Scouting The Vikings

[wud35]

6 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

I got about 45 years worth.

Same here but it gets harder every year to remember them lol. Have been blessed to have been able to watch some of the greatest play. Makes me respect the players we have on the panther's even more.

[Vikesfan]

3 minutes ago, rico6 said:

tbf, our defense as a whole can't afford to let Luke blitz in comparison to other blitzing MLBs, I'm sure theres a statistic out there that would show that amongst the league's MLBs that Luke's blitzing\sack differential would be amongst the best in the league.

Profootball Focus has him ok. According to their metrics Barr was the best last season. 

 

[rico6]

1 minute ago, Vikesfan said:

Profootball Focus has him ok. According to their metrics Barr was the best last season. 

 

Impressive. I haven't followed the Vike's defense since the Williams bros so forgive the ignorance.

[Mr. Scot]

10 minutes ago, wud35 said:

Same here but it gets harder every year to remember them lol. Have been blessed to have been able to watch some of the greatest play. Makes me respect the players we have on the panther's even more.

Sometimes my football memory is better than my memory for more important stuff.

[Vikesfan]

CB:
Newman is a decent CB.  Won't give up the long but can be beat with quick slants. Isn't the biggest CB and will struggle with your 6'5 monsters. Rhodes is 6'1 and plays to his size. He will probably  be asked to shadow KB if healthy. He missed last game with a knee injury he suffered in pre game week 1.  Captain is a good slot corner and was miscast as an outside CB. Since we signed him Zimmer has rebuilt a lot of his technique and footing. Waynes, the gift and the curse. Very athletic, great coverage skills but very grabby and late to turn his head. He can make a good play or give up 2 PIs. There is no in between. Behind Waynes is Alexander who I fell in love with. Dude will not play for some time but he has the cover skills you love. His attitude scares me as he is a big talker and may be prone to taunting penalties. Zimmer is a former DB coach and he demands perfection with his CBs. Not just lining up but foot placement, shoulder shading, hand placement, all of these things are drilled and he obviously has no issue not playing big time rookies. We run primarily a cover 3 scheme with the occasional man coverage on the back side of a blitz.

Safety:
Harrison Smith is the Safety I pick is I am starting a team. Earl Thomas is a better FS then him and the guy from Miami is a maybe a better Strong. However, neither can play both positions at as high a level. Prior to Zimmer he was a high FS and has 4 ints returned for TDs to show for it. Not great in man coverage but most safeties aren't. Since Zimmer has arrived, he has been moved down into the box more and blitz where he has had as high as 5 sacks. He makes plays behind the line, he makes plays in the run game and he can cover deep. He's also a big clean hitter. 
 

 

[panthers55]

15 minutes ago, Vikesfan said:

We will see. However, I remember giving it to you guys pretty good in 2014. Lots have changed since then.

You can't take much solace from beating us in 2014. Cam was hurt much of the season and the difference was largely 2 blocked punts both returned for TDs. This time Cam is healthy and Andy Lee is a probowl punter. And we won't be playing on a frozen field in God forsaken Minnesota but in the warm and friendly confines of BOA.  We are good for 30+ points at home. If you score another 17 this week you won't be winning this time.

[Moorgan]

This kind of football analysis is good stuff. @KB_fan should get in on this.

Sounds to me like KB will be at an advantage again. But Olsen may have a tough game. Our run game, as usual, will be the important match up. 

I know the Vikes offense hasn't been discussed yet but with AP out, that leaves Diggs as the lone "danger" right?

[JawnyBlaze]

30 minutes ago, Vikesfan said:

Profootball Focus has him ok. According to their metrics Barr was the best last season. 

 

Barr is great and all, but you're comparing apples to oranges.  Luke is a MLB.  MLBs tend not to get as many sacks.  TD had what, 6 last year?  That was pretty good for a natural 4-3 OLB, unlike Barr.  If I'm not mistaken, Barr is more of the Kalil Mack/Von Miller new age 4-3 OLB that's really a 3-4 OLB playing in a 4-3.

Not trying to take anything away from him, Barr is a great player but there is no comparing him to anyone in our system and even if you could, Luke is a generational player.  There would be no comparison.  The closest comparison you can find on our team, both in position and talent, is TD.

