What Vikings Fans Are Saying

[AnarchyRam]

Chance that Viking forums will be in meltdown after a Ram win?

100%.

 

[BuffaloRam]

Cassel will throw at least one pick if we can stop AP from getting to the next level. The Viqueens D is also one of the worst we get to play this year. At home. In week 1.

 

[dan kimbro]

The rams need to get an early lead and Just let williams and the D tee off on em.. vikings doh game over

 

[Prime Time]

Chance that Viking forums will be in meltdown after a Ram win? 100%.

And we'll be right here to report on it.
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A Brief Look At Vikings/Rams History
By Christopher Gates  @DailyNorseman on Sep 1 2014
http://www.dailynorseman.com/2014/9/1/6092571/minnesota-vikings-st-louis-rams-history

Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

Going back to the years when they were located in Los Angeles, the Minnesota Vikings and the (now) St. Louis Rams have had a pretty solid rivalry. In the late 70s, they matched up in the playoffs on numerous occasions. The rivalry certainly hasn't been as fierce as it used to be, but with the two teams set to kick off the first week of the 2014 NFL season, it would appear that we're in line for a good one here.

As we did last season, we're going to take a quick look at the history between the Vikings and their opponents, courtesy of the folks from Pro Football Reference.

Total Games Between the Vikings and the Rams: 42 (35 regular season, 7 post-season)

All-time Regular Season Record: Vikings, 24-16-2 (Vikings hold 5-2 edge in post-season play)

Total Vikings points scored, head-to-head: 939 (22.4 points/game)

Total Rams points scored, head-to-head: 939 (22.4 points/game)

Longest Vikings' winning streak vs. Rams: 6 games (20 September 1987 - 13 September 1998)

Longest Rams' winning streak vs. Vikings: 4 games (15 October 1978 - 6 October 1985)

Most recent Vikings' victory in St. Louis: 16 December 2012 (Final score 36-22)

Most recent Rams' victory in St. Louis: 30 November 2003 (Final score 48-17)

Biggest Vikings' victory at St. Louis: 28 points, 11 October 2009 (Final score 38-10)

Biggest Rams' victory at St. Louis home: 36 points, 22 September 1967(Final score 39-3, game took place in Los Angeles)

A couple of other things about the match-up.

-The Vikings are actually riding a two-game winning streak at the Edward Jones Dome. Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor combined for three touchdown runs in a 38-10 victory in October of 2009, and Peterson's 212 yards rushing and Everson Griffen's 29-yard pick-six led the way in a 36-22 Minnesota win in December of 2012.

-Those two games are also the only two times in his career that Peterson has faced the Rams, and he's done fairly well for himself. He's rushed for 275 yards on 38 carries (a 7.2 yard/carry average) and three touchdowns.

-Matt Cassel has not done as well, at least where stats are concerned. In two career games against the Rams, he has completed 36-of-62 passes (58%) for 451 yards, along with two touchdown passes and three interceptions. His team did win both games, however. . .a 23-16 victorywhen he was with the New England Patriots, and a 27-13 victory when he was with the Kansas City Chiefs.

-The Rams will be starting Shaun Hill at quarterback, who got his start in Minnesota and had spent the previous four years with the Detroit Lions. He hasn't performed too badly, either, despite a 1-3 record against our favorite football team. He came in to relieve Trent Dilfer as a member of the 49ers in December of 2007, and performed incredibly well in a 27-7 Minnesota victory.

He completed 22-of-27 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown that day. He was also the Niners' quarterback in the Vikings' 27-24 win at the Metrodome in 2009 (i.e. the "IT'S GREG LEWIS! OH MY HEAVENS! WELCOME TO MINNESOTA!" game). He saw the Vikings twice in 2010 as the quarterback of the Lions. The first game was a 24-10 Minnesota victory, and the second game saw Hill's one win over Minnesota, as he defeated Joe Webb (LOL) and the Vikings 20-13 to mercifully end the 2010 season.

-Yes, even though the Vikings do hold an 8-game advantage in head-to-head record, these two teams have scored the same number of points against each other. The Rams haven't had as many victories over the Vikings, but the ones they have had have tended to be a little bit larger.

And that's a bit of a look at the history between the Minnesota Vikings and the St. Louis Rams. The Vikings have had the better of it over the years, and hopefully that will continue on Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome.

 

[Prime Time]

Can we beat the Rams on the road?
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=63&f=1554&t=13103982

I think we definitely can. We are catching a huge break with Hill having to fill-in...
If we can turn up the heat on him (Griff-earn that big deal- Barr-earn that #1 pick)
he will screw up...and we actually have DBs now who can intercept a pass.

