Here is a realists view of the upcoming season. I love what the Vikings did in the off season and I look forward to seeing what Zimmer can do as a first year head coach but lets remember that there are still lots of questions marks and that Zimmer is just that- a first year head coach. Offense- I am a big fan of Zimmer bringing in Norv Turner. A lot has been made of Turners limited success (Not operating many top offenses) in the 2000s but I look at it as he took some awful jobs. He has proven to not be a successful head coach but a good coordinator. He is a infinite upgrade over Musgrave both in scheme and in game management. Our offense has lots of talent. Reports are great on Rudolphs health and physical condition. If Turner and staff can get Patterson to perfect route running the kid will be Dez Bryant plus without the drama. We still have questions marks on the o-line. Was Khalils poor play due to injury and does he prove worthy of the high draft pick spent on him this year. AP is 29 and has had lots of dings in his illustrious career. He is at the age where backs of his style start to wear down- notice the several nagging injuries that ultimately cost him 2 games last season. Most fans like to say that he is in human and not subject to the well established laws of playing RB in the NFL but it would be best for him if his carries stayed under the 300 mark. It would help keep him fresh and extend his career. Then there is QB. If Bridgewater doesnt shock everyone and runaway with the job we are stuck with Cassel and everyone will be pushing for Bridgewater. We will still be stuck on the QB carousel that has divided fans since Favre retired. Cassel is what he has been for 9 years- a mediocre starting QB. Defense- I have read such crazy predictions that Zimmer makes this defense a top 5. Zimmer is not a miracle worker. Lets be real. Zimmer has over saw some bad defenses and some that regressed. In year 4 in Dallas his defense was #1 in yards and #2 in points allowed. The next season they fell to 16 & 27. His first and ultimately only year as the Falcons DC they were 29th and 29th which was worse than the previous year. His first year in Cincy they were 12 & 19th, rose to 4th & 6th before falling to 15th and 24th then followed that up by finishing in the top 10 for three consecutive years. Another little talked about fact is that Zimmers defenses have not historically produced lots of turnovers. In 14 seasons as a DC his teams have finished in the NFLs bottom half of takeaways 10 times! Our defensive scheme was outdated and soft last year for sure but we were also really short on talent. I think that a true nose tackle like Joseph makes the whole defense better but we still have lots of questions marks at linebacker and defensive back. Special Teams- Again will be the best unit. With Walsh kicking and CP returning kicks we should win some close games because of it. Schedule- Ouch! Starts off rough and our divisional games are always tough. We are playing outdoors which could be an advantage only no warm weather teams come here in December. Thanks for nothing NFL schedulers. Bottom Line- This team is heading into the right direction and there will be some excitement this year but there are way too many question marks to predict anything but 6-10 to 8-8 and that is based on not having injuries like we did to Rudolph, Rhodes, and Smith last year. Unless you are wearing your purple lenses and see every question mark as working out to the optimum. Ready-set-tell me how off my rocker I am! :)
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 16:01:26 +0000
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