Friday mailbag: Quarterback week closes
Vikings fans have lots of quarterback questions, including the worst QB to ever take a snap for the Vikings
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By Matthew Coller
Happy Friday everyone! Hope you are all enjoying the summer weather and had a good time with quarterback week here at Purple Insider. Let’s dive into your questions…
Jeff via email Like the Bills, the Vikings have lost 4 Super Bowls without a win. I defend them to others by making the point that you have to win a lot of big games to get to 4 SB's. However, in my heart, every Viking season since they arrived in 1961 - other than the '69/70 season when they won the NFL championship - has been a failure. To me, when they fail to win a championship, I immediately try to block all memories of the season. It's in the rear view and I'm focused on next year.
This attitude was hardened over time as they lost SB after SB and then lost every conference championship since. You are a Bills fan so I'm wondering if you feel similar about them?
Question: Would you rather your team honestly compete for a championship 30% of the time and win a SB every 15 years or so - with the other 70% being horrible; like 2 - 6 wins? Or....have the past 61 years of being a fan of this team?
Well, I grew up in Buffalo and I’m very familiar with those years but I wouldn’t call myself a Bills fan. They were so bad for the vast majority of my life in Buffalo that I never paid them much attention. I was 12 in 1996, which was Jim Kelly’s last year, so the majority of my early years of football were filled with the joys of Todd Collins, Rob Johnson, Doug Flutie, Drew Bledsoe, JP Losman, Kelly Holcomb and so forth. They were irrelevant, so I ended up being much more of a fan of the entire league.
That doesn’t answer your question though… nobody in Buffalo thinks the four Super Bowls were a failure. Without those teams, the Bills move. Those years were made up of incredible Hall of Fame players and tons of magical moments. People in Buffalo don’t move from other places to Buffalo, they are all from there. Those are great times shared with other Bills fans that mean a lot. Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas still freaking live there. I’m not going to tell Vikings fans that everything was a waste because they haven’t won a Super Bowl. You can’t tell me that watching Randy Moss was pointless because Gary Anderson missed a field goal or that the games people attended or gathered to watch meant nothing or that the Minneapolis Miracle didn’t matter because they didn’t get a ring.
However, the answer to your question is definitely only compete 30% of the time and win a Super Bowl.
@tuffytime74 Two part question. ~ $8M in cap space, do you sign Suh or Tretter? I’d prefer OL… Dr Pepper offers you a $20,000/year sponsorship for 3 years. But you can’t drink Diet Dr Pepper during the deal. Do you sign?
I’m not particularly jazzed about either player. Suh wasn’t good by any measure last year and Tretter must have serious injury problems to still be a free agent. If they sign Suh, it’s fine and maybe he can help on a limited basis but I can’t see either one significantly pushing this bus forward. I almost wonder if Sheldon Richardson would be a better pickup. He wasn’t great last year but had his moments.
For $20,000, I’d just switch to Diet Coke. Trust me, I love Diet Dr. P but I’m not a lunatic.
@SKOL_doctor Will arch manning be the most anticipated college qb in the history of the ncaa?
I have a tough time answering that without really knowing the recruiting world. I’m sure there were some high school prospects that everyone in the college football universe knew were going to be megastars from Day 1, I’ve just never looked into it. That said, he’s at the level of a Zion Williamson as a high school player that already has major stardom. I can’t remember seeing that too many times. I usually don’t watch much college football but I’ll be watching whenever he steps on the field at Texas.
@Vic_Gutierrez9 What do you think Teddys ceiling in Minnesota without the injury was?
I had this discussion with someone the other day and we landed on some version of Jimmy Garoppolo, Alex Smith and Philip Rivers. He didn’t have the upside of one of the athletic freak show quarterbacks but had the moxie of a Rivers with the turnover avoidance of Smith. The thing about Teddy that we never got to see is him with the peak versions of Thielen and Diggs. With those guys and a good Pat Shurmur system combined with a defense and running game, he’s probably taking them far in 2017 and then suffering some of the same post-2017 fate of becoming expensive and having the roster age. I don’t think Teddy would have been able to elevate his supporting cast but maybe he could have kept things from going off the rails because of the belief from his head coach/teammates. I don’t believe it’s fair to judge what we’ve seen from Teddy the last few years as evidence he wouldn’t have become good because it’s been a shell of where he was headed. The fact that he’s even in the league after what he went through is astounding.
@Jordan_Fisk Come up with a scenario that leads to the Vikings drafting Arch Manning.
That’s pretty easy, right? The Vikings play out Cousins’ contract, draft a QB in 2024 and then that QB instantly is horrendous and they lose 14 games and draft No. 1 overall just in time for ole Arch to becoming out of college.
@Dinzeo82 Beef, chicken or Pork?
Yes please.
