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This will be brief, it’s late & I’m tired. I’m moving to a different shop because of the smoke damage form the fire in another shop within the same building. That happened back in November, and things are finally getting done. I’m almost done moving, maybe a couple more hours.
Vikings News
Vikings players cleaned out their lockers, an emotional time for many, especially for those who may have worn the purple and gold for the last time, from Vikings.com.
NFL News
From Fox News, Troy Aikman pulled no punches when sharing his opinion about how the Cowboys dealt with Mike McCarthy.
Myles Garrett believes the Browns are closer than some may think to turning things around, from CBS Sports. I’ve been hearing this for decades. It’s the Browns, I’m not sure it’s possible for them to turn things around.
CBS Sports looks at the biggest questions facing the six teams ousted from the 2024 wild card round. For the Vikings, the biggest question is ‘what the hell happened?’.
Media Selection
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RIP Jack Hoffman
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/43429318/jack-hoffman-nebraska-football-fan-known-run-dies-cancer
Great read, Thanks for sharing. RIP Jack.
OK, this is going to be a little long, but here’s my review of Sam’s first 9 pass plays against the Rams. If you want me to continue, let me know.
First pass play, 2nd and 11 after Jones is stuffed on first down. No one was open at all, and after going through a couple progressions, the pocket collapses and Sam is sacked for a loss of 9 yards.
Second pass play, 3rd and 20. The Rams are playing cover 3 zone, with seven defenders positioned well off the line of scrimmage. At the snap the three wide receivers who are all aligned in a bunch formation to the right, take off. JJ is in the middle of the formation. He runs a comeback route at the 30, ten yards short of the sticks. The other two receivers run deep routes and are heavily covered. Sam makes the right read, and a good throw, letting the ball fly as JJ gets to the top of his route. None of the receivers are looking back for the ball BTW. JJ makes his move back towards the line of scrimmage, and the ball is right there. He catches the ball around the 25, and then turns back up field. He struggles back to the 30, and it’s 4th and 10. JJ was the only available receiver, Sam saw it immediately, and made a good throw.
3rd pass, 2nd and 9 after Jones is stuffed again on first down. Vikings come out in a two wide receiver set with Addison and Jets, Jones as the single back in the backfield and Ham lined up in the slot on the left. Jets runs a late crosser and is well covered. He never even looks for the ball. Addison runs a 15 yard out, but at the 10 yard point, he gets jammed by CB, which is right when Sam wants to deliver the ball. Should have been an illegal contact call. Sam comes off Addison and checks the ball down over the middle to Jones for 7 yards. Good play by Sam.
4th pass play 3rd and 2. Sam makes a good throw to the outside for a first down to Addison, with the left side of the O-line being pushed back into his face. Gain of 8. Good decisive throw.
5th pass play. First down. Vikings come out in a two wide receiver set with both on the right side of the formation. Oliver is lined up on the left end of the line. Jones and Ham are in the backfield. Sam directs Jones to drift a couple yards to the left prior to the snap. At the snap all five “skill position” guys take off. Addison and Jets are well covered, and Oliver takes off down field on a seam route and is double covered for some reason. Probably great scouting by the Rams, because that’s where Sam wants to go with the ball. Jones runs a wheel route and is eventually wide open running downfield, but it’s after Sam has made his decision to check the ball down to Ham over the middle for a gain of 8. Good decision, good throw, good protection.
6th pass play. Jets runs a nice 25 yard outside curl and comeback route. Sam is getting pressure, but makes a really good throw right on time, and right on target. 20 yard gain and first and 10 at the 25.
7th pass play. This play never had a chance. The Vikings lined up with JJ, Nailor and Hock to the left, and Addison to the right. At the snap JJ falls back a couple yards, expecting to draw the CB’s to him. Sam looks there, expecting to see the CB’s jumping the route, allowing him to go deep to Hock. The Rams don’t fall for it though, and Hock and Nailor covered. Sam immediately turns back to his right to work Addison, who is getting blanketed by the CB and not looking back at all, then Sam is sacked. Just nothing he could do there.
8th pass play. 2 and 15. Sam makes a good read and throw to Hock for 5 yards.
9th pass. 3rd and 10 at the 25. This was another tough play, as Sam was pressured up the middle immediately and barely got the ball out to Jets for 5 yards. Not much he could do but get the ball out before he got sacked. 4th and 5, field goal.
