The Minnesota Vikings’ defense puts you through 60 minutes of hell.
Through three games the Vikings are undefeated, and after facing the likes of the San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans the Vikings’ defense remains fifth in EPA per play allowed, sixth in EPA allowed against the pass and second in sack rate. All of this is being done while still not having top tier cornerback play and getting phenomenal outputs from (/checks notes) Pat Jones II and Blake Cashman. Brian Flores might be a wizard, and against the Texans he had Houston stuck in the phantom zone.
What I enjoy the most about watching a Flores defense is how he causes so much chaos up front as well as in the secondary. Changing the picture up front via simulated pressures in concert with changing the picture on the back end. As a QB, you only have a few seconds to decipher what the blitz is and what the coverage is before the ball has to be out, and what Flores is doing is speeding up that process while retaining integrity in his defensive structure. In other words, you’re playing his game, in his world. He’s the king of the Vikings’ defensive castle and you have to go by his rules.
Just look at this predicament Texans’ QB CJ Stroud finds himself in. Before the snap, there are EIGHT people up at the line of scrimmage. This is a look that screams cover 0, with all the DBs in off coverage. However, the picture changes after the snap. The Vikings only end up rushing three, and get a good inside pressure from the nose tackle. Stroud evades it, but there’s nothing available downfield, and he has to scramble. It felt like Stroud was scrambling a lot on Sunday, and going back through Sports Information Solutions, it felt correct: including the playoffs, Sunday saw the third-most scrambles by Stroud in a game. Flores and the Vikings were cooking, and Houston had no answer.
Simulated pressures became a large part of changing the picture up front and forcing Stroud to have answers for a new question. Then, when Stroud has the answer, you force him to be wrong anyway. This is where Flores wants to live. Bring S Harrison Smith off the edge and drop EDGE Pat Jones II in order to get to Cover 2. The line is wadding everything up and Smith comes off the edge free, but he’s able to disrupt the throw. Stroud has to throw this high, forcing the back to go backwards, and the cornerback can make the easy stop. Welcome to hell.
Now, let’s get to changing the picture up front. I think somewhere within the week of preparation and lead up to the game, Flores and the Vikings saw that the Texans like to full slide their protection. What this means is that everyone on the Texans’ line will slide to a certain direction, and then the tight end (in this case Dalton Schultz) will block the backside edge. Flores and the Vikings knew this, and matchup hunted for their best pass rusher, Jon Greenard. Minnesota is in a five man front, but drop Andrew Van Ginkel into coverage, while adding LB Blake Cashman. This is a fairly simple blitz, but it’s effective because with the full slide, Cashman occupies the running back who could help Schultz on Greenard. This results in a 1v1, and Greenard telling his former teammate to hit the weight room.
Flores and the Vikings have found really cool ways to isolate Greenard on players he has the advantage over. This was the first play of the second half for Houston, and Flores again uses Smith as the lever to pull Greenard towards a schematic advantage. Four man front, and Van Ginkel drops and the linemen slant to the offensive line’s left. Smith blitzes off the edge and occupies a right tackle. This leaves Greenard with a matchup on a guard, and we know who wins that.
Flores and the Vikings are absolutely on fire to start the season, and it’s because of the use of positionless players like Smith, safety Josh Metellus, Van Ginkel, Jones II and Greenard. Their versatility allows for Minnesota to run this blitzes and pressures, while keeping the secondary out of bad positions. Minnesota has another big test in the schematic wizardry of Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers up next, and if Flores can stymie the rhythm of the Packers offense, he’ll put another feather in his cap of an impressive start to 2024.
