MacDonald Locker Room Speech

[SoulfishHawk]

I didn't have a problem with kicking a field goal - 3 points at that time was almost like a nail in the coffin, the way our defense was playing, and the way they were all over Darnold, why take chances when you didn't need to? But use the clock a little better and make it a shorter field goal attempt.

Yep, I didn't like the time management, but they still added 3. Certainly not the end of the world. Game was well in hand, imo.

 

[JustTheTip]

It's complimentary football. Coach has been preaching it all year long. Your offense had not deciphered that defense and was not moving the ball well against them at all. The most important thing to MacDonald in that moment was to give yourself some opportunity to score but leave their offense no time for another possession. Especially since your defense was carrying you that game, don't put another unnecessary sequence on them too. If they'd used the timeouts early and went 3 and out? That was worst case scenario to MacDonald and he's been pretty right so far. I'll stick with him.

The offense was playing well enough to bleed 1:40 off the clock if it needed to. Letting the time run off tells your offense you have little confidence that they can get the job done... bleeding momentum.

 

[Hawkstud]

They managed the clock perfectly. They were playing a team that couldn't score a point against us.

AND taking a time out on that drive would have given them some regroup and catch your breath time.

 

[glenwo2]

Time management was bad to the end the half. But they still got the 3. Meh. Learn from it, I suspect coach will. Team is sitting at 9-3, pretty damn solid. EVERY team in the entire league does stupid stuff and/or has ugly games. This isn't just a Seattle thing. They're stacking wins. I like it.

.02

I'm wondering if the fact that Flores knows Darnold too well may have played a factor in them going ultra-conservative and just get the sure-fire points instead of going for the jugular....

 

[glenwo2]

I like that we keep taking the field goals instead of the suddenly trendy 4 down or bust strategy. Our opponents may breathe a sigh of relief on the first one, but by the 3rd or the 4th it’s not a “small victory” any more.

On the last drive, I was surprised we didn’t kick a 5th. It would have put us at 22 points, adding a 2-point conversion to the 3 TDs needed to catch up.

Not that anything short of a pick 6 or a scoop and score was going to get Minny back in the game, but it seemed a little uncharacteristic. Maybe MM was just thinking clock or thought it would be fun…

I think MacDonald said in his presser that he heard the fans booing when the FG unit started to trot onto the field and then decided to call timeout, and deliberate with Kubiak...which is what led to them going for it instead.

 

[glenwo2]

IMO MacDonald was playing the game situation at the end of the first half. He's been aggressive using his timeouts and going down the field in that situation earlier this year. I was holding my breath on every drop back in the first half, between the sacks and balls deflected at the line. The D was showing by then that the Vikings were not going to get anything unless we handed it to them.

Yeah.

Flores was hell-bent on making sure that Darnold would not beat them through the air.

 

[glenwo2]

The offense was playing well enough to bleed 1:40 off the clock if it needed to. Letting the time run off tells your offense you have little confidence that they can get the job done... bleeding momentum.

I disagree.

The offense was under siege (in particular Darnold).

Flores was hell-bent on not allowing Sam to beat him and considering how bad the OL played, any attempt to throw it would have resulted in a possible repeat of the Rams game.

MacDonald recognized that this was not to be Darnold's night so he took the points when he could and regrouped for the 2nd half to at least make the adjustments to better protect Sam.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

And he took some sacks this time. A hell of a lot better than just forcing the ball in.

 

[chris98251]

They said at the beginning of the week they know what rattles Darnold and would bring it all game till he beat them for doing it, blitzing all game and not getting over the top tells me he still has issues with reacting to it.

You know what we will see the rest of the season now, limiting us to a limited amount of yards in the air is what other teams will now try to do.

We won, defense was great, but it is also a indicator we have a way to go to get this offense as a imposeing unit, first the o line against good fronts, second Darnold reading the blitz package and finding his outlet faster.

 

[hox]

I disagree.

The offense was under siege (in particular Darnold).

Flores was hell-bent on not allowing Sam to beat him and considering how bad the OL played, any attempt to throw it would have resulted in a possible repeat of the Rams game.

MacDonald recognized that this was not to be Darnold's night so he took the points when he could and regrouped for the 2nd half to at least make the adjustments to better protect Sam.

This is a reasonable take on the subject.

 

[glenwo2]

This is a reasonable take on the subject.

Well I am a reasonable guy.

 

[glenwo2]

They said at the beginning of the week they know what rattles Darnold and would bring it all game till he beat them for doing it, blitzing all game and not getting over the top tells me he still has issues with reacting to it.

You know what we will see the rest of the season now, limiting us to a limited amount of yards in the air is what other teams will now try to do.

We won, defense was great, but it is also a indicator we have a way to go to get this offense as a imposeing unit, first the o line against good fronts, second Darnold reading the blitz package and finding his outlet faster.

I think the usage of Barner (for example) in screens was a good start in combatting any team's blitz-happy plans.

Maybe going forward, Kubiak ALWAYS has that hot-read that Darnold can go to if a blitz is coming or something.

 

[hawker84]

No amount of adjustments were going to help the Vikings yesterday. That's not a head scratcher.

If you say so.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

He's right, the Vikings had zero chance in that game.

 

[Runscott]

The problem with what you said here is that the clock had nothing to do with making it a shorter/longer FG attempt. Their defense stopped us. If MM had used the clock "better", as you said, and called an earlier timeout, the Vikings would have gotten the ball back with time on the clock of their own, an opportunity to score, and put our D back on the field.

I probably should have said 'decision management'. Regardless, it's obvious that the opinions of forum members regarding that drive are all over the place. This was a game a lot of gamblers probably jumped all over - most of us felt early on that we were going to win no matter how many mistakes we made or how badly we played. McDonald wasn't taking any chances at the end of the half - that's fine. We still win regardless.

This will sound like a joke, but it isn't: given how many head coaches make decisions that seem very questionable, or flat out dumb, in the last 2-3 minutes before a half ends, it's obviously a stressful period of many games, and decisions often have to be made very quickly. What if you have a person whose only job is to stand by the head coach and check his decisions in the last two minutes? Some coaches, like Sean Payton, excel at the end of halves; others, like Jason Garrett, (and Mike McCarthy?) are/were often miserable. A '2 minute decision checker' standing next to Jason Garrett could have won him a few games. It could even be someone in the booth - they simply call down and say "call a time-out..NOW." or "sideline pass" or "throw to the middle, then spike it." After the coach ignores them a few times, and is proven wrong, as long as it's someone he trusts implicitly, it could start working.