The Jaguars Steal The Vikings Mojo
This was me at halftime of the Jaguars game:
Jaguars need to call up the Vikings at the half and ask for suggestions
— Dave Rappoccio (@DrawPlayDave) January 15, 2023
THEY ACTUALLY DID IT! I can’t believe we had a 27-point comeback and it was somehow the second most wild comeback this season. I already talked at length about the Jaguars comeback and how it actually felt like the Jags were the better team the whole time once Trevor got over his yips. The Jaguars found themselves, the Chargers pulled a classic Chargers, Joey Bosa was a baby, and everyone laughed except for like, 150 people in Los Angeles. It was delightful.
The Vikings however…less delightful. So much has been written and stated this year about how the Vikings were frauds. We all knew it. Everyone could tell this team was not as good as their record. But even frauds still have…some ability. You have to have some cohesion as a team to take advantage of situations when they are gifted to you, and the Vikings indeed spent this entire season being maybe the best team ever at grabbing those tiny threads of hope to win games. Analytics experts listed them as not a 13 win team, but a 8 or 9 win team that fluked into 13 wins. That feels right, and that would put them directly on par with the 9 win Giants team they faced.
The game was a mess. Both defenses played badly, but the Vikings defense was just a total failure. The Giants defensive problems felt, in part, due to coaching peculiars. Wink Martindale understood that blitzing this team was never going to work in the Giants favor so to his credit he pulled back significantly compared to his usual style and instead focused everything on stopping Jefferson. It worked! Jefferson was a non-factor all day. Sadly the team wasn’t able to keep up in regards to everything else and KJ Osborn, TJ Hockenson, and the company still did a ton of damage and Kirk played pretty well. The Giants pass rush wasn’t too threatening outside All-Pro Sexy Dexy being a menace. Meanwhile Daniel Jones could seemingly do whatever the hell he damn well pleased against the Vikings.
A lot of Giants fans have come around to believing Jones is the guy after this season, and I understand the optimism, but I think a lot of people are getting ahead of themselves after a great performance against a woeful pile of trash. Pretty much every throw was to a WR 5 yards separated from the nearest Viking. We can be proud of Jones while still recognizing that his job on Sunday was one of the easier jobs he’s had all year, maybe ever. This was the least amount of drives the Giants have had in a game all year, and they scored 30 points for the second time this season. The Vikings defense should be ashamed of itself and I’m stunned the coordinator is still employed because the roster has talent. EDIT: I just checked twitter and his firing announcement got released as I was writing this post. Lol.
But if you play with fire long enough, you get burned. The Vikings couldn’t stop sticking their hands on the stove like a drunk frat bro at a college party trying to prove how he could handle the heat. The Vikings magic chance still came, despite it all. On third down, a (once again wide open) Darius Slayton dropped a pass that would have easily been a first down if he held on. It was deflating, Slayton was inconsolable on the sideline, and now it felt like VIKINGS BULLSHIT ™ was coming. On the next drive, after a great stop, the refs gifted Minnesota with another chance on one of the worst roughing the passer calls of the year, which is saying something. Another gift from the gods to Minnesota. But the Giants forced 4th down anyway and Kirk lost any respect people had built up for him this season by dinking it down to TJ Hockenson 6 yards short of the marker with the season on the line. Xavier McKinney wrapped him up and that was that.
I kinda feel bad for Kirk and I also don’t. A guy who plays it safe and pads his stats but doesn’t push the team forward has long been a Cousins critique and him dunking it on 4th to a guy who was going to immediately get contacted with the season on the line is extremely Kirk. Cousins played well all game, the loss isn’t on him, but in the most vital of situations, he played it too safe. I’d have respected him trying to throw off his back foot to triple-covered Jefferson more than that throw. At least in that spot Jefferson has a chance to catch it or maybe pull a PI call. The season is on the line, everything has a low probability of success, take the damn shot.
