The Good News is that it’s only Week 1. The Bad News is that it’s only Week 1.
Random thoughts that will magically coalesce into a salient point follow: The young defensive backs, especially the rookies, had zero preseason game snaps to play to the speed of the NFL. The offensive line continues to be a soft spot. Management and the coaching staff have not built any depth into the defensive line. The tackling was very poor.
Some of the subscriber comments hit the heart of the problem(s). The questionable deep drop into the end zone, which led to a safety, turned into a tone-setting play. The low-percentage pass on 4th-and-3, when the Vikings last had a realistic change to stay with Green Bay, was ill-conceived and iffy from the moment the ball left Cousins’ hand.
To help the young corners the Vikings are going to have to find a way to get at least occasional pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Zimmer’s speciality is defense. Let’s see if he can slowly solve that challenge by the time we get into the second four-game segment of the season. Didn’t the Vikings experiment with Anthony Barr at right defensive end in the 2019 preseason? Necessity is the mother of invention; might be game time for that.
One person commented on the continuing failure to address the the offensive line in the draft while throwing salary at a quarterback who bangs around between average to better-than-average performance. The management of the team, including the coaching staff, not only have to answer for that, they have to fix it on the fly with the people they have. The Vikings have some good linemen, but they don’t have enough of them who can work together to manage the other team’s defensive line. That has to be fixed within the first four games, which is this year’s version of the preseason.
The coaching staff has to design a game plan that, cliche coming, puts their people in the best position to succeed. It is easier to run block than pass block. Offensive lines deliver hits when run blocking. Defenses have to react to pulling guards, jet sweeps, etc. When pass blocking, offensive lines must react to the charge of large and focused human beings trying to get by them. The Vikings run blocked better than they pass blocked against Green Bay. Going forward, the Vikings have to run the ball more than they throw, and they have to be successful at it to prevent their defense from being on the field for 41 minutes and change, like they were against Green Bay. And...they can’t wait until Week 7 to rediscover Kyle Rudolph is good at catching short passes.
One person commented that s/he thought the Vikings defended the run pretty well against Green Bay. I’m not sure I agree with that and I haven’t seen any stats from the game. It seemed like the Packers had big-chunk gains against the Vikings when they ran the ball. The Vikings have to be willing to make the other team pay when they come inside on the run. The middle of the defense has to play nasty. I didn’t see much of that type of physicality from the interior of the defense Sunday against the Packers, who created a physical advantage when their defenders were on the field. Playing nasty and pissed off has to become a partial solution to the Vikings problem on run defense. Other teams might make five yards, but the ball carrier and the linemen blocking for him are going to suffer physically for it. Zimmer has to build that characteristic into his defense within the first four games of the season.
By no means has this writer given up on the 2020 Vikings. I do understand, however, that it is not likely that the 2020 edition of the Vikings is going to be among the top defenses in the league, but they can get better, they should get better, they have to get better. Giving up a fat 43 points to Green Bay, or any opponent, is not a sustainable solution.
Sunday was odd. No fans. Not much fire from the defense. Just enough mistakes by the Vikings to be lethal. Covid-19 continues to rage, virtually unabated and ignored by the people who shouldn’t ignore it, so we’re going to continue to see empty or near-empty stadiums until we don’t. This is all so bizarre, but I have to tell you, it was so much fun to watch the Vikings play again.
They stumbled Sunday. The Good News is there is 15 games left.
Terrible play calling. Two examples: 1) who in the world calls a play fake 5 yards deep in the end zone with our offensive line?; 2) a deep shot on fourth and 3, when your defense has zero chance against Green Bay?
Same old Vikings, year after year after year. It was obvious after the Eagles obliterated us in the NFC Championship, that the Vikings needed to upgrade the o-line and interior d-line. Instead, they have spent their money on a QB who needs perfect protection, linebackers, and defensive ends and continue to trot out Elflein, Reiff, Shamar Stephen et al. expecting different results. That's the definition of lunacy. They needed 2 new guards in the draft and they spent their first five picks on a wr, 2 cbs, a tackle and a project defensive end, but then they're surprised when they can't hold onto the ball, sustain drives and give their defense a breather?
I don't want to hear about Pierce either. They have had over a month to replace him, but did absolutely nothing. Football is not that complicated. You dominate the trenches, you are going to win unless your QB is terrible.
