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AAF:Vikings’ Offence

30 Sunday Dec 2018

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Two weeks ago the Minnesota Vikings fired their offensive coordinator John DeFilippo and having won their last two games by twenty-four and eighteen points I thought I would take a look at their offence against the Detroit Lion in this week’s amateur adventure in film.

The first thing that strikes me as I sit here to recount the game is a warning that whilst there has been a turnaround in the team’s results, meaning the Vikings have a chance of making the playoffs with a win this week, they did not look that great on offence in this game. This might be somewhat worrying considering how lowly the Lions defence rates by DVOA and the comeback the Vikings had to make in the first half.

Now, I’m not going to hold the opening three and out drive against the Vikings as they started the game pinned against their own goal line thanks to a great punt/coverage. However, there were several other drives that also stalled early or broke down through a commitment to the running game that was not necessarily justified by the result. The Vikings only managed to amass one hundred yards on twenty-eight carries but if you look behind the numbers things look a little better as Dalvin Cook did manage to maintain a 4.5 yard per carry average and Latavius Murray was stuffed on a number of runs at the end of the game when the Vikings were running out the clock and did break an eleven-yard run earlier in the game.

The most effective groupings for the Vikings seemed to be a mix or 11 and 12 personnel. Their most effective receiver in this game was actually their move tight-end Kyle Rudolph who caught all nine balls that were thrown to him as well as scoring two touchdowns. Apart from moving round the formation Rudolph also was a key part in the Vikings success in the play action game as he repeatedly blocked initially before leaking out onto a route and catching the ball. This success with the play action pass is one of the benefits in the Vikings’ renewed commitment to the run and it helps that apart from having a versatile tight end in Rudolph who they moved around the formation. They were also comfortable with tight-end David Morgan’s blocking and it has to be said that both Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen are good blockers for receivers and would often be brought close to the formation for run or play-action run looks.

This was actually quite a quiet game for Diggs catching the ball who on his day can compete with any receiver in the league, but it was his fellow receiver Adam Thielen who had the big day in the receiving group with eighty yards. You can understand why with one of the better receiving duos in the league that DeFilippo could have got caught up in the passing the game, particularly given the way the league is trending. However, given the defence the Vikings possess you can see why Mike Zimmer wanted to run the ball more and it seems to help Kirk Cousins manage the game better. I’m still not sure how good a quarterback Cousins is as at times he looks really good and then he will have some bad turnovers. It feels like for these last two games that less is more for Cousins, and being able to build from the run and play-action game that the Vikings have a better foundation for success. This could be because their offensive line struggles at times, although interestingly they rank much better in the passing game (seventh) than run blocking (twenty-second) when looking at the Football Outsiders offensive line stats. However, when you have a defence who is as good as Minnesota’s, particularly in recent weeks, then a more conservative approach can help both sides of the ball function in balance and I suspect it is a combination of this and asking Kirk Cousins to do slightly less that has turned round results in recent weeks.

Whether this is enough to defeat the Bears and see the Vikings succeed in the playoffs, only time will tell but I could certainly see the Bears defence being good enough to cause the Vikings problems today and success through limiting a quarterback is not why you pay a quarterback twenty million dollars a year, even if that was the cost of getting your man in free-agency.

AAF: Case Keenum and the Vikings Offence

19 Sunday Nov 2017

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With the discussions about starting Teddy Bridgewater taking place I wanted to take a look at Case Keenum and the Minnesota Vikings offence in this week’s amateur adventures in film.

I have to say that for me this was a game of two halves as the Vikings played more conservatively in the second half, particularly in the fourth quarter where they were very much running out the clock and barely threw the ball.

However, focussing on Case Keenum it has to be said that in this game apart from two throws in the second half Keenum looked a very competent quarterback, but that is the word. It was not a case of the things he did leaping of the screen, but Keenum executing a well-designed offence. There was one occasion where tight end Kyle Rudolph had to wait for a ball to arrive on an out pattern in the first half and it was that kind of ball that caused Keenum’s second interception as DJ Swearinger leapt the route and intercepted the ball for the second time this game. For Swearinger’s first interception Keenum wasn’t able to step into his throw and sailed a ball over his receiver’s head and into the waiting arms of Swearinger. However, for a lot of the game Keenum was throwing to open receivers, with Adam Thielen particularly catching the eye with his route running.

