Vikings intel

QB Sam Bradford----Is the QB of the present and the future with Teddy Bridgewater's leg in pieces. Was limited in practice Thursday with a knee injury. Did a real good job against the Saints last week with 3 TDs and 346 yards. Has a reputation as just a dink-and-dunk QB but he had some longer passes to WR Diggs last week so I don't buy it that he's a limited range passer. Bradford put on a display of accuracy in every category to every part of the field including arguably the best throw of the week on a deep cross to Jarius Wright under pressure. An improved Vikings offensive line kept Bradford clean on 81.8 percent of his throws. He finished the game a perfect 5-for-5 for 130 yards and a touchdown on deep passes (throws traveling 20-plus YIA). Although he wasn’t under pressure much, Bradford was Week 1’s best passer under pressure with a perfect passer rating.

RB Dalvin Cook, rookie, is listed as the starter and had 127 in Week 1 and caught 3 passes. Vikings are expecting big things from him and will use him more and more. At his best on sweeps where his good vision of blockers and tacklers helps him. Good body control to make tacklers miss. character concern.

FB C.J. Ham is listed as the fullback but I don't know why since they never use him.

WR thielen--Over the last 12 years, only three Vikings had more than 100 receiving yards from the slot. Cordarrelle Patterson had one game in 2013, Stefon Diggs had one last year, and now Adam Thielen had 146 yards from the slot this past Monday. Might have a big day against Pittsburgh when matched up with William Gay.

WR Diggs--- acrobatic pass catcher. caught 7 of 8 passes for 93 yards and two TDs in Week 1. Only 23 years old and getting better. Joe Haden will defend him.

WR Treadwell---plays but you wouldn't know it. Only 1 catch last year and 1 this year.

TE Kyle Rudolph---caught all three targets in Week 1 for 26 yards and 1 TD. Is an above average TE but the offense goes thru Diggs and Thielen first. Is 6'6" tall

LT Riley Rieff---signed from Detroit. injured his back in camp but expected to be healthy for Pitt. An improvement over last year's LT.

LG Nick Easton---acquired in trade with 49ers in 2015. Rotoworld keeps expecting Easton to be cut but he's still there. Played in 11 games last year and 1 this year. Filling in for injured Alex Boone.

C Pat Elflein--beat out Easton for the center job. rookie from Ohio State.

RG Joe Berger---good starting center last few seasons but moved to RG since there is depth at center. He's 35 and will retire after this season.

RT Mike Remmers----signed from Carolina. Badly exposed as LT in Carolina but is ok at RT for Minn. Part of the total rebuild of the Minn OL that seems to be a good improvement.


RDE Everson Griffen---
Vikings signed RE Everson Griffen to a four-year, $58 million extension through 2022.
The deal contains $34 million guaranteed, and the $14.5 million per-year average in new money makes Griffen the third-highest-paid 4-3 end behind only Giants teammates Olivier Vernon and Jason Pierre-Paul. Griffen isn't a household name to the casual fan, but he's been wrecking quarterbacks ever since taking over as a full-time starter in 2014.

LDE Danielle Hunter---
Vikings LE Danielle Hunter will take over the starting job this season.
Veteran Brian Robison will move into a rotational role. Hunter exploded for 12.5 sacks while still playing as something of a backup last season, and he now has 18.5 takedowns in only 992 snaps through two years.

DL Linval Joseph---
Vikings signed NT Linval Joseph to a four-year, $50 million extension with $31.5 million guaranteed.
Joseph is the Vikings' top run-stuffer and is now being paid as such. After extending fellow defensive core guys Everson Griffen and Xavier Rhodes, the Vikings have done well to keep their in-grown talent in place

WLB Emmanuel Lamur--
Vikings signed LB Emmanuel Lamur to a two-year, $5.5 million contract.
He also had interest from Miami and Detroit. Lamur played under Mike Zimmer for two seasons in Cincinnati and should compete for a weak-side role opposite Anthony Barr.

