WEEK 4 WRAP

The Vikings finally managed to win a game this season by defeating the Carolina Panthers 21-13 Sunday afternoon at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. Overall it was an uneven performance for the Vikings where the same issues continue to plague this team, particularly pass blocking and turnovers, but they did, in fact, finally win a game.

THE GOOD

The defense had a solid outing overall. They struggled a bit stopping the run early on in the game, but settled in and only gave up 6 points total. The offense didn’t them any favors and put them in the hole by seven points on the first possession with Kirk’s pick six, but ultimately the defense handled its business and shut down the Panthers, especially in the second half. Speaking of the second half, Harrison Smith was the best player on the field Sunday. Period. The end. The biggest play of the game was his strip sack of Bryce young late in the 3rd quarter when Carolina was near the red zone and likely to come out of the possession with at least three points, instead Harry blitzed off the edge, stripped Young, and Wonnum took it to the house. With under two minutes left and the Vikings leading by eight Carolina faced 2nd and goal from the Vikings nine when Smith blitzed off the edge again and sacked Young, two plays later he sealed the win by collecting his 3rd sack on the day. Smith was all over the field but seemingly took up residence in the Panthers backfield with three sacks, two TFLs, and 14 tackles overall. Its the most active I’ve seen him as a pass rusher in quite some time. I’m not sure how many more performances like Sunday’s he has left in him but that performance was a joy to watch.

It was nice to see The Couch™ actually get on the field and while I won’t say he was worth the wait he was certainly a welcomed addition. He had a TFL, got pressure a couple different times, and he killed the Panthers penultimate possession with nice push up the middle to grab himself a sack as well. Wonnum also played well, in addition to the fumble return for touchdown he had a TFL, nearly grabbed a pick 6 on a screen play, and also got in on the sack action late in the game to kill a drive on 3rd down. Nobody else really stuck out to me one way or the other. One thing that does continue to be an issue for this defense is they get absolutely zero pressure outside of the edge players, the combo of Phillips, Lowry, and Bullard or Roy produces absolutely nothing in the way of pass rush.

Special Teams were solid if unspectacular. I’ll refrain from making any specific comments about any specific player not sucking (cough, the kicker, cough) so as not to potentially jinx them.

On offense the run game was good and both Mattison and Akers were effective and efficient. Combined they had 22 carries for 135 yards, averaging over six yards per carry. I’ll take more of that, thank you.

THE BAD

The passing game. 130 yards passing and two picks from a team that allegedly has a “top 10” oline, “top 5 QB” and the “best WR in the NFL” is inexcusable. Particularly the pick six on the first possession, that’s 100% on Kirk Cousins and its 100% indefensible. However, Kirk looked off even before that, especially on the deep shot he took to Addison where he underthrew him by about ten yards. Luckily the safety was so out of position he had no clue the ball was so poorly thrown, and interfered with Addison. Kirk also air mailed Jefferson several times and was just generally not as accurate as he usually is. This performance kind of reminds me of the Kansas City game a few years ago where Kirk struggled with accuracy and the Vikings managed to lose despite Mahomes not playing. He did make a few nice throws, like the deep touchdown to Jefferson, but overall this was not a good performance and worthy of consideration for The Big Stupid Face. Someone should have reminded him its Kirktober because he clearly forgot.

Playcalling and play design continue to befuddle me at times as well. I’ve said several times KOC should hand over playcalling and focus on game management and decision making, but he continues to call a lot of long developing plays for a pocket passer quarterback with suspect interior pass blocking. Also, I don’t know who is responsible, but that Chinn sack on 3rd down was ridiculous, the Vikings had enough people to block it but for whatever reason neither the Center nor the QB managed to identify what was going on.

Pass blocking from the interior wasn’t exactly great on the day either. Despite only 21 passing plays being called, the Vikings oline managed to allow Kirk to be hit 4 times, sacked twice, pressured several other times, and for the most part all of it was from the interior. I would not say either of the sacks were Kirks fault for holding the ball too long as he is want to do at times. I will give the oline credit for a much improved run game the last couple of weeks, but the interior still sucks pass blocking.

THE BIG STUPID FACE

We’ve now come to the “he sucks, cut him” portion of this exercise. Since the Vikings won and no one that played significant snaps this week is realistically going to be cut I’ll do my best to identify the person that tried the hardest to screw the team out of a win.

First candidate up is Kirk because of his dumbassery in throwing a pick six in the red zone to create a minimum of a ten but potentially 14 point swing on the game’s first possession. It was just a horrible decision by Kirk.

Next up we’ve got KOC because this team just can’t stop stepping on their dicks every week and the inability to correct the mistakes inevitably falls on the HC. Penalties and turnovers are still defining this team, you saw it on the first drive of the game, touchdown taken off the scoreboard because of a penalty, couple plays later Kirk gifts the Panthers six. For whatever reason these issues are not fixed and on top of that I think KOCs play calling and design are suspect at best.

Last but not least we have Ed Ingram, common whipping boy for disgruntled Viking fans. Why is he here? Well, kind of a same shit different Sunday type of deal, as he was responsible for the ole block that caused the second interception.

Kirk’s pick six directly took points off the board and directly gave them to Carolina, Ingram’s inability to pass block indirectly took points off the board and indirectly gave them to Carolina. KOC wasn’t directly involved in creating any turnovers but the offense not only continued turning the ball over, it continues to basically go as JJ goes, does not take advantage of the attention JJ draws, and is generally not creative or innovative. I would normally choose Kirk in this situation as he single handedly was responsible for giving the Panthers a TD, but since this is the first iteration of this exercise I’m going to use a cumulative approach. The player most individually responsible for the team being 1-3 instead of 4-0 is Ed Ingram. He sucks, cut him.

OTHER THOUGHTS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE SUNDAY

I was shocked at what I saw Sunday night in New Jersey. Zach Wilson not only looked competent, he outplayed Pat Mahomes.

The Dolphins looked like fish out of water in Buffalo yesterday, perhaps they aren’t the best team in the NFL as many pundits and fans were suggesting after they dropped 70 points on Denver the week before.

I really like Washington’s QB. I don’t know if anyone else saw the end of their game Sunday but Howell dropped about a 40 yard dime in OT that ended up being incomplete because the WRs foot landed on the DBs arm as he was making the catch on the sideline, weird play and unfortunately the poopeaters won.

Justin Fields broke out on Sunday, then he turned the ball over twice in the 4th quarter to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Neither team is particularly good, but I expect the Giants to win this evening. Its very difficult to travel coast to coast, especially going from the west to the East.