I have always thought that an average QB/RB will look good behind a good OL, but the same is not true in reverse -- only an elite QB/RB can look even average behind a poor OL (and even for them it is difficult). And KFC (Cousins) is not elite... that fallacy was exposed a long time ago.
Also, where the heck was Irv? 1 target is baffling...We need to unleash him. It is just one game, so very interested to see how he is used moving forward.
Pretty much went the way I expected and why I suggested we would go 8/8 even if we improve. There were so many issues its hard to address it all. I am hopeful for the future beginning in 2021. That said... and I haven't gone back to review the tape yet, the corners need a great deal of work and I expect there will be improvement. I do think the time it will take to get used to the speed and the sharpness of the routes that are being run (jukes and head fakes included) will have us struggling markedly the first 8 games. Ngakoeu was a ghost. I didn't expect him to be sensational but he was absent from the game... a no factor. Missing Hunter hurt us substantially, 7 pressures in 40 plus drop backs. Probably the worst game I've seen Wilson play. That whiff on the tackle was embarassing (to him). I believe the defense made Roger's even better than he actually is. I could write a page but I'll spare you. Last thing I'll say is, this was the kind of game that makes me scratch my head at the amount of money spent on Cousins. I'm not disrespecting Cousins, I'm saying we could have obtained a guard and a nose tackle if so much of the salary is wrapped up in the Quarter Back. I haven't listened to Zimmer's post game so I'll go see what he has to say, the defensive line was terrible. I'm hoping we at least get to 8/8.
Yeah honest didn't think the corners were that bad, they were close on most plays. Rodgers would pick apart all pro DBs with the clean pocket and time he had.
“ Each team tacked on a field goal to make it 22-10 at half.”
The Packers got a TD after the interception, not a field goal, which was devastating. Going from 8-7 to 22-10 in the last minutes of the half seemed to be the turning point.
Having linebackers who can cover and elite safeties is immensely valuable. We've seen that in past years here. But there's nothing you can do when two corners are incapable of covering the other team's best receiver and the DL can't pressure the QB
I think with both Cleveland and Samia they probably expected more than they have gotten. But I suspect if things go poorly over the next few weeks we could see a change there. Samia is a 4th rounder so my expectations were never super high. It's just surprising that they didn't sign any veteran to take Kline's spot
The mysterious Josh Kline cut... he was "ok" last season and they cut him? But I note no one has signed him... Wonder what the deal was with him? Hidden health issue? Personality clash with the coaches or other players? Inquiring minds want to know...
If they actually thought moving Cleveland to guard was a viable plan, anyone connected to that decision should never coach in the NFL again. It's absolutely ludicrous that they continue year after year to try to solve the gigantic problems with the interior line by moving people to positions they have no experience playing at a successful level. Rick paid Remmers too much to be a below average tackle, so then they moved him to guard where he was even worse. Poor Elflein doesn't even belong in the NFL, but they've trotted him out at center and both guard spots over the last three years.
Seriously. We spent $12M to get Ngakoue (who looked invisible yesterday) and yet we have Jimmy the Mailroom Guy starting at both Guard spots. And what has been our biggest problem for like 10 years? Oh, yeah, the interior OL -- particularly the Guards.
Just unbelievable that these are the 2 best starting OGs we have at this point. How much worse could Samia and/or Collins and/or Cleveland be?
I've been trying to say that Ngakoue is not like Everson. He's going to have a lot of games like that and some where he's unstoppable. It should still pay off but Sunday was one of those weeks where he wasn't noticeable. Agree with you on the guards, though they didn't really play a huge role in the loss Sunday
I thought Gary Kubiac called a pretty poor first three quarters. They didnt seem to lean into any of our strengths, nor did it look to help the defense much, but then again we barely had any plays to really show much. What did you think?
Certainly there were two play calls that stuck out as being questionable... otherwise probably too much running early. But there also weren't many plays overall to speak of
Why do coaches over think the game. In the press conference, Zimmer said Kubiak wanted to take a shot on fourth down. You're down 12 points and your defense can't stop anything, just get the first down. I don't get it, you throw the ball to a guy who is not known for his deep speed. To me, it's poor decision-making from a well known and respects offensive coach.
100% agree. We needed to sustain a drive (relying on KFC to scramble for first downs is a poor offensive strategy, IMO), and having Tajae Sharpe as a deep route is -- ridiculous. If he had run a short 4 yard crossing route, down and out or whatever, that's different. But on a critical play of the game, relying on your 4th or 5th best WR to run a route he isn't good at, just seems like the offensive coaches (or KFC) getting to cute ("They would never think we'd do this...").
