For one quarter last Sunday, it looked like the Minnesota Vikings were back to their old play-action tricks that had confounded defenses throughout 2019.
First attempt: A 22-yard hit to Kyle Rudolph.
Second attempt: 22 more yards to Justin Jefferson.
Third attempt: A 30-yard crosser to Adam Thielen.
Fourth attempt: Nine yards to Irv Smith Jr. for a touchdown.
Kirk Cousins ➡️ Irv Smith. TOUCHDOWN VIKINGS!#SKOL | #DETvsMIN pic.twitter.com/L619rhdyOf
— DOWNTOWN SPORTS NETWORK (@DTSportsNetwork) November 8, 2020
With Dalvin Cook heating up en route to his first-ever 200-yard rushing game, it was the perfect recipe for Kirk Cousins to put together a massive day through play-action — perhaps his finest trait as a passer. Instead, the play-action dried up for the final three quarters. It didn’t hurt the Vikings thanks to Cook’s excellence and the Detroit Lions’ inability to stop him, but Minnesota could have had a much bigger day had they capitalized on several more of their play-action shots.
It’s not all bad, of course. Cousins is still No. 11 in play-action passer rating (111.1) and fifth in play-action yards per attempt (10.4). However, he’s dropping back out of play-action two fewer times per game than a year ago, producing 18 yards fewer per game. What’s even stranger is his 57.9% completion percentage in those situations. That ranks sixth-lowest amongst qualified starters, a 10.5% difference from his percentage away from play-action (the third-largest discrepancy in football). Cousins has never been below 66% in his career on play-action plays, which may indicate that a positive regression is coming.
Cook’s first two 100-yard games this season had a strong correlation with play-action success. Against the Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans, Cook rushed for over 300 combined yards, while Cousins went 13-of-18 for 293 yards and three play-action touchdowns. The last two monster games for Cook haven’t led to the same efficiency: 7-of-13, 112 yards and two touchdowns.
The scoring plays are valuable, which shouldn’t be overlooked. Both of Cousins’ touchdown passes to Smith came off play-action last Sunday as the Lions were forced to respect his nine red zone touchdowns off 24 red zone carries this season. It’s the lack of connections over the middle of the field that is more troubling.
The first play-action pass of Sunday’s game might have represented one of the biggest missed opportunities, even though Rudolph caught the ball for a first down. The Lions safety bit hard on the play-fake, leaving Thielen open deep for a potential touchdown.
[videopress JoY7LLiX]The Vikings only had one play-action yard after their 4-for-4 start — that was Smith’s second touchdown. Considering they operated at a historically good nine yards per play for most of the afternoon (thanks mostly to Cook), it’s amazing to think what could’ve been accomplished with a few more passing connections. Other defenses won’t be as lax stopping the run, which will put more pressure on the Vikings to hit shot plays like the one below.
Minnesota gets an 8-man box on the 1st and 10 play below, inviting a shot downfield. Cousins bootlegs and rolls to his right, while Jefferson torches his assignment with a double move. Cousins delivers the ball a tad late and overthrows Jefferson with the safety bearing down. It’s not an easy throw, but it’s one that Cousins made later in the game to Jefferson on the same sideline.
“You definitely have to have that connection with Kirk, and we have to get our timing down,” Jefferson said Thursday, “so that’s why every practice we go inside and run those plays and run those different plays that we need to work on with the timing, so doing that definitely helps us better in the game and helps us complete the passes.”
[videopress M8aCsWFZ]Opportunities like the play above won’t always present themselves in play-action, especially if teams learn from the Green Bay Packers’ approach and cheat with their edge rusher to cut off the play. The Vikings’ repeated foil to play-action has been the Packers’ Dean Lowry, who sacked Cousins the week prior on a rollout. Everson Griffen played the Lowry role on the 3rd and 2 below to force an awkward incompletion by Cousins. You can watch it below from two different angles.
[videopress YCABJ6DU]Others reasons for failures on play-action Sunday included a tipped ball in the second quarter, a well-covered play in the third quarter where Cousins tried forcing the ball down the sideline to Thielen and an inaccurate pass in the fourth quarter that could’ve been a Thielen touchdown on 4th and 1.
The play-action misses haven’t been raised as a serious concern, though, because of the way the Vikings have run the ball.
“I just know our offense feels very confident about what their capabilities are,” said head coach Mike Zimmer. “It’ll be a good test for them this week, though, with the Bears, because they’re really good.”
Forty percent of Cousins’ starts last season resulted in over 100 yards of play-action passing. This year, it’s only been 25%, even with the league’s leading rusher.
There isn’t a back in the league more formidable right now than Cook, and Cousins is due to break out of this play-action slump. But Monday’s opponent has had success not only shutting down the Vikings star back but also slowing opponents’ play-action attacks. Something’s got to give.
