There’s nothing a football broadcast loves more than something that looks like a sideline fight. You probably remember a few infamous ones, like this era-ending blowout in Atlanta between Jeff George and June Jones or this harbinger of the eventual divorce between Brett Favre and Brad Childress. But how often is it a valid argument? I can’t help but remember a FOX broadcast portraying this Dez Bryant strategy talk as a childish tantrum back in 2013.
So when the Minnesota Vikings’ offense came off the field, and a visibly frustrated Kirk Cousins talked to everyone on the sideline, what should we take from it? A reason to worry? Deterioration of a fledgling (and perhaps still healing) culture? Watching what the Vikings did on either end of that conversation gives us a pretty good guess at the topic of discussion. It also showed their ability to figure out a problem on the fly.
The Vikings suffered repetitive communication issues on offense throughout most of Week 6’s win against the Miami Dolphins. Jonathan Vilma pointed out some of them on the FOX broadcast, but there were many more issues than just those examples. Take this protection bust, which occurred several times throughout the game before coming to a head on the sideline.
It’s a mistake of miscommunication rather than one of raw talent or ability. The Vikings simply weren’t on the same page. Let’s examine the boiling point: a three-and-out in the third quarter where the Vikings went about a mile backward.
It’s after this moment that Cousins went to the sideline, had a heated conversation with Kevin O’Connell, and then a similarly animated exchange with Garrett Bradbury. There’s no reason to think this led to any long-term animosity. Rather, it was adrenaline-fueled athletes discussing genuinely frustrating situations in 120-degree heat.
It also led to a solution to the problem. From that moment on, the Vikings’ offense communicated better, made significantly fewer mistakes, and pulled it together. They managed to put together two more touchdown drives and put a dagger in the Dolphins.
Thanks to quarterback issues, penalties, and good defense on the other side of the ball, the Vikings had time to figure out their problems. They needed that time, and they won’t likely be afforded it again. But in a sense, the game came down to their ability to have a conversation like this, however animated, and fix the things that were holding them back.
The Vikings did not have a good game on offense. It wouldn’t be right to walk away from this study thinking that the offense is secretly in a fine place during their bye week. But they showed something that gives us a modicum of hope: the ability to fix something on the fly. The Vikings are not going to fix every problem with their offense at once. Hopefully, this bye weeks lets them solidify their communications a bit, but they won’t fix the whole thing in one go.
That means that this kind of situation will come up again. One player has one idea of how a certain play pairs with its protection, and his teammate has another. Two defenders will be on different pages on whether or not a particular route combination should trigger a coverage adjustment. These things happen. When they happen early in a game, do they hold you back all day? Or can you iron it out, get back on the field, and get back into it? At least in this game, the Vikings had the right answer to that question.
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