Film Study: Cashman's red zone saves and Darnold vs. the rush

The Vikings linebacker keyed the red zone defense that saved the day vs. Arizona

© Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

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By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — The Minnesota Vikings did not have an easy day against the Arizona Cardinals but found a way to win on the back of a bunch of clutch plays, particularly in the red zone and against late-game blitzes on offense.

Let’s have a look at how they did it on the All-22 tape…

Cashman in the red zone

You might not see another game all year where a team goes 1-for-6 in the red zone as the Cardinals did against the Vikings on Sunday. There were a bunch of reasons why the Vikings were able to stall out Arizona’s drives, including that they played very well in coverage and stopped RB James Connor from getting easy yards.

At the center of it all was linebacker Blake Cashman.

On Arizona’s first attempt in the red zone, Cashman made a key tackle short of the first down marker when he showed blitz and then dropped back into coverage. The Vikings collapsed the pocket and Kyler Murray dumped the ball underneath to his running back with a ton of space to work with. If he breaks Cashman’s tackle, he’s easily getting the first down and potentially pushing for a TD. Instead, he’s stopped in his tracks and the Cards kick a field goal.

Also notable from this play is that the Vikings are in man-to-man coverage, which they have played sparingly this season. The corners are tight in coverage, giving no easy opportunity for Murray to find a receiver.

After the Vikings fumbled, the defense desperately needed a stop to keep the Cardinals from jumping up by two scores. On first down, Murray tried to scramble and was cut off by Cashman before he could reach the edge. Cashman seems to have taken away the underneath route and then hedged to stay enough in coverage that Murray couldn’t find an open man.

Up front, former XFL’er Jalen Redmond causes the pressure on the interior and then hustles after Murray. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Vikings use Redmond more often going forward.

The next clip (two plays) is from the end of an 11-play drive. Cashman blitzes and then realizes that TE Trey McBride made a catch behind him. He puts his foot in the ground and runs full speed from behind, making the tackle and getting a good punch on the football. The second clip is Cashman again tracking a running back out of the backfield to make the tackle. His hustle and stamina to make these two stops back to back is incredibly impressive.

This time the Vikings were playing zone and rushed four. Jonathan Greenard’s rush off the edge seemed to cause Murray to pull the trigger quickly rather than looking for something downfield.

At the beginning of the second half, the Vikings again needed to keep the Cards out of the end zone. They tried to surprise the defense by running a handoff on third-and-6 against a front that only had two defenders on the left side. The left tackle tries to work from a double team to Cashman but the veteran linebacker shoots by him, then somehow doesn’t overrun the play and grabs the runner by his waist for a stop. Had the Cardinals even gotten three or four yards, they might have been able to go for it but a 1-yard gain forced the field goal.

One more play to look at from the defense — a play that is season-defining for the Vikings team.

Jonathan Greenard, dealing with an illness all week, tracked down Murray on a scramble from the defense’s right side all the way to the far sideline. The Vikings defense talks about straining to finish plays and this took so much strain that they had to call a timeout to allow Greenard to catch his breath.

One thing to notice is that Greenard stopped his rush because he sensed that Murray might take off. Had he just kept going up field, Murray would have gone right by him. Greenard doesn’t much of an advantage when it comes to the angle and when Murray realizes that he’s going to get hit he attempts to juke Greenard. It is unexplainable how a 260-pound man could slow himself down enough to avoid getting juked out.

The end zone camera really shows how hard Greenard was running. His head down, arms flailing. After already being on the field for 60 plays at that point, no less. Remarkable.

Darnold vs. rush

Overall, it’s hard to have complaints about Sam Darnold’s performance when he finished with a 111.6 QB rating, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. But the first half’s scoring output was diminished by sacks that ended drives or caused them to attempt field goals rather than putting sevens on the board.

Why did he take so many hits from the Cards defense?

Let’s start with a third-and-2 that was blown up by a sack. The Vikings run a bunch formation with Justin Jefferson going on a corner route and Jordan Addison a slant. Darnold appears to be looking at the slant and it seems that Jalen Nailor’s underneath route is supposed to draw the zone defender toward the middle. But when he doesn’t move, Darnold doesn’t work to Nailor and instead seems to look back to the corner and then goes to scramble. The pocket breaks down and he’s sacked.

It does appear on the All-22 that he could have ripped the ball into Addison or brought his eyes to Nailor before ducking out to scramble. At the same time, it’s always easier said than done and Arizona dropping out a defender from the line of scrimmage may have given him a different look than expected. It also appeared that he had room to scramble for a first down when he made the decision but the DT slipped around to the left after lining up over the guard.