The Minnesota Vikings are going to Miami this week. While it’s unlikely that Will Smith will be blasting through the airplane cabin, the Vikings must be in a good mood ahead of their Week 6 matchup with the Miami Dolphins.
Mike Zimmer has been left in a land far, far away, and the Vikings have confidence late in games. With a 4-1 record, they’re in control of their own destiny after years of trying to claw back to .500. Those alone are good reasons to be optimistic. But the trip to Miami got even better when the Dolphins announced they would be starting seventh-round rookie Skylar Thompson.
With a head coach that makes Brad Childress look like P.J. Fleck, the Vikings have to love their chances of getting a win. But there is a way for the Dolphins to pull off an upset. If the Vikings aren’t careful, their convenient stop en route to a bye-week vacation could be as disastrous as a trip to Wally World.
The Dolphins are an interesting team. They started the season at 3-0, and Mike McDaniel was the darling of the NFL. With a personality reserved for your local barista, McDaniel’s demeanor was welcomed after the authoritarian ways of Brian Flores (who, in fairness, was prominently hindered by the team’s ownership).
Unfortunately, things unraveled from there. Tua Tagovailoa sustained two concussions in four days, and the Dolphins were in the crosshairs of the NFL’s concussion protocol. After Tagovailoa was stretchered off on national television, the league revamped its policy to look for ataxia. The Mayo Clinic defines ataxia as “poor muscle control that describes clumsy, involuntary movements” that “results from damage to the part of the brain that controls muscle coordination.”
The Dolphins were made familiar with the new rules when Teddy Bridgewater was slammed to the ground on his first play against the New York Jets. Although he didn’t have a concussion, he showed symptoms of ataxia, and Thompson was forced to go into the game.
After completing 19 of 33 passes for 166 yards and an interception, Thompson doesn’t look like a quarterback who will carve up the Vikings. But just like their head coach, the looks can be deceiving.
McDaniel is an offensive mastermind caught inside the body of an avid Call of Duty gamer. (No, not that one.) Although the Dolphins got rid of their ping pong table, McDaniel is about as dangerous as Forest Gump taking on the Chinese army.
Take into consideration the game plan he devised in Week 3. The Baltimore Ravens love to employ a man-heavy scheme, so McDaniel made their cornerbacks run over 6,000 yards while trying to chase down Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.
With 4.4 speed leading the way, Baltimore’s cornerbacks became exhausted, and the Dolphins pulled off a 42-38 victory.
It was a tremendous game plan for the Dolphins, but one they can’t use against the Vikings. For starters, Hill and Waddle may have passed out from exhaustion if they were still running 6,000 yards a week. Minnesota also plays more of a zone defense, which would prevent their cornerbacks from trying to catch Hill and Waddle.
So what’s the next best thing? Attack them underneath.
The Vikings’ defense is designed to have two safeties back to defend against the deep play. While Hill and Waddle are deep threats, they would likely face help over the top, which decreases their odds of connecting on a big play.
Despite recent criticism, this is a smart strategy for the Vikings. At age 32, Patrick Peterson isn’t getting faster. Cameron Dantzler ran a 4.64-second 40-yard dash coming out of Mississippi State. Chandon Sullivan ran a 4.6-second 40-yard dash. It would be asinine to believe these guys could keep up with Hill and Waddle. But it’s also crazy to think they can tackle them before it’s too late.
Teams have feasted on the Vikings’ defense thanks to short completions and runs after the catch. It’s why Andy Dalton, Jared Goff, and Justin Fields have looked competent when seeing purple, and it’s why Thompson should get the ball to Hill and Waddle and have them make the big play.
Of course, the Dolphins can’t be one-dimensional. That’s where the running game comes in. Austin Jackson is a liability in pass coverage but specializes as a road grader for whoever is running behind him.
That will be Raheem Mostert in this game. After destroying the Green Bay Packers in the 2019 NFC Championship game, Mostert fell off due to injuries and the roulette wheel known as Kyle Shanahan’s offense. With the San Francisco 49ers dusting off a new running back each week, any running back (including Tevin Coleman) can become functional – and McDaniel is a product of that coaching tree.
Although he is questionable, McDaniel may decide to lean on Mostert to protect his young quarterback. If he does that, he’ll be going up against a run defense that’s allowing 4.4 yards per carry (17th in the NFL) this season.
The Vikings limited the Bears to 78 yards and 3.3 yards per carry on the ground last week, but the Shanahan system is a different animal.
Then there’s the laundry list of the Vikings’ own issues. Kevin O’Connell still needs to find a way to make his offense more consistent. Dalvin Cook has yet to crack 100 yards. It’s been so long since Adam Thielen was targeted that we forgot he was from Minnesota.
All these things issues coming into Sunday’s game are set against a backdrop of the Vikings struggling against backup quarterbacks. The Zimmer era alone saw losses to Chase Daniel, Matt Moore, and Nick Foles. With the same roster in place, who is to say Thompson couldn’t be the next to join the list?
That said, the Vikings should win this game and go into the bye week at 5-1. But before Kirk Cousins borrows Christian Darrisaw’s chain to go hit up South Beach, they’ll have to account for a team that’s more dangerous than they appear.