But there were horrible plays all day. The safety was another one. We had carved out a little space from the endzone with the 1st down run, so what do we do? Deep drop back pass that plants KFC 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage in the end zone -- just stupid, particularly when you have an offensive line that has proven over and over it can't pass protect when the QB takes a deep drop to throw the ball without any roll-out.
Stupid is as stupid does... and the Vikings were pretty stupid on Sunday.
I don't blame the young CBs at all. If you look at what they were doing, it is pretty clear Zimmer had them in soft coverage all day -- hoping the safeties or someone would help. This might have worked better if we had generated a pass rush, but Zimmer stayed mostly with vanilla 4-man pass rush most of the day. So, soft coverage and no pass rush = Aaron Rodgers' dream scenario -- and we handed it to him on a platter.
The disappointments to me were:
Offensive Line - pass protection was slightly better than last year, but still a problem
KFC - not a fan of Cousins, to say the least, and you saw why today. No awareness of blitz coming on the safety, horrible INT on throw to Thielen (at a terrible point in the game, too), and the Sharpe pass just shows that he runs whatever play is called -- no thinking by KFC! We pay him as if he is elite, and he is not. Good defenses have figured out his kryptonite, and that changes KFC from above average to... garbage. One of the biggest deltas for any decent QB that I have ever seen. I was hoping the rare early off-script play might be a sign of things to come, but that was not the case. KFC is still bad off-script. And even when he does make an off-script play, how does he not know at this point in his career that a head-first dive into a group of defenders after you have a 1st down is not very smart?
DL - looks to me like we are a bit soft against the run and generated zero pass rush. Ngakoue's debut was about as disappointing as it could be, he got zero pressure and was terrible against the run. Not sure even Hunter's return fixes things without more blitzing.
LBs - looked solid, mostly Kendricks. Barr, as usual, was just sort of invisible -- which is bizarre for a guy we are paying $14M or so...
CBs - looked like they were doing what was told - soft coverage, try to make the tackle. They are so raw that I can't be too critical except for Mike Hughes. He was repeatedly roasted by WRs who aren't super stars -- both on straight-line speed routes and due to his lack of height. Unlike Hill and Dantzler, Hughes should have been better than he was. For the rest, I give them a pass because they seemed to me to be doing what they were told to do (and they have zero experience). Also, generally, they seemed to be in position doing their assigned roles -- unlike young Alexander and hold Rhodes.
S - They did not show up to save the day. Can't blame them for the loss, but the idea that they would erase the young CBs mistakes was quickly exposed as false.
Your point on the safeties is right... they're not going to swoop in and save bad cornerback play. We saw that last year when Smith/Harris were as good as it gets and the bad corners still had an impact
Mathew my question is really about the defensive game play both yesterday and going forward. Why not try and help your young corners by blitzing Rodgers. I understand that in the past they have relied on pressure from the front 4 but that is clearly in the past especially without hunter. I thought Capers was brought in to create some more exotic looks and blitz packages? The best way to help out the secondary is to create pressure because the great qbs will shred you even if you are dropping 7 into coverage.
I didn't get the game out here in SeaSquawk Hell... Did A-a-Ron pick on anyone in particular at our back end? It seemed from the stats they were able to run up the middle, highlighting our interior D line still needs help... true?
Hill was abused the most. Adams dominated whoever he was up against. Run d was ok. Somehow let Rodgers repeatedly bust contain even though we literally only 1 pressure all game. Kendricks balled out.
The Good News is that it’s only Week 1. The Bad News is that it’s only Week 1.
Random thoughts that will magically coalesce into a salient point follow: The young defensive backs, especially the rookies, had zero preseason game snaps to play to the speed of the NFL. The offensive line continues to be a soft spot. Management and the coaching staff have not built any depth into the defensive line. The tackling was very poor.
Some of the subscriber comments hit the heart of the problem(s). The questionable deep drop into the end zone, which led to a safety, turned into a tone-setting play. The low-percentage pass on 4th-and-3, when the Vikings last had a realistic change to stay with Green Bay, was ill-conceived and iffy from the moment the ball left Cousins’ hand.
