Vikings (1-0) at Eagles (1-0) MNF Week 2

[allday1991]

We are right now. Packers hit the road to face the Bucs which will be a little more difficult than the Bears and we are at home vs the Lions. I think we stay in first.

I think and hope you are right. I just don't know how the Packers score on that Bucs D and we should beat the Lions at home.

Should we? Lions look like a scrappy team and played eagles way harder than we did. I won’t be surprised at all if we lose this one.

[CharVike]

Not a good game. Our offense was pathetic and that has to fall on the QB. He made some nice tight throws but nothing came out of the red zone area. CB Slay was impressive. Of the 5 targets that went Jefferson’s way with Slay in coverage, Jefferson had just 1 catch for 5 yards and Slay had 2 picks. Kirk should have stayed away from him. Giving up that long TD pass was bad. Bynum got pulled up and it was over. Our offense didn't give us a chance. Why wasn't Adam used in the red zone. That's his money area. Maybe he was covered. KOC was asked about Evans playing some for Dantzler and he said they wanted to give him some looks but Cam is still the starter.

[StumpHunter]

Well, that sucked.

Remember when KOC said he wanted Cousins to play with a quiet mind? Looked more like somebody turned the amp to 11 and threw away the volume knob. Not a good game for Kirk, especially when Philly started blitzing.

Made a few notes during the game, but honestly there’s no sense talking about most of them. I’ll just say this. As bad as the Vikings played, they could’ve won this game. They had all kinds of chances with the blocked FG, Hicks’ interception for first-and-goal, etc. But red zone mishaps cost us. All of Cousins’ picks came when the Vikings were in plus territory, two in the end zone.

Also, the media needs to stop gushing about Green Bay’s DBs. Philly’s are miles better.

Speaking of DBs, it looks like Pat Pete may have signed on for one year too many. Man he looked slow. So did Eric Kendricks.

Final thought. No need to overreact. We aren’t as bad as we showed this game, just as we aren’t as good as we showed against the Pukers. Hopefully KOC, Donatell and the players learn from this. People love the Hard Knocks Lions. They still can’t stop anybody, and they haven’t played a road game yet. Time to get right. I’ll be in the stadium wearing my vintage Chuck Foreman jersey. SKOL!

I agree on GB. They were not a very good defensive unit last year and shutting down a bad Bear's offense after getting destroyed by our apparent very average at best one means nothing

PP made some plays, including the FG block. Hurts actually stayed away from his and Smith's side of the field and attacked Dantzler's side almost the entire game. Only one completion beyond ten yards to the right side and only 4 total. Everything else was to his left. Haven't looked at the snap counts yet, but it appeared Dantzler was switched out in the second half for a good chunk of time.

[Crax]

it looks like Pat Pete may have signed on for one year too many. Man he looked slow. So did Eric Kendricks.

There was a play where Kendricks was in the right position to tip/intercept the ball and he just barely missed it and it led to a big gain, I feel like a year or two ago and he would have had it. PP, Smith, Kendricks, and to some extent Cook all seem slower this year to me.

[Texas Vike]

AJ Brown is a hell of a WR. We faced a receiving corps in the Pack that was among the worst in the NFL, so our secondary hasn't been tested yet. Hurts might be a better runner than a thrower, but he's shown he can hit guys down field too. He ran for 90 and threw for about 250 vs. the Lions.

I am very interested to see how our D holds up against the Eagles without having home field advantage, as they did vs. the Pack.

I expect a high scoring game that will go down to the wire. 38-35, Eagles. Sorry boys, until we prove we can hang with playoff teams in primetime, I remain a little skeptical (however, I am optimistic overall for this season). This will be a very hostile environment. I'll be watching how Kirk responds carefully.

Interesting.

You should know that Cousins’ career record against the Eagles is excellent.

He’s 6-3, hitting on 67.1% of his passes for 306 yards per game at 8.1 YPA, with 21 TDs against 6 picks.

