Vikings left tackle Christian Darrisaw said Minnesota’s 2022 offense was “negatively affected” by practicing against Ed Donatell’s defense last season.
When discussing what it’s like going up against the more blitz-happy approach of new defensive coordinator Brian Flores, Darrisaw implied Tuesday after Minnesota’s second day of organized team activities that the difference is night and day.
“Really it just helps us. Those looks, we weren’t seeing those last year and we’d get to games and teams would run that certain defense and we’d be negatively affected. Now we’re getting to practice against it everyday. It’s not just one certain, 4-3, 3-4, he brings it all. It’s definitely going to help us.”
In 2022, under Donatell, the Vikings defense allowed the second-most yards and the fourth-most points in the National Football League. Donatell’s defense had one of the lowest blitz percentages at just 18.9 percent. In the three years he was the Dolphins’ head coach, Flores’s defense never had a blitz percentage below 30%.
- 2019 – 31.6%
- 2020 – 40.8%
- 2021 – 39.6%
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“It’s crazy. We’re only on, like, Day 2 of OTAs and Flo is already bringing looks you’d be thinking we get on Day 15,” continued Darrisaw. “It’s certainly going to help us get better and I’m excited to watch them boys fly around when they play a different opponent. It’s going to be fun.”
Minnesota’s hopes in 2023 will rely heavily on the defensive showing vast improvements. The Vikings were arguably the luckiest team in the NFL last season, winning 13 games including 11 by eight points or fewer. They also had an NFL-high eight fourth-quarter comebacks.
Meshing a solid defense with an upper-echelon offense could make the Vikings a true contender in what is believed to be a weak NFC.
