“Time for Two More” with Toups | Volume V



You’ll have to excuse me if I come off as a little pissed off in the column this week. I’m writing it after arguably the worst defensive performance in Mike Zimmer’s tenure as Vikings head coach (Yes worse than that damn “Dilly Dilly” Disaster in the NFC Championship Game). The defense is a shell of itself and no one knows why. It is offsetting some truly great QB play by Kirk Cousins, and has left no room for error the rest of the season. So today’s column is going to have a very Vikings feel to it….

Buckle up.

Anthony Barr:

Get off the field. Seriously I don’t care that the Rams were exploiting matchups and  picking on Barr directly (which worked brilliantly for them). We should’ve reached a point in that game where Barr was finally benched. Sure, the scheme vs the Rams seemed to leave Barr hanging out to dry, but this isn’t a one week issue. Whether it’s his lack of a contract extension or just reverting back to previous issues, Barr has been a problem for the Vikings defense all year. What happened to using him on the D-line?

Because this sure isn’t working:

Aldrick Robinson:

How refreshing to have another receiver who can actually catch passes! Robinson, who was signed by the Vikings to add some depth to their receiving corps. (or as a wake up call to Laquon Treadwell, whichever you prefer), scored his first two touchdowns of the season against the Rams. Kirk Cousins cited familiarity with Robinson, going back to their days in Washington, and clearly that familiarity is paying off early.

One game — TWO touchdowns — and Robinson already has more TD’s, with the Vikings, than Treadwell does after 2+ seasons…. I’m all for more Aldrick if he keeps doing things like this:

Dan Bailey:

Good kickers are fun aren’t they? Bailey’s first kick was a bit of an adventure, but he made all 3 field goals, including an absolutely drilled 40-yarder that could not have been more down the middle. After the disastrous kicking start to the year, it’s nice to not have to worry about that for at least a week. But hey, even on the first kick sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good:

Here are some other things I took away from the game:

This is extremely NSFW. Jared Goff had an unbelievable game. Yeah we can rip the defense for their performance but, much like the second half against New Orleans in the playoffs, sometimes all you can do is tip your cap.

Kirk Cousins continues to be worth every damn penny. This Rams defense had not allowed much of anything all year and Captain Kirk single-handedly kept the Vikings in the game. No running game? No defense? Don’t care. In Kirk I trust, because he has been historically good so far this year.

I would like to think so too especially after what we saw against the Rams. George Iloka can’t be too pleased about the lack of playing time, considering he had other options other than signing here. Maybe this is the game that will convince Zimmer to change things up with a return to Philly looming on the schedule in Week 5.

That is all for this week. I still believe in this team, but man they are going to need to make some changes. We’ll see if they do…

Seth Toupal @sethtoups
Minnesota Sports Fan

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