I honestly don’t think Cousins is the question. The Vikings’ defense is. Jalen Hurts has too many mechanical issues as a passer to beat the Vikings from the pocket. They have to contain him playing off script and scrambling. At the same time, the back end can’t let A.J. Brown go crazy. Contain Hurts, and I’m confident the offense will hold up its end. We have to remember … while we stymied the Packers, this is still much the same defensive personnel as last year. To me, the jury is still out on that side of the ball. We were really good defensively against the Packers, but that was at home. Do it on the road, and I think we can start dreaming a little.

My instincts were right: both the D (which I mentioned first) AND Cousins were the question. Flacco, Kyler Murray, Tua .... all led significant comebacks. Kirk just got rattled in crunch time. Again. I'm so done with him.

And our D did exactly as I feared: they couldn't handle Hurts' ability to run (or throw) and we were soft vs. the run.

The Lions are going to be a formidable opponent for this team.

[CharVike]

Interesting.

You should know that Cousins’ career record against the Eagles is excellent.

He’s 6-3, hitting on 67.1% of his passes for 306 yards per game at 8.1 YPA, with 21 TDs against 6 picks.

I honestly don’t think Cousins is the question. The Vikings’ defense is. Jalen Hurts has too many mechanical issues as a passer to beat the Vikings from the pocket. They have to contain him playing off script and scrambling. At the same time, the back end can’t let A.J. Brown go crazy. Contain Hurts, and I’m confident the offense will hold up its end. We have to remember … while we stymied the Packers, this is still much the same defensive personnel as last year. To me, the jury is still out on that side of the ball. We were really good defensively against the Packers, but that was at home. Do it on the road, and I think we can start dreaming a little.

My instincts were right: both the D (which I mentioned first) AND Cousins were the question. Flacco, Kyler Murray, Tua .... all led significant comebacks. Kirk just got rattled in crunch time. Again. I'm so done with him.

And our D did exactly as I feared: they couldn't handle Hurts' ability to run (or throw) and we were soft vs. the run.

The Lions are going to be a formidable opponent for this team.

I don't think your instincts were right week 1.

[makila]

Kendricks looked very bad multiple times. PP can't cover a true #1. Philly won point of attack pretty consistently to the naked eye on both sides of the ball. We have a run stopping problem. Which didn't just start this season. Philly is a great running team, they did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted however.

We saw good Kirk. We saw bad Kirk. Irv Smith is trash. Find a te who can catch the ball. Or is good at blocking. He appears to do neither at this point in his career. That dropped TD was pathetic. Throw was great. He shouldn't be allowed to wear #84. Bad Kirk was looking at JJ coming out of the backfield wide open and turning and throwing a damn check down to the left side of the field.

Competitive rebuild. Whatever. Hard reset this damn roster.

Did Harrison Smith get a concussion? Heard he was being evaluated. That could explain his crap play too.

Many of the run it back players looked so old last night.

[Cliff]

I think the defense did better than they're getting credit for, really. The offense only ran 2:53 off the clock in the 1st quarter. After having been on the field most of the 1st quarter they broke down some in the second. Then, in the 2nd half, despite the offense giving up 3 interceptions they didn't allow another score.

This was, more than anything, a failure of the offense. Kirk Cousins was the leading rusher, so that tells you all you need to know about the running game. When they needed Kirk to step up most he threw 3 INTs instead. Irv Smith not being able to beat 1-on-1 coverage and dropping that big play hurt.

[Pondering Her Percy]

What excuses did I make?

These escuses:

With the play calling tonight, I don’t care who was back at QB, nothing would’ve changed.

Is this not an excuse? If I had come on here after the Packers game and said Kirk played good but any QB could have with how wide open JJ was, that would be an excuse for his playing well, right?

You have selective eye sight.

I just see through what you are doing.

You just see what you want to see. You’re trying to make this into something it’s not because this is who you are. A measly little troll that manipulates. EVERYTHING was bad tonight. Top to bottom. Get that through your head! Stop trying to split hairs and stop acting like a child

The irony...You get all personal and attack people online because your favorite football team lost and I am the child? Correction, because the QB you have defended after years of failures failed again, not because the Vikings lost. Your very first post tonight was to go after the "haters" and make excuses for the QB they "hate".

