Vikings @ Chargers Game Day Thread (Week 8) | Post Game Discusssion

[jamrock]

Just our luck that after trading Alohi away because we had depth, our safeties start dropping like flies.

Rodney Harrison looked like he was in pretty good shape last night

[Xenos]

So with this Sunday off, please provide some advice here- watch the Cowboys hopefully upset the Donks OR do what my better half wants-see"Black Phone 2?"

Black Phone 2. You can always check the scores later.

[Berserker]

Herbert does not have trust issues with Ladd. Not even close. The best WRs in the league will have more drops. Top guys usually lead the league in drops but also put up crazy numbers. Ladd was like that last season. The drops stats vs one another does not tell the story. I have seen QJ in Herberts doghouse often over his career. He had 2 last week that hurt. And Ladds last night was on a free play offside. I think he lost the ball in the lights. QJ has been much better and has helped us big time. But his game is the deep ball and based on the way we are playing right now with the emergence of our stud TE? I just think hes 4th in the pecking order. And with the team trying to get Tre more involved i question if we might actually flip QJ for some help elsewhere. If not thats fine. He has a roll. But Tre can do what he does from the perimeter. We have a ton of options and thats a good thing. But Justin tends to shy away from QJ when he gets the yips. Ladd has so much production since he came in the league you hardly notice the drops.

Id like to get a guy like Joel Bitonio from the Browns. They could use a younger long term solution at WR and QJ would fit there. Bitonio is solid and has a void year next year. We could lock him up for 2026. He is very solid for a 35 year old. Still highly effective and i dont think QJ is coming back after 26. The upgrade at LG with Bitonio is as valuable as QJ is as our 3rd or 4th WR. And we have his replacement already. Bitonio would help us this year more than QJ would imo. But this does not mean in down on QJ. But we seemingly look pretty stacked with pass catchers. A more dominant OL? Makes everyone even that much better. You have to run the ball effectively in the post season. And stop the run. So id like to fortify those.

Well said.

[Xenos]

Now if Cowboys can make our upcoming weekend even better...

And the Commanders on Monday somehow.

[Xenos]

Will you guys root for us Sunday night against Pittsburgh? We need the support. Our former QB will want to beat us.

We will. Helps with seeding for us if you beat them too!

[Xenos]

Shout outs:
Zion and Boze controlled the middle and opened holes.

Mickens did a nice job

Eboigbe was a stud and Campbell pretty good.

Bobby Hart started in place of Pipkens. Sarrell did a decent job filling in for Gaithers, I mean Becton

Gadsden is a go to guy

QJ did not get a single target. Not one

nice to have Alt back

I suspect because QJ is mainly the vertical guy right now and outside of that Ladd TD, they kept it pretty short to handle the Vikings blitz.

[Topcat]

I have begun watching highlights, and one of the first plays has Kimani Vidal taking on a blitzing linebacker straight on, and moving him to the side creating a hole for Herbert: 0.58 seconds mark

In addition, there is Bozeman doubling up on a DT with Zion, ignoring the edge on the opposite side on a stunt, streaming thru the A gap: 1:10 seconds mark,
and there is the play where two inside linebackers are blitzing, with Zion picking up one, and Bozeman missing the other, blocking nobody, but following with his eyes the DT on the other side headed to the B gap around Becton's right: 1:20 mark.

And then there is Kimani Vidal scuttling to make a block on a free running Jonathon Greenard, giving Herbert a tick more time to make the throw: 1:34 seconds mark

Its still early, but these are among the first 6 highlighted plays in the video.
KImani Vidal stellar in pass pro and Bozeman doing Bozeman type things.

Yep...Vidal picks up the blitz expertly...steers the blitzer to the side so Herbie steps up into a super clean pocket and complete a first down pass to Slayer...that's how it's done, folks!

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[Xenos]

He’s still captain of trust, IMO.

Yes, he had one miss that bounced off his face mask but then he had the spectacular TD reception where he turned on the speed like little Dash Parr from the Incredibles.

QJ has always dropped passes and still drops passes. Those receivers are completely different as far as my eye test goes but our mileage may differ.

The point is that QJ not being targeted tonight probably has more to do with Flores than a lack of trust. He’s also currently being used differently than Ladd.

[dmac_bolt]

That’s why you bring in competition. You don’t sign him to start, you sign him, somebody like Will Hernandez and draft a G and have them battle it out.

Or pay for somebody like Brady Christensen to start. But I don’t think they will pay a high price for 2 Gs. I think they resign Zion to a $15 mil APY contract, draft a C and bring in some competition for RG. If they don’t cut Becton, I still believe they bring in some quality depth that will challenge Becton. Faalele, Hernandez, Ed Ingram, Teven Jenkins or Strange could be the competition.

15 sounds steep for Zion, idunno. You could be right. I was thinking 8-10, 2-3 year deal, I could be way off.

[Jack Burton]

I think Pipkins was only available for "emergencies". Apparently pulling Alt out at the end of the game counted as an emergency. I can't believe I am going to say this but I don't believe Bobby Hart played that horrible the last couple of games. I think he has earned his spot on the active roster the remainder of the season.

Hart was good as long as he has the FB and the RB shading him. As long as Hart has help he seems serviceable.

[dmac_bolt]

He is running more because he is healthy.

He’s running more because he can. He’s running a lot because of his OL. A lot + more is what we see. I do sense he’s getting some coaching “go ahead and take off once in awhile, every play doesn’t need to be with your arm and every run doesn’t need to be for 20”

… and that difference is very important positive on throwing off defense. Or it could be the Vikings are that bad - they’ve lost more than they’ve won after all.

[Boltinloudguy]

15 sounds steep for Zion, idunno. You could be right. I was thinking 8-10, 2-3 year deal, I could be way off.

I would love it if they could get Zion for $10. After seeing Aaron Banks getting what he got last offseason and the cap going up, I would be surprised.

I think Zion would be a really good LG with a good C. I believe his first year when he played RG, Linsley was C, he was pretty good. He’s having a pretty good year so far, I just think he could be better with an above average C.