For as much grief as former Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak received, it’s tough to argue with his impact on the passing game last season. With Gary Kubiak as OC in 2020, the Vikings ranked 27th in pass attempts, whereas Klint Kubiak’s version of the offense experienced a substantial uptick by ranking 11th last season. And with the added emphasis on the aerial attack, the Vikings did surprisingly well in several aspects of their passing game last season.
Warren Sharp pointed out on Wednesday morning that the Vikings were one of the most prolific offenses last season in driving the ball downfield for explosive plays of 20-plus air-yard completions.
Interestingly, Sharp’s findings show that two of the three teams that generated more 20-plus air-yard completions than the Vikings — the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys — ranked first and sixth, respectively, in passing volume. Those two teams combined for 170 more pass attempts than Minnesota last year and still combined for just six more 20-plus air-yard completions than the Vikings.
As he’s continued to show throughout much of his career, Kirk Cousins is one of the best quarterbacks in the league at effectively driving the ball downfield. Last season was no different. Of the 24 quarterbacks who attempted 44 or more passes of 20-plus air yards, Cousins had the following ranks according to Pro Football Focus:
- Completion percentage: third (46.5%)
- Touchdowns: second (10)
- Passer Rating: first (120.7)
- Big Time Throw Rate: seventh (30.9%)
Although the narrative surrounding Cousins is that he’s Captain Checkdown, the truth of the matter is that you won’t find many quarterbacks in the game today that are better at consistently generating explosive passing plays.
With the luxury of having Justin Jefferson, the Vikings took a serious step forward in revolutionizing their offense last year. And make no mistake about it, there’s plenty of meat left on the bone for Kevin O’Connell to take this offense to new heights in 2022.
As O’Connell embarks on his debut season in Minnesota, he’ll likely be leaning on a lot of the same passing concepts that helped the Los Angeles Rams win the Super Bowl last season. And with buzzwords such as “The illusion of complexity” garnering headlines after O’Connell’s introductory press conference, the Rams weren’t exactly afraid to keep going back to some of their favorite concepts throughout much of last season.
In the opening week, the Rams scored their first touchdown of the year on a 67-yard outside-zone play-action bootleg vertical shot to ancillary receiver Van Jefferson.
One month later, the Rams dialed up an eerily similar concept for Jefferson off of play-action against the Houston Texans for 68 yards.
In the following month, Jefferson again was able to get behind the defense for an explosive 79-yard score against the Green Bay Packers. Granted, this came on an obvious passing situation on third-and-nine, but McVay’s ability to dial up consistent man=coverage beaters separates this scheme from the others. Notice how Cooper Kupp drawing two defenders on the out creates the one-on-one vertical opportunity for Jefferson.
Two weeks later, McVay reverted to another outside-zone play-action bootleg to Jefferson for the 52-yard score.
With Odell Beckham Jr and Kupp to the field side and Jefferson on the boundary, the Arizona Cardinals’ secondary is keeping additional tabs on LA’s marquee threats, which allows Jefferson to be in position to make the play in one-on-one coverage down the field. Once the single-high safety commits to Beckham’s deep crosser, Stafford’s read is to let it rip downfield for his No. 3 receiver in Jefferson on the post.
In the wild card round of the playoffs, Stafford and Jefferson could connect on yet another chunk play for 41 yards off of play-action out of 12-personnel.
Whether it’s generating explosiveness by forcing defenses to respect their run game with the play fake or identifying mismatches in man coverage, this Rams scheme provides ample opportunities for its receivers to make plays down the field.
Another staple of this Rams’ passing game is beating man-coverage with slot fades out of empty. Back in September, Kupp nearly scored on this double-slant/slot-fade concept on the trips side of the formation.
In the Super Bowl, McVay went back to the well for the Rams’ opening score. The only difference was that this time Beckham was responsible for the slot fade on the trips side instead of Kupp.
With Justin Jefferson essentially in the Kupp role and Adam Thielen in the Robert Woods/Beckham role, look for Kevin O’Connell to identify when opposing secondaries are beginning to load up on Minnesota’s primary receivers. That way, he can exploit them vertically with K.J. Osborn — just like he and McVay did with Van Jefferson throughout much of last year.
With Cousins still being one of the best quarterbacks in the league on 20-plus air-yard passes, Minnesota’s dynamic receiver tandem of Justin Jefferson and Thielen, and O’Connell’s ability to generate chunk plays for No. 3 receivers like Van Jefferson or K.J. Osborn, it should come as no surprise if the Vikings find themselves atop the list of 20-plus air-yard completions at the conclusion of the 2022 season.