No that’s not an excuse. It was a testament to how bad the play calling was not only offensively but defensively as well. It just wasn’t a good game plan. It was a testament to how bad EVERYONE was top to bottom. Including the QB.


Yet here you are when I’m literallly saying the QB also played bad, trying to start argument because I’m not putting the game solely on the QB and nobody else.

This has nothing to do with the Vikings losing or cousins playing bad. You’ve always been a troll. I’ve literally said it hundreds of times, win or loss. Good game or bad game. That’s just who you are. There’s no excuses, just a bad overall game by the entire team, staff and players. Your obsession and hatred is so deep you can’t even discuss anything else but the QB. It’s why I have you foed and will continue to.

[kidfozzy.]

Stop giving Kirk national TV media coverage, that way he can play to high standards.

So yes, every “national” game should be on Amazon Prime.

[VikeFanInEagleLand]

Bad coaching, bad QB play, bad drops, bad defense, bad all around. With the play calling tonight, I don’t care who was back at QB, nothing would’ve changed. It’s typical for the usual haters to center it around one player but in the end, not a single player on the field tonight played well. And the coaching and lack of adjustments was just as bad. On both sides of the ball.

All true. The thing that bothers me the most is Kirk's play. I've been in his corner because I thought he had put games like this behind him. I realize any QB can have a bad day, but that's usually mostly because of accuracy issues. That wasn't the case with Cousins last night. He was accurate. It's just that he made rookie-like decisions. That concerns me. I hope he and the rest of the team/coaching staff use this as a huge wake up call and bounce back.

[StanM]

Last night’s game gave me a case of deja vu. Suddenly it was September 1970 again. I was in my off base apartment in Texas drinking beers and creating a pyramid of empties against the wall. It’s late in the 4th quarter, the Vikings have zero chance and Dandy Don breaks out in song “turn out the lights, the party’s over”. We may or may not have reached the ceiling with our beer can pyramid by the end of the season, I can’t recall.

Bottom line, ugly loss in a tough building. Lick our wounds and try again. That has been the cycle every season, regroup and try again. If it isn’t fun at least try to make it funny.

[Cliff]

I've seen play-calling coming up as being bad to which I'd ask - how so? How can you tell a "bad" play call vs. the team not executing? Was it a "bad" running play call or was blocking terrible? Was it a "bad" passing play call or did someone drop it? Did the QB throw 3 INTs? Was it a bad defensive play call or did the CB blow his coverage?

[kidfozzy.]

I've seen play-calling coming up as being bad to which I'd ask - how so? How can you tell a "bad" play call vs. the team not executing? Was it a "bad" running play call or was blocking terrible? Was it a "bad" passing play call or did someone drop it? Did the QB throw 3 INTs? Was it a bad defensive play call or did the CB blow his coverage?

1st INT was on Jefferson
2nd INT was all Cousins w/ a terrible decision
3rd INT was Cousins pulling off a Tarvaris Jackson. (throwing off the back foot for zero apparent reason)

[Crax]

I've seen play-calling coming up as being bad to which I'd ask - how so? How can you tell a "bad" play call vs. the team not executing? Was it a "bad" running play call or was blocking terrible? Was it a "bad" passing play call or did someone drop it? Did the QB throw 3 INTs? Was it a bad defensive play call or did the CB blow his coverage?

Hard to know. At one point I believe Irv had 5 targets and AT had 0. Is that Cousins going there or is coaching thinking they have a mismatch and forcing it to Irv? I realize that JJ > AT, but with how locked up he seemed to be, you'd think that AT would get more involved. There were multiple throws to a covered Irv Smith across the middle, I'd rather see JJ or AT fight a DB for the ball then Irv have to catch something while covered. Maybe that was Cousins forcing it, cause it sure seemed like he was getting the ball even when covered.