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Dec 31, 2024 | 
zonecoverage.com | Bryan Miller
It was either Bill Shakespeare or Bill Parcells who posed one of life’s great conundrums: “To rest your starters, or not to rest your starters? That is the question.”It’s one of the great luxury-class debates in the NFL, a Cadillac problem for teams to ponder when they’re already certified as playoff-bound.
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Dec 6, 2024 | 
zonecoverage.com | Tom Schreier |Cole Smith |Bryan Miller |Matt Johnson
In 2017, the University of North Carolina called upon Michael Jordan to hype up a packed house for the upcoming football season. “I’m extremely proud of what coach [Larry] Fedora has done for the football team, and I think bigger and better things are about to happen,” he proclaimed. “The ceiling is the roof. Let’s make it happen. Let’s keep it moving forward.”The Tar Heels finished 3-9 that year, 1-7 in the ACC, and fired Fedora. Even MJ couldn’t keep the roof from caving in.
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
zonecoverage.com | Cole Smith |Bryan Miller |Matt Johnson |Wyatt Wade
Sometimes, fantasy football and Madden culture can warp our view of what constitutes a good football player. People use yards and touchdowns to measure quarterbacks and skill players. Meanwhile, defensive backs only get SportsCenter highlights if they make an interception. Sacks are the easiest way for fans to compare defensive linemen. Most fans are watching the ball during a game. They only notice an offensive lineman if they commit a penalty or allow a sack.
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
zonecoverage.com | Bryan Miller |Matt Johnson |Wyatt Wade |Matt Fries
Every football fan contains multitudes. So says Walt Whitman, or John Madden, or one of those guys. Says me, anyway. Because not only is every football fan built a little differently, they’re different kinds of fans depending on the situation. This is true of even the most franchise-monogamous stalwart. Even a true-purple Minnesota Vikings fan (like yourself, perhaps) may have slightly shifting loyalties when the Vikes aren’t on the field.
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Nov 27, 2024 | 
zonecoverage.com | Tom Schreier |Matt Fries |Chris Schad |Bryan Miller
The Minnesota Vikings noticed that Cairo Santos looked nervous. There were subtle hints. The glazed look in Santos’ eyes, the slump of his shoulders. Who could blame him? The Green Bay Packers had blocked his potential game-winning kick the week before. Green Bay’s special teams coordinator, Rich Bisaccia, noticed a weakness in Chicago’s special teams unit. They were using depth guards, and Santos kicks with a low trajectory.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
zonecoverage.com | Matt Fries |Chris Schad |Bryan Miller |Tom Schreier
If you watched the Minnesota Vikings beat the Chicago Bears on Sunday, you probably already know that Justin Jefferson only had 27 yards on two catches against the Bears. That’s because the FOX broadcast would not stop talking about how Chicago’s defense held Jefferson to just one catch during regulation, even though the Vikings were winning.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
zonecoverage.com | Chris Schad |Bryan Miller |Tom Schreier |Preet Mukesh Shah
On Sunday afternoon, Daniel Jones was somewhere watching football from his couch. The New York Giants released their former franchise quarterback in a messy divorce. He went from starting on Monday to acting as a scout team safety on Wednesday and asking for his release on Friday. Nobody would have blamed Jones if he took a weekend to be one of the other 24 million Americans kicking his feet up and enjoying seven hours of commercial-free football.
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Nov 25, 2024 | 
zonecoverage.com | Bryan Miller |Tom Schreier |Preet Mukesh Shah |Chris Schad
The game played at Soldier Field on Sunday looked like something out of the circus — the Family Circus, to be specific. Heads up to readers under the age of 40: the Family Circus is a newspaper comic strip (remember comic strips? Remember newspapers?) famous for being never particularly funny.
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Nov 8, 2024 | 
zonecoverage.com | John Boyd |Tom Schreier |Nelson Thielen |Bryan Miller
Minnesota Vikings fans are half a season into the Sam Darnold experience and boy, has it been … an experience. Darnold’s physical talent has never been in question, but his decision-making and excitability have led to some high peaks and deep valleys throughout his career. From his time as a starter with the moribund New York Jets to his stints with the Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers (as a backup), he has never been in a situation as ideal as his current one in Minnesota.
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Nov 8, 2024 | 
zonecoverage.com | Tom Schreier |Nelson Thielen |Bryan Miller |Cole Smith
When Sean McVay hired Kevin O’Connell in 2020, O’Connell had to navigate social distancing while executing an ambiguous role. O’Connell was the Los Angeles Rams’ offensive coordinator, but McVay designed the offense and called the plays. McVay didn’t fill the OC position when Matt LaFleur left following the 2017 season, and O’Connell was mainly in LA to help turn Jared Goff into a franchise quarterback. Early on, he conducted unit and position-group meetings via video screens.
