Thread: An Open Letter to the Viking Franchise.

"Marrdro" wrote:

"bleedpurple" wrote:

"Marrdro" wrote:

"Caine" wrote:

HEY!!!!
We just got a reply to the open letter in the PPO Mail Box!!!!!!
Here's what it says;

Dear Viking Fan,

Thank you for writing.
I'd like to take a moment to respond to all of your questions.

No.

Sincerely,

Brad Childress

:-X

Caine

Funny, I thought the word "Yutz" would be fused into the reply somehow.
: ;D

lol... yeah, that letter was pretty OFF-Target!!!....

I know we probably don't have ALL the personnel but did anybody see the Saints/Packers game last night???
MAN!!
If we could somehow be anywhere near as creative as the saints were last night, our offense would be sick...

I mean, the play calling in that game last night by the saints was a thing of beauty!!... From the formations, the routes by the receivers.. Their offense yesterday was amazing to watch....


If we could even be half as creative as they were last night, we'd be a lot more dangerous.. Using the bunches of receivers to create mismatches and open up underneath routes then go up top was just masterful!!... And with relatively no-name receivers... i mean did any body know who Lance Moore was before this season??..

With that said, i think we are on the cusp... I'm just waiting for the light to turn on for some of these guys...

Excellent observation my friend.

I think (hate to say it) that this staff can be that creative and we do have the players to pull it off with one exception.......We don't have a QB the caliber of Bree's to execute it.

Even though I like Gus as a good backup, he is just to imobile to try to do the stuff the Aints did last night.
Hell, all the defense needs to do is sit back and watch him drop back a couple of series and they then know the spot to rush to.

All they have to do then is just change up their routes to the QB (Cross buck/Stunt/Bull rush etc) and he is toast regardless of how well our OLmen play.

I agree with you Gus isn't mobile... but the Aints play a different offense than we do... and with the exception of that pass Brees threw to COlston that went for the TD... Brees is mobile but doesn't move around a lot... he just knows where to go with the ball and as soon as he hits that last step in his drop back, the ball is out...

so, while i agree Gus isn't the QB brees is, i don't think calling plays or running the type of offense with all those formations would be a bad thing even with Gus...

Besides, IMO, AP runs better in 3 wr sets and not with 2 TE's.. bc it spreads out the field and opens up the middle...

MY one gripe (of many) about our coaching staff though, is that WHY THE HELL CAN'T AP PICK UP A BLITZ OR PASS BLOCK YET!!.. this is his second year in the league and there is no excuse for it... this is one of the reasons we are not as successful, bc when AP is in it's pretty much a given that we're gonna run the rock..

so in my opinion, i would keep it consistent and play AP on third downs a little more often, and sub in chester in on say every 3rd or 4th series of first down... that to me playing them like we did moreso last year makes both of them more effective in the running game...

consider we were #1 last year and are #5 this year.... the different type style of runners they both are is a pretty good combination .. and they should take the Giants model of how to use them.. IMO!

"josdin00" wrote:

"kspurplepride" wrote:

QB has got to get Berrian the ball... he has 34 catches this season for 673 yards per game, and the longest average of any player with atleast 30 catches.

AD needs more touches not few... 17? 17? thats way to few. 20 should be minimum. If AD gets 20 touches we are almost guaranteed a 100 yards rushing each game... that'll open up the passing game

thats the problem right now, we got away from the two run and one pass play per four downs that was actually working for us. Teams aren't cheating up anymore because they aren't afraid of AD getting 30 touches most days that could lead to him hitting 150-300 yards in that game. This kid is special, hands down the best running back in the game, but Chilly is a conformist. He sits around during the week saying... look at the cardinals or the saints... lets pass more... that zone blocking looks fun, lets no longer maul defensive lines. Childress has shackled this run game, I'd stake my life savings that if Chiller had stuck with our run blocking scheme from last year AD would finish this season at or above 2000... not the 15-1600 he'll likely have.

as for the Jackson/Ferotte situation many of you will remember that I harshly critisized Chiller for benching Jackson. I though he played well in the second half of the Green Bay game, and wasn't horrid in the Colts game. I still believe that. But Gus regardless of what the numbers say puts a fire under that offense, and the team rallies around him. Berrian wouldn't have 30 catches if TJack was our QB, and we'd still be seeing 9-10 man fronts at the line of schrimmage. I am by no means defending Gus's play, but you have to take it with a grain of salt. The moment we go back to Jackson is the moment teams stop respecting the deep ball and were back to where we started. Gus is our quarterback, and Gus gives us the best chance to win. With Gus we would likely be 8-3 rather than 6-5 had he started the first two games.

As far as Taylor... he's filling his niche very well right now, and he suprisingly has a lot more yards both rushing, and recieving than one would expect.

Two small points. 1) I'm pretty sure we were using the zone blocking scheme last year, too. I could be wrong about this, but I believe that's the system Childress installed from the get-go.

2) As long as we're correcting the spelling of players' names here, it's Frerotte. You missed the first 'r'.

