Game of adjustments: How the Vikings put the Dallas game behind them to beat New England
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings’ win in Buffalo may have been their most dramatic and improbable but Thursday night’s victory against the New England Patriots was the most necessary.
The Vikings were crushed at home 40-3 just four days before taking the field on Thanksgiving night on the national stage. With the world watching they put up 33 points and made enough important stops on defense to score one more time than the Patriots.
How were they able to bounce back quickly and defeat Bill Belichick’s team? Let’s have a look…
Pass protection plan and Kirk Cousins
Against the Cowboys everything fell apart when the Vikings failed to protect quarterback Kirk Cousins. In the brutal home loss last Sunday, he was pressured on 60% of drop-backs and sacked seven times. Head coach Kevin O’Connell came into Thursday’s game with schematic changes that allowed Cousins to get the ball out quicker and have time to throw when they needed to push the ball downfield, even without star left tackle Christian Darrisaw.
“We had a real plan, kind of knowing where we'd be at,” O’Connell said. “We wanted to try to run the football. It's a tough group to run it against, not a lot of average per carry tonight. But we were able to churn out runs to then allow us to activate some play passes. We used a lot of different techniques on the edges to try to condense that rush, try to let Kirk (Cousins) have some clean pockets.”
Cousins hit on a number of short throws, averaging only 5.7 air yards per attempt, which is lower than every QB in the NFL’s season average.
That doesn’t mean Cousins didn’t pick the right spots to go downfield. He went 7-for-8 on passes that traveled more than 10 yards.
“Kirk Cousins was phenomenal tonight getting us in and out of the plays he did, standing back there and making some big-time throws,” O’Connell said. “I can't say enough about the protection as well, those guys doing their jobs. It was not easy. It's never going to be easy against that defensive structure, team or coaching staff. So I give our guys a ton of credit for making plays and just consistently finding ways to drive the football.”
Following the game, Cousins was critical of his own play, saying, “I’d love to put the game away earlier,” and, “I'm not playing any better. If anything, I'm coming to these press conferences trying to smile, having to work to smile, because I'm thinking to myself, ‘Man, I've got to play better.’”
But by ESPN’s QBR metrics, which grades individual game performances on a 1-100 scale, Thursday's game was his best of the season (84.8). It’s hard to argue with his traditional box score as well (30-for-37, 299 yards, three touchdowns, one interception and one sack).
Another stat that was telling about the protection and QB performance was third downs. The Vikings went 8-for-15 against a team that led the NFL in QB hurries entering Thursday night.
“When Justin is getting doubled, there's some things going on, you have to convert some third downs…against a team like that, that's going to come in trying to take away your best player,” O’Connell said. “I knew that they would try to take 18 out of the game, especially in those situational downs. We worked really hard and kind of prepared him for that, some unique things that we tried. But ultimately Kirk making that whole thing come to life, the protection holding up, allowing some things to develop, those critical third downs were key I thought to allowing us to get new sets of downs and generate some explosives when we could.”
Justin Jefferson
As has been the case since Justin Jefferson arrived, he was ready for the moment. He caught nine passes on 11 targets for 139 yards and a touchdown, despite the Patriots doing everything they could to slow him down.
"I love it,” Jefferson said. “These are the type of games that I love the most. Thursday nights. Primetime. The whole world is watching you. No better time to go off."
Jefferson’s biggest catch of the day came after the Patriots committed a roughing call on punter Ryan Wright. He made them pay with a 37-yard catch that set up the game-winning touchdown.
“He's one of absolutely the most special players I've ever been around as a player or coach,” O’Connell said. “He tends to show up and be ready to go every time we put on the uniform and go out there. He was double-teamed a lot tonight. Had some success against some of those double-team looks when he got single coverage. Kirk found him a few times. Got a great double move there to set up Adam's go-ahead touchdown. He's a special player, means a whole heck of a lot to our offense, to our team. It was a big night for Justin. Quite frankly, I'm just so proud of the way he battles and the grit and the determination and the preparation that he's put into this.”
Jefferson set the record for most receiving yards by a receiver in his first three seasons — and there’s still six games to go.
A stubborn play call
O’Connell will often refer to certain situations as “gotta have it.” Early in the fourth quarter with an opportunity to take the lead, the Vikings really had to have a touchdown after they were gifted a second chance at a drive that had appeared to stall out. Following Jefferson’s big catch, they had first-and-10 at the 15-yard line and O’Connell dialed up a play call that he had been trying to get all night.
“We called that play like several times, we just didn't get the look we wanted, so I just kept checking to something else,” Cousins said. “He called it again and we got the look. He even said to me in the headset, because we got the line before the headset cut out, I knew we got the look, but he says it, “You got the look.” I should have gotten him faster. I was trying to make sure they truly went with Justin, and they did, so Adam got through there. Just a phenomenal catch by him.”
The play was designed to take advantage of the Patriots paying extra attention to Jefferson in the red zone.
