Make it two weeks in a row where quarterback Kirk Cousins does not need to be anything but a play-action robot and checkdown dispenser. From a pure talent perspective, the Minnesota Vikings had the Detroit Lions beat in this one, but offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak’s game plan and the dominance of the run game made it really easy for Cousins.
Running backs Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison combined for 34 carries and 275 yards, rushing at just over eight yards a pop. Cook, in particular, was able to get whatever he wanted all afternoon against a Lions front that entered the day a mediocre 21st in run defense DVOA. Therefore, Minnesota’s threat of the run on play-action concepts was terribly believable from Detroit’s perspective, which helped open up the skies for Cousins to deliver on a number of intermediate passes.
Almost all of Cousins’ intermediate and deep shots were to the right side, oddly enough. And while this could be meaningful over a stretch of a few games, I genuinely think this means nothing for this game alone. It is likely just a product of a small sample (just 22 pass attempts) and picking on rookie cornerback Jeff Okudah whenever possible. Gleaming anything meaningful or predictive from this is probably a waste of time, though I would not be opposed to joining in on the fun if Arif Hasan starts joking that Cousins can not throw to the left now, as he does with so many other quarterbacks.
The Vikings offense was full of deep crossers, which allowed Cousins to produce a chart like this. That is always the case within the structure of any Shanahan-adjacent offense, but Detroit’s man coverage defense littered with bad or struggling cornerbacks was ripe for being exposed by those crossers. The Lions’ linebackers are not particularly impressive in coverage, either, so even finding tight ends Kyle Rudolph and Irv Smith Jr. over the middle on a few crossers was easy money.
[videopress Edwdxxv3]Here is Cousins’ first pass of the day: a rollout to the wide side of the field. More often than not, Cousins (or any QB on these concepts, for that matter) will hit the player in the flats almost immediately. That player is usually good for a free handful of yards on these plays, and that was true of this particular clip. Cousins, perhaps aware of how poorly Detroit’s linebackers would find Rudolph on the intermediate crosser, instead keeps his eyes down the field a bit and hits his man at the second level. Linebacker Jamie Collins (58) should have done a better job reading pass here and taking off back across the field to get under Rudolph, but he didn’t, leaving the tight end wide open.
A few plays later, Cousins found rookie Justin Jefferson matched up on a crosser versus fellow rookie Okudah for a big gain.
[videopress TTcNMmX0]This time the Vikings are in an offset I-strong formation to the field. One receiver is split out to either side of the formation, though both are in tight splits, which is common for the Minnesota offense. Detroit responded with eight in the box and their two outside cornerbacks bumped up on the line of scrimmage, almost certainly signaling man coverage. The Vikings get just that from the Lions, meaning Jefferson gets to take off 1-on-1 across the field against Okudah. There is no help or anyone for Okudah to pass this route off to, so he just gets beat to the sideline, giving Cousins plenty of room to make this throw as he gets nailed by a pass-rusher.
But of course, Detroit was not going to be in man coverage for every single snap. Head coach Matt Patricia may want to do that, but even the most stubborn of play-callers know that is not really feasible, especially without an elite secondary. The Vikings still had answers built off of their deep crossing concepts that helped them combat the Lions’ zone coverages.
[videopress KpR03bsg]In this clip, it looks like the Vikings are running “cross-country Dagger,” which features the slot receiver running a crosser over the middle while the outside receiver runs a deep dig route. A standard Dagger concept would have the slot receiver run a vertical, but either way, the idea is to pull coverage away from the middle of the field to open up space for the dig route. On defense, Detroit looks to be in Cover 3. The flat player to the left does well to carry the dig route vertically for a bit before falling off to the flat. This should have given the deep-third player time to read and react to the dig route properly, but the deep-third cornerback gets way, way too deep, opening up a clear window for Cousins, thanks in part because the deep middle of the field defenders were shading towards the crosser.
The final pillar to Cousins’ relatively easy Sunday was how effective the running backs were in the pass game. As usual, Minnesota hit on a few screen passes, which we covered in more depth last week and before the season. This week, however, the Vikings’ backs were getting free on checkdowns and short crossing routes beyond the line of scrimmage as Detroit’s linebackers were left matched up 1-on-1 with them in man coverage. Cook versus just about any linebacker in the league is a mismatch in favor of the purple.
[videopress A2vXrBAw]This clip needs far less explaining than the rest. Judging by the box count and down-and-distance, as well as how the first couple seconds of the snap plays out, Detroit appears to be in two-man or some sort of Cover 1 with a late rotation for the rat/robber player. Either way, Cook gets matched up 1-on-1 out of the backfield with Collins, who already had not been having his best day. Cook works him across the field, then stops on a dime to leave him whiffing at air on the tackle attempt. Light work for Cook.
If the last couple of weeks have shown anything, it is that the Vikings’ offensive construct can actually work. The team’s record up to this point suggests otherwise, but it’s not a lost cause. Cook and the run game have been on fire, while Cousins has been enabled to be the play-action dispenser he was paid to be. The question now is how sustainable Cook’s outrageous production is and what it means for the offense if he can not keep producing like a god? It is tough to expect Cook to have many more eight-plus yards per carry games like this.
In other words, if Cook reverts back to just “very good” rather than the absolute game-breaker he has been the last couple weeks, are Cousins and the rest of the offense actually good enough to pick up the slack and remain successful?
For most of this year, the answer has been “no.” And nothing about these last couple weeks really suggests the answer to that question will change if or when Cook does eventually get slowed down a bit. The hope, instead, is that the defense can continue shaping up to enable this play style and that the run game can continue working the way it has, rather than expecting Cousins to step up. Seeing as the Vikings have some awful run defenses such as Jacksonville, Dallas and Carolina in their future, perhaps Cook and the rushing offense can indeed continue putting Cousins in an ideal position to win games.
