Vikings

Vikings-Panthers Preview: Breaking Down the Film

Photo Credit: Kyle Hansen
By Luke Inman - December 8, 2017

The Minnesota Vikings are 2-0 against the Carolina Panthers under Mike Zimmer after taking down Cam Newton for a season-high eight sacks in Week 3 last year as the team came away with a 22-10 victory.

I took a look back at what made the Vikings so successful then, and what they need to do to beat the Panthers in Carolina this upcoming Sunday. I’ll also look at what the Panthers put on tape last Sunday in their loss to the New Orleans Saints.

2016: Vikings 22 – Panthers 10

Last year the Panthers used their first-round pick on hybrid safety linebacker Shaq Thompson from Washington. Although he came out of the draft with a good pass coverage grade, the Vikings were able to expose his undersized 6’0” frame in the passing game when forced to cover bigger and more physical targets.

Norv Turner called a perfect play down in the red zone when he sent tight end Kyle Rudolph on a wheel route up the sideline with Thompson step behind him. Quarterback Sam Bradford wisely threw a lob pass that allowed Rudolph to use his size and former basketball skills to go up and over Thompson for an easy score.

Look for Shurmur to utilize Rudolph and his other bigger weapons like Michael Floyd or Laquon Treadwell in a similar fashion. Thompson has already been ruled out for Sunday’s game.

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The Vikings defense suckered Newton into some downright bad throws thanks to their relentlessness. Specifically, in Zimmer’s staple Double-A Gap look, Newton was forced to get rid of the ball far quicker than he would have liked.

By day’s end Newton was held to a putrid 21-of-35 and zero touchdowns while the Vikings defense captured three interceptions along the way. Newton’s 47.6 passer rating would turn out to be his worst performance at home last season.

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As dominant as the Vikings looked, once the clock finally hit zeros, fans easily forgot the team was down 10-2 right out the gate and, by all accounts, should’ve been facing an even larger deficit. Fozzy Whittaker took a dump off to the flat 56 yards to the house after making three Vikings defenders look silly, giving the Panthers what seemed to be a 17-2 lead. However, Kelvin Benjamin was called for a crucial block in the back penalty, negating the long touchdown.

Later in the quarter, the Panthers punted to Marcus Sherels, who made his own splash play, going 54 yards for the score that would shift the momentum of the game entirely in the Vikings’ favor.

Looking back, Benjamin’s penalty turned out to be a 13-point swing, and a major catalyst to the Vikings early-season road victory.

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The Vikings defense sliced and diced the Panthers offensive line on their way to a monumental statistical day after they registered eight sacks on Newton — a league-high at the time.

Give Zimmer credit for getting after Newton early and often in this game and clearly rattling the highly-touted yet highly-emotional quarterback. After Danielle Hunter recorded a safety at the end of the first quarter to give the Vikings their first points, Newton never looked the same, seeming frazzled and looking paranoid when dropping back to pass.

Even more impressive, however, was the coverage downfield which allowed the team to get pressure with just four linemen for most of the game. While the defense employed their exotic Double A-Gap look from time to time, most of their success came when the secondary suffocated Newton’s receivers downfield. This, in turn, forced Newton to hold onto the ball far too long and was why he was brought down so many times by a plethora of different players throughout the day.

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2017: Panthers 21 – Saints 31 (Week 13)

At the end of the day, Cam Newton is still at his most dangerous when he’s able to get out of the pocket and use his rare blend of linebacker size and running back speed to gash defenses for big chunks on the ground. Teams have done a good job of keeping him contained inside the pocket in 2017 and forcing him to beat them through the air, however, he was still able to rush 6 times for 51 yards against the Saints, reminding us all just how special of an athlete he still is.

I fully expect Zimmer to use both safeties Harrison Smith and Andrew Sendejo up and around the line of scrimmage Sunday to attack the outside running lanes of Carolina, forcing everything including the running lanes back inside for the Panthers and into guys like Everson Griffen and Linval Joseph. 