Anyway you are welcome for now thinking about Kirk Cousins’ Skol Juice.
Most of the time, I wouldn’t have had a complaint with Cousins going to Hockenson there.
But it’s 4th and 8, where if you get anything other than a 1st down your season is done, and Hockenson is covered. I understand that your other options on the play are also covered, but you have to at least *try* to put it past the sticks. You’ve got the best WR currently active there, even if he’s double covered. Give him the shot to make the play rather than checking it down. Yes, an INT looks worse on the stat sheet, but ending the play short of the sticks is *exactly the same as an INT here.*
It’s arguably worse than the INT since the INT will give up possession further down the field.
In that spot field position was basically irrelevant, Giants could kneel it out. But a pass down the field does have slightly more chance at penalty shenanigans than a checkdown
10, maybe 15 years from now some young fan is going to look at the stats and say: “You know who gets overlooked when discussing great quarterbacks? Kirk Cousins.” And we the old heads will have to disabuse them of that notion before they go and make “Kirk Cousins is underrated” one of their signature takes.
Kirk is so wild, you look at his numbers and think this guy must be great. You watch him play and he looks stupid. He’s confounding
10-15 years from now? “Kirk Cousins is underrated” was already a pretty popular take amongst smug box-score enthusiasts and fantasy football nuts for years now. They just moved on to other QBs like him such as Ryan Tannehill.
I want Skol Jooce to take off more than kirk’s phat dumpy
I dunno, counting on Hock to break a tackle isn’t the worst call. He’s still a fraud though.
Here’s the only thing I’ll say about Kirk Cousins this year. Any critique people have had of him hasn’t really showed up this year.
-Padded stats in garbage time? Not this year. With such a low point differential, every minute of the game counted. And he made incredible drives to win games. Call some of it luck if you will, but more often than not Kirk delivered when it mattered most.
-Too timid, poor pocket presence? He was one of the most hit QBs in the league, not because the OL is garbage, but because he was hanging in the pocket and delivering strikes.
-Couldn’t hack it against tough teams? Vikings had a top-10 hardest schedule in the league. Not the greatest metric, but his record against teams above .500 was the best it’s been.
That’s what made that last check down to TJ such a disappointment. All year KOC has done a good job of not letting Kirk give in to his harsher vices. He’s made that throw so many times in the past, but this year was different. All year he was standing in the pocket, making great plays when it mattered most, and it ended up with some of the best games of the season. The “largest” comeback in NFL history was engineered by KIRK COUSINS. The game of the year, featuring the catch of the year, was won by KIRK COUSINS. But at the end of the day, a piss-poor defense melted his wax wings and sent him plummeting 6 yards short of the first down marker.
Michael Jordan is suddenly afraid that someone is going to steal his “Secret Stuff”, despite never owning any.
Screw you, Minnesota
I’m terrified thinking of what Skol Jooce tastes like.
tastes just like skoal juice with a hint of aquavit and lutefisk
Kirk Cousins: Check down! *kisses his cousin*
Little did they know that the SKOL juice is the same liquid found in “Michael’s Secret Stuff.”
The Vikings’ over-reliance on pixie dust and feel-good moments was never going to translate to a playoff win. The only reason I still thought we would beat the Giants was because they also kinda had that same energy of winning from the seat of their pants.
Too bad Ed Donatell learned absolutely nothing from the loss to Detroit back in week 14. Five straight games where you give up 400+ yards is unacceptable. To do it in the postseason after hyping it in a press conference with “I think you’ll like what we’re gonna do” is DOUBLE unacceptable. Donatell had to go, and mercifully, KOC felt the same, even if he had to be cryptic about it.
Sadly, despite Cousins ballin’ all season and carrying the team on his back, that checkdown on 4th and 8 will be the only thing people remember him for, this year.
Regardless, congratulations Giants on a well-earned win. Good luck against Philly.
Be careful when drinking juice you aren’t familiar with… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E77R0e5bzIs