Film study: Rushing Rodgers
Mike Zimmer vs. Aaron Rodgers has made for a great battle over the years, so let's have a look at how the Vikings have pressured Rodgers

By Matthew Coller
Normally we look at the previous week’s game here on the film review but with the Green Bay Packers coming to US Bank Stadium, it makes sense for us to look forward to another iteration of Mike Zimmer vs. Aaron Rodgers.
Since Zimmer arrived in 2014, the Vikings have played Rodgers 13 times. The Packers have gone 7-5-1 in those games and Rodgers has a 24 touchdowns, three interceptions and a 100.7 rating.
But if we put his numbers under a microscope, A-Rog hasn’t exactly owned the Vikings. If we put aside 2014, the Zimmer/Rodgers standings read 5-5-1 (though Rodgers was hurt in the first quarter of the loss in 2017). While he still has a solid 97.5 rating since then, the future Hall of Fame quarterback averages just 6.8 yards per pass attempt against the Vikings’ defense during that span and he’s been sacked 30 times.
Here are Rodgers’s Pro Football Focus grades versus Minnesota since 2015 (out of 100): 73.4, 64.3, 41.3, 94.0, 84.3, 73.7, 81.0, 68.5, 96.0, 81.6.
So he’s had a wide variety of performances over the years. Zimmer said on Monday that Rodgers’s experience against the Vikings makes it tough to throw him off.
“When you play guys like him, they are extremely hard to fool, they're very difficult to catch off guard,” Zimmer said. “I think the biggest thing with him is that our guys have to understand this guy can make every throw, he can use his legs, he's very, very smart. He can get them in a lot of good things so we're going to have to be tight in coverage but we can't give up big plays as well and they're spreading the ball around a lot.”
Zimmer, however, has had some success in throwing the kitchen sink at Rodgers with different pressures in key situations. Let’s have a look at some of the ways the Vikings have messed with Green Bay’s star quarterback in the recent past…
One of the themes of our film study will show the Vikings overloading different parts of Green Bay’s offensive line, forcing them to adjust quickly or allowing for a free rusher at the quarterback. Our first Zimmer pressure, during the 29-29 tie at Lambeau Field in 2018, looks at that concept with the rush coming up the middle.
In this case, Harrison Smith lines up directly over the center with Eric Kendricks in his usual middle linebacker spot. Both players come after Rodgers while Danielle Hunter and Anthony Barr have a twist of their own off the edge. Barr rushes the tight end and Hunter drops out. On the opposite side, Everson Griffen sinks into coverage as well on this zone blitz, leaving five men rushing with seven in coverage, but the five rushers are hardly who you’d expect on this play. The running back gets to Smith just in time but it’s enough to move Rodgers off his spot.
The throw was completed but a penalty on the Packers negated the play and they were forced to punt.
Every game that the Vikings play against Rodgers has its own twist. In the ‘18 game, Mackensie Alexander rushed just twice but caught the Packers off guard both times, once creating a pressure and the other a sack.
On this look, eight players are on the line of scrimmage versus six Packers blockers. Six men rush, Anthony Barr goes back into coverage to take the slot receiver, Griffen covers the tight end and Alexander ends up as the free rusher. Green Bay’s running back helped block up the middle, giving the nickel corner a run right at Rodgers.
The Packers completed the pass for a first down on a slant/drag combination that may have had Barr and Andrew Sendejo mixed up about which receiver they were taking but the Vikings got in Rodgers’s face nonetheless.
Late in the fourth quarter, Alexander got another shot and didn’t miss. This time they showed only four rushers at first and then had both linebackers, Harrison Smith and Alexander creep up to the line of scrimmage showing blitz. But only Kendricks and Alexander blitzed, creating a 4-on-3. Normally the tackle is supposed to take the closest man to the QB but he went toward Everson Griffen, possibly because of a mixup with the guard.
Danielle Hunter dropped back in coverage, so they were able to have seven men dropping back, taking away Rodgers’s first look.
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