Friday mailbag: Bring on the Cowboys (and then what?)
Friday mailbag: Bring on the Cowboys (and then what?)
Vikings fans are geared up for the toughest part of the schedule
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By Matthew Coller
Happy Friday everyone. We’ve got ourselves a pretty important football contest this week, huh. Let’s dive into what’s on Vikings fans’ minds…
@burner_viking Vikings-Cowboys line moved for Cowboys -2.5 to Vikings -2.5. I know you’re not a gambler, but a good indication that Dak’s status may be in question.
Vegas isn’t an injury insider any more than they were a draft insider when the line kept moving around concerning who the 49ers were going to pick. However, Dak’s comments on Thursday were pretty cryptic. Either they’re playing games with the Vikings in order to keep them guessing or there’s a serious possibility that Dak won’t play because of his calf injury. If he’s out, the Vikings would be a massive favorite in my mind. I’m not kidding when I say that Cooper Rush is no Matt Moore or Chase Daniel. He would have very little shot inside US Bank Stadium against a healthy Zimmer defense. It would be a huge break for the Vikings and a huge blow to anyone trying to enjoy fun football.
@BaseballNorm how does the trajectory of the Vikings and Cowboys look if the Herschel Walker trade never happened?
It clearly took the Cowboys to a dynasty level but I’ve never been convinced that not trading for Walker would have made the same difference on the Vikings’ side. If they didn’t draft Emmitt Smith, maybe the Vikings take Darrell Thompson (the next RB taken) or end up with a bunch of OK players instead of home run picks instead. Even if they do get several really good players, it was Troy Aikman becoming a Hall of Fame quarterback that made the Cowboys champs. The top QBs in the 1990 draft were Jeff George, Andre Ware, Tom Hodson, Peter Tom Willis and Neil O’Donnell. The Vikings still would have been limited by Gannon/McMahon/Salisbury etc. If they Cowboys don’t take all those good players, they’re still probably a really, really good team.
Gary from comment section: How well have the Vikings done prime-time games (Thursday, Sunday, and Monday nights?
I’m not sure what time frame you’re looking for exactly but the Vikings have gone 4-7 in primetime games since 2018. Against teams that finished with a winning record, they’re 0-7. However, four of those seven losses are within one score. I’ve never really bought into the idea that the Vikings or Cousins have some particular bugaboo about playing in primetime games. Since 2018, they’ve been an average team, which usually means beating the teams you’re supposed to beat and losing to teams that are better. That’s why this one could be so telling (if Prescott plays). If they shake off that trend and win in convincing fashion under the bright lights, it will point them strongly in the direction of being a playoff team that could make some noise.
@jeffintokyo1 Dantzler seems to be the next man up, that said, what about Kris Boyd? From what I remember, he seems to have looked pretty good in limited snaps.
Boyd can play in a pinch but I think him getting the nod in the preseason and Week 1 was more of a message to Dantzler than it was a sign there was something there with Boyd. He’s a good special teams player but not somebody you want to play a ton of snaps at corner. He’s given up a 111.3 rating against on 51 throws over his career, per PFF. Dantzler has natural coverage and ball skills that could make him a solid NFL starter, it’s just whether he can put it together and not have major lapses.
@Aoki5Chuck Two parter: will we see a unique zimmer wrinkle for this game ala Saints playoff win with Griffen moving inside, or is that something he "saves" for the playoffs? And if we do see it, what would it be?
This would be a “kitchen sink” type of game where you pull out all the stops, though I’d say that Zimmer is always throwing new things at teams on a weekly basis. That one stuck out because it was an obvious change but he’s mixing up the way they play certain coverages and throwing new blitzes out there on third downs all the time. I’m sure there will be something the Cowboys haven’t seen but it might not be easy to spot in real time. The one thing I could see coming back is the corner blitz. He used it against Rodgers a few times with Alexander and had success. We haven’t seen much since Mac returned but if Dak is hobbled, sending a fast guy at him might be a good plan.
@JoshuaR_Smith In the four major sports, where does Emmitt's NFL rushing mark rank on the list of safest career records?
