Vikings Vs Seahawks 10/11/2020

 That's Vikings Football as a friend from twitter always says.

Honestly, this game has been kicking around in my head since last night, so many small things that could have gone different for a Vikings win, some small errors, and also some big errors, and I wanted to try writing about them. I have written about sports all that much, but really wanted to get my thoughts onto the page.

The Good

I bet I am in the minority of Vikings fans on this, but I really thought overall this was the best defensive game the team has played. Being able to mostly rush 4 and pressure Russell Wilson while playing coverage, and the coverage holding up for the majority of the game was a really great sign. I thought the Wilson interception was a great play as well, working the receiver out of bounds before coming back in and making a play on the ball. The fact that the Vikings should have won this game is a testament to how well the defense played for most of the game.

I think the pass rush was pretty impressive in this game going up against a really good team in the Seahawks, they were able to get pressure bringing just 4 guys, allowing the secondary to play coverage pretty well.

The running game was really great, they ground down the defense in the game, Cook getting hurt is unfortunate, but Mattison and even Boone looked good when they came in, getting chunks of yardage several times.

Thielen has looked like a #1 receiver this season, he is still somehow able to get open even if the defense is keying off him, and the ascendancy of Justin Jefferson will help, and Erv Smith Jr. also had the best overall game I have seen. It also helps that I have Thielen on my main fantasy team this season.

I really thought that to start this game, the Vikings offense took a page out of the Seahawks playbook and came out aggressive, throwing with play action on some early downs. I think the calls were aggressive while also working on grinding down the defense. I like all of the calls to go for it on 4th down. I think the 4th and 1 that decided the game, it was 100% the right call to go for it. I think the play call could have been better, with some misdirection. Honestly, if Cook is healthy I think he is able to power through for the first down, but he wasn't in the game. Hindsight is 20/20, but there was a big gap that Mattison could have bounced it out to, just one gap away.

I think the tough thing to handle with going for it on 4th and 1 is how fatalistic Vikings fans are at this point, if they don't make it they are going to lose, even though they had a decent lead against an offense they had shut down for most of the game. I like to think of football as a mind game, so everyone in the building thinks the Vikings are going to run it on 4th and 1, the questions I have are, was the right side the correct side to run to? And would the Seahawks have gone hard for a play fake and a bootleg to the left? 

Thielen was 1 on 1 up top on the key play, if you bootleg left, you have your stronger blockers in front of the play, and you also have a lot of space. If the linebackers bite you should have an easy pass for a TD, if they don't and Thielen clears out space, I think Kirk can run for the first down. Yes this all based on a lot of assumptions, but I am fan of doing things that your opponents think are extremely unlikely.

The Bad

I thought Dru Samia got destroyed far too often on pass coverage that adjustments should have been made much earlier in the game. If he can't handle the guy in front of him one on one, he needs help, not much else to say about that. He was good in run blocking, but led to a lot of pressure for Kirk in the game.

I think there are a few key plays in this game that had they gone the other way would have been game changers.

At the end of the 2nd quarter, the Vikings had a chance for another TD on 3rd and 7 there was a pass to Thielen in the end zone. This would have made the score 17-0 going into half time. I think it would have just taken a slightly better throw from Kirk and Thielen brings it down. Kirk floated the ball outside just a bit when Thielen had inside position, if the pass is just inside a little bit its a score.

One play was just the Vikings getting too cute, when they went for 2 they called a QB draw. Great call to go for 2, but a QB draw? Honestly I am probably more of a fan of Kirk than most people, but he is not QB draw material, you have so many other weapons to use on that play, including the under utilized Kyle Rudolph who has been amazing in those situations in his career.

I said it before and I will say it again, the Vikings should have won this game, they just didn't execute their game. I do feel like there maybe were too many blitzes on the final drive to allow more space for the Seahawks receivers, I get it, coaches sometimes want to be the reason a team wins, but it didn't have to happen like that. The other issue was allowing such a big completion on 4th and 10 on the final drive. I am not sure why Dantzler accelerated like he did but Metcalf was able to pop up for the ball and a huge gain. That was really a heartbreaking play for me.

Dalvin Cook getting hurt is a bit of a rough blow for the team, but at least the team has Alexander Mattison ready to go behind him. It does bring into focus why myself and many others were opposed to giving Dalvin so much money, he just hasn't been able to stay healthy. With him making so much money you have to carry another running back on the roster who you believe is capable of handling a decent workload while he is out. Right now the Vikings have Mattison, but we aren't that far away from him being ready for his 2nd contract, and I think he is talented enough to get paid by another team looking for someone to plug in. Going forward, I think Mattison takes over 80% of the Cook workload, while coming out on passing downs for Boone or Abdullah, I think Boone moves into the role that Mattison had coming in when Mattison needs a breather.

The Ugly

Kirk had a decent game, but man were those 2 turnovers killers. The fumble isn't as much his fault as the interception was, but both were preventable. On the fumble, I get it, you don't want to take a sack for a big loss, but if you take the sack, you live to fight another day. On the interception, it really took an amazing play from a defender to pick that ball off, but a great quarterback puts it well above where it can ever possibly be reached. Without those 2 turnovers the defense isn't put into such a tough spot at all.