My assessment at this point is Sam is playing well. He’s making good decisions and good throws.
If you like I will review his next set of throws.
Thank you for the great review. Unfortunately I think folks have made their minds up and have little interest in an actual review.
Or maybe the defeat is still too raw and it will take a bit for the emotions to settle down and let people be objective.
KOC and KAM will have a hard time selling a new contract for Sam to the fanbase at this point in time.
Yeah, the rest of the game, the Rams started bringing more pressure, and receivers aren’t as open as folks think. Sam clearly gets more rattled as the game wears on, but the “he holds the ball too long” narrative isn’t quite accurate. The Rams did a good job defensively with coverage, and pressure. Sam missed throws, and couldn’t get the ball out a lot in the second half especially.
Chuck Foreman says that Vikings should retain Sam and it was the offenses line fault that the last two games were so bad.
While I agree that the O-line deserves a piece of the Blame Pie along with Sam and KOC. I am not sure any other than Sam is to blame for those overthrows and ‘no throws’ to open receivers.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/vikings-legend-says-sam-darnold-should-guy-moving-forward-despite-poor-ending-season
Shocked if that happens.
*Pissed
Shockedif that happens.What the hell does he know about football. He should come here and listen to the experts.
He would be the first person to ever listen to the experts on this site.
Maybe that’s why the Vikings haven’t won a SB.
You are on to something there.
Don’t know ‘Old Chuck’ is the best expert in the QB position.
Guess I’ll just have to listen to the folks here then
Or you could, I don’t know, listen to people, do some research, and make up your own mind.
That’s a wonderful idea, wonder why I didn’t figure that out.
How much will it take to sign Danny Jones to be our QB2 next year? 7 million.?
Common sense is not allowed for Environmentalists…..
Woke Logic/Virtue Signalling.
The projections I saw (based on what I’m not sure) is a continued decline in the U.S. of dependency on nuclear, and fossil fuels to provide electricity in 2025 and 2026. The expectation is there will be a significant growth in solar generated electricity. .
I do see the advantage of an electric car is decoupling the whole transport and storage of fossil fuels from a daily driver…I honestly would like to have one for my five mile commute to work. Even better if they would pave a bike trail from my place to the hospital, I’d murder that baby.
Another God Damn abortionist…
$2.79 for gas a Costco here and $4.29 at Costco nearest to wear we lived in SoCal.
Buc’ees in Texas $2.63 per Gallon.
I think we are in a good spot, certainly much better than we were.
Nah.
You now live in an evil science denying State that doesn’t take climate change and DEI seriously.
‘that doesn’t take climate change and DEI seriously’
Yes, thankfully.
Oh hey SoCal I wanted to mention the Cali girl from Riverside County (western part, near LA) started working here on Monday. My wife and I hosted a party for the technologists and other denizens on Saturday, had Thai food catered, lots of beer and seltzers, played games. Anyhow, she was just moving to town and showed up with her parents. I thought oh crap here we go some Cali lib gonna ruin my party. Oh my goodness she fit right in! Her dad is a retired educator and mom is near retirement from LE, let’s just say they have the appropriate mindset in regards to the political spectrum and actually want to open a restaurant here.
Teacher and law enforcement officer, thought what the hell is this SoCal in reverse?
They are probably ‘Political Refugees’ from SoCal like The Teacher and I.
Correct. Their children are fleeing to red states.
How does Stefanski still have a job?
He wasn’t the one who brought Watson in. The GM made a big move fiscally to get that super QB of the future, and well, it didn’t pan out.
That and why would you bring in a new coach that is going to be totally hamstrung with the Watson contract? Might as well just roll with Stefanski and see if he can pull off some magic and then move on when the Watson contract finally goes bye bye.
Yes, but they will draft another QB with the 2nd pick and ruin him, like they have done with every other QB they drafted.
Or they’ll sign Sam.
The problem with the Browns does start with the QB position. Watson and Winston were both below average players this year. While I have always stood firm on the principle that QB’s do not win games on their own, teams have almost no chance to compete with a bad QB under center.
Weren’t they good enough last year to make the playoffs after getting Flaco off his couch mid season.
Flacco is still a very good QB. Every time he’s called upon, he performs pretty damn well.
This question is asked out of a. bit if confusion or something like that.