Yeah, if running backs from a more run-heavy era like AP and Frank Gore couldn’t reach him, nobody ever will. To put it in context, Derrick Henry is currently 28 years old and would need 2,000-yard seasons every year until he’s 35 to even approach Emmitt. He’s got the best chance and yet it’s really, really hard to see him coming anywhere near it.
@SamRoot43 Based on Zim's press conference, it sounds like they believe that Diggs has had his success this year by being super aggressive at the top of routes. Would you just stay away from him, or attack him? Could we see a max pro double move on the opening game script
He’s incredible at grabbing the ball when it comes his way, but he isn’t Deion Sanders or Darrelle Revis. He’s more like Marcus Peters. With Jefferson and Thielen, you can’t stay away from them because the other team has a good corner. Based on the return of the bootleg and play-action game in the second half of the Panthers game, I think your guess is right — we’ll see more of those types of double moves that force the corner to stay patient and try to catch him cheating to rip off a big play.
@BrendelRoss I have a genuine fascination here... Every Sunday we see receivers drop balls all the time, more so if you are Robby Anderson. How come we rarely see holders and punters drop snaps?
The biggest thing is probably that there’s no defenders right in their grill. They’re also in a stable position rather than running at full speed. Every wide receiver would catch 99% of they were standing right in front of the QB and not moving. Plus long snappers are really, really good. They deliver it nearly perfectly right into the guy’s hands every time.
@tomspeicher Who was the better back: Allen Rice or Alfred Anderson?
Allen Rice was a bowling ball. His stat line could only belong to somebody in the 80s. In 1988 he averaged 2.9 yards per carry and still got the ball 110 times. Hilarious. Anderson was the better of the two. He was a pretty effective role player for the ‘87 offense.
@bulldogs13tv You said 90s so going nostalgia… Jim Kleinsasser was one of my favorite players growing up and he never made a pro bowl. So the question is who are some of your favorite players that never made a pro bowl. Any team.
Here’s a guy with (somewhat) local ties: Phil Hansen, North Dakota State guy. He never made a Pro Bowl but played for all the great Bills teams of the 90s and always had 7-10 sacks on the other side from Bruce Smith. They put him in the ring of honor there because anybody who watched those years knew how important he was. There’s probably 100 other players from that era of the NFL. If we were talking Vikings, I’d go Moe Williams, David Palmer, Orlando Thomas, Qadry Ismail… there’s tons.
@BeauSchmaltz On Sunday, Kirk rushes in a score, turns around, and throws the ball at Diggs’s head, Tarkenton style. What’s the first question you ask him after the game (and it has to be a pun)?
Most of the time journalism is just asking the obvious question and seeing what type of answer you get. I’d ask… why did you throw the ball at that guy? If you haven’t seen the clip this question is referencing, here it is. Amazing.
@thomasmckoskey Why has the football media, local or national, rarely, if ever mention that Randy Moss never lost to the Cowboys in his career after he thought they would draft him?
I don’t know if football media has left out too much credit for Randy Moss. That’s an interesting factoid though. Moss was coming in as the great Dallas teams were fading. I watched back the 1999 playoff game not too long ago. The Cowboys were playing their DBs ridiculously far off the line of scrimmage because they were so afraid of Moss — like 30 yards off — and he still caught a long bomb for a touchdown.
@mnjoker0015 When the offense struggles why is it Zimmer's fault....but the success is credited to the OC or QB?
I never know what to do with these, “people are saying,” questions. When the offense struggles, it’s usually a combination of the Vikings playing too conservatively (i.e. running on second-and-10), the offensive line getting beaten and Cousins struggling to deal with the O-line being beaten. Everyone in the NFL gets criticized when the team has stretches like the Vikings did from the Browns game through the first half against Carolina.
@JoelDubiel You are forced to trade away a player/players that will bring in a 1st or 2nd round pick(s) by the trade deadline assuming the Vikings win against Dallas, who are you trading away??? ***insert evil laugh***
Well, there’s two ways to look at this. The player you can most afford to lose that would be valuable enough to bring back a high pick is Dalvin Cook. They are a different offense with him in there but Mattison is good and you can keep winning with him. The other answer is Cousins. If you fully believed that the Vikings were destined for average-ness, you’d trade him to a QB-desperate team and hit the reset button. Of course, they have way too much talent to throw this season down the drain right now and so long as you are in line to make the playoffs, you shouldn’t ever tank. But if we were going full Galaxy Brain, Madden mode… the Vikings with a QB on a rookie contract and another first-round pick and Jefferson would have a good chance in the future.
