The Minnesota Vikings were defeated by the Philadelphia Eagles 28-22 on Sunday. Disappointing Red Zone performances, big plays, turnovers, and some questionable calls led to a deflating loss. The offense moved the ball up and down the field with ease. They just couldn’t punch it in for a touchdown. The defense was strong, for the most part, but were burned by big plays. Those big plays were assisted by some officials forgetting what a holding penalty looked like. A questionable hold on one TD for the Vikings and a reversal of a catch/non-catch that, if anything, wasn’t clear and obvious.
It wasn’t all on any of them, but you know we like to over-react and tell everyone the sky is falling. Football is fun and it should be fun, win or lose. These games are for entertainment. None of these players, or their families, deserve any hatred or threats because of their play, good or bad. Isaiah Rodgers didn’t have a good game yesterday. He was against some damn good WRs and a Super Bowl MVP quarterback. Isaiah posted a screenshot of some DMs he received after the game with racist and other vile language. If you think it’s a good idea, even if you’re emotional or had a few drinks, to send that to anyone, you’re the nincompoop. There isn’t an excuse for that. It’s a game we watch for entertainment. There is so much going on in the world, we don’t need more hatred.
The Nincompoop of the Week this week has already been claimed.
That being said, we don’t let a bad apple spoil the bunch. We’re going to continue on with our fandom anger, that will stay with us being frustrated our team didn’t win. Here are a few I’m putting the loss on:
Wentz’s stats ended up looking fairly decent, but it was not a good game. The pick-6 was bad. The 2nd interception, I didn’t hate at all. It was toss up ball on 2nd and 27 from the 9 and Philly got the ball at their 44. That’s a net 47 yards, better than some punts from Ryan Wright. Wentz made some mistakes you would expect from a rookie. The 8 yard backwards pass, inexplicably missing his first read in C.J. Ham for a TD and then grounding the ball, and so many missed throws. Addison was open for a long TD and had to dive out of bounds to catch it, instead of walking into the endzone. Hockenson makes a leaping catch when he’s wide open in the end zone (which was reversed). Wentz was inaccurate and when he wasn’t, he made poor decisions. He’s likely headed to the bench soon, when J.J. McCarthy is ready to go.
It’s hard to blame KOC too harshly when Wentz is making the mistakes he made. Addison was open all day, Ham should’ve had his first TD of the season and Hockenson should’ve had another. He can’t make the players execute. That being said, this team is undisciplined. They’re 28th in penalties, 32nd in turnovers and make consistent mental mistakes. 9-year olds playing Madden display better clock management skills. This isn’t a well coached team right now. KOC might be an excellent play caller, but it’s fair to question if he’s a good head coach.
I started to write about Brian Flores, but kept on seeing the holding penalties not being called on most of those big plays. Flores dared Jalen Hurts to beat them and hurts did. However, the only reason they were able to get so open was Hurts was able to hold onto the ball. The first TD was scored on a 4th down, Dallas Turner was being manhandled by Lane Johnson (who they consistently tell us is the best in the league). The final TD of the day, the RG almost took the shotgun snap he was so far in the backfield before the play. Flores called a great game, he just can’t expect his pass rush to get home if they’re not fairly calling the play. There is also a standard for replay that should be clear and obvious. Watching Hockenson’s catch/no-catch in the end zone, the only thing clear was it wasn’t clear and obvious. We’ve jumped the shark if it take slow motion to see if a blade of grass touched the ball as he rolled over. Also, Fox never showed a replay, but the first KOC challenge was clearly correct. Rubber pellets flying up from the ball touching the ground isn’t proof, but somehow if there was proof for Hockenson. Six point game and it easily could’ve gone the other way on several calls.
Brandel is new to the center position, so it’s hard to question him too hard. Brandel allowed six pressures up the middle. It was a big reason Wentz was struggling all day. PFF gave him a 35.6 pass blocking grade for the game. The holding penalty that brought back the Nailor TD was very harsh. He did have a slight hold of the jersey with his left hand, but that’s not what brought the DT to the ground. If that’s a hold called the entire game, the Viking defense gives up a few less TDs. The Vikings will hope Brandel can turn it around quickly on a short week.
Rodgers is mostly here becuase we’ve seen him play so damn well in the first five games. Rodgers knows it wasn’t his best game. He was beat 1 on 1 several times by a pair Pro Bowl WRs and a Super Bowl MVP QB. He won’t be the only CB that looks silly against those guys. They also had time to throw and it’s nearly impossible to cover for 3.5s+ for any DB. I am anticipating it’s a one and done on this list for Rodgers and he’ll bounce back on Thursday.
I’ve missed a few weeks here with some personal things going on. Just a busy time and I travled overseas to take in the Vikings. I should be back here more frequently. Life gets busy, but the Vikings are always in my mind.
