Kirk Cousins played his best game of the year on Sunday. “Played” might be an exaggeration of what Cousins had to do, though.
By the end of the game, Cousins had just 14 attempts through 15 registered dropbacks (he was sacked once). Running back Dalvin Cook, on the other hand, had 30 carries. The harsh winds over in Green Bay during the match played a part in this run-pass split a little bit, but it was not as game-changing as things over in Cleveland, and certainly not enough to fully explain why the Minnesota Vikings were able to abandon the pass.
The run-pass ratio alone does not do justice to how little Cousins had to do, either. As Arif Hasan of The Athletic pointed out on Twitter after the game, Cousins entered Week 8 with the highest depth of target in the NFL. He had been slinging it around all year, in part because the Vikings have been trailing a lot. On Sunday, though, The Athletic’s Robert Mays relayed that Cousins finished with 1.79 average intended air yards. One point seven nine! That is like saying Cousins’ average throw was a quick flip to the flat.
And it was. In fact, Cousins did not even attempt a pass beyond 10 yards, let alone complete one. All 14 of Cousins’ attempts were within the 10-yard range, many of which were slants, hooks or screens.
So, the question then is how the Vikings were able to get away with this, aside from the obvious fact that Cook was a menace in the run game. The short answer: Minnesota pulled through when they needed to on third down.
The Vikings converted four of their first five third down attempts and had a handful of others convert due to Green Bay penalties. That lone non-conversion through the first five tries was a six-yard pass to Adam Thielen on 3rd and 7, which still set up for Cook to plow through for the first down on the next play. It was not until the fourth quarter that the Vikings started stalling out on third down, but by then, they had a two-score lead, so the consequences were not as harsh as they would have been otherwise.
[videopress HA7PehsA]One of the early third downs was this flip to Cook on the late swing pass. Green Bay dropped into (what looks like from the broadcast angle) a two-deep shell, either Cover 4 or Cover 2. Either way, all of Green Bay’s middle of the field defenders spot drop to the sticks and look to rally to anything in the flats, rather than match them right away. The idea is that they should be able to stop any throw underneath for a gain of less than eight yards. Well, when Cook is the one getting the ball, that is wrong. Cook was able to quite easily scoot around one defender before speeding past a handful of others.
[videopress GKiIu4y7]Later in the game, the Packers tried to get more aggressive with their approach than in the last clip. Instead of a passive two-deep shell with only four rushers, Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine brought six pass-rushers on a Man Free coverage (man coverage with just a deep safety). The Vikings respond with a “Drive” concept from their No. 3 (innermost, tight end) and their No. 2 (middle receiver) to the left. The tight end gets vertical to about 10 yards then breaks inside, while the slot receiver cuts underneath across the field. Green Bay’s defensive backs get a bit discombobulated through the traffic and allow Chad Beebe to run free for a first down.
[videopress nOxblQ9H]And, of course, the biggest play of the game was on a third down. Rather than a checkdown from Cousins like in the first clip, Cook got the ball on a designed screen this time around. Green Bay’s defense, again playing for the sticks, found themselves with nobody even close to the line of scrimmage by the time Cook caught the ball with his caravan of blockers. Cook, as he does, navigated through the second and third levels of the defense behind his blockers to perfection before ultimately pulling away for the score, giving the Vikings the last points they needed to secure the win.
On the one hand, it is no coincidence that Cousins had his best game when all he had to do was find yards-after-catch players in the underneath area. He was not creating any offense, he was merely facilitating it. On the other hand, that dynamic is a major benefit for most every quarterback in the league. Precious few quarterbacks tend to look better when asked to do more, i.e., Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson. There are not many of them, though, and it is not necessarily a huge indictment on Cousins that he is not within that small handful.
Still, the more games the Vikings can cook up with this formula — a formula that requires less of Cousins — the more games they will win. Maybe that is not the goal for some Vikings fans at this point (and understandably so), but it is hard to imagine the Vikings themselves want to outright tank, so they will probably be spending some extra time ensuring they can replicate Sunday’s game moving forward.
