarely as simple as swapping a couple what if's to change things around. Enjoy it for what it is...

2 cents...

[Purple Reign]

I have said before that I think Cassel is a very good backup, just not a full time starter. The previous 2 years with KC, he was 5-12 as a starter (4-5 the first year and 1-7 the next) and a qb rating of around 70 which is nothing to write home about. Now KC has Smith at qb and pretty much the same personnel as last year and look what they are doing this year. I just don't think Cassel is the long term answer.

[Eli]

He'd have probably made key mistakes contributing to losses. Folks would have said we should have gotten Urlacher. Probably would not have played as well week 1 as he did when he started the GB game. May not have gotten chance to develop.

Audie Cole wasn't somewhere getting linebacking experience prior to his first start. I have no reason to believe that he wouldn't have been just as effective in week 1. Equally as important would have been starting Desmond ("what are they waiting for") Bishop and keeping Mitchell and Henderson off the field.

[cstelter]

Audie Cole wasn't somewhere getting linebacking experience prior to his first start. I have no reason to believe that he wouldn't have been just as effective in week 1. Equally as important would have been starting Desmond ("what are they waiting for") Bishop and keeping Mitchell and Henderson off the field.

My replies were not intended so much analytical as 'devil's advocate'. My point was more that the whole what-if game is complex-- too complex to really be taken very seriously.