@bulldogs13tv What’s your seating strategy when attending the press conferences. Are they assigned?
Seats aren’t assigned. Some people seem to sit in the same places for every press conference but I mix it up. Usually I’ll sit next to another beat reporter because we basically just follow each other around like lemmings anyway.
@gonefishing58 What are the must haves in a Fangio/Donatell defense and do the Vikings have the personnel in place to make it successful?
The outside linebacker part stands out. I’m not sure the whole operation works without standup rushers who are blazing quick off the edge creating havoc. It takes dynamic safeties who are good at disguising coverage and closing the gap quickly when they have to play in the run game from two deep. Back in the day, it used to be all about that big nose tackle in the middle playing over the center like Ted Washington or Casey Hampton but now it’s about the number of dynamic players you can put on the field. Being able to line up Za’Darius Smith in different spots is pretty darn helpful, for example.
@headcoach21 When scouting college QBs what are some red and/or green flags you would look for??
I talked to former NFL scout Jim Monos on the podcast a few months ago and I love how he put it: He looked for athleticism, arm talent and toughness/maturity. How the rest translates to the NFL is so darn impossible to figure out because the offenses are immensely different and the game is way, way, way faster. During draft season I see all sorts of crazy things about how the QBs process or which routes they can or can’t throw and a bunch of highlight reel throws from everyone but if you’re going to take a shot at someone, draft the best athlete who can really sling it and somebody who can deal with adversity. This is why I liked Jalen Hurts coming out of college. He dealt with that Tua situation with a lot of humility and went to Oklahoma and did great. He didn’t whine on social media or go on a podcast to trash coaches or Tua. That’s good mental toughness and maturity.
@TimRizzo Can you please ask Irv the next time you see him of the gorilla tat over his heart is for Harambe?
I absolutely will not be doing that.
@jondkuehne Which 80s or 90s QB would be more successful in today’s NFL than they were in their own time?
Randall Cunningham is the first one that comes to mind. His offensive system in Philadelphia was just basically telling him to run around and figure something out. If you put that arm and that athleticism in a modern system that’s built entirely to his strengths, Cunningham is winning MVP. He’d be a better Lamar Jackson because he had bazooka and all the running ability. Kordell Stewart wouldn’t be throwing out of the I-formation like he was with the Steelers. Doug Flutie wouldn’t have had to play in the CFL because he’s short. Bernie Kosar would have stayed healthier. Maybe Jeff Hostetler’s athleticism would have been used more.
@rinkygolf Where do you rank the Vikings in the NFC for the ‘22 season? Feels like there are no more than 5 teams better, with a few likely bottom dwellers and a lot of mediocrity among the remaining 5 to 6 teams.
There are three that are decidedly better: Los Angeles, Tampa Bay, Green Bay. Then there’s a few that I suspect will be better like Dallas, Philly, Arizona. Teams like San Francisco and Washington have a chance to be better and the Giants and Lions are in the category that you wouldn’t be insanely shocked but it would be very surprising. There’s a lot up in the air, like whether Trey Lance is good at football or how Wentz fits or whether Brian Daboll is a genius and on and on. The race in the NFC is pretty open, which probably influenced the Vikings’ decision not to tear it all down.
@MarcusStarr When do the Vikes start tanking for Arch Manning?
Be a farce for Arch, 2024?
@ramseykincannon how many quarterbacks start for the Vikings before Arch Manning gets drafted?
I’ll say Cousins, 2023 draft pick X and 2023 random backup.
@EgilSkallagrims What specific aspects of QBing is Mond struggling with that is leading to him being behind Mannion?
Commanding the offense and throwing the ball accurately and on time. Sean Mannion can do it at an NFL level. Does that mean he could win a bunch of games if Cousins went out? Probably not. But if Cousins got COVID before the Seattle game last year, could Mannion have come in and done enough against that defense? Probably. Where Mond stood last year in camp, he couldn’t execute the basic plays in practice. That might change. He’ll get every opportunity.
@Mardelicious23 From Jim Kelly to Josh Allen & Fran Tarkenton to Kirk Cousins, who had worse play at the QB position, between “franchise” quarterbacks; the Bills or the Vikings? Surely they’ve both had some serviceable play in between, but which one had it worse?
By far the Bills. Actually by a bazillion miles the Bills. The Vikings had a ton of good quarterback seasons between Tark and Kirk. Tommy Kramer, Warren Moon, Cunningham, Culpepper, Teddy/Case/Bradford. The Bills once gave Ryan Fitzpatrick a contract extension as their starter. It was a horror show after Kelly outside of two fun years with Doug Flutie. When they signed Drew Bledsoe everyone thought they’d be great but that was a total disaster and then they had dark, dark times after that until Allen. You could say 2015 Tyrod was decent. Bleh.
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