It has to be said that both Thielen and Stefon Diggs impressed me with their all round game, not only with their route running but frequently being motioned near the offensive line and being asked to block on run and pass plays. The Vikings may have only just got over one hundred yards rushing for the game, but they looked very balanced in the first half, with left guard Nick Easton pulling and opening holes for Latavius Murray and Jerick McKinnon. It was only in the second half when they were getting more conservative and running out the clock in the fourth quarter that the run game bogged down.

This was also the second week in a row where I saw the use of unbalanced lines, with the Vikings lining up several times with a tight end playing tackle on one end of the line so that the Vikings’ two tackles could line up next to each other on the opposite side. There were also several occasions where because receivers motioned towards the line on blocking plays, they were also able to run routes stacked or behind tight ends which helped scheme open plays. The tight ends also managed to block down then roll out to catch balls. All of this contributed to a scheme that made life very difficult for Washington in the first half.

It would seem harsh to drop Case Keenum given the record he has amassed with this team and given that Teddy Bridgewater has had very little practice time in the last two years. To my eyes this is an offence that is setup to succeed thanks to an improved line and a pair of receivers that are quickly gaining a reputation as one of the best pairings in the league. The quarterback situation is definitely muddy in Minnesota, but for once I don’t this is going to damage the team.

AAF: AJ Klein

04 Sunday Dec 2016

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So this week’s amateur adventures in film is based on a comment from Ross Tucker on his podcast this week that AJ Klein was one of the best backup linebackers in the NFL, that he doesn’t start because they have Thomas Davis, Luke Kuechly, and Shaq Thompson, but that he looks a lot like Kuechly when he’s out there and made a bunch of plays. I thought I would take a look for myself.

Now his stat are pretty good with five tackles, and a play that doesn’t seem to have been credited as a sack where he stopped a scrambling Derek Carr as he tried to make a first down by stopping him behind the line and forcing a fumble. This was a very nice play as Klein started the play by showing blitz, then dropped back into coverage before chasing Carr to the side line. However, as the game moved on there were a couple of big plays that Klein was involved with.

Very few linebackers are as good as Luke Kuechly when he is in full flight, but Klein certainly looked good for large parts of this game, dropping into coverage smoothly or attacking gaps against the run. However, whilst he was capable of running with the slot receivers or tight ends, he gave up several plays in this spot including a touchdown to Clive Walford in the fourth quarter. In fact the fourth quarter was a difficult period for Klein. He did not get his head around and so was only able to wave an arm as the ball from Carr went to Walford in the back of the end zone for aforementioned touchdown. However, Klein also gave up a fifteen yard facemask penalty when trying to disengage from a block by Michael Crabtree against a run play, and gave up a thirty-two yard pass play to Crabtree as he followed him down the field. Not only did the pass get completed, but Klein gave away a declined pass interference penalty that ensured the pass was effective regardless of whether the catch was made. A matchup of a linebacker against a receiver down field is always going to be advantageous to the receiver, so I am not going to be too critical of this play, but it was a bad moment.

It does however highlight one problem when you are going through film, which is you can’t know the call. You would frequently see the linebackers swapping round as the Raiders shifted, and you could see Klein follow his player out when he had plays, sometimes slowing down or breaking up a play with his closing speed such as when he reached running back Latavius Murray as he received the pass to break up the completion or again later in the game when he tackled Murray for a loss. He was also unafraid to attack the hole or take on blockers, but the Raiders line is a very large group of men and I wouldn’t exactly say he won his battles with Gabe Jackson. That said, when a team only gives up fifty-six yards on thirty-one attempts, then your run defence is doing something right and whilst he wasn’t slipping off blockers easily, nor was he getting pancaked and when you’re taking on three hundred pound plus linemen that is not to be sneezed at.

As ever, I feel a little under qualified for grand pronouncements on players, but it was really interesting watching AJ Klein play and he certainly seemed to move in space well when dropping into zone, which he did a lot. It may not look to me that he diagnosed plays as fast as the man he was replacing, but that’s an unfair comparison for many a linebacker in the league and I did think he looked good for parts of this game, even if did give up some key plays. However, he kept on coming and I’ll be interested to see how the Panthers get on against the Seahawks in tonight’s game.