Vikings

Stating the Obvious: Playing With a Lead Greatly Helps the Vikings' Pass Rush

Photo Credit: Brian Curski (Cumulus Media)

Only twice in the last 30 years have teams recorded nine or more sacks twice in the same season: Jacksonville in 2017 and the Minnesota Vikings this year.

Matthew Stafford and Ryan Tannehill may need to a form a support groupĀ — perhaps one that serves Ibuprofen as an hors-d’oeuvres — after facing the Vikings’ defensive front this season. Stafford was taken down 10 times on Nov. 4 in a 24-9 loss. Tannehill was sacked nine times Sunday — eight times in a second-half onslaught — in a 41-17 Vikings win.

The second half was truly staggering for the Vikings against Tannehill, who hurt his ankle the week prior and was not at 100 percent. Fans of a sympathetic ilk might’ve been wondering if there was some kind of mercy rule to institute.

The Dolphins’ Kalen Ballage converted a 75-yard touchdown run on their first play from scrimmage in the second half, which Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer took blame for in his post-game press conference. Over their ensuing five drives, the Dolphins lost 27 yards and gained one first down. Tannehill was sacked every third play in the second half, more times than he had completions.

“The Vikings did a good job at applying the pressure,” said Tannehill, “and we were not able to get the ball off. It takes a little time for a long play to develop down the field, and we were not able to make those happen.”

Minnesota has frequently feasted on pocket quarterbacks, especially at home, where the din of U.S. Bank Stadium makes communication difficult for opposing signal-callers.

And that din only grows if the Vikings are leading, which might be the ultimately pass-rush enhancer. Unlike last season, the Vikings have found themselves playing from behind more often in 2018 — especially on the road. Minnesota entered play 21st in the NFL in first-quarter points only to hang 21 on the Dolphins before Miami had its second first down.

The Vikings have had their most pass-rushing success under Zimmer when they’ve had the luxury of applying pressure with the lead. Tannehill never possessed the ball with the lead on Sunday, and never had a chance.

“Most importantly,” said defensive end Stephen Weatherly, “our offense is scoring points. We can stop the run all day, but if it is a close game they are going to stick to that game plan with the run or play action pass. With our offense scoring and scoring and everything they did, it really helped us.”

Since Zimmer arrived, the Vikings have gotten 63.6 percent of their sacks with a lead, while this year they’ve been even more opportunistic. Forty-seven sacks is the team’s high under Zimmer, and 33 of those have come from in front (70.2 percent). Problematically, they’ve never held a lead in four of their losses and only recorded six sacks in those games.

Sunday restored some order.

“Today it helped to have a lead, and you have a chance to let guys loose,” Zimmer said. “They had a lot of maximum protection in today. We had to change up quite a few of our blitzes to try and attack it different ways, then some guys beat some guys.”

Anthony Barr and Danielle Hunter each had two. Eric Kendricks, Mackensie Alexander, Everson Griffen, Sheldon Richardson and Tom Johnson each got one. For Alexander, it was his fourth of the year from the nickel position.

“Honestly, the offense is always looking for Harrison [Smith] to blitz,” said Zimmer, admitting that Alexander might get overlooked.

Hunter isn’t getting overlooked, yet is up to 14.5 sacks on the season. Those type of seasons in Zimmer’s defensive scheme are rare because sack totals typically get spread out to linebackers and interior linemen. Not surprisingly, 11.5 of Hunter’s sacks have come with a lead.

“When the offense was doing what they were doing out there, racking up points, all we needed to worry about was just pinning our ears back and just rushing the passer.”

Zimmer has preached complementary football his entire tenure in Minnesota and lamented that his current team has yet to put it together. At 7-6-1, there is still just enough time for the Vikings to rediscover their winning formula before the playoffs. Turns out, giving the defense an early advantage is a good idea.


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