John DeFilippo News - MinnesotaSportsFan https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/tag/john-defilippo/ Minnesota sports, but different Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:19:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=32,height=32,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cropped-cropped-MSF-favicon-1.jpg John DeFilippo News - MinnesotaSportsFan https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/tag/john-defilippo/ 32 32 BREAKING: John DeFilippo Fired https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-vikings/breaking-john-defilippo-fired/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-vikings/breaking-john-defilippo-fired/#comments Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:19:23 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=11740
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – OCTOBER 28: Kirk Cousins #8 of the Minnesota Vikings warms up before the game against the New Orleans Saints at U.S. Bank Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images)

Holy shit.

We all asked for it but I did not think it would actually happen. Kirk Cousins has gotten John DeFilippo fired.

I don’t know if this is John’s fault but something had to happen if the Vikings were going to turn things around and firing Cousins wasn’t one of the available options. 

The team needed hope and someone to blame. If this gets the offense going and motivated then fuck it, I’m in.

Now, we wait to see who will be his replacement. Is it Kevin Stefanski’s time finally? I promise I typed that last sentence before hitting twitter and typing “Kevin Stefanski” in the search bar and seeing this at the top of the feed:

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan | ]]> https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-vikings/breaking-john-defilippo-fired/feed/ 1 Tue, 11 Dec 2018 11:19:31 +0000 Minnesota Vikings Who Deserves the Biggest Slice of “Who-to-Blame” Vikings Pie? https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-vikings/who-deserves-the-biggest-slice-of-who-to-blame-vikings-pie/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-vikings/who-deserves-the-biggest-slice-of-who-to-blame-vikings-pie/#respond Mon, 03 Dec 2018 21:56:39 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=11567

Wow, picking up my laptop to start this post was difficult. Writing about depressing topics isn’t nearly as much fun as writing about how terrible the Packers’ franchise is compared to a high-flying Vikings team that should be making playoff runs.

Quick sidebar – The Vikings aren’t the only shit-show in town:

But, let’s just focus on one bad team at a time.

Who is to blame for the Vikings’ fall from grace?

The easy answer is “there is plenty of blame to go around”. Yeah, everyone knows that. But, different roles get different slices of the who-to-blame pie. I’ve spent last night and this morning trying to figure out who is getting should get the fattest off of this shit-pie that was probably sent from your gross aunt in Wisconsin.

(Also, I’m not including the offensive line in this pity party. We know the line is bad. We knew that coming into the year. Other teams scheme around a known weakness and clearly this team had Super Bowl aspirations and thought they could work with what they have. I’m done beating that dead-for-3-years horse.)

John DeFilippo:

Why not start with the elephant in the room? Are we going to have to fire John DeFilippo before he even finishes his first season as our offensive coordinator? It’s not looking good right now. When we play against forward-thinking offensive coordinators (like Josh McDaniels of the Patriots) Flip looks even worse.

When you know Belichick is going to take away Thielen and Diggs, why is our offense so stymied when those options aren’t available come game time? The Patriots knew our front-four could cause problems for their road to victory on Sunday. So, they developed a scheme to beat the Vikings by slicing us open with outlets passes that felt like a bunch of devastating paper cuts.

Brady completed passes to 9 different receivers and wasn’t sacked once. Where is our working game plan?

And, how the fuck does Dalvin Cook only get 9 carries when he is averaging over 9 yards per carry? How do you struggle to move the ball when that’s your YPC stat for your running back? This game was still tied in the 3rd fucking quarter… I’m just awe-struck at how that happens.

Mike Zimmer:

The blame that Mike deserves has nothing to do with his defense (this time). Although that side of the ball had its own struggles early in the season, they’ve been much stronger for a couple of months now and currently rank at the very bottom of my worry-list.

However, I wonder how much of DeFilippo’s problems and lack of creativity with his scheming has to do with Mike Zimmer. Does he have the handcuffs on Flip? Pro Football Talk wrote about it this morning but, outside of Mike’s repeated desire to run more at the podium last night, we don’t know how that relationship works at this point.