To help the young corners the Vikings are going to have to find a way to get at least occasional pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Zimmer’s speciality is defense. Let’s see if he can slowly solve that challenge by the time we get into the second four-game segment of the season. Didn’t the Vikings experiment with Anthony Barr at right defensive end in the 2019 preseason? Necessity is the mother of invention; might be game time for that.
One person commented on the continuing failure to address the the offensive line in the draft while throwing salary at a quarterback who bangs around between average to better-than-average performance. The management of the team, including the coaching staff, not only have to answer for that, they have to fix it on the fly with the people they have. The Vikings have some good linemen, but they don’t have enough of them who can work together to manage the other team’s defensive line. That has to be fixed within the first four games, which is this year’s version of the preseason.
The coaching staff has to design a game plan that, cliche coming, puts their people in the best position to succeed. It is easier to run block than pass block. Offensive lines deliver hits when run blocking. Defenses have to react to pulling guards, jet sweeps, etc. When pass blocking, offensive lines must react to the charge of large and focused human beings trying to get by them. The Vikings run blocked better than they pass blocked against Green Bay. Going forward, the Vikings have to run the ball more than they throw, and they have to be successful at it to prevent their defense from being on the field for 41 minutes and change, like they were against Green Bay. And...they can’t wait until Week 7 to rediscover Kyle Rudolph is good at catching short passes.
One person commented that s/he thought the Vikings defended the run pretty well against Green Bay. I’m not sure I agree with that and I haven’t seen any stats from the game. It seemed like the Packers had big-chunk gains against the Vikings when they ran the ball. The Vikings have to be willing to make the other team pay when they come inside on the run. The middle of the defense has to play nasty. I didn’t see much of that type of physicality from the interior of the defense Sunday against the Packers, who created a physical advantage when their defenders were on the field. Playing nasty and pissed off has to become a partial solution to the Vikings problem on run defense. Other teams might make five yards, but the ball carrier and the linemen blocking for him are going to suffer physically for it. Zimmer has to build that characteristic into his defense within the first four games of the season.
By no means has this writer given up on the 2020 Vikings. I do understand, however, that it is not likely that the 2020 edition of the Vikings is going to be among the top defenses in the league, but they can get better, they should get better, they have to get better. Giving up a fat 43 points to Green Bay, or any opponent, is not a sustainable solution.
Sunday was odd. No fans. Not much fire from the defense. Just enough mistakes by the Vikings to be lethal. Covid-19 continues to rage, virtually unabated and ignored by the people who shouldn’t ignore it, so we’re going to continue to see empty or near-empty stadiums until we don’t. This is all so bizarre, but I have to tell you, it was so much fun to watch the Vikings play again.
They stumbled Sunday. The Good News is there is 15 games left.
Excellent points... especially the "nasty" factor... make them pay!
Terrible play calling. Two examples: 1) who in the world calls a play fake 5 yards deep in the end zone with our offensive line?; 2) a deep shot on fourth and 3, when your defense has zero chance against Green Bay?
Same old Vikings, year after year after year. It was obvious after the Eagles obliterated us in the NFC Championship, that the Vikings needed to upgrade the o-line and interior d-line. Instead, they have spent their money on a QB who needs perfect protection, linebackers, and defensive ends and continue to trot out Elflein, Reiff, Shamar Stephen et al. expecting different results. That's the definition of lunacy. They needed 2 new guards in the draft and they spent their first five picks on a wr, 2 cbs, a tackle and a project defensive end, but then they're surprised when they can't hold onto the ball, sustain drives and give their defense a breather?
I don't want to hear about Pierce either. They have had over a month to replace him, but did absolutely nothing. Football is not that complicated. You dominate the trenches, you are going to win unless your QB is terrible.
I have always thought that an average QB/RB will look good behind a good OL, but the same is not true in reverse -- only an elite QB/RB can look even average behind a poor OL (and even for them it is difficult). And KFC (Cousins) is not elite... that fallacy was exposed a long time ago.
Also, where the heck was Irv? 1 target is baffling...We need to unleash him. It is just one game, so very interested to see how he is used moving forward.