We protect the ball, we win IMHO.
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I am trying to remember who is left on our defense when Shaun Hill was a backup QB for us. Probably no one since that was quite a while ago. More importantly, who is still around when Hill played against us as a backup for the Lions. Just because he's a backup you don't want to take his failure as a given and should draw on knowledge of his strengths and tendencies. Therefore people like Chad Greenway & Brian Robison will provide that valuable insight as we game plan for Sunday.
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Offense-advantage Vikings
Defense-advantage Rams
STs-advantage Vikings
But its on the road.

I think it'll be close and it will come down to our OL play vs a very very good DL of the Rams. Even with our D being a little suspect, the Rams offense just isnt all that good IMO. Its if we can get our offense going vs the Rams defense, it wont be easy to do I dont think. Can we win, absolutley. Will we win, no idea at all but Ill guess Rams win a very close game, mostly cuz its on the road and their D is impressive.
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I think Cassel will do well in this game since he has improved his play and looks comfortable in Norv's system and is in synch with Jennnigs/Patterson/Wright/Rudolph. I expect the Vikings to pound the ball on the ground with Peterson/Asiata/McKinnon and then hit the Rams down the field with play action. The Rams will be keying on Peterson and Cassel will make them pay on the play action down the field. Their d-line and secondary are a bit banged up right now so I expect the Vikings WR's will be able to get open with relative ease. This is a Rams team we beat 2 yrs ago in their place with Bradford leading them.

Shaun Hill will face a formidable D-line rotation with the Vikings so we should be able to get pressure against their suspect pass blocking. The key will be stopping the run and putting Hill in a lot of 3rd and longs, perhaps forcing a turnover or 2 in the form of a fumble or an interception. With Linval Joseph in the lineup I think there is a good chance we limit their running game and force them to pass.

Our special teams unit is 2nd to none so I expect we will win the field position game. I'd say were going to have a couple of nice returns and Walsh will bang it out of the end zone every time making the Rams have to go a long way each time.

As long as we don't beat ourselves with penalties and win the turnover battle we should beat the Rams and get off to a 1-0 start.
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Gregg Williams is their Defensive Coordinator so I'm confident he will try to knock Cassel out of the game early. I hope Bridgewater is ready.

Outside of this, I think the Vikings players will approach this game as one they believe they can win and want to win for this coaching staff.
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This will be a test of our run defense. We will have to make Hill pass the ball.

As for our offense.... Look for blitzes over Rudolph all day to keep him in. Their D line will really test our new scheme.
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There is no reason the Vikings can't win this game. And if they can't, they can pretty much forget about doing anything significant in 2014.

With how difficult the schedule looks the first few weeks of the season (at least on paper), this is a game the Vikings need to win.
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Yes, we will beat them.
Norv will be playing some unexpected tricks in the first game of the season.
I think some will include Wright and Patterson, and possibly McKinnon.
Cassell should connect with Rudolph, Patterson, and Jennings on some big plays.
It will be interesting to see AP as a receiver.

My guess is we score 24 or more points.
Our defense should be effective enough to hold the Rams to 17 points.
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The Vikings can not only win this game, they will dominate it. (As long as Casell doesn't go all Ponder and start throwing picks.)
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2 words: Shaun Hill. Vikes better win.
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The Vikes are a better team overall even with a 100% healthy Bradford, so I say without a doubt. In fact, in most games we play this season we will be just as good a team as our opponents as long as we don't beat ourselves like most of our losses last year.

I've been of the opinion that we can and should win our division outright ever since we jettisoned our horrible coaching staff that was responsible for those losses.If we play to our ability,and don't hand deliver wins or ties to our opposition we will be very much in every game this year.If this team starts out 3-1 or 4-0, I will be zero surprised to say the least, they are that good and their opposition is not any better overall.

 

[-X-]

Our special teams unit is 2nd to none so I expect we will win the field position game.

Except, not really. Last year your specials teams were ranked 6th while the Rams were 4th.
So, in actuality, your special teams unit is 2nd to 5 others.

 

[DaveFan'51]

Total Vikings points scored, head-to-head: 939 (22.4 points/game)

Total Rams points scored, head-to-head: 939 (22.4 points/game)

^ This, and the fact our victory's over the Vikings tend to be by a Larger Margin, I find very interesting! I'm thinking " Rams Win 34-13!!"

 

[blue4]

These people are delusional.

 

[MTRamsFan]

I'm not sure I mentioned this earlier, but I hate the Vikings!

 

[snackdaddy]

I can't blame their fans for not respecting our team. Its not like we're coming off a playoff season. But they really don't know much about the Rams. Just like I don't know much about the Vikings. All I know is what happened last year.

The Vikings weren't that good. They were minus 89 in point differential. But they have Adrian Peterson. So thats a challenge by itself. I never thought Cassell was very good. More of a journeyman QB. Can have a good game on occasion but overall average at best. Our defense can wreak havoc with him back there. Would be even better with Bridgewater because I think they would force him to make mistakes. He might be more mobile, but more likely to make mistakes in the face of pressure.

