Logical, Unemotional Reaction to Losses Thread

[BwareDWare94 723]

So here we are after week 8 and all of us, as fans, have suffered at least one loss this season. A good portion of us have suffered bad losses that stick out like anomalies through 7-8 games. My team, , happens to have suffered two losses in a row, the first of which wasn't necessarily a terrible loss, but the second is inexcusable.

 

So this gave me a thread idea--how about we have a place where we, as elite football minds (as far as rubes are concerned, anyway), can logically look at these losses in the perspective of the entire season?

 

Anyway, here are my two cents about

 

There's all this talk of "peaking at the right time" in sports, and I for one was somewhat worried that the Vikings were going to play their best ball in September and early October with just how incredible the defense was playing, and how good the offense actually looked in stretches despite all of the present issues. It seems that the Vikings have now hit their low point, as a loss to a 1-6 team is not excusable no matter who was at home, or if it was a division game. That being said, the Vikings have 9 games remaining, and gave themselves a nice little 5-0 head start. I think they're still an obvious playoff team, and likely a division winner. Football is a strange game. I can't think of the last Super Bowl winner that didn't have bad stretches during the regular season in which they didn't look like they had a chance at the big game. How many times did we think Denver was fucking cooked last year? New England always has at least one puzzling loss during their seasons. Seattle's offense is practically nonexistent in what seems like 3-6 games every single year. Baltimore? Who ever watched Joe Flacco in the regular season and thought, "that's a Super Bowl caliber quarterback?"

 

Anyway, my point is that one or two bad games is not an indictment on a team or their potential, and I fully expect my Vikings to regain form, and soon. Returning home on Sunday is going to give them an added boost and I expect them to beat the Lions rather handily. US Bank Stadium has already proven to be a monstrous home field advantage, and I'm hoping to see 8-0 there this year for Minnesota, and hope to attend a game at some point.

 

Anybody else want to wax poetic on their team?

Edited November 1, 2016 by BwareDWare94

[ATL_Predator+ 1,196]

Our team has overcome shitty defense, terrible penalties and ultimately being our own worst enemy in most games...

 

The Falcons loss was close but the Chiefs loss really pissed me off. The weather...the shitty gameplan and coaching throughout that whole game angered me...and what makes it worse is against Andy Reid.

 

The thing about this season to date is...our offense is firing almost on all cylinders...our offensive unit as a whole has been great.

 

Now... our defense is slowly...very slowly starting to get their act together. This week we have Denver...then a bye and then you know what happens next?

 

Both Mario Edwards and Aldon Smith come back the following week barring unforeseen circumstances.

 

At that point going into week 11 against the Texans... we will have a healthy team and a new look defense with 4 out of 7 remaining games at home for the final stretch.

 

We have the potential to peak at the right time going into the playoffs. One week at a time is a key, but if our offense can keep playing the way it's playing and our defense steps up just a little bit and we stop with the stupid penalties...the playoffs could be a fun time.

[BC 331]

Our loss due largely in part to the exhausting tie game we played where our defense played 95 snaps has me thinking it might've almost been better just to throw that game to AZ than to have to end up losing to a team with a 33% winning record in their own stadium over the last 3 years the following week.

 

With how penalized we have been lately on offense, it is also worth mentioning the following point. I'll reiterate the point that John Clayton made this morning on 710espnSeattle Radio. Russell Wilson's lack of mobility this year has significantly narrowed the margin for error, especially when it comes to our offensive line's efficiency and lack of avoiding penalties. When you have a Russell Wilson that can't play traditional Russell Wilson get-outside-the-pocket-and-extend-the-play football, you have a lot more pressure on the blockers, which has likely been the reason for more offensive holding penalties. 2016 Russell Wilson simply cannot overcome 1st & 20, 2nd & 15 etc because the offense is suddenly more limited. Therefore, the added penalties have undoubtedly been the reason we've been punting more this year.

 

Pete Carroll and Tom Cable have a little bit more of a challenge this year. It's easy to take Russell's mobility for granted. He can be an elite pocket passing quarterback, but it seems we won't be able to get away with quite as poor of offensive line play in the past. Because you take away Wilson's mobility, suddenly the defense across from you can cover your WRs, play in regular positions on obvious handoff downs, and can blitz/pressure you into sacks and making poor throws more easily. Blocking will be essential unless those injuries Russell is going through can significantly improve by January.

