Minnesota Vikings Fan Club of New Mexico

By Matthew Coller

The Minnesota Vikings have only faced one veteran quarterback this year.

On Sunday in the Meadowlands, former USC star Sam Darnold will become the third rookie quarterback to face the Vikings in seven weeks. Two other foes, Jared Goff and Carson Wentz, are entering their third years in the NFL and Jimmy Garoppolo made just the eighth start of his career on opening day.

While the Vikings shockingly lost to Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills in Week 3 and gave up 465 yards to Goff, they atoned for their letdown by beating Wentz in Philadelphia and mauling rookie Josh Rosen last Sunday.

Head coach Mike Zimmer has generally dominated unseasoned quarterbacks. Last year, the Vikings defeated Mitch Trubisky and Brett Hundley twice, easily beat DeShone Kizer and slowed Jared Goff to seven points.

That trend isn’t new. Quarterbacks in their first, second or third years in the NFL have only beaten Zimmer five times in 22 tries. Fifteen of those games have featured multiple sacks, 11 have gone under 200 yards and six have included multiple interceptions.

Those numbers don’t include Garoppolo, who went 15-for-33 with 261 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.

Sunday’s win over Rosen and the Cardinals was the perfect demonstration of why it’s been so darn difficult for young QBs to beat the Vikings since Zimmer came aboard in 2014. Let’s have a closer look at some of the ways they slowed Rosen and will likely attempt to frustrate Darnold…

Multiple looks on third down

On the first third down of the game for Rosen, the Vikings showed their classic double-A gap “mug” look in which linebackers Eric Kendricks and Anthony Barr line up inside the two defensive tackles over the A gap.

At this point, the Vikings have innumerable options. They can send one after the quarterback or both or drop both back in coverage and send a rusher from somewhere else — notice Harrison Smith is playing at the line of scrimmage. But this time, the Vikings play man-press coverage with their corners, man coverage with Smith and nickel corner Mackensie Alexander and drop both Barr and Kendricks into zones.

While the Vikings’ front four creates some push, Rosen appears to get rid of the ball earlier than needed and forces it to a receiver who wasn’t open for an incompletion.

The sheer concern over pass rushers coming from all angles is enough to make an inexperienced — and even sometimes quality quarterback — struggle against the Vikings, especially since Sheldon Richardson and Danielle Hunter both entered the game in the top 10 at their position in QB pressures.

When Rosen made his first appearance in the red zone, the Vikings threw something at him that they do not use all that often: Cover-0.

On the play below, Zimmer sends the house, rushing everyone except for three DBs playing man coverage. There simply wasn’t enough bodies blocking to stop every rusher in purple and linebacker Anthony Barr came unblocked. The moment of hesitation causes Rosen’s pass to get knocked down.

There’s more where this came from.

Zimmer pulled out a 3-4 Zone Dog blitz on a third-and-6 in the first quarter. Notice again that the linebackers are up at the line of scrimmage, but they drop back. Only Danielle Hunter, Linval Joseph and Stephen Weatherly are on the D-line and DBs Mackensie Alexander and Anthony Harris come after the passer.

In this case, there are enough Cardinals to block the Vikings’ rushers, but the O-linemen are unable to pick up the blitz quick enough, leaving a massive hole for Alexander. It’s possible Rosen could have found a quick outlet if he had picked up on the blitz quick enough, but blitzes off the bunch formation side are not always the easiest to spot.

On Rosen’s third quarter interception

Even when Zimmer isn’t sending more than four rushers on a key third down, there’s always some type of unique look. On Rosen’s interception, they run a twist with the defensive tackles and rotate safeties.

The rookie quarterback sees Harris as the lone deep safety, but at the last second Smith scampers back into that role allowing Harris to become a robber and step into the passing lane for the interception.

Personnel matters in the equation, too.

Even without Everson Griffen, there are few teams that can boast the type of front-four rush as the Vikings. Xavier Rhodes and Trae Waynes are also very capable of handling top receivers one-on-one in man coverage and Smith is the type of chess piece that makes it all tick.

So far, Darnold has had some serious ups and downs. Going by ESPN’s 1-100 QBR metric, he’s posted two games over 80, which is spectacular, and two games under 20, which is very poor. The one difference between him and Rosen is a gunslinger mentality that both makes him dangerous and reckless. Zimmer will be looking to take advantage of that, especially in big spots.

The post Prepping for another rookie: How the Vikings’ defense slows inexperienced QBs appeared first on 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.

Source:: 1500 ESPN Sportswire

By Matthew Coller

Matthew Coller and former NFL wide receiver Donald Jones get together again to talk about Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs’ rise to stardom. Why are undrafted players driven differently than guys who were drafted? How does Thielen succeed in the slot? Plus Donald played with Marshawn Lynch and he explains why Marshawn was a great leader.

The post Why Thielen and Diggs’ draft status still matters (and Marshawn stories) (ep. 389) appeared first on 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.

Source:: 1500 ESPN Sportswire

By Matthew Coller

If you drafted Kyle Rudolph on your fantasy team because you were expecting him to put up Zach Ertz-like numbers under offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, you are probably disappointed so far.

