Late in their Week 13 game against the Atlanta Falcons, the Minnesota Vikings were trying to stifle a late effort by Matt Ryan to drive the field and give Atlanta the lead in a 14-9 game.
From the Vikings’ 33-yard line, Tevin Coleman took a toss to the left hoping to reach the edge, but cornerback Xavier Rhodes cut off his path and made a tremendous solo tackle for no gain. Next play: Ryan looked over the middle for the normally reliable Julio Jones, but with safety Andrew Sendejo closing in on the airborne receiver, Jones lost concentration and had the ball go off his fingertips. Incomplete.
On third and 10, Ryan hit Taylor Gabriel in the flat for a six-yard gain, but it wasn’t enough. It was Atlanta’s 10th consecutive failure on third down in the game. The Falcons needed a touchdown to take the lead, but they settled for a field goal attempt, which Matt Bryant missed. The Vikings proceeded to run out the rest of the clock and end the game, winning for the eighth consecutive time.
Minnesota thrived on third down last year, stopping opponents 151 out of 203 times — a 74.4 percent success rate that was the best in recorded NFL history.
So often, though, their third-down dominance stemmed from their ability to put teams in disadvantageous situations thanks to tackles like Rhodes’ or coverage like Sendejo’s.
Largely a credit to Minnesota’s second-ranked rush defense, opponents in 2017 were put in third-and-7-or-longer situations 109 times against the Vikings. Only 19 times did they succeed, a 17.4 percent rate, 8.0 percent lower than the league average last year.
Quarterbacks threw the ball against the Vikings third-and-long defense 83 times. Forty-two were incomplete, and 24 were completed short of the sticks, an 80 percent success rate for the defense compared to the league average of 71 percent.
“Trying to get them into third-and-long is great,” Mike Zimmer said at Wednesday’s press conference. “I think that if you look at the statistics, the teams that are really good on third down are typically pretty good in third and 1.”
The Vikings held six out of 15 times (40 percent) last year on third and 1, 8.0 percent better than the league average, but let’s broaden it out: How’d the Vikings do against third and short?
The Vikings faced 49 of those situations last year, defined as third and 3 or less. They held teams to 45 percent success (compared to 59 percent across the league) and held quarterbacks to a 52 percent completion percentage (compared to 61 percent across the league). They also intercepted Green Bay’s Brett Hundley three times in those situations.
“We’ve spent a lot of time at it,” said Zimmer. “We’ve got some good cover guys, we’ve got some good rushers, so I think that all kind of plays a part of it.”
Everson Griffen said that the team’s pass rush was a key last year and could be the piece of the defense that keeps the unit’s historical mark sustainable.
“We have great rushes,” said Griffen. “Add in Sheldon Richardson on third down, quickest path to the quarterback. We have Linval [Joseph] playing nose, Danielle [Hunter], and then you have myself. If the front four can get to the quarterback, I feel like we have a chance. Then you add in our little packages we have. Then we add our little wrinkles here and there and we make it happen.”
The third-down rush was plenty successful a year ago prior to adding Richardson. Minnesota notched 17 sacks, about one out of every 10 third-down dropbacks. They also brought the blitz to create turnovers, like when they sent six men at Cam Newton in Week 14 and he threw a late fourth-quarter interception to Andrew Sendejo.
The Vikings turnover rate was 3.0 percent on third down, about a full percentage point better than the league’s average of 2.1.
Jimmy Garoppolo will lead the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium, where the eight opponents who played there a year ago combined for a minuscule 23 percent on third down. Garoppolo, however, was great on third down in his five 2017 starts, converting first downs on over half of his third-down pass attempts (28 of 53).
“I think one of the best things,” said 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, “is to do better on first and second down so you can avoid those third downs, because any time you get one dimensional against a very talented team that is coached extremely well and guys who have played together for so long, when you get one dimensional — which happens on third down — that’s tough, and that’s why they’ve been the best in the league for a while at it.”
While Minnesota’s regular season third-down record may not be touched for a while, their third-down success took a downward turn in last year’s postseason when Philadelphia’s Nick Foles led the Eagles to a 10-of-14 performance on third down in the NFC Championship Game — a baffling series of defensive lapses after a season that had been relatively error-free.
Sunday’s conditions may be more favorable for the Purple, though: At home, healthy and going against a quarterback who’s yet to face them.
“He is getting the ball out quick,” said Griffen, “but we still have to affect him.”
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