Vikings and Saints look alot alike offensively

by lifelongvike on Oct 28, 2009 6:22 PM CDT

I was shocked when I compared the offenses of the Vikes and Saints. Both have experienced QB's. Both have solid running games although we have one great back and they use two. They have one deep threat in Colston. We have BB but he's hurt for now. We have Rice who they don't have a comparison for. They have Reggie Bush as a utility guy and we have Harvin. They have Shockey as TE and we have Shiancoe.

Both run west coast style offenses. The more I watch of both teams the more identical they look. Have to give the edge to Minnesota defense though.

It will be a very interesting matchup when they play. Each defense will think they are practicing since they see the same thing each and every practice session.

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noted.

It will be a very interesting matchup when they play.

emphasis mine

I BELIEVE...

by ArizonaVikingsFan on Oct 28, 2009 8:54 PM CDT reply actions

No, the Saints are the better offense. They mesh much better together than Favre and our’s does. Not to mention that O-line of their’s is fantastic. They’ve put up 40 points on numerous occasions, against better opponents than who we’ve faced. It’s really not much of a contest. About all we beat them on is RB.

by Frost on Oct 28, 2009 11:48 PM CDT reply actions

The schedules shed a little more light on this when examined

I think we are very much similar and I don’t agree entirely with Frost who mentions their tougher opponents. The records of the teams they’ve played are:

Lions 1W – 5L
Bills 3W – 4L
Miami 2W – 4L (includes the loss to the Saints)
Eagles 4W – 2L
Giants 5W – 2L
Jets 4W – 3L

Bear in mind that the Giants schedule was pretty soft, so you can’t put too much stock into that and the other two teams with winning records in that list – the Jets & Eagles – haven’t been consistent and/or have other issues (like a rookie QB or a team that lost to the Raiders!!). That leaves the Bills, Lions, and Dolphins – all of whom aren’t terrible but close to it (no offense to fans of those teams).

Vikes schedule:

Browns 1W – 6L
Steelers 5W – 2L (includes victory over Vikings)
Ravens 3W – 3L
Packers 4W – 2L
Lions 1W – 5L
Rams 0W – 6L
49ers 3W – 3L

I’ll give ya that the Browns, Rams, and Lions are pretty bad – just like the Bills, Dolphins, and Lions were in the Saints schedule. So those are easy victories for both teams and both teams won those games fairly easily, albeit with minor hiccups (Vikings letting up late in some of their easier games, the Saints nearly losing to the Dolphins).

That leaves the Steelers, the defending SB Champs, – the Ravens (not the same tough Defense but still a very good team all-around, in general – the Packers (good, not great) – and the 49ers (flaky but their defense can be tough – for the Vikings. And they only barely lost to the Steelers; barring a crappy call that changed the game entirely and one fluky interception that deflected perfectly to an opposing defender, the Vikes would have victories in this whole batch.

The Saints had good victories over the Giants (based on their record but if you look at who the Giants had played up to that point, it was a pretty easy schedule, so they don’t seem as tough as we all thought they were at the start of the season), the Eagles (and they’re terribly inconsistent with depth problems and injuries), and the Jets (again, inconsistent, with a Rookie QB but fairly tough defense).

If you consider all that information, it very much doesn’t seem so far-fetched that our two teams are very well-matched in abilities and results so far this season. At some point, one of our two teams will start to separate itself from the other a little bit and that should prove informative, also.

If we met them in the playoffs, I think we’d stand a very good chance of holding our own and/or winning that game. I don’t think they’re defense is as all-around good as our is – though I miss Sharper and knew that we shouldn’t have traded him away. :( Although his salary demands matched with his age made it tough to avoid that result.

by Wytefang on Oct 29, 2009 2:24 AM CDT reply actions

Hope to see the game

Thanks for the great comments. My post was intended to simply point out the simmilarities of the skill position players. I’m not sure who would win. If they played today I would think the Saints. But I’m still a believer that Farve only being with the Vikes for 8 weeks means we keep getting better. If we meet in the playoffs I will no doubt be believing the Vikes have arrived.

Of course I was there through all of those gut wrenching losses in the Superbowl, the missed field goal NFC championship w/ Atlanta, and the Hail Mary pass NFC game winner by Dallas.

Ouch those memories hurt. Just beat the Pack this week.

by lifelongvike on Oct 29, 2009 3:16 PM CDT up reply actions

Bear in mind that the Giants schedule was pretty soft, so you can’t put too much stock into that and the other two teams with winning records in that list – the Jets & Eagles – haven’t been consistent and/or have other issues (like a rookie QB or a team that lost to the Raiders!!). That leaves the Bills, Lions, and Dolphins – all of whom aren’t terrible but close to it (no offense to fans of those teams).

The Giants schedule was soft but they spanked all those teams, and the two teams they have lost to are very good. Yes, the Cardinals WERE very good last Sunday night. Keep in mind they were the runner-up last year. It’s just a matter of whether or not their going to show up any given Sunday. The Jets and Eagles have had offensive struggles but not defensive ones. The Jets gave up the least points of any team to the Saints thus far, and are 4th in the league in scoring on defense. The Eagles are 11th. And the Bills and Dolphins are much, much better then the Rams and Browns. The Bills pass defense has actually been pretty good so far. (Their 10th in passing yards allowed and 1st in interceptions) The Dolphins defense is pretty mediocore, but still much better then the Browns and the Lions.

The Saints offense up to this point, is on pace to break all of the offensive records that were set by the Patriots offense of 07’. They have been virtually unstoppable and have already had five games in which they’ve scored 40+ points. Your offense is good, and very balanced but not at the same level as the Saints.

by packallday555 on Oct 29, 2009 9:33 PM CDT up reply actions

Oh I’m definitely not denying that at least right now, they seem very effective and powerful, offensively. I’m not sure that we couldn’t hang with them later in the season as Favre continues to meld with the team and things continue to click.

I’m not terribly convinced by their defense and that’s the key issue – their defense vs Minnesota Offense and Minnesota’s Defense vs their Offense. That’s a tough one. If we can prove in our upcoming games that we’ve sorted out our secondary problems, I’d give us the nod defensively over them. I’m going to assume that they’ll remain a bit better than us offensively no matter what.

by Wytefang on Oct 29, 2009 11:36 PM CDT up reply actions

Eh

There really isn’t much of a comparison as far as your passing games go.

They have one deep threat in Colston. We have BB but he’s hurt for now. We have Rice who they don’t have a comparison for.

One deep threat? Every single one of their guys is a deep threat. Henderson, Meachem, and Moore.

I know Rice has looked good but lets not get over our heads here. Colston is the same kind of player that Rice is, (Bigger, good jumping ability, not great speed) but better.

The Saints have also played a much tougher schedule so far.

by packallday555 on Oct 29, 2009 6:29 PM CDT reply actions