Pretty much went the way I expected and why I suggested we would go 8/8 even if we improve. There were so many issues its hard to address it all. I am hopeful for the future beginning in 2021. That said... and I haven't gone back to review the tape yet, the corners need a great deal of work and I expect there will be improvement. I do think the time it will take to get used to the speed and the sharpness of the routes that are being run (jukes and head fakes included) will have us struggling markedly the first 8 games. Ngakoeu was a ghost. I didn't expect him to be sensational but he was absent from the game... a no factor. Missing Hunter hurt us substantially, 7 pressures in 40 plus drop backs. Probably the worst game I've seen Wilson play. That whiff on the tackle was embarassing (to him). I believe the defense made Roger's even better than he actually is. I could write a page but I'll spare you. Last thing I'll say is, this was the kind of game that makes me scratch my head at the amount of money spent on Cousins. I'm not disrespecting Cousins, I'm saying we could have obtained a guard and a nose tackle if so much of the salary is wrapped up in the Quarter Back. I haven't listened to Zimmer's post game so I'll go see what he has to say, the defensive line was terrible. I'm hoping we at least get to 8/8.
Turns out Gladney-Dantzler really is one person. Also the worst Vikings pass rush I've ever seen. This team has a long way to go.
Yeah honest didn't think the corners were that bad, they were close on most plays. Rodgers would pick apart all pro DBs with the clean pocket and time he had.
“ Each team tacked on a field goal to make it 22-10 at half.”
The Packers got a TD after the interception, not a field goal, which was devastating. Going from 8-7 to 22-10 in the last minutes of the half seemed to be the turning point.
Thanks for the correction, I meant to say just the Vikings tacked on a FG
Does the eye test confirm positional value? Lots of money invested at linebacker and safety. These are not impactful positions.
I get they are young, lots of change, Hunter out. They might improve as a unit over time. Just found the game difficult to watch
Having linebackers who can cover and elite safeties is immensely valuable. We've seen that in past years here. But there's nothing you can do when two corners are incapable of covering the other team's best receiver and the DL can't pressure the QB
Matthew, does Samia really suck or do Elflein and Dozier have compromising photos of Rick Spielman?
I think with both Cleveland and Samia they probably expected more than they have gotten. But I suspect if things go poorly over the next few weeks we could see a change there. Samia is a 4th rounder so my expectations were never super high. It's just surprising that they didn't sign any veteran to take Kline's spot
The mysterious Josh Kline cut... he was "ok" last season and they cut him? But I note no one has signed him... Wonder what the deal was with him? Hidden health issue? Personality clash with the coaches or other players? Inquiring minds want to know...
If they actually thought moving Cleveland to guard was a viable plan, anyone connected to that decision should never coach in the NFL again. It's absolutely ludicrous that they continue year after year to try to solve the gigantic problems with the interior line by moving people to positions they have no experience playing at a successful level. Rick paid Remmers too much to be a below average tackle, so then they moved him to guard where he was even worse. Poor Elflein doesn't even belong in the NFL, but they've trotted him out at center and both guard spots over the last three years.
Seriously. We spent $12M to get Ngakoue (who looked invisible yesterday) and yet we have Jimmy the Mailroom Guy starting at both Guard spots. And what has been our biggest problem for like 10 years? Oh, yeah, the interior OL -- particularly the Guards.
Just unbelievable that these are the 2 best starting OGs we have at this point. How much worse could Samia and/or Collins and/or Cleveland be?
I've been trying to say that Ngakoue is not like Everson. He's going to have a lot of games like that and some where he's unstoppable. It should still pay off but Sunday was one of those weeks where he wasn't noticeable. Agree with you on the guards, though they didn't really play a huge role in the loss Sunday
I thought Gary Kubiac called a pretty poor first three quarters. They didnt seem to lean into any of our strengths, nor did it look to help the defense much, but then again we barely had any plays to really show much. What did you think?
Certainly there were two play calls that stuck out as being questionable... otherwise probably too much running early. But there also weren't many plays overall to speak of
Like screen game, hello where was that!
Excellent point!
Why do coaches over think the game. In the press conference, Zimmer said Kubiak wanted to take a shot on fourth down. You're down 12 points and your defense can't stop anything, just get the first down. I don't get it, you throw the ball to a guy who is not known for his deep speed. To me, it's poor decision-making from a well known and respects offensive coach.
100% agree. We needed to sustain a drive (relying on KFC to scramble for first downs is a poor offensive strategy, IMO), and having Tajae Sharpe as a deep route is -- ridiculous. If he had run a short 4 yard crossing route, down and out or whatever, that's different. But on a critical play of the game, relying on your 4th or 5th best WR to run a route he isn't good at, just seems like the offensive coaches (or KFC) getting to cute ("They would never think we'd do this...").