After the Packer game, Darnold was being named to Pro Bowl and would receive several POY votes. He threw for 4300 yards and 36TD’s. He had or was having a great year but most all standards.
Then just 15 days later and two poor performances, he’s thought of “bust” like.
Just seems really strange to go from the penthouse to the outhouse in really such a short period of time.
That’s what happens when you suck in the most meaningful games of the year.
BTW, he totally sucked at Jax too.
It’s not just two games.
Well guess I got sucked in too much reading what JJ said about Sam after the Packer game and his performance for the entire year.
JJ or Jets?
Not sure what McCarthy had to say about Sam after the FTP game.
Jefferson talking about Sam and his year.
Just like he talked about KC previously.
Yet he did fine without him this year.
All everything said could be true.
Yep.
And he could do just as well next year with JJ or Danny Jones.
Of course he could.
When the pressure was on he folded like a house of cards.
Not once but twice.
Thinking we do better by not paying big $$ for that going forward.
Suspect that Danny Jones can do as well with KOC and Jets/JA.
I’m tearing up my Aaron Judge baseball card now.
He holds on to the ball too long, and takes too many sacks.
His flaws were either hidden by scheme or poor competition or both.
The Rams know what coach Kevin would try to do, and the Lions just went HAM on Sam with pressure. Game over.
Sam does not handle pressure well. Most QBs do not, but Sam had a huge drop in productivity vs the Rams and Lions (And titans, and Jags)
I do not know if the issues were his processing speed or the slowly developing plays. I am thinking it was a combination of both.
I do not want Sam back in a Vikings jersey.
Time to develop a rookie. If JJ fails, try again in 2 years.
Then KOC did a masterful job of hiding his flaws for 15 weeks.
Hey Surly, I’m doing a review of every pass play in the Rams game now. Just posted my review of the first 9 pass -plays. Sam started the game playing the position well, making good decisions, and making good throws. i’m working on the next set of plays now. We all know it eventually goes South, but I want to see how and why if I can.
I’m afraid we can try all we want, the NFL won’t allow us to win a SB. Tired of getting jobbed all the time.
I just tried to post a political comment here about the hostages being released (@wanted to say what a great job Biden and his team did@) – the site would not let me (commenting closed). Is Brad now employing AI to keep the political comments out?
When I get that, it is because I have been signed out.
Only time it happens to me as well.
But then I am special.
Happens once in a while, doesn’t have to be political.
Yep, happens once in a while to me on about anything.
That said, anything that suggest Biden did something well is probably fake news.
He’s pretty good at eating ice cream and taking naps.
And crapping his pants…
We don’t know for sure that he crapped his pants.
And we don’t know for sure that Hillary was having lesbian lovers escorted into private closed door meetings.
These are all just rumors…
The brown stains on the seat of his pants are from sitting on chocolate bars?
Viking free agents, how many would you keep?
Cam Akers, RB, Unrestricted, age 25
Jonathan Bullard, DL, Unrestricted, 31
Cam Bynum, S, Unrestricted, 26
Sam Darnold, QB, Unrestricted, 27
Dan Feeney, OL, Unrestricted, 30
Stephon Gilmore, CB, Unrestricted, 34
Shaquill Griffin, CB, Unrestricted, 29
Kamu Grugier-Hill, LB, Unrestricted, 30
Theo Jackson, CB, Restricted, 26
Aaron Jones, RB, Unrestricted, 30
Daniel Jones, QB, Unrestricted, 27
Patrick Jones II, Edge, Unrestricted, 26
Fabian Moreau, CB, Unrestricted, 30
Nick Mullens, QB, Unrestricted, 29
Johnny Mundt, TE, Unrestricted, 30
Byron Murphy, CB, Unrestricted, 26,
David Quessenberry, OT, Unrestricted, 34
Brandon Powell, WR, Unrestricted, 28
Dalton Risner, G, Unrestricted, 29
Cam Robinson, OT, Unrestricted, 29
Trent Sherfield, WR, Unrestricted, 28
Jerry Tillery, DT, Unrestricted, 28,
Jihad Ward, Edge, Unrestricted, 30
Ryan Wright, P, Restricted, 24
Akers, Bynum, Grugier-Hill, Daniel Jones I would like to keep.
Others based on price and possible replacements are possible.