LB Anthony Barr---
Vikings SLB Anthony Barr (hamstring) didn't practice on Wednesday.
He didn't miss a snap in Monday's opener, so maybe he's just getting a breather. Barr struggled last year, earning PFF's No. 29 grade out of 31 qualifiers at 4-3 outside linebacker.

RCB Xavier Rhodes--
Vikings signed RCB Xavier Rhodes to a five-year, $70 million extension through 2022, including $41 million guaranteed.
As Rhodes was already under contract for 2017 at $8.026 million, he is now under the Vikings' control for $78 million over the next six seasons. Among NFL cornerbacks, only Josh Norman has a pricier long-term deal. 27-year-old Rhodes earned his first Pro Bowl selection with a career-high five picks last season and has flashed shutdown coverage skills when on his game, although he has dealt with some inconsistencies. Still a top-15 NFL cornerback by most measures, Rhodes' big body, long arms, and physical style have made him a fantastic fit for Mike Zimmer's man-coverage scheme.

CB Terence Newman----Terence Newman is working as the Vikings' slot cornerback..
He'll face competition from second-year CB Mackenzie Alexander, but Newman is the favorite to replace Captain Munnerlyn. Although Newman turns 39 in September, he earned Pro Football Focus' No. 8 cornerback grade among 119 qualifiers last season. Xavier Rhodes and Trae Waynes will start on the outside.

CB Trae Waynes--another CB I wish the Steelers had taken.
Vikings LCB Trae Waynes suffered a shoulder injury in the team's preseason opener.
He's done for the night. No severity of the injury has been disclosed, but the fact that Waynes was ruled out so quickly is cause for concern. The Vikings would have to turn back to Terence Newman outside if Waynes misses any time.


FS Harrison Smith is a star. Here's a report from June 2016.
Smith received the highest grade at his position this past season, and the second-highest in 2014—and is only 27 years old.

Smith has been an outstanding player in coverage throughout his career, as opposing QBs have had an NFL passer rating of under 68.0 when targeting him in coverage in three of his four pro seasons (43.3 in 2015). For his career, he has yielded just 68 receptions on 120 targets for nine touchdowns, with 12 interceptions and 12 passes defended.

Smith has also graded positively against the run each of the past three seasons, and over the past two years, has combined for 25 total pressures on just 80 pass-rush attempts (best in the NFL in pass-rush productivity at the safety position in 2015, third in 2014).

SS Alex Sendajo--Sendejo had six total tackles in Monday's win over the Saints. It was only about a year ago that head coach Mike Zimmer questioned whether Sendejo was a starter, but there's been no talk this season of his role being in doubt. He started at strong safety and played on all of the defense's snaps. Nevertheless, there are several articles saying the Vikings are trying to replace him.

P Ryan Quigley---two punts for 43 yard average in Week 1. bounced around a bit in his career. articles suggesting the Vikings spend a draft pick on a punter.

K Kai Forbath---Cut by the saints. A career 84.1 percent field goal kicker, Forbath provides an immediate upgrade on Blair Walsh.

Cornerbacks Terence Newman and Xavier Rhodes were both limited after not appearing on the injury report at all for Wednesday’s session. Newman is listed with a knee injury and Rhodes’ hip was the reason for his appearance.

 

Very nice write up . I agree on Thielen from the slot being a major concern . I think the Coaches will see it the same way. Do they over compensate with zone and leave to many running lanes for Cook ?

IMO 1 of those 2 is going to have a big day . If both do we are in trouble .

 

I think Shazier can handle Thielen under neath.....

 

Yep.


In fact Blast, I now have just the person to spolight for this week's X Factor.

 

If you take a few things from last year... Saints were ranked 31 in defense... Vikings 6...

 

Will Sam Bradford play this weekend? I saw a tweet about an MRI on his knee....

 

Yes, they have concerns over his left knee. Reading this Steeler defenders?...his LEFT knee

 

how will Jesse James do ?

 

Vikings D will be ready for JJ. On the other side of the ball, I fear Kyle Rudolph is gonna give the Steelers D fits.