But there were horrible plays all day. The safety was another one. We had carved out a little space from the endzone with the 1st down run, so what do we do? Deep drop back pass that plants KFC 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage in the end zone -- just stupid, particularly when you have an offensive line that has proven over and over it can't pass protect when the QB takes a deep drop to throw the ball without any roll-out.
Stupid is as stupid does... and the Vikings were pretty stupid on Sunday.
I don't blame the young CBs at all. If you look at what they were doing, it is pretty clear Zimmer had them in soft coverage all day -- hoping the safeties or someone would help. This might have worked better if we had generated a pass rush, but Zimmer stayed mostly with vanilla 4-man pass rush most of the day. So, soft coverage and no pass rush = Aaron Rodgers' dream scenario -- and we handed it to him on a platter.
The disappointments to me were:
Offensive Line - pass protection was slightly better than last year, but still a problem
KFC - not a fan of Cousins, to say the least, and you saw why today. No awareness of blitz coming on the safety, horrible INT on throw to Thielen (at a terrible point in the game, too), and the Sharpe pass just shows that he runs whatever play is called -- no thinking by KFC! We pay him as if he is elite, and he is not. Good defenses have figured out his kryptonite, and that changes KFC from above average to... garbage. One of the biggest deltas for any decent QB that I have ever seen. I was hoping the rare early off-script play might be a sign of things to come, but that was not the case. KFC is still bad off-script. And even when he does make an off-script play, how does he not know at this point in his career that a head-first dive into a group of defenders after you have a 1st down is not very smart?
DL - looks to me like we are a bit soft against the run and generated zero pass rush. Ngakoue's debut was about as disappointing as it could be, he got zero pressure and was terrible against the run. Not sure even Hunter's return fixes things without more blitzing.
LBs - looked solid, mostly Kendricks. Barr, as usual, was just sort of invisible -- which is bizarre for a guy we are paying $14M or so...
CBs - looked like they were doing what was told - soft coverage, try to make the tackle. They are so raw that I can't be too critical except for Mike Hughes. He was repeatedly roasted by WRs who aren't super stars -- both on straight-line speed routes and due to his lack of height. Unlike Hill and Dantzler, Hughes should have been better than he was. For the rest, I give them a pass because they seemed to me to be doing what they were told to do (and they have zero experience). Also, generally, they seemed to be in position doing their assigned roles -- unlike young Alexander and hold Rhodes.
S - They did not show up to save the day. Can't blame them for the loss, but the idea that they would erase the young CBs mistakes was quickly exposed as false.
Your point on the safeties is right... they're not going to swoop in and save bad cornerback play. We saw that last year when Smith/Harris were as good as it gets and the bad corners still had an impact
I tend to agree. I'm not sure that was the right time to take a shot.
Pass rush pretty pretty bad. Yuck.
Embarrassing pass rush!!! All QBs will carve you up if you get all day.
Even after there starting linemen was hurt still no pass rush. Also better get an answer for jet sweep that worked every time.
https://twitter.com/CourtneyRCronin/status/1305261742818164736?s=20
Not sure if the linked tweet worked, but it sums up the game. Worst TOP for Vikings in 40+ years.
Also, any word on Yannick’s snap count? Haven’t seen anything official.
he played about 56% of snaps, more than I thought
Interesting. Definitely more than I thought as well...
Mathew my question is really about the defensive game play both yesterday and going forward. Why not try and help your young corners by blitzing Rodgers. I understand that in the past they have relied on pressure from the front 4 but that is clearly in the past especially without hunter. I thought Capers was brought in to create some more exotic looks and blitz packages? The best way to help out the secondary is to create pressure because the great qbs will shred you even if you are dropping 7 into coverage.
Per PFF they blitzed him about half the time, which is more than usual. They just couldn't get home on the blitzes
I actually find that more concerning given the pedigree of this defensive coaching staff
I didn't get the game out here in SeaSquawk Hell... Did A-a-Ron pick on anyone in particular at our back end? It seemed from the stats they were able to run up the middle, highlighting our interior D line still needs help... true?
All 3 of them got beat about the same amount per PFF
Hill was abused the most. Adams dominated whoever he was up against. Run d was ok. Somehow let Rodgers repeatedly bust contain even though we literally only 1 pressure all game. Kendricks balled out.
I agree and was surprised that Hill was abused to that extent. This is also the worst game I've seen Wilson play.