Everything that went right and wrong for Vikings vs. Lions
A look at dominance by the defense, struggles at QB
By Matthew Coller
Well, that was a unique one.
Let’s dive into what went right and wrong for the Vikings in their Christmas Day game against the Lions…
Loading up the D-line vs. Jared Goff
The Vikings pass rushing numbers from this game are insane. They blitzed Goff on 70% of his drop-backs and pressured him 41% of the time despite him getting the ball out of his hands in 2.47 seconds, per PFF. When he was able to get the ball beyond the sticks, he performed quite well, going 6-for-8 with 105 yards but he was barely ever able to stand in the pocket for long enough to do that because of the Vikings rush plan. Let’s take a look at some of their greatest hits from Thursday.
On Harrison Smith’s sack, the hero is Andrew Van Ginkel’s wing span. AVG on several occasions leaped up in the air with his arms out, throwing off the QB’s ability to have a clear throwing lane. Whether it’s part of the gameplan or just something Van Ginkel does, I’m not sure, but it was sure effective.
Everybody rushes except Van Ginkel, who takes the tackle wide by not rushing while they rush three over the center and guard. Jahmyr Gibbs has to take the free rusher Blake Cashman, leaving Harry untouched.
Still, Goff would have gotten the ball out if it wasn’t for AVG jumping 10 feet in the air. Instead he tries to work quickly back to the open man on his back side and gets smacked.
Our next Goff whoopin also includes an AVG leap. This time Goff runs into Gibbs as he’s attempting a play-action and the RB is already trying to help as Byron Murphy Jr. comes on a blitz. After the CB gets run past the QB, Goff slides into space but nobody is open and he has no checkdown option on that side of the field. His only quick throw was to the side where Van Ginkel was playing the role of Rudy Gobert.
You can see how much the pass rush impacts the coverage because if Goff had gotten an opportunity to release the ball, Amon-Ra St. Brown was 1-on-1 with Jay Ward.
The next play demonstrates how perfect the opposing team has to be with its assignments when facing these zero-blitz type looks with everyone at the line of scrimmage. This time the tight end makes a mistake and Theo Jackson gets an easy sack. Once again we see Van Ginkel draw the defender by faking toward a rush and then stopping, causing the TE to block him instead of Jackson. He’s probably still supposed to block Jackson because he’s the closest guy to the QB but he either didn’t realize the count at the line of scrimmage or was too focused on the All-Pro across from him.
Penei Sewell tries hard to get a hand on Jackson once he realizes it but the play is already over. If Goff had gotten any time at all, he had a wide open receiver over the middle.
If you were wondering about why Goff was so bad on Thursday but so good in years past, it’s because the O-line would have blocked that up correctly with Frank Ragnow at center and Goff would have thrown the ball to the wide open guy. Instead, boom.
This next one is a gem. After spending the entire day sending five or more at Goff, Flores drops everybody out and rushes four. Both edge rushers line up extremely wide and the chips actually help them get around the offensive tackles. Turner and AVG meet at the quarterback.
Let’s talk about Dallas Turner for a second.
In the 5 games he has filled in for Jonathan Greenard, he has 20 QB pressures. In total this season, he is 19th of 119 in the PFF stat Pass Rush Productivity, which is pressures/snap weighted for sacks. That number is on par with Khalil Mack and Josh Hines-Allen and slightly ahead of…. Jared Verse.
He has taken a big leap forward this year when used as a pure pass rusher.
What that means for his future with Greenard and AVG under contract next year is not clear. Maybe a more defined role coming out of camp. One thing we can say definitively: Dallas Turner can play. Where is his ceiling? That’s still unclear but he was an impact player this year.
Stuffing the run
You can only run the bonkers stuff up front if you are stopping Gibbs from dominating and the Vikings did just that. One of the ways they pulled it off — and a big adjustment in the second half of the season — was putting four defensive tackles on the field on first down.
Here we see Redmond at DT, Levi Drake Rodriguez at 3Tech, Javon Hargrave at 3Tech and Jonathan Allen at DT. AVG and Eric Wilson are the outside linebackers with only Blake Cashman patrolling the middle. The Lions try to bring an extra blocker to the party but Allen manhandles the tackle, tossing him to the ground and grabbing Gibbs.
With many teams, everything starts up front. With the Lions, everything really, really, really starts up front. Being wildly overmatched on the O-line without much of Ben Johnson’s creativity and deception in the run game left them to just get battered in one-on-one matchups.
Our next play is an example of Dallas Turner setting an edge. He seems to have greatly improved as a run defender down the stretch and you can see here that he isn’t letting Detroit block him with a tight end.
Also credit to Jay Ward, who comes up from the second level to make the tackle. He has played well recently with his increase in snaps. About those draft picks…
Anyway, you see again how the Vikings just win their matchups across the line. Eric Wilson doesn’t get pushed around and Allen does not give an inch either.
After the game Harrison Smith mentioned that many players who weren’t on the team last year took some time to find their roles and that seems especially right against the run. The Vikings are now 8th best in terms of yards per carry against.
The Vikings backup linemen pass protected OK
For as often as Max Brosmer was pressured, it wasn’t because of the backup linemen. Center Michael Jurgens was not credited with a pressure allowed and had the highest PFF pass blocking grade on the team (83.7). Blake Brandel, an invaluable swing player, held up fine at right tackle with two pressures allowed and Justin Skule was passable also with two pressures and a 62.0 grade.
Jordan Addison’s jet sweep
The Vikings closed out the game with a 65-yard sweep to Addison for a touchdown.
The play is set up by a nice wrinkle pre snap (which may have been why they need to take a timeout before hand). Addison shifts from outside the numbers to the slot and the outside cornerback follows him, indicating it might be man coverage. Then he goes in jet motion to get the handoff and the corner can’t work his way through all the other noise to find Addison on the other side. Jalen Nailor runs an inside release that brings the DB (presumably also in man coverage) with him just enough for Addison to fly by.
Addison’s speed and body control to still get into the end zone despite the defender having an angle on him are the chef’s kiss of the best play of the day by far.
What went wrong
Sacks, sacks, sacks, sacks
Max Brosmer was under pressure on 48% of his drop-backs despite his offensive line generally giving him chances to find receivers and his receivers generally giving him chances to throw to them.
Here is an example of both. The Vikings line up in a 3x1 formation with Detroit deploying a single high safety. Justin Jefferson runs an in-breaking route and he is wide open. Brosmer reaches back to throw and… does not throw.
When people ask about how someone can look good in practice and not be able to perform in the real game, well, watch how quickly the pocket collapses after he doesn’t release the ball. There’s no way to recreate the speed.
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