I really don't know much about the Vikings defense. But if they think we're that much worse with Hill under center they're in for a surprise. If our big receivers are what they showed in the preseason Hill will get them the ball. Overall, if we really are a playoff team this is a game we need to win. If we don't start the season 3-0 or 2-1 I think we'll see a similar season to last year.

 

[StevenG-BR]

Only thing that really worries me is that AP will be fresh since it's week 1. That could prove to be very dangerous.

Other than that one fact, I'm pretty confident the Rams have the upper hand.

 

[AZRamsFan93]

I've been playing with Hill a lot in Madden 15, he's fine. He's a solid QB with legit weapons and a bruising running game. It works!!! Oh, and that Rams defense is a blast to play with.

Is this supposed to be in blue font?

 

[LesBaker]

I can't blame their fans for not respecting our team. Its not like we're coming off a playoff season. But they really don't know much about the Rams. Just like I don't know much about the Vikings. All I know is what happened last year.

They won 5 games last year, I'd argue that if your team only won 5 games your Talk Shit Card expires.

 

[Prime Time]

Vike O-line scheme
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=63&f=1554&t=13103060

Norv Turner's O-line scheme includes a few twists not seen in the Musgrave years. One of my grievances against Musgrave is that so many runs were between the tackles. Granted, AD is great running between the tackles, but why not stretch the defense by running wide.

If you rewatch the preseason games you will see many plays were the Vike offensive line blocked what USC used to call "Student Body Left" or "Student Body Right". Green Bay used to use this blocking scheme during the Ahman Green days. I think Green Bay used to call it "Stetch". The blocking scheme calls for the o-line to make a jail break to the right (or the left depending). The goal is to get more blockers to the edge than there are defenders, allowing the running back to pick his way through the out-numbered defender.

The scheme worked well in pre-season, especially when McKinnon, Banyard or Williams were running the ball. It was less effective when Asiata was the back. Asiata is more of a straight ahead runner. The question is whether AD can take advantage. I think he can. It will add another element to the Viking running game. Better not stack the box, or the Vikes will burn you wide.

An alternative off the play is to fake Student Body Right and have the QB keep the ball and run a naked bootleg left. The Vikes did this a couple of times when Bridgewater was QB.

This will be a difference between the Turner offense and what we have seen the last few years. Stretch the field vertically and horizontally. Make the defense defend the whole field and not just run blitz up the middle. This year could be really fun to watch.
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That theory instills a little hope in me. I confess I am one of the doubters as to the ability of our offensive line.
Sounds good as far as the running game goes, It's pass protection I'm worried about starting with Sullivan and everything to the left.
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If the OL can give Cassel or Bridgewater.....or even Ponder.....enough time to throw, this offense has "top 10" ability.
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There is a big difference in the O-Line blocking for Cassel as opposed to Ponder, at least last year. Ponder would drop back in position to pass, then hold the ball and look. He was not the same QB as the year before, for whatever reasons, Ponder was tentative, and took way to much time to make a decision and throw.

When Cassel came in last season, he made much faster reads, and got his throws out on time and with a bit of zip. Just look at the disparity in pass attempts to sacks for each QB last season. Cassel threw more passes than Ponder 254 to 239, but was sacked only 16 times, compared to Ponder's 27. You can mention Ponder running as the reason for a few more sacks, but that wouldn't lead to that type of disparity. It's about getting it out on time, and trusting your arm, WR, and O-line. Cassel is a much more confident QB, so the line will look and play better because of that.

The O-line will appear to get even better when Teddy becomes the starter, as the sacks will keep going down, while the passing game will keep improving. IMO

 

[Rambitious1]

View attachment 2897

The rams need to get an early lead and Just let williams and the D tee off on em.. vikings doh game over

Think so huh?

And how many games did your team win last year again?

 

[-X-]

Think so huh?

And how many games did your team win last year again?

Read it again....

 

[RAM's-NWST]

Cassel has the skills to run Turner's West Coast offense and play action OK. I think on defense it comes down to our linebacker play to stop AP and not get burned in zone coverage. On offense the Rams need to commit to the Run, not have stupid drive killing penalties and not turn the ball over. Yes...master of the obvious on how to win this game.

 

[Username]

This was how they celebrated a couple years ago next to my tailgate. Ancient Viking ritual I think.

 

[TGZ]

I can understand not respecting the Rams to a point.....but didn't Kellen Clemens get almost as many wins as their whole team in like 9 starts a year ago, including blowout wins over the Saints and Colts?

 

[spamlord]

"I can't stand the Rams"... Why? What have we done in the last 10 yrs that has aggravated someone so much? All we've done is lost lol.

The poster is probably older and is referring to the 1969 NFL Championship game as well as the Rams' "Mud Bowl" divisional round loss to the Vikes in 1977.

-Spamlord