 

It's gonna be a nail biter boys and girls.

 

Vikings fan here...

Just a couple of issues with the write-up:

1) Easton isn't filling in for Alex Boone, he beat him out and Boone was cut.
2) Rookie Ben Gideon is the starting WLB, not Lamur. (Good against the run. Against the pass? Not so much)

Aside from those 2 inconsequential errors, great write-up as a whole!

Our offensive line was a sieve last year, and it's a wonder Bradford is still alive let alone playing. The big uglies "seemed" to play better last week with new starters at all 5 positions, but I refuse to read too much into dominating a defense as porous as the Saints. They're definitely better at run-blocking than pass-blocking, or at least that's how each has graded out on PFF over the years, which means your defensive line, along with the varied and complex blitz packages the Steelers run could wreak havoc on our passing game.

Bradford has the "Check-Down-Charlie" reputation due to the fact that he's seemingly played behind the worst lines in football his entire career, hence 2 torn ACL's. It was true last year in Minnesota, and it was most definitely true his time with the Rams. But with that said, when given time, he's actually a very accurate downfield thrower, as evidenced by him leading the league in the medium-range accuracy % last year, and by how he played last week when given all night to throw, (completing 84% for 347 yards with a 10.8 avg).

Regarding Xavier Rhodes, if you look at the numbers on him... he's not a top 15 corner, he's more along the lines of a top 5 corner, and arguably in the top 3. I was reading a PFF article on him last year that showed him as the #1 corner in the league in terms of QB ratings against him. He regularly shuts down the opposing team's #1, and was responsible for 1 of Odell Beckham's many mental breakdowns last year....lol

Now, before I'm written off as a homer, let me say this. Rhodes rarely covers receivers in the slot, which is where Brown seems to garner most of his yards, (he got 99 from the slot last week), and that will pose a matchup nightmare for us if he's covered by 39-year-old Terrance Newman, or 2nd year underachiever, Mackensie Alexander. Not looking forward to those matchups.

We've been good against the pass the last few years, but struggled against the run, but in all fairness, Captain Munnerlyn was our nickle corner (resigned a big deal with the Panthers), and he was a guy who's name was almost never called, meaning he stuck to his man consistently. That doesn't seem to be the case for our nickle this year. Not to mention, 38-year-old Terrance Newman graded out as one of the better corners in the league last year and he looks to have hit that perennial wall, based on what I've seen. And I know the OP was high on Waynes, but he's looked mediocre to absolutely horrible in preseason AND against the Saints. He's not any Vikings fan's favorite player.

With that said, I think it's going to be a tough game Sunday between two hard-nosed, defensive-minded teams. I'll be honest, I'm not expecting a win, but the way you guys struggled against the Browns, it gave me a glimmer of hope.

Speaking of which, would someone be kind enough to enlighten me on that? Are the Browns better than advertised this year, or was it just an off day for Pittsburgh?

Thanks!

 

Sounds like Bradford has a swelling problem in his knee. He has been injury prone so I suspect there is something worse than reported going on.

 

Xavier Rhodes and Terrance Newman also might be limited......
I take Bradford's performance with a grain of salt as it was against the historically awful saints defense

 

according to PFF, there were 15 OG that didn't surrender a QB pressure in Week 1. Our DeCastro and Foster were two of them.

 

from PFF:

Elite Stat: Antonio Brown caught 100 percent of the 11 passes thrown his way, including one heavily deflected on its way past a linebacker.

Antonio Brown was just too much for the Cleveland secondary, even catching passes that were deflected on their way through to him. Brown gained 95 of his 182 yards after the catch, making four defenders miss after the catch.

 

You can't give that man a free release and you can't play him with just 1 guy . I suspect they will play man/zone with the man coverage always on him with zone help leaning his way . We will need someone else to step up . Who is that guy going to be or everyone else would be great that would force them to change the scheme .

All I know is someone else besides AB needs to have a stellar game whether it's one player or more than that it needs to happen early and often .