Vikings game reactions

Well I’ve said 2 things about Goff this year and I still think both of them after Minnesota.

1. He IS a franchise qb. He has the arm-talent, he has the smarts, he has the work ethic, he has the toughness and poise.
2. He started out more behind than most as a rookie (variant of Air Raid offense in college) and still has a lot of developing to do, the kind that comes from experience and making responses to different situations more automatic.

Point #2 means he’s going to be inconsistent until he matures more. There will be peaks and valleys on a general upward trajectory.

I thought the Vikes game got down to this. The Vikes OL outplayed the Rams front 7 and a shifty smart veteran qb took advantage of it. On the other side, the Vikes DL handled the Rams OL and they threw a younger, still developing qb off his game.

I think the Rams also found out some guys they’ve programmed in a lot may not be clutch enough for the future. Both Seattle and the Vikes made plays when they had to and those plays determined the game. Who on the Rams just MAKES PLAYS when they’re needed? On offense it’s NOT Kupp, though I have hope for him, and it’s not Higbee, who I have less hope for.

On defense, injuries have depleted the CBs (along with trading Gaines). But up to this point WP has been getting by without outside rushers and without a soild consistent NT.

Another factor in this game was a measure of some Vikings “told ya so.” Meaning this. Shurmur was not popular among some Rams fans but he was always better than the negative assessments said he was. Same with Keenum (Keenum though needs a running game which he didn’t have in 2016). Keenum is a #2 caliber qb but he’s the best one the Rams had in years.

In terms of the schedule I can’t think of the last time any team played division leaders in consecutive or near consecutive games. It’s murderers row.

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snowman wrote:

IMO, the game turned on two plays: the missed strip sack by Quinn and the fumble by Kupp. Those two plays were both pretty early in the game and seems to inspire the Vikings and deflate the Rams.

(Thanks snow!) What was it like to be there? Was it a rough sit-through? Rams did hold on for 3 quarters.

sean wrote:

In Person Game Review and General Thoughts

First, AT&T Stadium is quite impressive in Downtown Minneapolis.

It is a beautiful structure outside with the glass and as you would expect has all the modern amenities on the inside. Being in Cowboys stadium for a few games, it is not as over the top, but in general, a pretty cool stadium.

As others have stated, they have a really good home-field advantage and is a 100% improvement from the Metrodome.

We had very good seats. I was eight rows up in the lower section on the RAMS side. Not sure what you could see on the TV….but the sun came through around 12:30 and was blinding until the early 3rd quarter.

The seats, at least in the lower section, were very comfortable and quite large. The purple seats, along with the purple jerseys made it quite a site. If I have to hear that damn horn again, I will go crazy. Not sure what the TV picked up, but it was LOUD. The crowd was really into it….and from the people I talked to, like us, they really thought this was an important measuring stick game.

I won’t go too much into analysis, but Cooper has to hang on to the ball. He is too good a player not to. Also, I got the feeling, and by judging the Rams body language, it seemed like they felt they were the better team until the early 4th quarter. Once Kupp dropped the 3rd down pass, which essentially would of put us in FG range and potentially cut the lead to 14-10…the Vikings scored again and it was ball game.

Also, not too use injuries as an excuse, but once we lost Robey-Coleman early and then Webster later, it was a matter of time until Hatfield was taken advantage of. Quite frankly, I am surprised it took so long. Speaking of Robey-Colman, when coming out for the second half he had a noticeable limp and was really struggling to walk.

Moving back to pre-game…we had a great view of the warm-ups.

-Hekker participated with the other QBs in throwing to the WRs…quite an impressive ball he has.

-Whitworth is one big man

-Kronke and Snead were on the field at midfield talking for about 15 minutes. A bigger guy, I presume a bodyguard, stood about 5 yards away holding Kronke’s bag or man purse!

– As with all pre-games these days, many of the players were dancing to all the pre-game music.

-Robert Woods was all smiles during pre-game, and you can generally see he is a leader and very likeable. Hopefully, his shoulder will be fine.

-Aaron Donald was out about one hour before the game in sweats and man is this guy cut. He was really working hard and I would like to see us tie him up long-term.

-When the Rams coaching staff came out, Sean McVay came out in a full sprint…Wade was bringing up the rear.

-Greg Zurlein was right in front of us the whole time. He stood alone, like most kickers I am sure, and constantly was kicking into the net on the sideline.

-After Robert Quinn missed Case he was walking up the sideline shaking his head over and over again.

-To me, Tavon almost seemed like an outsider. His lack of playing time is well documented. He was constantly chirping on the sideline to coached, and a few times he went in and then ran off late. It seems like he’s not all in. At this point, I don’t see how he stays on the roster next year.

-On the sideline, Goff seemed to project confidence and until mid way through the 4th Q every time before hitting the field, he was talking to the OL and other players. He generally had a good calm demeanor about him.

During half-time, they had a country singer, I never hear of, sing and the crowd was appreciative and very respectful. Also, in general, the Viking fans were respectful and did not do much trash talking..

Plenty of Rams jerseys…by far the most popular was the Gurley rush jerseys. I did see a dad with a Quinn jersey and a little girl (maybe 6) with a Barron jersey. For the record, I was sporting my Marshall Faulk jersey, with the hopes of a dominating performance like we had in January 2000.

That’s all