PurplePTSD: Why The Vikings Lost To The Cardinals

Press release from the PurplePTSD:

Henrique Gucciardi

2021-09-23

Because Greg Joseph missed a 37-yarder at the end of the game. That’s it, see you next time.

Just kidding, I’m not going to just blame the kicker on this one. Should he have nailed that one? Absolutely, but using him as a scapegoat is misguided – and we know that there is nothing straightforward about Vikings football.

First of all, we can’t forget that there was a very good team on the other side, one that is being labeled as a Super Bowl hopeful. Arizona made mistakes during the game, and so did we. Sometimes the reason why we lose a game is easy, but this wasn’t the case. Multiple bad decisions and plays cost us the W in Arizona – much more than that missed FG.

I’ll begin with one that I still can’t understand. Why did Zimmer opt for that squib kick at the end of the half? Okay, it took a couple of seconds off the clock, but wouldn’t it be much better to tell Joseph “Put that ball near the goal line and kick as high as you can”? This way, the Cardinals would still need to return the kick – taking time off the clock as well -, but not starting their drive AT THE 34-YARD LINE. Zimmer basically traded 6 seconds for 10 yards and they managed to score on a 62-yard kick.

To understand the next topic better, we need to know how the Vikings were so successful running the ball in the 1st half. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past month, you know that we have a thin TE group. Because of this, we’re using more three-WR sets than normal. Against the Bengals, we struggled running the ball basically all game. In the 1st half against the Cardinals, Kubiak used KJ Osborn in motion to help set up the run game. This worked wonders, as we saw.

However, for some unclear reason, he pretty much abandoned it in the 2nd half, using heavier sets on the run game. This is a really bad idea against a really fast and quick defense. This is one of the reasons why we were unable to have longer drives in the 3rd quarter. Also, Kirk was carving up the Cardinals’ secondary on early downs – another thing Kubiak stopped calling.

The number of big plays we allowed on defense also was a crucial component of our defeat, but, as I wrote an article only for those, I won’t dive in too deep here. Just know that the Cardinals managed big plays on 3 & 15, 3 & 16, and 4 & 5.

Also, there were a couple more questionable decisions by Zimmer. I already mentioned the squib kick, but his stubbornness with Breeland is starting to be annoying. Nothing against the player, but he is being torched out there and had injuries in both games. So why not give Boyd or Dantzler a chance? Boyd was good during the offseason and preseason, while Dantzler had some good snaps covering AJ Green.

His decision of punting the ball was not as bad as people are saying, at least not to me. We were on our 29-yard line, there was a little less than 3 minutes, and we had three timeouts.

The problem was not running a play with 43 seconds remaining at the end of the game. The Vikings already were in field goal range, so why not try to score a touchdown? If they ran a play-action, everyone in the stadium would be fooled. Tell Kirk to throw it away if no one is open in the end zone, then you kneel, call a timeout, and kick the FG. If Joseph still missed, at least you gave your offense one last chance to win.

The Vikings managed to fight till the end with a very good team on the road, so we know that we also have a good team. It was only Week 2, so all it’s not lost. Let’s focus on our home-opener against Seattle, a game that looks to be a must-win.

This press release was produced by the PurplePTSD. The views expressed here are the author’s own.