Even a near flawless called and executed gameplan Sunday will still likely see Newton rip off a few solid gainers on the ground, forcing us all to sit back and appreciate just how rare of a talent he truly is. The key will be to contain them to just minimal gains specifically on critical third down situations.

 

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  • The Panthers front office has worked with Ron Rivera to constantly add young new talent into his defensive line early in their drafts over the past few seasons. It started in 2013 with stud tackle from Utah Star Lotulelei and Kawann Short from Purdue. Both would make an huge impact with the team from the get go and even would receive major pro-bowl consideration. Despite taking criticism for using their first two picks on the same position, it was clear Rivera knew what he was doing when getting the players at the position he most coveted for his specific scheme. 

in the following two drafts the team once again added another first and second round interior defensive lineman in Vernon Butler and Kony Ealy. The team also brought back its one time face of the franchise in the offseason with Julius Peppers, helping add a veteran spark on the edge. However, this season the production has been dominated by an unsung hero and undrafted free agent in Mario Addison, who leads the team with 8.5 sacks.

After sliding round to three different teams as an undrafted free agent in 2011, Addison eventually stuck with Rivera and the Panthers in 2014 and made a name for himself immediately. Addison became a staple edge rusher in the Panthers heavy defensive-line rotation and was a key component to the team reaching the Super Bowl when he finished his first season in blue with 6.5 sacks. Proving once again it doesn’t matter where you come from or when you’re drafted, you can still have success in the league.

Addison will lineup across from Riley Reiff on Sunday who has had an outstanding season compared to the expectations many had when he was brought in as a free agent from the Lions, who chose to let him walk.

Still, Rieff has given up sacks in back-to-back games for the first time all season, and will now face another tough task in Addison who shows off a complete repertoire, gaining leverage against his opponents with speed to power. Keep an eye on this matchup throughout the game as it features two of the better lineman from both teams.

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The Panthers used their No. 8 overall pick to draft arguably the most electric player in all of college football. Running back Christian McCaffrey was the ultimate swiss-army knife at Stanford, hitting the home run play on the ground, through the air and on special teams.

After watching the tape, it’s clear the Panthers are desperately trying to get their money’s worth out of him, force-feeding him the ball whenever possible. McCaffrey has clearly become the centerpiece of their offense and is used all over the field with motions, split outs, tosses, screens and more.

What’s even more astonishing is the amount of times the Panthers have thrown the ball to McCaffrey, giving him an insane 90 targets already, which has helped him become the league leader amongst rookies with 64 receptions, five more than the runner-up in New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara.

Linebackers Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks will have their hands full Sunday against McCaffrey, not just on the ground, but through the air as well, as the Panthers will move him around to every imaginable position to try and find the mismatch of their liking.

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You’ll be hard-pressed to find another defense that runs more zone coverage concepts than the Panthers. While this scheme has plenty of benefits, including taking loads of pressure off their aging linebackers and cornerbacks in coverage, it can be easily exposed with the right types of play designs in combination with quick and shifty receivers.

If I was Shurmur I’d put a heavy emphasis on continuing to get quarterback Case Keenum on the move and out of the pocket with “Sprint” designs, while using speedsters like Stefon Diggs and Jerick McKinnon on shallow crossing patterns from one end of the field to the other.

These specific routes can gash zone coverages by letting guys like Diggs and McKinnon find the soft spots and “sit down” From there, Keenum has been lights out when it comes to letting his receivers do damage after the catch by getting them the ball early in open space.

It’s just one concept of many that we will see from Shurmur on Sunday. However, after watching the tape, I think it will be the most effective in moving the chains and chewing up big gainers against this aging defense. 

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Luke Inman
Luke Inman is Zone Coverage's resident NFL Draft guru and Vikings film junky. He's an aspiring scout and appears on The Zone Coverage Football Machine. Follow Luke on Twitter @Luke_Spinman.
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