Luke Inman contributed to this story.
The Minnesota Vikings knew how important it would be to stop the Philadelphia Eagles on third down. Mike Zimmer even brought it up in the opening address of last Wednesday’s press conference.
As we addressed last week, the Eagles were second in the league on third downs (and first on third and short), while the Vikings had led the league in third-down defense each of the last two years.
Minnesota spent a lot of time working on third downs during the week, and the effort showed on Sunday. Philadelphia finished a season-worst 4 of 12 on third downs in their 38-20 loss.
“We worked really hard on the third downs,” Zimmer said after the game. “They are very, very good on third and up to about four or five. They’re really good. So we had to change a few things up today to try to eliminate some of those.”
Philadelphia was 90 percent converting third and shorts this year (1-3 yards). They went 4 for 7 on Sunday, and linebacker Eric Kendricks was the chief catalyst behind their three misses.
“I feel like I was into the game from the very jump,” Kendricks said Monday. “I feel like we were tuned in, and sometimes it takes a series or two to get locked in, but I feel like right from the very start of the game is what you want. I was into it, and I was running around.”
How about the Eagles’ first third-down try of the game? With two yards to convert, they ran it up the middle with Jordan Howard. Vikings teams under Zimmer have always been stingy in third-and-short situations — sixth-best in the league during Zimmer’s tenure — and this attempt was no different. Kendricks diagnosed his run fit perfectly and forced Howard right into the arms of Shamar Stephen for no gain, causing Philadelphia’s first opening-drive three-and-out of the season.
On the final play of the first quarter, the Eagles converted a 3rd and 3 on a wide receiver screen to Alshon Jeffery. Kendricks was near the play but not in position to make the tackle in time. Fast forward to the third quarter when the Eagles ran the exact same play, and Kendricks knew what was coming. On another 3rd and 3, the linebacker shaded toward the trips formation, broke immediately on the ball and tackled Jeffery for a loss to hold the Eagles to a field goal attempt instead of a potential game-tying touchdown.
“I think one of the main adjustments is just paying attention to what you got earlier in the game,” said Kendricks, “what kind of combinations they tried to attack. Did it work? Did it not work? Is it short enough to where they might run it on third down? … You just got to hone in and play with instincts.”
On short-yardage miss no. 3, the Eagles faced a 3rd and 2 just inside midfield. Tight ends Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert ran adjacent five-yard curls. While Ertz appeared to be more open, Wentz tried to thread a pass to Goedert in between Kendricks and Anthony Barr, perhaps because of how tightly the Vikings had been playing Ertz to that point. Kendricks disrupted Goedert enough to force an incompletion — one of many on the day that hit Eagles receivers’ hands.
On the very next play, Jeffery failed to reel in a pass on 4th and 2, turning the ball back over to the Vikings, who scored on a deep ball to Stefon Diggs on their first play of the drive.
“We wanted to make sure that Ertz didn’t have a big day,” said Zimmer, “so I thought we did a good job on him. Jeffery had a lot of catches (10), but he didn’t have a lot of yards (76). Those were two emphases we had going into the ballgame. I thought we did a nice job disrupting the receivers, not letting them get into the route, and then I thought Trae Waynes played really well yesterday.”
Speaking of Waynes, he was targeted 11 times in coverage and allowed just four receptions. Here he was in coverage preventing a touchdown on a fade to Mack Hollins on 3rd and 4.
On a 3rd and 10 late in the first half, Waynes created just enough contact with Ertz to slow the tight end’s hands — without drawing a flag — as Ertz tried to make the catch on a slant. The Vikings rushed six on the play to hurry the throw.
The Eagles went 0 for 5 on third and medium or long thanks in part to Waynes, some exotic blitzes and one risky play by Kendricks.
Facing 3rd and 6 early in the second quarter, Wentz was forced out of the pocket to his left. Kendricks was tasked with defending Nelson Agholor, but he also wanted to prevent Wentz from scrambling for the line to gain. Kendricks trusted his defensive backs on the back end and charged at Wentz, tipped his pass and nearly intercepted it off the ricochet.
Zimmer coyly pointed out Monday that Kendricks was out of position on the play and had some “rookie Eric Kendricks” moments in the game, but when you’re playing as well as Kendricks is at the moment, even the improvisations work in your favor.
“That was kind of just on me, probably,” he said. “I just knew [Wentz] was like kind of looking, but I knew if I closed the space, he would have limited options depending on how fast I closed the space, so I just kind of, rather than sit back and have him look me off and do a no-look pass, I just decided to kind of put the pressure on, and it kind of worked out.”
Here’s the alternate angle.
By far the most aggressive blitz look the Vikings showed Sunday came on 3rd and 9 early in the fourth quarter. The Eagles had committed a delay of game penalty the play before and were having more difficulty getting organized with the crowd at full throat.
The Vikings did something they rarely do with Everson Griffen, putting him inside at the A-gap to draw the center’s attention. Barr and Kendricks threatened in the opposite A- and B-gaps, while Mackensie Alexander and Harrison Smith lined up on the edges (Alexander, not pictured below, was matched up against Agholor in the slot).
Smith ended up dropping in coverage to defend Ertz, while Alexander blitzed from the slot, leaving Agholor for the lone deep safety Anthony Harris. Wentz’s last protector, Howard, was so confused about who to block he didn’t touch anybody as Kendricks and Alexander shared the sack.
Philadelphia’s best strategy in the game was to avoid third downs. On their two touchdown drives, the Eagles weren’t forced to run a single third-down play.
And it’s not as if the Eagles were constantly off schedule.
Overall, the Eagles averaged a to-go distance of 3rd and 4.9 — far better than the league average of 3rd and 7. They simply got out-executed on those downs.
“We put a couple new things in, a couple new looks for them to try and make it a little bit cloudy for the quarterback and then get to some other areas in coverage,” Zimmer said. “And really, the guys did a good job, but I think the disguise part and adding a couple of different wrinkles in there helped.”
