What cost the Vikings in Philly: execution or scheme?
PHILADELPHIA — The Broad Street Bullies are supposed to play hockey in Philadelphia but on Monday night they were across the street playing football at Lincoln Financial Field.
The Philadelphia Eagles got off to a 24-7 start to Monday Night Football against the Minnesota Vikings and then refused to allow the Vikings to come back despite several miscues (i.e. a blocked field goal and interception) that cracked the door open for a comeback.
Statistically speaking the Vikings were blown out. Philly outgained them 486 to 264 in total yardage, converted seven of 13 third downs, completed 83% of passes, ran for nearly five yards per carry and held the ball for 36:14.
What a difference a week makes. Eight days ago the Vikings were walking out of US Bank Stadium with a nearly identical drubbing of the Green Bay Packers in which they owned nearly every statistical category.
Now as the Vikings fly back to Minnesota at 1-1 they will need to quickly analyze what went wrong in Philly before taking on division foe Detroit.
So, what exactly went wrong? Did the Vikings simply face a beastly roster with a rising star quarterback and shutdown corner who won the battle versus the superstar receiver? Or did the Eagles’ coaching staff have answers for the way the Vikings wanted to play?
Let’s start with the play of Eagles QB Jalen Hurts. The second-year starter played arguably the best game of his career, going 26-for-31 for 333 yards and adding 57 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Philadelphia head coach Nick Sirianni pointed to Hurts’ success as a result of properly diagnosing the Vikings’ defense and reacting accordingly.
“Some of the coverage they were playing, they were clouding on the outside,” Sirianni said. “When you play cover-2 on the outside, it takes away some of the outside throws at times. So, he has to react and take what the defense gives him, and he did a good job of that tonight.”
In Week 1 Hurts largely focused on getting the ball to receiver AJ Brown but on Monday he spread it around, finding eight different receivers, including DeVonta Smith seven times for 80 yards and tight end Dallas Goedert with five passes for 82 yards.
“Those guys did a great job of attacking some of the weaknesses of our defense, especially that weakside defender,” Vikings corner Patrick Peterson said. “We know those guys love to come back weakside, especially when they try to isolate the linebackers.”
Hurts’ biggest pass of the night went to Quez Watkins on a 53-yard touchdown in which the Vikings appeared to have a coverage bust.
“It looked like they nailed down our safety in a quarters look,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said. “That’s what happens when you get the coverage to kind of declare a little bit with the run game thrown in there.”
Peterson said that he had a feeling a deep pass was coming and told the defense “here comes the shot,” but “they just got behind us.”
Hurts also made plays when it seemed the Vikings took away his options, particularly his 26-yard touchdown run on third down.
“When I look back on it there was some opportunities for us on second and long and third and long where he [Jalen Hurts] puts a lot of pressure on the defense with how he can break contain and make some off schedule plays,” O’Connell said. “I thought especially early on in the game we were right there…and they just made the play and that’s where I think you got to give them credit.”
On the offensive side, Kirk Cousins finished with just 4.8 yards per pass attempt, the ninth lowest in his 122 NFL starts. Receiver Justin Jefferson was targeted 12 times but only came away with 48 yards. Plus the Eagles’ top defensive back Darius Slay picked off two passes.
Sirianni said the Eagles tried to throw the kitchen sink at the Vikings to stop Jefferson.
“The defensive staff did an unbelievable job with the plan and the guys did an unbelievable job executing it,” Siriannai said. “You don't just go in and put all your eggs in one basket, right? There were different disguises, different coverages, but make no mistake about it, a lot of it was to stop No. 18. He's a heck of a football player.”
Top corner Darius Slay was asked to go against Jefferson during a good portion of snaps and got the better of the matchup.
“When Slay had to cover him one-on-one, obviously did an unbelievable job,” Sirianni said. “You're in cover zero and Slay got sticky in the coverage and made an interception. So that's what we see Slay do over and over again.”
Adam Thielen is supposed to be the next option when Jefferson is covered but he finished the game with four catches for 52 yards and was not a factor early in the game. O’Connell said that it wasn’t planned out that way.
“I can think back to a couple of plays that we were trying to get going for him early, but by the look, we ended up checking to a couple of different things based on protection,” O’Connell said.
Game situation played a role in the final offensive results as the Vikings were chasing from behind for the entire second half and only ran the ball six times with Dalvin Cook and twice with Alexander Mattison.
“I have to do a better job and make sure we stay true to what we are and what we want to be offensively,” O’Connell said.
It’s safe to say the Vikings will be looking closely at how they schemed and executed in order to shore up their issues before Sunday’s game against Detroit — a team that played the Eagles close in Week 1.
“We’ll just make sure that we coach them up and put our guys in better positions,” O’Connell said.
Related: 5 things that stood out in the Vikings' loss to the Eagles
