Vikings vs. Texans: Good, Bad, and Ugly

[YikesVikes]

Hey All,
Glad to get the losing monkey off our backs. This game looked out of hand early but we found a way to almost snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Lets get to it.

Good: The offense for the most part continues to be a high scoring offense. We played bad team but we have several very talented guys on offense. Anytime AT and JJ can both have 100 yard games and Cook go over 100... we have something. I felt the OL improved their play this week. They aren't amazing but it was an improvement. I don't remember hearing much about JJ Watt. Oniel must have handled him pretty well. Samia is everyone's punching bag but he held his own. Some wins and some losses in his play. Cousins continues to throw a pretty ball. He also moved around in the pocket a bit more. When he did, good things happened. When he didn't... well. We stopped the run well.

Bad: The ejection of HS was ridiculous. The play of the defense was at times solid but left a lot to be desired.

Ugly: Iloka! Zimmers use of timeouts is sometimes baffling. Your defense is getting marched on down the field. They have been on the field for 10+ plays. You get to 4th and 10. Why would you not call a timeout to give your pass rushers time to rest and come out renewed. I just don't get it. Call the TO, get eveyone on the same page and focused.

[PacificNorseWest]

I agreed with the ejection of Smith. He went straight torpedo. Easy call and he should've known better. Damn near cost them.

[RandyMoss84]

The ejection was the right call unfortunately

[S197]

Little more on Iloka:

Vikings safety depth has been an issue dating back to training camp. Team called George Iloka up off PS yesterday after he had been practicing at nickel all week, per Zimmer. "I asked him on the sideline if he knows what he’s doing at safety," Zimmer said.

https://twitter.com/courtneyrcronin/sta ... 87233?s=21

I have so many questions. Obviously the big one is why do you have no one practicing at backup safety? But shouldn’t you know if your guy knows what he’s doing? Isn’t that literally what a head coaches job is? You know everyone’s strengths/weaknesses and build a roster accordingly. You don’t ask a guy IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME, hey man, you know what you’re doing?

I realize this was a weird week for the Vikings and hopefully that’s the reason but it’s a little scary insight into the lack of foresight on Zimmer’s part.

[S197]

Good: Cousins is moving around the pocket more this season and he threw some tough balls and his WRs came up with great contested catches. Cook is having a great season and run blocking today was on point.

Bad: Interior pass protection is still a problem. They also need to find a way to get Irv Smith involved in this offense. Total waste of a 2nd round pick so far.

Ugly: Defense is still giving up way too many points and big plays. Zimmer’s handling of the safety situation is pretty ugly.

[RandyMoss84]

Hey All,
Glad to get the losing monkey off our backs. This game looked out of hand early but we found a way to almost snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Lets get to it.

Good: The offense for the most part continues to be a high scoring offense. We played bad team but we have several very talented guys on offense. Anytime AT and JJ can both have 100 yard games and Cook go over 100... we have something. I felt the OL improved their play this week. They aren't amazing but it was an improvement. I don't remember hearing much about JJ Watt. Oniel must have handled him pretty well. Samia is everyone's punching bag but he held his own. Some wins and some losses in his play. Cousins continues to throw a pretty ball. He also moved around in the pocket a bit more. When he did, good things happened. When he didn't... well. We stopped the run well.

Bad: The ejection of HS was ridiculous. The play of the defense was at times solid but left a lot to be desired.

Ugly: Iloka! Zimmers use of timeouts is sometimes baffling. Your defense is getting marched on down the field. They have been on the field for 10+ plays. You get to 4th and 10. Why would you not call a timeout to give your pass rushers time to rest and come out renewed. I just don't get it. Call the TO, get eveyone on the same page and focused.

Zimmer has always been bad at clock management, remember when Zimmer called a timeout instead of letting the clock run to let the Lions march down the field to get a touchdown and go to overtime and Vikings lost the game in overtime? Zimmer still has not learned from that mistake

[TSonn]

Hey All,
Glad to get the losing monkey off our backs. This game looked out of hand early but we found a way to almost snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Lets get to it.

Good: The offense for the most part continues to be a high scoring offense. We played bad team but we have several very talented guys on offense. Anytime AT and JJ can both have 100 yard games and Cook go over 100... we have something. I felt the OL improved their play this week. They aren't amazing but it was an improvement. I don't remember hearing much about JJ Watt. Oniel must have handled him pretty well. Samia is everyone's punching bag but he held his own. Some wins and some losses in his play. Cousins continues to throw a pretty ball. He also moved around in the pocket a bit more. When he did, good things happened. When he didn't... well. We stopped the run well.

Bad: The ejection of HS was ridiculous. The play of the defense was at times solid but left a lot to be desired.

Ugly: Iloka! Zimmers use of timeouts is sometimes baffling. Your defense is getting marched on down the field. They have been on the field for 10+ plays. You get to 4th and 10. Why would you not call a timeout to give your pass rushers time to rest and come out renewed. I just don't get it. Call the TO, get eveyone on the same page and focused.