“Our whole group was ready,” O’Connell said. “A clean pocket. I think Kirk had three or four hitches right there. Even though it's a play pass, you still have to block the man over you, you have to block on the edges. I thought that was one of the cleanest pockets all night, when he's able to set his feet frontside to Justin, having Adam screaming across the back. We figured we would have one of those guys. Kirk made a great decision. What an unbelievable throw in that moment to put the extra rpms to beat that undercutting defender.”
Special teams
During the Vikings’ 9-2 start, they have often relied on their special teams unit to step up in big moments, whether it’s effectively covering a punt, causing a turnover or even throwing a pass. The one thing they were yet to do is repeat 2021’s success with kick returns. Kene Nwangwu had two touchdowns last season and the Vikings felt like they were close to him hitting a big one at some point. Well, it couldn’t have come at a more ideal time than on Thursday night.
The Patriots had just “double dipped,” scoring at the end of the first half and to open the second half, flipping the score from 16-13 Vikings to 23-16 in favor of New England. But Nwangwu instantly evened the scoreboard with his 97-yard return for touchdown.
“All year long I hit him (Kene) at pregame meals, Is today the day? Is today the day?” O’Connell said. “He's just so talented, such a special athlete…. Our special teams units have had game-defining plays for us all season long. I just thought in that moment for Kene, even when it looked like maybe they were closing in on him there, he's just so explosive, to get that thing going. Then to finish that in a moment where it was a huge play for our team.”
That wasn’t the only key special teams play. On the Vikings’ final offensive possession, they went three-and-out and gave the Patriots a chance to tie the game. From their own 40, Ryan Wright uncorked a 59-yard punt, which was only returned to the New England 11-yard line, putting the Patriots in position to travel nearly the entire field with no timeouts. All three of Wright’s punts were inside the New England 20-yard line.
Big defensive stops
It wasn’t exactly a night to remember for the Vikings’ defense, which allowed 382 yards passing to Patriots quarterback Mac Jones and gave up passes of 40, 40, 37 and 34 yards.
They did, however, come up with stops in the fourth quarter that were absolutely needed in order to win the game. That’s been the M.O. of the group all year.
After giving up a touchdown to start the second half, the Patriots’ offensive possessions after that resulted in a field goal, punt, punt, turnover on downs and the end of the game.
“I thought Ed (Donatell) had some real-timely pressures that he called,” O’Connell said. “It looked like he activated some kind of mugged-up looks, sent some pressure. Both times I think were successful either getting [Jones] off the spot or potentially getting the sack.”
The Vikings were also able to slow down New England’s run game to just 45 yards.
Penalties and a review
It wouldn’t be a key game without a game of, “What’s a catch?”
The Patriots believed they had a Hunter Henry touchdown on third-and-goal but the referees decided that he did not have possession of the ball.
Head ref Walt Anderson explained to a Patriots pool reporter:
“He was going to the ground, the ball ended up touching the ground and then he lost control of the ball in his hands,” Anderson said.
“He has to maintain control of the ball upon contacting the ground,” he continued. “The term that’s commonly used is ‘surviving the ground’ – a lot of people refer to that. So, as he’s going to the ground, he has the elements of two feet and control, but because he’s going to the ground, he has to maintain control of the ball when he does go to the ground.”
While the play didn’t ultimately decide the game, it did put the Vikings in position to tie the game with a field goal on the next possession rather than having to chase a seven-point deficit.
The Patriots weren’t just on the wrong side of the refs on the review, they also two facemasks and a personal foul infraction as well.
Team mentality
Adam Thielen said after the game that many players showed up earlier to the stadium than usual because they were itching to get back on the field in downtown Minneapolis and prove that the 40-3 loss wasn’t who they really are as a team.
“Four days after being here with a pretty dejected feeling and asking our team to respond and our coaches to respond and show up tonight on a mission to try and play a really good football team and try to get a win,” O’Connell said. “I could not be more proud of my football team and our staff and all that goes into it as an organization.”
Earlier in the week, Cousins talked about being impressed by O’Connell’s handling of their Week 2 loss in Philadelphia. After the game he praised the head coach and teammates’ support of him this year.
“Kevin has empowered me so much; this team has empowered me so much,” Cousins said. “The guys have just been tremendous. I can't say enough about the way that they have had my back after these interceptions, support me all week long, support me pregame in the locker room…At times it almost brings me to tears the way these guys support me and have my back. It really adds to the fun of playing and working together.”
Implications
Because of their victory over New England, the Vikings remain within striking distance of the Eagles, who are 9-1 and own a tiebreaker for the No. 1 overall seed. With Detroit’s loss, they sit five games up on Detroit and Green Bay, meaning the Vikings could lock up the division in two weeks with wins or sooner with Detroit and Green Bay losses.
There are deeper overall takeaways than just the standings though. The Vikings hadn’t faced many major tests along the way, save for difficult travel to London and a tough matchup in Buffalo. Coming off a major loss and rebounding to beat the greatest coach of a generation further builds the confidence of a team that has increasingly believed in itself as the season goes along. Now they can also believe in their coach to make needed adjustments in short order.