Edited November 1, 2016 by BC

[BwareDWare94 723]

 

First and foremost, the Lions are a good team. Matthew Stafford has been one of the best QBs in the league this season, and the Vikings even managed to pick him off once and make him look largely pedestrian all game. There are positives to take from this loss. Sans the OT drive, the defense is back to form. The offense was better today, but penalties killed scoring drives.

 

I also want to take a minute to call out Ed Hochuli's crew for blatantly screwing up the spot on a Jerick McKinnon third down run that was an obvious first down in live time, but they placed it short and it couldn't be overturned on replay. This led to a fourth down stop for the Lions. Officiating didn't lose Minnesota this game by any means, but Hochuli and his crew effectively took away a score from Minnesota on this particular drive by not having their shit together, and I'm really not happy about it.

 

Xavier Rhodes is an elite cover corner, but any time he gets beat, which is very rare because he's a fucking blanket for 95% of the game, he fucking panics and commits a penalty. Somebody needs to tell this guy to learn to chill the fuck out and let the play take place. You never know when a receiver might drop a pass, or a QB might make a bad throw. X is a great piece surrounded by great pieces. If he fucks up, he needs to let it happen and trust the playmakers around him to make plays, and they'll do it a majority of the time.

 

The offensive line is still in shambles, but they were better today, for the most part. At the same time, they were so ineffective in run blocking that the Lions could stay in nickel on defense on pretty much every play. That is not good. Minnesota needed Alex Boone quite badly today.

 

Where the fuck did Kyle Rudolph go? It's not really that much of a mystery as he's been inconsistent throughout his career, but to completely disappear? What a fucking joke. MyCole Pruitt needs to get healthy and Shurmur and crew better start giving him some of Rudolph's routes.

 

The sky isn't falling. Minnesota still has the division lead. The Packers lost. There are silver linings to today.

 

All that being said, Detroit is impressive this season when you consider how beat up they are both at RB and in the back 7 on defense. They're still without Levy. Slay didn't play today. Other DBs got hurt during the game. Detroit earned this win 100%. Minnesota simply does not have their shit together on offense.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

 

First and foremost, the Lions are a good team.

 

 

Beware, this is supposed to be a thread for logical reasoning.

[BwareDWare94 723]

 

Beware, this is supposed to be a thread for logical reasoning.

 

Have we been paying attention to the same Lions team?

[seanbrock 1,684]

The Eagles are starting a rookie QB on a team with very little in the way of offensive weapons and it shows. Carson needs to refine his footwork. He's sailing passes when put under pressure because Jason Kelce can't compete at the point of attack this year.

 

Doug Pederson is making awful decisions in games, especially late in games. Leaving points on the board in our last two losses has been catastrophic for this team. It's hard to blame the play calling because Doug doesn't really have a lot to work with. I think we'd see a lot less WR screens if our WR's were able to get open down field, but the QB sweeps were dumb and they shouldn't have been called on 3rd and 4th and short. Also, running into the middle of the defense on 3rd and short when Damon Harrison has been killing Kelce all game wasn't too smart when we needed a first.

 

Jaylen Watkins is struggling at safety and we need to either put CJ Smith in on Nickel packages and move Jenkins back to safety or we need to sign another CB. Jaylen is a decent athlete and a physical guy but he's just not there mentally and his blown coverages killed us this week. Watkins is a special teams kind of player.

 

Vinny Curry has been awful this year. He got paid and I thought he'd be a lot better in this scheme but he hasn't been. I would tinker with Vinny playing some DT on passing downs next to Cox. Cox, Curry, Graham and Barwin on the field all at once on 3rd downs could be a good line up.

 

Some positives:

 

Carson Wentz had about as bad a start to a game as you can this week but he didn't give up. He didn't have a melt down and he actually played pretty well after that. His accuracy was off this week but having said that the Eagles score more points if his receivers could make a play for him. Jordan Matthews is the only guy on this team who will jump to catch a pass, I swear. The first pick if Agholor tries to jump and maybe gets a piece of the ball, maybe it isn't picked. It wasn't sailed that far over his head and the throw that could have been a TD to DGB was a really poor effort. He put it up a jump ball for DGB and he just didn't even try to go get it.

 

Stefan Wisniewski has played really well since getting some playing time. The Eagles offensive line depth has been huge this year. Big V struggled in his first game but has really played pretty well since then.

[Thanatos 2,847]

 

Beware, this is supposed to be a thread for logical reasoning.

 

He says the McKinnon run was a clear first down when it was anything but. He's not being logical.