Cam Akers, RB, Unrestricted, age 25 – re-sign
Jonathan Bullard, DL, Unrestricted, 31 – let walk
Cam Bynum, S, Unrestricted, 26 – Re-sign
Sam Darnold, QB, Unrestricted, 27 – Let walk, unless he is willing to take $5 mil/yr 2 years
Dan Feeney, OL, Unrestricted, 30 – Let walk
Stephon Gilmore, CB, Unrestricted, 34 – Let walk
Shaquill Griffin, CB, Unrestricted, 29 – Let walk
Kamu Grugier-Hill, LB, Unrestricted, 30 – Let walk
Theo Jackson, CB, Restricted, 26 – Sign
Aaron Jones, RB, Unrestricted, 30 – Keep, but only if cheap
Daniel Jones, QB, Unrestricted, 27 – Re-sign for 1-2 years
Patrick Jones II, Edge, Unrestricted, 26 – Re-sign if it doesn’t break the bank
Fabian Moreau, CB, Unrestricted, 30 – Let walk
Nick Mullens, QB, Unrestricted, 29 – Let walk
Johnny Mundt, TE, Unrestricted, 30 – Let walk
Byron Murphy, CB, Unrestricted, 26, – If he will sign cheap keep him, if not let him walk
David Quessenberry, OT, Unrestricted, 34 – Try to re-sign
Brandon Powell, WR, Unrestricted, 28 – Re-sign
Dalton Risner, G, Unrestricted, 29 – Let walk and re-sign him right before the season if needed.
Cam Robinson, OT, Unrestricted, 29 – Let walk, hopefully CD is ready at the start of the year
Trent Sherfield, WR, Unrestricted, 28 – Sign cheap for ST
Jerry Tillery, DT, Unrestricted, 28, – Let walk
Jihad Ward, Edge, Unrestricted, 30 – Let walk
Ryan Wright, P, Restricted, 24 – sign, but have a back up plan in the offseason.
Well thought out.
Forgot about Q, decent back up OT.
I don’t know the CBs well enough to know who is worth keeping, at what cost and who else is available.
Wright, P, seems to be a better holder for the kicker than a punter at this point.
Gotta let Akers go so he can go back to the Rams and the Vikings can trade for him again.
I beleve Akers left the Lambs after some drama.
Don’t think he wants to go back.
They’ve traded for him two years in a row. Gotta go for the 3 peat.
Maybe Cam Robinson is a good tag and trade candidate? Tag him now so you have him under contract until OTAs to see how CD is healing. If he is doing good, trade Cam.
Decent option.
Doubt that the Kumbaya crew would go with that though.
That would be the only reason to keep him. But, I don’t think anyone would trade for him.
Probably a decent back up for CD, but probably too pricy for the role.
If the Vikings sign Sam to a new contract, will we need to have a specific day we can discuss him here?
Samturday….. obviously 🙄
I think it’s pretty obvious by now Sam had a couple of bad weeks.
Current Sam is better than Current Kirko. Barely.
I will be happy to watch JJ progress on a team friendly rookie deal vs paying too much like we have in the past.
Please say goodbye to Sam.
That passes the eye test.
I blame KOC for calling the “miss your receiver by 10 yards” plays.
Tampon Tim would never call that play.
Combo.
I had an episode of the X-Files on for a few minutes last night. I was surprised to hear Fox Mulder mention “Lake Okoboji!”
Sure, enough, they were referencing the Iowa resort area right south of me. Except they spelled it “Okobogee” and said it was by Sioux City.
It also had mountains…
Still, it was pretty cool!
It makes sense, many hollywood types have houses on lake Okoboji. My cousin worked at the Arnolds Park amusement park the summer after he graduated, he said Kevin Costner and Christian Slater were there one day.
I saw Jeb Bush there once. He poked his head into the Cribbage Tournament room during their Winter Games. That was when he was thinking about running for president. I think he was in Iowa for caucuses or something.
Glad this piece of shit got canned.
Eagles fan seen in vile tirade against female Packers supporter loses job at DEI-focused NJ company | Fox News
Lots of stories coming out that he might have been baited. The guy filming supposedly got people to GoFundMe for the tickets and sounds like he went there trying to get harassed.