Oh, and I'm not trying to poo on your work here, good stuff.  I just had to comment on the Barr/Luke comparison :)

[Vikesfan]

Keys to beating the Defense:
Go big on them and run the ball. Teams that line up and impact their will, wear us down and can move us around. Double team Joseph. and be disciplined. Practice the double A gap scheme in practice and everyone on offense must under stand their responsibilities. The beauty of the double A gap scheme is that you place two LBs on either side of the Center which makes it difficult for him to help on the Nose, makes the Oline prone to helping in places where they don't need to and allows for off the edge blitzing from Harrison Smith. If you find the solution to it, you can eat up big chunks and force us to be a bit more vanilla. As with blocking, GB tends to have our number due to deep multi move routes. We have great talent at CB but we are prone to the double move and covering longer than 5 seconds. Also due to the size of our CBs and their ball skills, Cam needs to toss it up and give your WRs a chance. Great offense Vs. a great defense. Should be fun on Sunday. 

 

[Vikesfan]

2 minutes ago, JawnyBlaze said:

Barr is great and all, but you're comparing apples to oranges.  Luke is a MLB.  MLBs tend not to get as many sacks.  TD had what, 6 last year?  That was pretty good for a natural 4-3 OLB, unlike Barr.  If I'm not mistaken, Barr is more of the Kalil Mack/Von Miller new age 4-3 OLB that's really a 3-4 OLB playing in a 4-3.

Not trying to take anything away from him, Barr is a great player but there is no comparing him to anyone in our system and even if you could, Luke is a generational player.  There would be no comparison.  The closest comparison you can find on our team, both in position and talent, is TD.

Oh, and I'm not trying to poo on your work here, good stuff.  I just had to comment on the Barr/Luke comparison :)

You are mistaken :). He is nothing like Miller or Mack. He can be but not in our Scheme. Both of those guys are edge rushers. We rush Barr up the middle when we send him. Also, he graded out as the best cover LB last season. I'll try to find the PFF report. 

[Vikesfan]

Please don't get me wrong with the Barr talk. Luke is the standard hands down and as I said, I would trade Barr for him. He is dominant  at the things he is great at, coverage, runs support, pursuit, instincts, playmaking, hitting. Barr is no where the hitter Luke is. His run support is good but definitely a notch below Luke. Lastly, Barr has a harder times getting off blocks than Luke in my eyes. I just think when you add a guy that graded tops or close to it in pass rush but give him the ability to play the pass too, he is more versatile.  

[fieryprophet]

6 minutes ago, Vikesfan said:

Keys to beating the Defense:
Go big on them and run the ball. Teams that line up and impact their will, wear us down and can move us around. Double team Joseph. and be disciplined. Practice the double A gap scheme in practice and everyone on offense must under stand their responsibilities. The beauty of the double A gap scheme is that you place two LBs on either side of the Center which makes it difficult for him to help on the Nose, makes the Oline prone to helping in places where they don't need to and allows for off the edge blitzing from Harrison Smith. If you find the solution to it, you can eat up big chunks and force us to be a bit more vanilla. As with blocking, GB tends to have our number due to deep multi move routes. We have great talent at CB but we are prone to the double move and covering longer than 5 seconds. Also due to the size of our CBs and their ball skills, Cam needs to toss it up and give your WRs a chance. Great offense Vs. a great defense. Should be fun on Sunday. 

 

Panthers specialize in the double A gap blitz, it's not something that will surprise them.

[Vikesfan]

1 minute ago, fieryprophet said:

Panthers specialize in the double A gap blitz, it's not something that will surprise them.

Watch the first video posted. You will see how we do it different than a lot of other teams. Zimmer is one of the progenitors of the scheme. I think you will see much that you haven't seen before. My biggest concern is the read option. Our DEs have struggle with diagnosing it quickly and it seems to be something you guys use a lot.

[Chief_Chokeaho]

The thing that's sets Luke a part from other talented LB's sounds trivial but anytime we have a close game, Luke literally makes a play and closes it out. It's like having MJ on defense which is absurd to think about because football is all about match ups...but Luke just has this tangible I've literally never seen before where he is literally always in the right place at the right time when the game is on the line. Always. That's something that won't show up in stats. 

Not to mention opposing teams literally change the entire concept of their offense to avoid Luke. Dude will go down as the best MLB of all time easily.