Patrick Peterson may not be back with the Vikings next season but he believes they need to stick with the 3-4 base defense under whomever is hired to replace Ed Donatell as the defensive coordinator in Minnesota.
Peterson, on the latest episode of the All Things Covered podcast, didn’t throw Donatell under the bus for Minnesota’s defensive woes – finishing 31st in yards allowed and 28th in points against.
“I was shocked to see that they moved on from Coach Ed,” said Peterson. “It’s just unfortunate that they had to make that change just after one year. Coach Ed is such a great human being, has a great connection with the players. I just love the way he communicates with his players.”
Did Peterson agree with the scheme Donatell employed? He sure did, though he hopes that whoever is next to call defensive plays in Minnesota finds a way to generate more pressure.
“I love his scheme. Just unfortunate that we didn’t perform better. Because it’s proven that the scheme works. The scheme is phenomenal,” said Peterson.
As Peterson went on to explain, Minnesota’s defense was shredded in the second half of the season. And their failures coincided with the front four generating less pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The Vikings had 25 sacks en route to starting 9-1 and then had just 13 sacks over the final eight games (including the playoffs).
“Our scheme is just so based off of getting pressure with our front four,” Peterson said. “If you go back and look, the first eight [weeks] we was getting off on the quarterback. We wasn’t blitzing at all. We was giving up chunks because we was in much more of a zone defense for the most part.”
That was the bend-don’t-break scheme playing out perfectly. But that came crashing to a halt once opponents began using running backs and tight ends to help slow down Minnesota’s edge rushers, according to Peterson.
“Once teams started getting in that max-protection look and it was hard for us to kind of change our identity on the back end, that’s when we wasn’t getting as much pressure as we needed to the quarterback to make the defense that much more successful,” Peterson explained.
What’s next for the Vikings? Peterson thinks they need to stick with a 3-4 base.
“I think it has to be a 3-4 scheme. Just aggressive. Being aggressive, forcing offenses to change their hand. Being more of the defense that’s pressing the issue versus sitting back and relaxing,” Peterson said.
“I will say this. It did give me an opportunity, the scheme that I did play in last year, it did give me the opportunity to see the quarterback a little bit more and help me get my second season high in picks with five.
Peterson tied for the team lead with five interceptions and was one of the highest-graded cover corners in the NFL (per PFF) despite Minnesota’s second-worst passing defense.