And now we know “the rest of the story”
Still,how stupid can you be talking like that while getting filmed. From my experience, typical Eagles fan. I’m actually surprised that gal didn’t get harassed just for wearing a Packers jersey.
I guess that makes what he did/said ok then.
Don’t know about that, but I’d like to know the whole story.
POS got what he deserved so it is a win.
Hope to they get to the thousands of other poopeaters soon.
POS – for sure, what a class act there.
Yes, we only see what happened after the guy started recording.
I think this is over the top. Attacking a professional sports entertainment figure this publicly and personally? Lighten up Francis.
And I’m referring to the guy who posted this crap.
It’s a joke. Lighten up Francis.
It’s not a joke….
Just because it doesn’t start “knock, knock”, doesn’t mean it’s not a joke.
He’s just mad cause Kirko is included.
It probably was meant as a joke. It’s the internet and ‘we’ do believe in free speech, so any ass even in poor taste is free to say whatever they so desire.
I have only known one Francis my entire life….He is a CPA my company used occasionally used..
He was from some poor south American county. One time he told the story of how he when he was little, he and his family, which was poor, walked many miles to purchase shoes for the children for Christmas. When they returned home and opened their shoe boxes his box only had one shoe in it. Saddest Christmas story I ever heard.
That is when he knew he was destined to be a pirate.
Ha!
gar
Social Media. Usually is over the top.
I still found it funny.
The one that got away…
Is Fran the one that left you for another man and came back once she realized he was abusive?
Favre – the hottie you always wanted, but didn’t get until she was a cougar.
Cougars and MILFs can be fun.
A commies vs Texans superb owl would be awesome.
I would be ok with that. I also wouldn’t mind seeing the Bills win one. At least that way they would have their first before the Vikings get there in a year or two and the 0-4 vs 0-4 narrative would not be there.
A year or two…hahahahahaaaa…
They’re winning one in 2026. I just haven’t decided if that is calendar or football year.
Happy Hump Day! 🐫
Also, FTP & FT*! (and FTL)
I’ve seen some rumors McCarthy will go to the Bears.
The NFL is such a country club. McCarthy has a ceiling of average, yet he is still in demand apparently.
I hope that happens.
Bears will not be a threat.
Imagine being a team in need of a head coach alongside the Jets and the Bears and you are still the worst location for a possible head coach. Watching the pre-game Monday and listening to Troy say the Cowboys are the worst location for a potential head coach.
Good morning, SKOL!
FTP!
Happy Hump Day!
I could forgive her poor gun handling skills.
.
I know the offseason sucks.
But we have the JJ to Jets years starting.
This is where the vision of the “Collaboration Co-op” has to work, and they build the championship roster while the QB is on his rookie deal.
I sure hope so…but…
Every remaining team in the playoffs has a better QB than what the Vikings have rolled out since…. Maybe Favre season?
Love Teddy, but he was not at that level.
For sure Kirko and Sam are not at that level.
JJ is a step in the right direction.
Have noticed the Niners, when they are not savaged with injuries, usually make deep playoff runs with less than premiere QB play.
Also noticed this last weekend, every team that won also won the physicality battle at the line of scrimmage.
We are not allowed to ‘win the physicality battle at the line of scrimmage’ cause we did something to someone at some time to be put in ‘time out’ for that evidently.
The team is named after people who took slaves, raped and pillaged. Can’t be having a team like that be successful.
So we have been cancelled because of who we identify as?
Maybe DJT will pardon us, maybe slip it the pile in with the Jan 6ers.
Maybe we should change our mascot to the Awesome Blossoms (actual high school name, Blooming Prairie), then we would be considered DEI ish.
When you get beat up by the Rams, you’ve got problems.
That is accurate. A better interior line helps any QB.
Still, as the playoffs progress, you are usually facing better defense. Need a solid O line and at least “really good vs pressure” QB play.
Stafford was sacked once on Monday, and he is not exactly a running/mobile QB. He just does not really seem to panic under pressure.
That seems to be the secret sauce missing in Darnold/Kirk.
My broader point was the overall physicality in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
Eagles. Ravens, Bills Texans and even Rams against us. The guys that bust the other guys harder in the playoffs usually win. I mean Hurts hardly looked good but the Eagles pounded the Packers.
‘the Eagles pounded the Packers’
The are know as the packers for that reason right?
GM!
FTP!
SKOL!
Happy Hump Day!
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