Takeaways

Honestly, the Vikings should have won this game, and it shouldn't have been that close. Some slight changes and they are running out the clock with a 10+ point lead. I think the defense has shown a lot of improvement, we will see how the team comes out next week. There is still an outside shot at the playoffs, but prospects would have been so much better if they were 2-3 with a huge win over the Seahawks leading into the next week. I think the Vikings can come close to competing for the last wild card spot, but you need to go on a big run here before and out of the bye week they have. Maybe they can get Hunter back? That would shore up the pass rush quite a bit, and he can play the run pretty well too, but who knows if he will play a snap this year.

Life Update 10/12/2020

 Hello, it has been nearly 6 years since the last time I wrote a blog post, but have had the urge to do a little writing so thought I would give it a shot again.

So many things have changed since the last time I wrote a post so I figured it would be a good refresh everyone about my life. I figure I could hit the important points from the last 6 or so years.

I met someone! This isn't news to anyone who I have done a good job keeping up with, but I will be honest in admitting that I haven't been all that great at keeping up with people in my life. Something I need to do a much better job of. We have been together over 5 years now. Hannah is a brilliant and kind person, who works as an RN and her patients could not be luckier to have her by their side.

We adopted a cat together a few years back, his name is Albus, to go with Astrid who I had prior to our relationship(see older posts). Albus is the brown and gray tabby, and Astrid is black and white.

They are wonderful company and will even snuggle with each other from time to time. That leads me to the next big life event...

We got married! I figure it will be good to include a picture, professional photos are still being worked on.

While this year has been difficult, there have been some amazingly bright spots as well. We were lucky enough to be able to have an outdoor wedding in the back yard of my now in-laws. We weren't able to have a larger gathering right now as that is just not safe, but we are so lucky to have had the amazing event with direct family and close friends. While it was not our original plan, we are just amazed at what we were able to do, we are also lucky to have been provided an amazing space by the Riggle family. We look forward to being able to throw a larger party once people can gather in large groups safely.

I am glad to get to share the good stories such as our relationship and wedding, but I also wanted to share the less fortunate things. Back in January I got laid off, this is not a post to trash anyone or anything like that, just to state the truth. Unfortunately some 9 months later I have still not been able to find a job, but I am continuing to hustle on that front. Over 80 applications and a dozen interviews, and still working at it. This is not a sob story, I was extremely lucky with how things went down. I got severance pay and we were able to prepare for the long haul while I am on the job hunt. Unfortunately for myself and the greater world the pandemic happened.

I didn't lose my job related to the pandemic, but I do think my struggles to find a job are related to the pandemic. I can't blame everything on the pandemic, I should have hustled more while I was still employed and even earlier on when I had just been laid off. That is purely on me. I think I let the negative feelings from getting laid off cloud my judgement, and I didn't put nearly as many applications out there early on as I should have. I figured with my management experience it would be easier to find a job, I am not all that picky in what I am looking for as far as work goes, I just thought I would like to see what it out in the world other than health insurance.

Well maybe changing roles entirely going into a pandemic isn't the best move overall, but I can't go back and change things right now, just have to keep moving forward. I would love to find a job where I feel like I can make an actual impact to the local community, which my last job was lacking, but I am willing to take almost anything that is offered to me going forward. I said it before and I will say it again, I am lucky as far as losing my job goes, we were able to save over the years, way more than enough to weather this storm. There are nearly 30 million people in this country who are also unemployed, and the odds are they aren't quite as fortunate, so to whomever needs to hear this, you are not alone going through this tough time, and if you need someone to talk to about thee struggles I am here. Also, Congress needs to get off their asses and take care of these people or the economy is really going to tank. I don't care if I get any added benefit from this at all, but every other "developed" nation in the world is taking care of their citizens right now, why on earth can't we do the same?

Wasn't planning on getting political right now, that is for future posts, it just didn't have to be this bad in the country, and especially in Northeast Wisconsin where I live, this all could have been reduced so much, but certain leaders chose not to, and some actively fought safety measures as well.

I guess that is the next topic to cover, what a year we are having huh? We have been mostly just been hunkered down since early March, we have only left the state once in this time, and that was for a very special occasion and was only really for a few hours. I am mostly a homebody so this isn't all that much of an adjustment, but even I miss getting out and spending time with friends, or going to a game store and playing games. To prevent cabin fever, I have been making sure to get out on walks almost every day, going between 4-7 miles daily, which has been nice as the weather has allowed for this, some mornings now I have to wait a while after Hannah leaves for work to go for a walk in a more comfortable temperature.

On the topic of weight loss, which I previously wrote about at length, things have been a bit up and down. I probably reached my highest point in quite a while near the beginning of the pandemic, but that was my own fault for being to sedentary. We have been trying different things with some decent success in the last few months, currently doing intermittent fasting while also trying to keep our added sugar low. It has allowed us to make all kind of cool things this summer that we wouldn't have been able to do if we kept with just slow carb. Just wanted to include a food pictures for everyone to enjoy. First we have Alton Brown's Mr. Crunchy(Croque Monsieur), then home made gnocchi with kale, bacon, and creamy sauce, and finally we have a tuna poke bowl that we both really loved.

All things considered, life is good. I will definitely be writing more about the cooking that we do, as well as all kinds of things like sports, movies, games, and really anything else that inspires me to write.

Until next time! Thanks for stopping by!