Vikings Bringing No Noise, But Bringing Plenty Of Funk

…but to see it quantified like this makes it that much more disturbing..i think short passes on first down more, maybe even 2nd down, would be a simple solution to break up the predictability somewhat.. as would percy / AD split backfield, or even wildcat (but i’ve pretty much given up hope that chilly will ever go there)..

..or maybe they should NOT script any plays? and let BF audible right out of the gate..

several possibilities exist to shake it up a bit…lets see if chilly chooses any of them..

For our offensive coordinator. And his monkey bu bu as the head coach. Oh wait we did.

Thanks for quantifying our pain in such detail. As many other analyses seem to do, again it seems to suggest that Chilly is serving as a weak link in our offense. I admit a bit of guilty excitement at yesterday’s suggestion that Leslie Frazier would conquer the throne. If I’m faced with 1) losing Frazier next year, or, 2) dumping Chilly for Frazier as the boss… I’ll take door number two.

Living in a world where one of the most talented teams in the NFL cant seem to score on its first two attempts is hell. How do I go back to last year? I like that world better!!!

Maybe the lack of imagination that Brad Childress has shown all this time as Vikings coach has made it that much easier for teams to anticipate what he’s planning for those scripted plays to start the game and to stomp all over it before the Vikings’ offense can get going

Um, did you see that WR reverse pass they tried calling with Moss on the first play of the game? I’d call that pretty unpredictable. It didn’t work, but somebody deserves credit for being very creative and bold.

Am I just imagining this or weren’t we like super good on the first/scripted drives of every game last year? I seem to recall complaining about how we were great a moving the ball in the first and second quarter and then completely shutting down in the second half. Am I right about this?

What gives? We have literally the same talent then as we do now. Shouldn’t we expect similar results? Sometimes the NFL is just too unpredictable as a whole. Maybe that’s a good thing for competition, but it’s extremely frustrating as a fan.

Of course the usually complaints of “run, run, pass” have shown up but take a look at what was actually gained from each play call on a play-by-play basis from the Green Bay game:

1st Drive – Rushes on first and second down gave the Vikings 3rd and 3. This should be an easy conversion on 3rd and short after two run plays. Heck, I would expect them to pick it up if they ran it. However, on 3rd down, its a quick pass to Harvin that is blown up because Greg Lewis misses a block. No first down and it time to punt. This drive doesn’t fail because they ran the ball on the first two downs. It fails because the passing game doesn’t execute on 3rd down.

2nd Drive – The Vikings switch it up and Brett throws on first down. It falls incomplete. On second down a 5 yard rush and on 3rd and 5, the passing game again fails to execute. So after two drives, the play calling has varied while keeping balance (3 rushes, 3 passes), but an inability to execute plays on 3rd down has forced two punts.

3rd Drive – BAM! Four straight runs and the Vikings have gained a first down and are moving the ball. Two short completions keep the ball moving and the defense guessing, which sets up Harvin to motion to the back field and split the D up the middle for a touchdown run.

The first drive they do go “run, run, pass”, but its not the “run, run” part that fails. It sets the offense up for an easy 3rd down conversion, which is stopped because of lack of execution on the field in the passing game. I guess I just find it funny how we as Vikings fans praise Peterson for being the best running back in the game, but lament that the coach staff would use him on first and second down with a team that is built around his abilities. The offensive line doesn’t average about 320 pounds to stop speed rushers, but to pound the ball with the best running back in the league. But if they use him twice to start a drive and set up a 3rd and short, its bad play calling? I am beginning to wonder if it not an issue with the more vocal fans being “starfuckers” when it comes to the Vikings. Fans hate Childress because he wasn’t someone they had heard of before he got the job. They call for Cowher (pipe dream, hes not going to an aging team without a long term QB to finish his career) or Gruden (franchise killer, just look at where Tampa has been after he ran them into the ground after winning with Dungy’s guys) because they are recognizable and have a big time image in the media. But you can’t fire or really hate a guy just for not being a name. So hate him for an innocuous thing such as play calling, even though no team in the NFC had won as many games as the Vikings until this year since he got hired and put his imprint on the offense. I’m not saying he’s prefect, but this is a much,much,much better team since he took over and Childress is a big part of why they are so much better.

Then he needs lots of touches and that includes opening drives on 1st and 2nd down. If that doesn’t work, then we’re in a 3rd and long, which is “very” predictable to prevent against. We all want creativity and we want the big play down-field to Percy or Randy, but that’s not going to work until we bring the safety and corners in to stop AD. If AD’s not involved early and often, then we’re in for a very long game. We need our O-line and TEs to step up to the task to open the holes for AD and we need to stop making stupid pre-snap false starts, although we did considerably better in that department last game. I like the big plays too and the creativeness we saw glimpses of in Green Bay but I think the key to keeping this “AD’s Team” is to take control of the Offensive Line early and often.

If this pattern keeps up on Sunday, mark us down for 2-5. Yuck.

Normally, I tend to be stat shy, but those stats are just so horrible there is no avoiding them. The part that really kills me are the penalties. Sloppy play like that just hands opponents an advantage without making them even work for it. While I can appreciate that there is a learning curve for some positions and that they are trying to give Favre a chance to make something happen, if I hear of anymore offensive holding calls on the Vikings offensive line, I may have to scream.