By Matthew Coller
Well, that was some kind of football game. Let’s deep dive into all the film and data…
Everything that went right
Dallas Turner was a monster
The Vikings couldn’t have dreamed up a better performance for their 2024 first-round pick. This offseason they put trust in Turner by moving on from Jonathan Greenard and it paid off to the tune of an NFL leading nine QB pressures in Week 1 and six QB hits.
Turner’s speed and burst have always been obvious but he showed an entire bag during the game, including this bull rush where he drove the tackle right back into the QB and hit Jordan Love.
Turner played with an immense amount of violence during the game, making sure Love felt his presence every time he was near the quarterback.
Flores’ blitzes also helped Turner. Here, Ty Ingram-Dawkins rushes outside to take on the tackle and nobody blocks Turner. He flies in and smacks Love.
It should also be noted that he had two run stops and graded solidly as a tackler as well. It was the most complete game we’ve seen from Turner and signs of him turning a corner toward being a star edge in the NFL.
Blitzes involving Blake Cashman
When people talk about Flores being an evil genius, Blake Cashman’s blitzes on Sunday would be submitted as evidence. Per NFLNextGen, Cashman reached the QB on blitzes in less than 2.5 seconds on seven different occasions, including the game-changing play where Andrew Van Ginkel recovered Love’s fumble.
In total, per PFF, Flores blitzed on 87% of his drop-backs. Oddly enough, when Love wasn’t blitzed he went 0-for-5 passing.
Under pressure, Love had a 30.3 PFF grade vs. a 79.3 when Flores’ rushes did not get home. He was pressured on 54.3% of drop-backs.
At the end of the day, the blitzes did get beat big several times but they worked much more than they didn’t.
Ty Ingram-Dawkins and Levi Drake Rodriguez were strong in the middle
All summer we talked about the Vikings’ development players Ty Ingram-Dawkins and Levi Drake Rodriguez being in line to start and how that was a question mark going into the season. Both players answered the bell vs. the Packers.
This play late in the game in particular from Ingram-Dawkins stood out. He jumped inside of the left guard for a big TFL.
Ingram-Dawkins size/quickness/IQ combo was what attracted the Vikings to him in the draft in 2025 and it showed up a lot to the tune of a 89.7 PFF grade against the run.
Rodriguez’s power intrigued the Vikings back in 2024 when he was coming out of Texas A&M Commerce. Well, he showed that all over the tape vs. Green Bay, scoring a 81.9 PFF grade.
On this play, the guard tries to push him down the line of scrimmage and he stops on a dime and manhandles the guard for the tackle.
With Domonique Orange (22 snaps) and Caleb Banks (16 snaps) just starting to work in, LDR and TID are vital to slowing down the run and moving people up front during blitzes.
Vikings red zone and third-down defense
With all the madness happening at the end of the game, it’s easy to forget why the Viking still had a chance late in the contest. That’s in large part because they did not give up touchdowns in the red zone. The Packers were just 1-for-4 in the red zone and 3-for-12 on third down (and 0-for-2 on fourth down).
It wasn’t an ideal performance with 419 total yards allowed but the defense was clutch over and over.
Wentz throwing to Justin Jefferson
While Carson Wentz’s overall day could be described as erratic, he does one thing really well: Throw to Justin Jefferson. When targeting Jefferson, Wentz went 7-for-8 for 83 yards.
Here’s a rare example of Jefferson getting man-to-man coverage on a single-high safety look from the Packers. Wentz throws it on time and accurate to the sideline for an easy first down.
We have seen Jefferson make plenty of hay with that route because defenders have to respect that he might keep going deep and he’s so fast out of his breaks.
On the bomb touchdown, the thing to notice on tape is Jefferson’s all-world ability to manipuate the defender. While the ball is in the air, he keeps pressing the defender toward the pylon and then at the last minute breaks back inside the DB for the ball.
There are some plays where you simply have to say: That dude is special.
Wentz throwing to tight ends
While things didn’t go to plan with other receivers getting targets, Josh Oliver and TJ Hockenson ended up getting seven targets from Wentz, including a touchdown reception by Hockenson and a key first down grab by Oliver on a throw that was about 10 feet in the air and behind him.
It demonstrated how the Vikings’ passing game has built in options for the tight ends that can be relied upon for a QB such as Wentz.
Donovan Jackson’s solid game
The Vikings’ second-year guard didn’t look very youthful on Sunday. He had the highest PFF pass blocking grade on the team (88.3) and allowed zero QB pressures.
Mason’s positive runs
The run game overall wasn’t particularly efficient but the Vikings showed the potential of the run game if they get things sorted out with communication and execution.
Here is a positive gain for Mason where the O-line gets the Packers all moving to the offense’s right and then they seal off defenders trying to work back as Jordan Mason cuts it back upfield.
You will also notice Jauan Jennings comes from going in motion to lead blocking. That’s an add-on to his game that not many receivers have.
The best example of a successful run is Mason’s 27-yard carry, which is classic wide zone. Darrisaw seals off No. 94 and Donovan Jackson works up to the linebacker No. 44 to create a monster hole for Mason to scamper.
It’s interesting that much was made of the Vikings using a zone run scheme but PFF tracked 12 zone runs to 14 gap runs. That may have been partly because of the way the Packers were playing them defensively but it will be worth watching whether that changes in the future.
DeeJay Dallas’ big block
A forgotten play amidst the madness of the game was Myles Price’s 68-yard kick return that set up a touchdown from Wentz to Hockenson that brought the score to 22-17.
The star of the play: Newcomer RB DeeJay Dallas. Signed after cutdowns, he was active over Demond Claiborne on Sunday and he pancaked a Packer defender to open the hole for Price.