Zimmer has always been bad at clock management, remember when Zimmer called a timeout instead of letting the clock run to let the Lions march down the field to get a touchdown and go to overtime and Vikings lost the game in overtime? Zimmer still has not learned from that mistake

With how much money the league has I'm surprised teams don't have "timeout directors" on the coaching staff. There's gotta be some in-depth data about when and where to take timeouts at the end of half and games along with how long offense plays typically take to ensure the best use of the clock.

[Frozen Rope]

Little more on Iloka:

Vikings safety depth has been an issue dating back to training camp. Team called George Iloka up off PS yesterday after he had been practicing at nickel all week, per Zimmer. "I asked him on the sideline if he knows what he’s doing at safety," Zimmer said.

https://twitter.com/courtneyrcronin/sta ... 87233?s=21

I have so many questions. Obviously the big one is why do you have no one practicing at backup safety? But shouldn’t you know if your guy knows what he’s doing? Isn’t that literally what a head coaches job is? You know everyone’s strengths/weaknesses and build a roster accordingly. You don’t ask a guy IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME, hey man, you know what you’re doing?

I realize this was a weird week for the Vikings and hopefully that’s the reason but it’s a little scary insight into the lack of foresight on Zimmer’s part.

Zimmer is mystifying. The last drive for the Texans and he’s rushing three guys for the most part and getting shredded. The Texans receivers are running wild with eight back in coverage. It’s stupidly. Zimmer’s got to go

[VikingLord]

I'll focus on the good.

I thought the entire offense played much better. The line play was encouraging. They seem to be responding to what has been an abysmal start to the season. I think there is only so much they can do, but they aren't rolling over.

Justin Jefferson seems to be the real deal. I thought he'd be a factor before long, but he's coming on nicely with two solid games back to back now. The Vikings need that to continue if they're going to move the ball.

Cook... Just wow. When he's healthy, he's dynamite. Two fantastic performances back to back. As long as Cook is able to present that kind of threat out of the backfield, the Vikings should continue to get their chances in the passing game.

Almost nobody picked the Vikings in this one. Yes, the Texans might have as many issues on defense as the Vikings and probably aren't as good as they were last season, but I see a Vikings team that is far from just giving up on the season after two very disheartening games to start. They are surprising me. They probably should have beaten the Titans and today did a good job against the Texans. Situations like these are the ones that show who has what it takes to hang in there and be a part of the solution. I hope it continues.

[J. Kapp 11]

Good
JUSTIN. JEFFERSON. Holy crap, this kid catches EVERYTHING. And gets open. And runs after the catch. And makes adjustments. I knew he was good, but honest to god, I had no idea he was THIS good.

Dalvin Cook. I said I wouldn't pay a running back the kind of money they paid him. But the man is earning it. Tip of the hat.

Ball control. We finally won TOP, and won it big — 36.5 minutes to 23.5. Some nice sustained drives today.

Rush defense. Not a world-beating performance against a team that doesn't run the ball very well, but good enough to limit Houston's scoring opportunities.

Our young corners. Yes, we gave up 300 yards passing to Deshaun Watson. But our corners, particularly Gladney and Dantzler, really competed. I especially liked how Gladney played in run support, and he had a nice PD.

Another sack for Yannick Ngakoue. That's 3 in in his past three games.

Kirk Cousins didn't suck.

Bad
Harrison Smith's penalty and ejection. It was the right call. That being said, I don't believe Harry played recklessly there. He went low, not expecting the receiver to lower his helmet. Still, he should have had his head up. It was an unfortunate incident that had as much to do with Houston getting back in the game as anything. It will also make Smith lighter in the wallet, I'm sure.

Our screen game. What the heck is going on? We can't even complete a pass in the screen game.

Ugly
What almost was. We nearly give away a game we dominated.

[Mothman]

Good: They won!
Bad: I was unable to see or listen to the game (so naturally—they won).
Ugly: U-G-L-Y you ain't got no alibi...

[Pondering Her Percy]

The ejection was the right call unfortunately

It was not. That same exact hit happened in the TB game. It was actually worse than smiths. Perfect head to head hit. That got an unnecessary roughness call. The announcers in our game said that call comes from NY. If that’s the case, how do smith get ejected but the guy in the TB game doesnt? There is no consistency to it and yes it was a terrible call

[TSonn]

Does Jefferson already make more of an impact on a game than Diggs did?

[RandyMoss84]

The ejection was the right call unfortunately

It was not. That same exact hit happened in the TB game. It was actually worse than smiths. Perfect head to head hit. That got an unnecessary roughness call. The announcers in our game said that call comes from NY. If that’s the case, how do smith get ejected but the guy in the TB game doesnt? There is no consistency to it and yes it was a terrible call

If Harrison was on another team, you would agree it is the right call, stop being a homer

[RandyMoss84]

Does Jefferson already make more of an impact on a game than Diggs did?

Nope, they are both similar