With the 21-13 victory over the winless Carolina Panthers on Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings have temporarily put the tank talk on hold. Granted, the Week 4 win didn’t leave many folks feeling encouraged that this is a team ready to turn a corner. Marcus Davenport‘s full game debut was certainly a welcome sight. He recorded three pressures (one sack) and a 9.7% pressure rate on 31 pass rushes, according to Pro Football Focus.
D.J. Wonnum also recorded a sack with two pressures and an 8.3% pressure rate on 24 pass rushes. Brian Flores got after Bryce Young and confused the rookie quarterback with blitzes on 18 of Carolina’s 40 dropbacks for a 45% blitz rate. He deployed Harrison Smith nine different times on blitzes, and Smith responded with three sacks, which included the game-altering strip sack that resulted in Wonnum’s scoop-and-score.
There’s a reason why Bill Belichick and his defensive disciples are so historically successful against rookie quarterbacks. Sunday’s performance against Young and the Panthers was the latest chapter. But is that sustainable with Patrick Mahomes and the world champion Kansas City Chiefs coming to town next week?
Aside from Minnesota’s run game, which saw Alexander Mattison and Cam Akers combine for 6.1 yards per carry on 22 totes, the offense failed to sustain consistency against a lowly Panthers defense that came into Week 4 surrendering an average of 27 points per game. Kirk Cousins‘ 99-yard pick-six in the first quarter was the latest edition of the offense turning it over at the goal line in every single game this season. Cousins would later throw another interception inside the red zone in the final seconds before halftime.
According to Warren Sharp, Minnesota’s offense entered Monday night ranked 27th, with 64% of their drives resulting in turnovers or punts. The offense has yet to demonstrate that they’re capable of carrying this team. Unless the defense can find a way to face rookie quarterbacks from here on out, this team doesn’t look like it’s gearing up for a playoff push.
So let’s talk USC quarterback Caleb Williams.
As a Denver resident, I had no choice but to travel 22 miles north to Boulder on Saturday morning to see the player who many folks have already anointed as one of the greatest college quarterbacks ever. I’ve watched my fair share of Oklahoma and USC games from the couch over the past few years, but I felt compelled to study the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner and projected No. 1-overall pick in this year’s draft. I was fortunate enough to sit 15 rows up from USC’s sideline, and my eyes were glued to Williams, Lincoln Riley, and occasionally glorified vibe guy, Trojan staffer Kliff Kingsbury.
During warmups, Williams carried himself like a star — understandably so, with multiple cameras following his every move. He casually threw darts to receivers while getting into the rap music blasting throughout Folsom Field.
Saturday was the first time that Williams’ USC Trojans were featured in a nationally televised (non late-kickoff) game this season. He appeared giddy at the opportunity to show the country exactly why he’s being showered with universal praise. The confidence he exuded among his teammates and coaches during pregame would serve as a precursor for what was to come once the game kicked off at 10 a,m. Mountain Time.
After receiving the opening kickoff, Williams and the Trojans offense only needed six plays (which included an 18-yard completion on third-and-nine) to score their first touchdown. On USC’s third drive, Williams provided one of the signature plays that makes him so unique once he decides to ad lib outside the pocket. Facing a third-and-four from his own 29-yard line, Williams left the pocket, rolled to his left, and fired an absolute missile across his body and off one leg.
From here on out, Williams leaned into the superstar that he’s become. The broadcast showed Williams simulating the placing of the crown on his head while on the field, only to have his teammates and coaches follow suit after he took his helmet off while on the sidelines. After he threw three more first-half touchdowns, Williams played the role of terrorizer to the white-out Buffaloes crowd.
After Williams’ accurate proclamation to the crowd with yet another placing of the crown on his own helmet-less head, it was abundantly clear. This guy is truly special and doesn’t need the entire football world to tell him so, even though we can’t help ourselves.
It was also fascinating to watch the dynamic between Williams and Riley. The synergy that he has with Riley while operating his head coach’s Air Raid offense is one of implicit trust. Despite being a dragon that is capable of spewing flames onto his opponents whenever he deems it necessary, Williams is in constant communication with his head coach at the line of scrimmage. Since play-callers aren’t allowed to speak to quarterbacks through their helmets the way NFL coaches can, college coaches have to rely on their hand signals.
On seemingly every play, Riley implements a “Check With Me” before snapping the ball. Williams would often fake the clap that signals to his center to snap it (as he did on this clip of his third touchdown pass) and to see what Riley ultimately wants to do before setting the play in motion. Riley (in the white visor) would give Williams the “you’re good” signal right before setting the play in motion.
At other times, when the look wasn’t favorable for the original play call, Riley would signal into Williams at the last minute to check into something different. Although the play below resulted in a sack, notice how Riley’s hand signal to Williams triggers his quarterback to change the play at the line of scrimmage. To me, this illustrates that Williams unapologetically takes to coaching and (more importantly) wants to be helped at the line of scrimmage by one of the best offensive minds in college football today. Despite being one of the most gifted quarterbacks the game has seen in quite some time, Williams doesn’t pretend to have all the answers and go rogue on his head coach.
Remember in Netflix’s Quarterback documentary when they showed Cousins’ exchange with Kevin O’Connell after the failed quarterback sneak on fourth down in the final seconds of the Buffalo Bills game? O’Connell was pleading with his quarterback to let him help him by putting Cousins and the offense in a more favorable formation. Instead, Cousins took matters into his own hands on a critical play. That sort of cowboying did not exist on Saturday between Williams and Riley.
When that sort of unflappable trust can exist between a playcalling head coach and his quarterback — especially when both of them have earned their reputations as some of the best on the planet in their respective roles — there’s no limit to what you can do offensively. And it’s this unbreakable trust that helps overcome adversity when it inevitably hits in football.
After Williams went for yet another signature vertical shot outside the pocket, only to have it result in his first interception of the season, Williams and Riley literally shared a laugh together when they met on the sidelines in the immediate aftermath. Nothing needed to be said. They both knew that Williams was more than capable of hitting that near-impossible pass, he just missed by underthrowing it.
Williams has often been compared to Patrick Mahomes with his jaw-dropping abilities outside of structure. But after watching the on-field relationship that Williams has with Riley, it’s hard not to draw similarities to what Mahomes has with Andy Reid. A quarterback who takes so well to being coached, while still possessing cheat-code abilities, has to be an NFL head coach’s dream — as long as said NFL head coach and/or playcaller has earned Williams’ respect the way Riley has. And I like to think that O’Connell would be more than capable of instilling the necessary amount of trust and respect within Williams.
On the Fox broadcast, Joel Klatt mentioned that Williams could upgrade 18 NFL teams as early as next week.
If we’re being honest, that number probably needs to be higher than 18. The Chiefs certainly aren’t trading Mahomes for anybody. The same can be said for the Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Baltimore Ravens, Los Angeles Chargers, and Philadelphia Eagles. The 26 other teams, though? There’s an argument to be made that all of those front offices would take five years of Williams on a rookie contract over their current quarterback situation.
When the dust settled on USC’s 48-41 victory over Deion Sanders and Colorado, Williams amassed a 75% completion rate with 403 yards, six touchdowns, and one interception. He showed, once again, why most of the league is salivating at the opportunity to have him lead their franchise for a decade-plus.
Williams is the rare breed of quarterback. Any team that can honestly look themselves in the mirror and admit that they’re not winning a Super Bowl in 2023 should be doing whatever they can to put themselves in a position to land him. And despite securing their first victory of the season on Sunday, it’s difficult to say that the Minnesota Vikings don’t belong in that category.