Ill add a couple points

The D's have never put 10 in the box against us.. Are you serious no corners and 1 safety back? Only on sure running goal line situations.. That has nothing to do with Gus

We still see 8-9 man fronts with Gus constintly.. Which means they don't respect the deep ball since he can't hit it.. He has missed like 10 straight.. Last one hit was against Houston with a badly underthrown ball that Berrian had to come back on and leap over 2 defenders

Gus sucks..

"bleedpurple" wrote:

MY one gripe (of many) about our coaching staff though, is that WHY THE HELL CAN'T AP PICK UP A BLITZ OR PASS BLOCK YET!!.. this is his second year in the league and there is no excuse for it... this is one of the reasons we are not as successful, bc when AP is in it's pretty much a given that we're gonna run the rock..

Hard to say.

Some pick it up right away, some in the second year or so and some take a bit longer.
No stat to back that up by the way, just an opinion from books/web articles etc I've read.

Could be that AD is a bit slower in the learning dept with respect to this as well as some other issues that compound the problem......

1.

For some reason it appears to me that Matt and our QB's have a hard time making pre-snap reads which leads to alot of blitz's coming clean up the middle.
As I've said repeatedly, that isn't a linemans fault or the RB's fault if that happens as those two make the last minute blocking assignments based on those reads.

2.
Our blocking scheme (ZB for the run/Man to Man for pass) is a bit complex and would add time to the learning process.
Again, back to item 1, it also appears that if/when we audible from run to pass, the blocking assignments get a bit screwed up as well.
Again, back to C/QB doing their job pre-snap.

Long story short, IMHO, given a bit more time, along with better C and QB play, AD should become a very potent threat in the passing game to include his protection issues.

correction... we see the 8 and 9 man fronts because they are playing man and they walk the safeties up to cover the TE's. 8 man fronts are very common against two tight end sets, whether a team can run the football or not. A lot of teams run cover 1 out of their man schemes, even the Vikes. They walk a safety down and use him in coverage (something we have seen from Madieu a few times this year) on a TE or a slot receiver. That puts one linebacker in zone coverage (the "robber") in front of the safety and then the other two linebackers are in coverage with the backs (FB, HB) and the other TE. It's when we have both Shank and Sauce in the game that we are seeing these fronts, its not because teams don't respect the deep threat

"kspurplepride" wrote:

correction... we see the 8 and 9 man fronts because they are playing man and they walk the safeties up to cover the TE's. 8 man fronts are very common against two tight end sets, whether a team can run the football or not. A lot of teams run cover 1 out of their man schemes, even the Vikes. They walk a safety down and use him in coverage (something we have seen from Madieu a few times this year) on a TE or a slot receiver. That puts one linebacker in zone coverage (the "robber") in front of the safety and then the other two linebackers are in coverage with the backs (FB, HB) and the other TE. It's when we have both Shank and Sauce in the game that we are seeing these fronts, its not because teams don't respect the deep threat

They play with what we have out there

If we send out 3-4 wide sets they send a guy out to them

If we have 2 they usually have a guy on each and 1 possibly 2 safetys back

And yes they do not respect the deep pass.. Being at the games you can see the formations much better then on TV.. With the games I was at this year I saw way too much of 2 corners and 1 safety back

But yes when we have 2 tight they have more in there.. That's obvious running like I said.. If not they got someone there to cover

I got a couple of questions for all the people who keep track of plays and stuff like that...

1. Have we ever run a "shovel" pass this year?

2. Have we ever had a pitch-out to a running back or fullback?

Enquiring minds want to know!

"COJOMAY" wrote:

I got a couple of questions for all the people who keep track of plays and stuff like that...

1. Have we ever run a "shovel" pass this year?

2. Have we ever had a pitch-out to a running back or fullback?

Enquiring minds want to know!

Yup 2 pitch outs last game

1 went for 1 yard or 2 yards I think

Other went for a lose

I know what you are saying and you are correct

But Jackson and Frerotte have seen the same exact fronts.. Gus doesn't take an extra person out of the box

It was clear in the Tampa game more so then the others that they were only concerned about the shorter stuff by letting some of the deeper throws get over them

And against Jax when Shank got loose they had 1 safety back

"V4L" wrote:

"COJOMAY" wrote:

I got a couple of questions for all the people who keep track of plays and stuff like that...

1. Have we ever run a "shovel" pass this year?

2. Have we ever had a pitch-out to a running back or fullback?

Enquiring minds want to know!

Yup 2 pitch outs last game

1 went for 1 yard or 2 yards I think

Other went for a lose

Kindof lump them in with a "Screen" play.
For the life of me I can't figure out why we can't execute one of those damn things........ :'(

"Marrdro" wrote:

"V4L" wrote:

"COJOMAY" wrote:

I got a couple of questions for all the people who keep track of plays and stuff like that...

1. Have we ever run a "shovel" pass this year?

2. Have we ever had a pitch-out to a running back or fullback?

Enquiring minds want to know!

Yup 2 pitch outs last game

1 went for 1 yard or 2 yards I think

Other went for a lose

Kindof lump them in with a "Screen" play.
For the life of me I can't figure out why we can't execute one of those damn things........ :'(

Me either my man

Im not sure if Birk can pull anymore.. But he used to be the best pulling center in the legue.. I haven't seen him pull for years

I wonder if we could get him out there and get a block on a screen.. I usually see the guard pull and it isn't working