Kirk Cousins:

The unknown variable. That’s Kirk Cousins. 12 games into this season, we still don’t have a grasp on what kind of quarterback we have in the near 7-year veteran. Some weeks he looks like a guy who might break the top-5 in his 3 years here. Then, other weeks, he looks like a guy who might struggle to break the top-15.

Is this because of scheming or does Kirk struggle to see open receivers? Is Flip scheming in outlets for Kirk that are open when he has no time? Or, is he missing 2nd/3rd options that are open down the field? Unless you are privy to the all-22 film, this is mostly unknown. Why major market television is yet to figure out the need for all-22 replays so we can see if receivers are open down the field is something I will never figure out.

How much power does Kirk Cousins have to change plays? Is he changing out of a lot of runs at the line of scrimmage? Does he have the option to go into a run play, but isn’t?

via GIPHY

All I know is that it needs to get figured out. If all of this falls on Flip and Zim then it’s fixable. We can change scheme… hopefully. We can get a new offensive coordinator if needed. If it’s a Kirk problem, that’s going to be harder to figure out. You can’t scheme around your $84 Million QB if he is the problem.

From the outside, I’d say most of the who-blame-pie belongs in the guts of Zim and Flip. They need to figure things out. I don’t know who is the biggest problem between those two but something needs to happen. We need to be able to adjust better to what we are seeing. If Dalvin is chopping off over 9 YPC then we need to get him the ball.

If our strength is elsewhere a different week, we need to be able to adjust to that on the fly.

I’ve called this team out for a lack of mental toughness multiple times this season. The next 4 games to finish out this season is a chance to shove that who-to-blame pie up my ass. A win in Seattle Monday night in front of the world would change everything…

If you want to see my bitch instead of reading it, you can check out these Instagram stories from earlier today. Follows are also encouraged.

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Eric Strack
Minnesota Sports Fan

]]> https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-vikings/who-deserves-the-biggest-slice-of-who-to-blame-vikings-pie/feed/ 0 Mon, 03 Dec 2018 15:56:39 +0000 Minnesota Vikings Fair or Foul: Vikings Deny Giants Request to Interview Kevin Stefanski https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-vikings/fair-foul-vikings-deny-giants-request-interview-kevin-stefanski/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-vikings/fair-foul-vikings-deny-giants-request-interview-kevin-stefanski/#respond Tue, 13 Feb 2018 02:48:19 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=7877

Vikings’ QB coach, Kevin Stefanski, was one in a handful of candidates to interview for Minnesota’s offensive coordinator position. Unfortunately for him on Thursday night, it was announced the John DeFilippo, not Stefanski, would slide in as Pat Shurmur’s replacement. Upon the breaking of that news, indications were that the long time tenured member of the Purple’s staff would reunite with Shurmur, and become the Offensive Coordinator for the New You Giants.

Well, Skol Nation, it was fun while it lasted. Let’s get ready to say goodb..

Oh ya, that’s right. My bad. The 35 year-old up-and-comer is still under contract with the Vikings. Meaning, we have the right to deny interview requests. When Pat Shurmur and his new team stuck their nose in our camp, that’s exactly what we did.

Now, before we break down whether this denial was fair or foul, if you’re not already woke on WHAT really could have happened, here’s some proverbial coffee…

As for what the “new pitch” was, it would relate to Stefanski taking over as OC once John DeFilippo, as most anticipate he will, becomes a head coach in the NFL. That take is pure speculation.

With that being said, let’s focus on what we KNOW is true. As of now, there are no facts to show WHY the Vikings blocked the request. All that we know, regardless of their motivation, is that MN sent the Giants away like the Minneapolis Miracle did to the Saints.

The way I see it, preventing a person from advancing their career isn’t fair. However, fair is a place where they judge pigs. This is the NFL. It isn’t carnival style bullshit like a swine beauty contest. A contract is a contract.

