Managing Expectations
As a long time, diehard Viking fan like all of us on this site regularly it is difficult to manage expectations. But as many of us have indicated prior to the season we have a whole new coaching staff with new schemes on both sides of the ball and about 8 new starters/players from what we started last year - mostly on D of course. There is going to be a learning curve and a lot of mistakes throughout the season especially (hopefully) more in the early season. The key is to get better as the season progresses.
Last night was another embarrassing performance on MNF and in my home team area of the worst fans in all of sports - Iggles!
I did not expect the shite show we saw last night just like I did not expect a masterpiece last week. In a way they even out. We did not make many mistakes last week at all and then this week we made up for it. JJ cutting off his inside route for a TD was big and nothing was more impactful than every year breakout player Smith dropping a TD. Also, the last Int that should have been an INT the play before shouldn't Kirk have thrown both of those balls to the back pile on for JJ, isn't that what QB's automatically do when someone is covered and you let a WR like JJ make a play on the ball? Kirk did not play well but we had zero rythme but that happens when you can't run the ball and your WR's aren't getting open or dropping the ball or running poor routes.
The D was a seive. But we did shut them out in the second half so we made some adjustments that worked. We could have clawed back into the game but it certainly didn't feel like a game we ever had a shot in winning.
Oh well, learning experience early in the year.
Now let's build off it and improve execution on all sides and move forward to building a playoff caliber team.
It's always hard to do. Early in the season, a team can look decent to shit in a week's time. And then vice versa. The NFL is unique in that each Sunday's games are a major event for fans. Lots of emphasis gets placed on each contest. Tons of build up until kickoff and then emotions run high. Overreaction is always right there, one way or the other. Then another 6 days to get back some optimism or for the already optimistic, to get even more so.
They looked bad last night. Bitter taste left.
One thing we all knew, and even advocated for, was Cousins throwing more interceptions. OK, not the picks necessarily, but definitely being much less risk averse. Well that's what we got. In the same offense, KOC wanted Stafford to do the same. As a result, he threw a ton of picks and the team was soundly beaten a few of times. But I think they were happy with the end result.
On a related note, I saw the stats and the score long before I saw the game. I thought shit, Bad Kirk is back. But this was not the Cousins we saw against Cleveland last year. In between picks, he threw several rockets and dimes. In fact, it might have been the most intense I've ever seen him, for better or worse.
By that I mean this could bode well or it could blow up in our face. We'll see if KOC can even him out like he did with Stafford.
Kevin O’Connell: “I thought Kirk battled tonight. Put him in some tough spots. I put this one 100 percent on me.”
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) September 20, 2022
There's losing games and there are games where you lose like this...Vike fans have all the right in the world to be disappointed today.
Players should be disappointed in themselves and the coaches should be too. A really poor showing all around
I can't get the Who song "Won’t Get Fooled Again" out of my head this morning; especially this part:Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
@"purplefaithful" said: There's losing games and there are games where you lose like this...Vike fans have all the right in the world to be disappointed today.Players should be disappointed in themselves and the coaches should be too. A really poor showing all around
Definitely disappointed. That was the same old same old but I think we have the young fresh coaching staff to learn and build.
Now on to learning from some of the many mistakes and improve for next game.
@"StickyBun" said: https://twitter.com/WillRagatz/status/1572073008596144128I'll bet if we looked at Dalvin Cooks stats ytd we'd be surprised. I cant help but wonder if:
1). Are we running the ball enough? I think it was pretty good mix vs GB
2). Are we running it well?
I think the offense needs to evolve... first two weeks it's force feed JJ early and let Dalvin and the others take a backseat.
O'Connell needs to remember that we have other playmakers on this team to make the offense more dangerous.
@"Wetlander" said: I think the offense needs to evolve... first two weeks it's force feed JJ early and let Dalvin and the others take a backseat.O'Connell needs to remember that we have other playmakers on this team to make the offense more dangerous.
Wonder how Thielen is feeling right now...
My two big expectations for the season were 1) Cousins would be more consistent and perform better in high pressure situations with the support of KOC and 2) the defense would not be productive in the 3-4 scheme cause we do not have the personnel for it. Kirk was really disappointing, it looks like nothing will ever change with him, Smith crushed him with the drop on a perfect pass, but he had that familiar deer in headlights look all night and never showed any kind of leadership to pick the team up, bummer.
The defense was even worse than I thought it would be. Our DC is clueless, our DBs were not even in the picture at the start of the play, he doesn't look like an NFL coach, how he could continue to run the same defense the entire game was just an embarrassment. I don't blame the players, we could have had pro bowlers at every position and it wouldn't matter since he had everyone so far out of position.
They definitely need to stop forcing the ball to JJ. Between that, the picks and the drops it was a real frustrating night for the offense.
Not sure what the Donatell was calling last night but the defense looked completely lost for the most part.
Their punter is great though.
Yesterday was within my expectations, on offense. We have very little experience on the offensive coaching staff. It's a new system. I think Cousins will have games like this until he has a better grasp on the offense. This is exactly how Cousins looked early in the Zimmer era, as he learned the new systems. I think by midseason, things will be clicking. I just hope that we don't drop too many games early.
On defense: that was an exceptionally bad gameplan. I don't think there's any other way to interpret it. Hopefully, we just don't do that again, and can return to being more aggressive.
Guess what? More growing pains with a new coaching staff and a rookie head coach. I am expecting an up and down roller coaster. It's like that relationship that you know is not good for you but you get sucked back thinking something changed. It's going to take time. Yeah I know no one wants to hear that, hell I didn't want to type that but it's true. Definitely need to spread the ball around more. And the defense, good God is a mess
Hope for the best, plan for the worst, and you will not be disappointed with our Vikes... Hope the coaches can make some adjustments for Detroit.
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