By Matthew Coller
The Minnesota Vikings advanced to 5-0 with a win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. Let’s have a look at the film and numbers from the game…
What went right
Murray “playing point guard”
Over the last two weeks, Murray has been a marksman when it comes to completing passes underneath. Against New Orleans, he went 11-for-11 on passes between 0-9 yards for 66 yards, per PFF.
Are underneath throws difficult? Not always but they do take good timing and decisiveness, as demonstrated by a couple plays early that got Murray. The first came right after TJ Hockenson was lost for the game. He found Gavin Bartholomew on a quick strike for a first down. As you can see, his arm is coming back before the tight end gets out of his break and the ball is on him right when he turns around, leaving no time for the Saints to react.
For whatever reason, Murray always seems to have a good feel for his tight ends’ routes in the middle of zone defenses. He did it early in his career and especially with Trey McBride recently.
Later in the game, we saw a similar play to the other side, where Bartholomew pivoted away from the closest defender and Murray put the ball right into his hands for a first down.
Bartholomew did a terrific job providing a security blanket for Murray, catching five passes for 33 yards. Kevin O’Connell said on Monday that Hockenson had been a big part of the gameplan coming in, so they didn’t have to totally sacrifice that because of the 2025 sixth-round pick’s preparedness and Murray’s timing and trust.
One thing that everyone has wanted to see in recent Vikings history is a quick game that involves Justin Jefferson more often. While only three of his receptions came under 10 yards through the air, there were signs that it’s possible to connect Murray’s dart throwing underneath and Jefferson’s route running.
This completion is a staple concept for KOC with two receivers stacked and one running a deep corner and the other a quick out route. Murray is bang on with the timing and accuracy and Jefferson gets a positive gain.
It’s safe to say that over the last two weeks, O’Connell and Murray have gotten on the same page. When they talk about completions helping Murray get into a groove, you could see it on Sunday.
Murray pushing the ball downfield
While underneath throwing was key and Murray did miss a couple opportunities deep, he finished 5-for-9 on throws past 10 yards with 110 yards and a touchdown.
The touchdown was pretty well analyzed but there was another throw to Jefferson downfield that stood out because of the concept and execution.
On this play-action pass to Jefferson, the Vikings are in a pistol formation with the fullback Max Bredeson to Murray’s left and a tight end on that side as well. They run play-action and the corner stays home on cover-2 and the deep safety ends up as the only guy on Jefferson. Murray gets back around to Jefferson and hits him right on the money about 25 yards from his target and takes a shot.
Using a million deep concepts with Murray would probably be a mistake because he doesn’t always trust the tight-window throws (and since he has zero Turnover-Worthy Plays in the last three games, you don’t exactly want to put too much risk in his hands) but he’s proven to be able to drive the ball with his arm strength early in his time as a Viking. They should be able to pick their spots downfield, especially to Jefferson.
The screen game arrives
Do you believe in miracles?
The Vikings ran eight screens for 54 yards, including this one early in the game to Bartholomew.
Center Blake Brandel got out in space and made a key block and Bartholomew’s youthful speed kicked in for a chunk gain.
If the Vikings are going to keep the train on the tracks with Murray, they will need more where that came from (and they can’t fumble like Myles Price did in the red zone).
The O-line battled
Quick game certainly helped but Kyler Murray’s average time to throw was 4.48 seconds on the drop-backs where he was pressured and he was only under pressure 13 of 39 drop-backs. Those are great numbers for the Vikings’ banged-up offensive line.
Their most impressive play was Jeshaun Jones’ long reception in the second half after the Saints tied the game. Not only did the O-line give Murray about seven seconds to find his man downfield, but Joe Huber TKO’d the Saints edge rusher by looking to help on a four-man rush where Blake Brandel totally eliminated his man.
Will Fries and Ryan Van Demark got dinged in their PFF grades for a few pressures but considering Van Demark was going against Chase Young for much of the day, giving up only two pressures is a good showing for a backup tackle against a top-notch player.
Murray’s scrambling and playmaking
When things did break down, Murray was ready to make plays. Alec Lewis of The Athletic pointed out that Murray’s 20.8 mph scramble for a first down was the fastest of any ball carrier for the entire Sunday of football. He totaled 10 attempts for 51 yards but three of them were kneel downs, so it was even better than that.
The most impressive play of the day was probably one where he threw the ball rather than running. On third-and-11, Chase Young won instantly but Murray flipped out of the pocket in an eyeblink and bought time for himself and created a window to dump it off to DeeJay Dallas.
Let’s keep in mind that Young is one of the biggest freaks in the game. There were reminders throughout of why Murray was able to run for 800+ yards in a season once and why his athleticism made him a Heisman and top draft pick. This was one of those plays. There are only a couple QBs in the NFL that aren’t sacked on this play.
Aaron Jones’ toughness, run blocking
There aren’t enough words to praise how much Jones fought during this game. He pushed through and made some difference-making rushes. In total, gaining 113 yards on 25 rushes with two carries for 10+ yards.
He couldn’t have done it if the offensive line didn’t create space for him. Here’s an example of everyone getting involved to give him a positive run. Brian O’Neill and Will Fries double team block the DT way off his spot and Ben Yurosek rushes up to take the linebacker, who he moves out of the way as well. Joe Huber hangs onto big rookie Christen Miller so he doesn’t knife in and blow up the play.
There are so many plays of Huber fighting hard in this game. He gives them a chance to survive Jackson’s absence.
Our next run play is an interesting blocking concept where the tight end comes all the way behind the O-linemen to hit the nose tackle and Fries goes directly for the linebacker (or box safety).
The rest was Jones just being willing to fight harder than anyone should reasonably battle while in his physical condition. He stayed upright through a leg tackle and then pushed forward for an extra couple yards. Amazing performance.