I hope when this situation arrises again, the Vikings’ front office takes a same shit, different day approach. Especially, if it involves a NFC North opponent or an ex-member of our staff. Whether it’s Pat Shurmur of someone else who took off the Purple apparel, the watch your own bobber mindset is in full force. That may come off as a get off my lawn approach, but I feel it’s in the best interest of the Vikings.

As for worries that this sets a bad precedent for future coaches, I don’t share your concern.

Johnny Minnesota @TheJohnnyMN
Minnesota Sports Fan MinnesotaSportsFan.com

]]> https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-vikings/fair-foul-vikings-deny-giants-request-interview-kevin-stefanski/feed/ 0 Mon, 12 Feb 2018 20:48:19 +0000 Minnesota Vikings Judging the Star Tribune’s Minnesota Vikings’ All-Time Top-10 List https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-vikings/judging-star-tribunes-minnesota-vikings-time-top-10-list/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-vikings/judging-star-tribunes-minnesota-vikings-time-top-10-list/#respond Sat, 10 Feb 2018 13:26:27 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=7797

I don’t want to date myself. Despite the cash I’d save on Valentines Day, being my own significant other wouldn’t be a good look. (That was a play on the two different meanings of the word “date”, in case you missed it.)

As for how old I am, with the Minnesota Vikings being founded in 1960, the organization is more than twice my elder. With the first several years of my life being almost as much of a blur as college, my memories of the Purple prior to the 1998 season are few and far between. If the topic of conversation relates to events that occurred before number 84 hit the NFL scene, I’m as uneducated as certain Philadelphia Eagles’ fans.

Well, maybe not that uneducated, but still. If I had to breakdown the Top 10 Vikings of all time, it would be a disservice to those I either never saw, or don’t remember seeing, play. Rather than crash my proverbial car while trying to navigate down that bumpy ass road, let’s dissect the results of those who already made the voyage.

Per the link in the above Tweet, 12 Star Tribune staffers ranked, in order, their top 10 Vikings of all time. With my brain telling me that’s a total of 120 selections, here’s my brain telling you how said selections break down:

This shows how many of the 12 writers voted for each player (Only 3 players received votes from every writer):

Out of the dozen participants, half had Alan Page as their top Viking of all time, while four had Fran Tarkenton. In regards to the two outliers, Jim Souhan gave his top spot to Randall McDaniel, while Michael Rand went with Carl Eller.

On top of that, as you can see, Page, Randy Moss, and Randall McDaniel were the only ones who made all of the top 10 rankings. I know I’m a novice on a the first 35+ years of Vikings history, but shouldn’t those three be joined by Fran Tarkenton and Carl Eller? What did the fans think?

That’s what I thought. The above is comprised from over 5,000 lists submitted by members of Skol Nation.

The most glaring difference between the fan’s G.O.A.T. Vikings and the Star Tribune’s version is that the fans omitted Mick Tingelhoff. On the opposite side of the fence, the HOF center made all but two of the Star Tribunes’ lists. Whoops! Our bad. It could have been worse. At least we didn’t pull a Souhan and leave out Carl Eller.

When someone completes this exercise twenty years from now, which current Vikings have the best chance of bumping Chuck Foreman from the fans top 10? Harry the Hitman? #RhodesClosed? One of our UCLA LBs?

Hell, maybe Stefon Diggs or Adam Thielen can join Moss and Cris Carter as the only WRs to make the cut. In order for that to occur, we’re going to need John DeFilippo to live up to all the hype surrounding his hiring as the Vikes’ offensive coordinator.

Johnny Minnesota @TheJohnnyMN
Minnesota Sports Fan MinnesotaSportsFan.com

]]> https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-vikings/judging-star-tribunes-minnesota-vikings-time-top-10-list/feed/ 0 Sat, 10 Feb 2018 07:26:27 +0000 Minnesota Vikings