Now we should see Vikings offense click
EAGAN — The biggest story out of Miami on Wednesday was Skyler Thompson, the Dolphins’ third-string quarterback who will get the call for the Dolphins against the Minnesota Vikings with both Tua Tagovailoa and Teddy Bridgewater dealing with concussions. But the QB health issues have painted over one of the Dolphins’ major shortcomings under new head coach Mike McDaniel: Their defense can’t stop anyone.
Thompson struggled in relief of Bridgewater last week but never had a chance to play game manager. The New York Jets boat-raced the Dolphins to the tune of 40 points. Jets second-year QB Zach Wilson averaged 10.0 yards per pass attempt and the Jets gained 135 yards on the ground in the rout.
When the dust settled on Week 5, the Dolphins sat in 29th place in points allowed, 25th in yards, 31st in defensive net yards per pass attempt and 25th in turnovers caused. Pro-Football Reference credits Miami with the third worst pressure rate in the NFL and they rank 30th in defensive Expected Points Added.
With Miami’s defense on the ropes, Sunday’s game is an opportunity for the Vikings to finally put together a complete game on offense.
During the last three games against middling opponents the offense has come through in the biggest moments. Kirk Cousins found KJ Osborn for a game-winning touchdown versus Detroit, Justin Jefferson beat Marshon Lattimore on the go-ahead drive against the Saints and Cousins led a 17-play drive to defeat Chicago. But those games were close because the Vikings did not play in rhythm for four quarters.
“For a variety of reasons we’ve kind of hit some lulls at different times,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said.
Slow starts were the culprit against the Lions and Saints. The Vikings only had 14 points entering the fourth quarter against Detroit with the Lions largely shutting down Justin Jefferson. The Saints stuffed the Vikings in the red zone numerous times, keeping them to 16 points through three quarters. Cousins and Jefferson came out on fire last Sunday but did not score in the second half until 2:26 remaining in the game.
Still the Vikings are far from a bad offense. They are on the cusp of playing with the big boys, sitting in 12th place in points scored, 10th in total yards and have produced points on 40% of their drives (10th).
“Sometimes we’re very, very close to that consistency, it might be one of 11 [players]…lose a matchup or a guy just gets away from some techniques or fundamentals or maybe I just don’t call a very good play,’ O’Connell said.
One of the areas the Vikings have a chance to improve is against the blitz. Miami is among the most frequent blitzing teams in the NFL and Cousins has produced just a 55.6 QB rating against the extra rush. However, in past years he’s been between solid and good when opposing teams blitz, registering a 112.0 rating last year and 106.9 rating vs. the blitz in 2020.
“This defense provides a lot of problems,” O’Connell said of Miami. “They’ve led the league in [Cover] 0s. I think they’re one of the faster, more explosive defenses. Whatever 11 they’ve got out there, they all run around and fly to the ball. They’re aggressive to the football, so we’ve obviously got to block them and try to establish our run game and manage the down in and down out problems they present from a pressure standpoint.”
Another area with potential to grow is the Vikings finding their non-Jefferson weapons with greater efficiency. No other receiver outside of Justin Jefferson is gaining 10 yards per reception (except Jalen Nailor, who caught a pass from punter Ryan Wright) and tight end Irv Smith Jr. has been re-acclimating to the offense after missing all of 2021 and a large portion of training camp due to injury.
O’Connell sees Smith Jr. starting to come alive.
“Irv, despite missing quite a bit of time in training camp has really picked up some steam here in the last few weeks,” O’Connell said. “You look back at that drive at the end of the game last week, it doesn’t seem like a whole lot but he’s catching some balls, and he’s a real problem with the ball in his hands after the catch, finishes forward, violently, is a tough guy to tackle.”
If the Vikings can find their comfort zone offensively against Miami, it will give confidence to the idea they could hit the ground running after the bye week against Arizona and Washington and have a chance at putting distance between themselves and Green Bay in the NFC North. If they have the same inconsistencies as the last three weeks and play a tight game with a severely weakened opponent with a poor defense, we’ll wonder if the ups and downs can be smoothed out and if the games will continually come down to final drives.
“I think we’re on our way and it’s just an evolving process of our guys’ comfort level with what we’re asking them to do and then I think a lot falls on me to just continue to put our guys in good situations,” O’Connell said.
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