There are currently 11 tight ends with more receiving yards and Ertz has 21 more receptions than Rudolph. But if you aren’t focused on fantasy, it’s apparent that DeFilippo’s usage of the Minnesota Vikings’ tight ends has been one of the driving forces of success on offense. That was especially clear in the Vikings’ 27-17 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

Before we look at some of the plays in which the tight ends’ impact can only be seen with a closer look, it’s worth pointing out that Rudolph’s efficiency numbers have never been better than in the first six games of this season.

According to Pro Football Focus, Kirk Cousins is 27-for-30 with 8.6 yards per attempt and has a 125.8 quarterback rating when targeting Rudolph. He has a catch of at least 15 yards in every game except Week 1, in which his lone catch was a touchdown, and on third down he has caught eight passes on nine targets and gained six first downs. Rudolph is 5-for-5 on third or fourth down with fewer than three yards to go.

The Pro Bowl tight end has also cleverly been used as a blocker. In the past he has been criticized for his run blocking, but the way in which DeFilippo has used him in mismatches has helped the Vikings spring key plays.

One common theme in Rudolph’s usage has been blocking on wide receiver screens. On Sunday he helped open a hole for Adam Thielen, who gained nine yards on first-and-15. Rudolph is matched up against a defensive back and takes care of business by flooring the smaller player.

Later in the game DeFilippo dialed up another clever blocking scheme using Rudolph, this time on a read option play for Cousins.

The right side of the Vikings’ offensive line double teams the defensive tackle and leaves the defensive end. When the D-end draws in, Cousins simply runs right past him. But the play doesn’t work if Rudolph can’t handle safety Antoine Bethea.

The Vikings’ tight end again uses his size advantage on the smaller defensive back and drives him into the end zone, allowing the quarterback to walk in for an easy seven.

On the receiving side, Rudolph has been well known as a red zone threat, producing 16 touchdowns over the past two seasons. On Sunday, DeFilippo used Rudolph as a red zone decoy on a Thielen touchdown.

The Cardinals rush four and have seven defenders in coverage. The linebackers and nickel corner play zone underneath, so the nickel does not carry Rudolph, leaving the safety in a bind when both Rudolph and Thielen run vertical routes. He can either help the linebacker with Thielen or cover Rudolph — either way is advantageous for the Vikings. (Also notice also that both outside receivers run quick hitches, leaving more space for Rudolph to operate).

So even though Rudolph did not end up with a touchdown catch, his role on this play was vital.

Tyler Conklin’s role was important as well. The No. 3 tight end is lined up at the top of the screen. Covering him is a defensive back, which indicates the Cards are going to play zone coverage. The play wouldn’t be as effective if the nickel was playing man coverage and following the Vikings’ starting tight end.

Rudolph ended the day with four catches for 37 yards — sorry fantasy owners –but one of the catches was a key third-down grab with under one minute remaining in the first half that ultimately led to a field goal.

Meanwhile No. 2 tight end David Morgan had a big impact as a blocker on Sunday.

Here are two explosive runs by Latavius Murray, both broken open in part by strong Morgan blocks:

On the first run, the Vikings are in a bunch formation with two tight ends and strong-blocking receiver Laquon Treadwell. Morgan hits the linebacker and drives him back, opening up a huge gap. On the second play, the Vikings’ backup tight end is asked to match up with the defensive end. He gets a little help from tackle Brian O’Neil, who then quickly works out to the cornerback and drives him all the way to the sideline as Murray is scampering for a huge gain. Morgan played 24 run snaps on Sunday, his highest total of the year.

With an offensive line that has given up a great deal of pressure on the quarterback, Morgan has also played a helpful role in protection, allowing just one pressure (per PFF) on 31 pass blocking snaps.

What we come away with is: DeFilippo might not be getting his tight ends the same types of numbers as Ertz had in Philadelphia or Gary Barnidge in Cleveland, but he’s using tight ends as chess pieces to set up other playmakers. And when Rudolph gets his number called, good things have happened.

The post The subtle effectiveness of the Vikings’ tight ends appeared first on 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.

Source:: 1500 ESPN Sportswire

By Josh Alper Kirk Cousins will be playing quarterback at MetLife Stadium this weekend and that was something the Jets hoped would be the case when free agency got underway in March. The difference is that they hoped he’d be playing at least seven other games on the field as their starting quarterback. As captured in a documentary [more]

Source:: ProFootballTalk

By Matthew Coller

The Minnesota Vikings announced Tuesday that they have signed defensive tackle David Parry, who played the first two games of the season with the Vikings prior to being released. The roster spot was created by defensive back Mike Hughes being placed on injured reserve.

The Vikings also signed Craig James, who had a strong preseason and camp with Minnesota, and released former Gopher Jalen Myrick.

Since Parry’s release, the Vikings had been playing without a true backup nose tackle to spell Linval Joseph. The move suggests that Jalyn Holmes may remain at defensive end going forward. Holmes was a defensive tackle in training camp and preseason but was forced to the edge because of an injury to Tashawn Bower and the absence of Everson Griffen.

The move could indicate the team will go forward with their current crop of corners rather than replacing Hughes by signing a veteran free agent.

The post Vikings bring back DT Parry, add James to practice squad appeared first on 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.

Source:: 1500 ESPN Sportswire