@KrisKUSTRADIO No firing questions from me. Rather can you name the 10 Vikings (past or present) that you would draft for an Australian Football team and state why you would draft them? Bonus: Who wins the game Sunday?
I have no idea how Australian Football works, so I wouldn’t know how to put together a full squad. That sport seems pretty violent though. I’ll take John Randle with the first pick. I’m going with the Vikings winning 30-27.
UPDATE: Reader Jason, who is a big Aussie football guy, has sent in his full squad. Here it is:
Forwards
Left Full Forward: Adam Thielen
Center Full Forward: Kyle Rudolph
Right Full Forward: David Palmer
Left Half Forward: Chuck Foreman
Center Half Forward: Randy Moss
Right Half Forward: Cris Carter
Center Line
Left Wing: Cordarrelle Patterson
Center: Daunte Culpepper
Right Wing: Adrian Peterson
Backs
Left Half Back: Robert Griffith
Center Half Back: Harrison Smith
Right Half Back: Paul Krause
Left Full Back: Joey Browner
Center Full Back: Alan Page
Right Full Back: Antoine Winfield
Followers
Ruck Rover: Percy Harvin
Ruckman: Danielle Hunter
Rover: Fran Tarkenton
@tad_fundermann The final score on Sunday is 28-13. Which team is the winner and why is it Dallas? Feels like the only way the Vikings win is if it is a 20s something close game, 28-24 type thing.
I agree with you that if the Vikings win, it’s close and in the 20s or low 30s. I don’t see 40 points going on the board because the Vikings rarely put those types of nails in the other team’s coffin when they’re ahead. I’d be very surprised if the Vikings only got 13 though. I’m not convinced the Dallas defense is all that good and usually if Cousins gets down in the game, he makes a furious charge back to get them within a score.
@vikings_cg What are the chances Cousins plays with a $45m cap hit next year? What are our options? Thank you.
I’d be very, very surprised if he plays on the $45 million deal. The cap isn’t going to take a big jump until 2023, so they need to basically decide between trading him and signing him to an extension. If things don’t go well, I could see it being a Detroit type of situation with everyone being out and the QB being traded. If they make the playoffs and he continues to play well, another three-year extension would probably be in the cards.
@benjackson0812 Although it’s a small sample size right now do you believe the Vikings made the right decision to draft Christian Darrisaw instead of trading up to draft Justin Fields??
I’m a little concerned about Fields and believe that Darrisaw looks like he can be very good but in terms of what both players would mean to a franchise if they succeeded, it isn’t close. If the Vikings had traded up for Fields and he started in 2022 with Jefferson/Thielen/Smith Jr./Osborn, we might be talking about a situation good enough to go to a Super Bowl within a few years if Fields clicked. If Darrisaw is good, that’s really helpful. That doesn’t transform a franchise. If the Vikings finish 8-9 or something, it’s going to be very hard to argue they made the right call, especially with a weak 2022 QB class. If they reach the NFCC game and Darrisaw is great, well, I guess they did.
@GBeckTV Between the improved late-game play, and the reduction in sacks, I'm becoming open to the idea that Kirk Cousins might be changing. Nowhere near sold, though. How much longer does he have to do those things before it feels legit, rather than another brief "Good Kirk" run?
Something I was thinking about the other day is how Alex Smith led the NFL in quarterback rating in 2017 and the Chiefs moved on anyway. I’m not sure the question about Cousins is whether he’s changed so much as whether he’ll be able to take them somewhere. It seems like we often separate the Cousins question from the team’s success. The goal is to reach the Super Bowl and if the best version of him can’t take the team past a No. 7 seed and first-round out, it tells you that the strategy of having him as your expensive franchise QB doesn’t work, even if he’s somewhere between good and very good.
Staying with the Smith comp for a second, here’s a crazy stat: Cousins ranks 22nd in PFF’s “big-time throws.”
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