During Minnesota Vikings training camp, defensive coordinator Brian Flores tormented the offense with different blitz looks. Harrison Smith frustrated them by lining up all over the field, Marcus Davenport used his size/speed combination to blast through the offensive line on a regular basis and the cornerbacks were able to play hyper aggressive as the ball came out quickly. Kirk Cousins talked openly about how difficult they were making practice.
Through three games, the blitz rate was similar to training camp but almost nothing else. The defense let Baker Mayfield dominate the clock in Week 1, the Eagles steamroll them with the ground game in Week 2 and Justin Herbert complete 40 passes for 405 yards in Week 3.
With the Vikings’ season pressed up against a wall, Flores’s defense arrived. They allowed zero offensive touchdowns, just 232 yards of total offense on 3.4 yards per play and scored a decisive touchdown when Harrison Smith stripped quarterback Bryce Young and outside linebacker DJ Wonnum returned it to the end zone.
“I can’t say enough about Flo (defensive coordinator Brian Flores) and his group,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said. “It was a hot day and they were on the field a lot.”
They certainly were on the field a lot. With the Vikings’ offense sputtering, the defense spent 38:29 chasing around the No. 1 overall pick. They sacked him five times, including twice from Smith in the red zone with the Panthers down by eight points in the waning moments.
“Harrison Smith just had an unbelievable performance today and it does not surprise me one bit,” O’Connell said. “He’s somebody who I lean on constantly, one of my all-time favorites and when we had to have it. He was at his best today among a lot of our other defensive performers. That was really exciting.”
Smith hugged Flores on the sideline after ending Carolina’s day by dragging down Young. O’Connell layered in a postgame comment about wanting to get Smith back to playing up at the line of scrimmage, where he did not spend much time last season.
“It’s not always going to be three sacks but creating pressure in different ways and playing coverage in different ways,” Smith said. “We did a good job of mixing it up and giving (Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores) confidence in certain calls here and there. It really was like everyone was executing our jobs.”
Everyone including Marcus Davenport, who turned out to be a key part of the attack. Having missed him for three games with an ankle injury, the Vikings struggled to find additional pass rush from the defensive line outside of Danielle Hunter. Entering the game Hunter had five sacks and the rest of the D-line totaled 0.5 sacks. Davenport got credit for one sack but was far more disruptive than the box score showed, routinely getting in the mix on pressures whenever Young wasn’t getting the ball out quickly and helping in the run game.
“It was absolutely awesome to have Marcus Davenport back in the game,” O’Connell said.
While the former Saint already topped his sack total from last year in one game, he has previously been a force. Two years ago he rated by PFF as the sixth best edge rusher in the NFL with at least 400 snaps. The issue was that the only played 437 snaps that year. He proved on Sunday how disruptive he can be when healthy.
“When I am back there playing safety, I can see him making the quarterback scramble around trying to find some space. I am very excited to have a player like him out there with us,” safety Cam Bynum told reporters. “He, for sure, definitely made an impact today.”
Flores’s schemes were enhanced by the individual performances of Davenport and Smith but his different looks at the line of scrimmage seemed to fluster the young quarterback from start to finish. Following the game, Young explained why he had issues with taking sacks against the Vikings’ pass rush.
“They do some unorthodox stuff defensively… they did a good job of mixing it up and getting home,” he said. “We talked about it and had plans for it and I didn’t do a good enough job of executing that, whether it’s getting the ball out of my hands when they are bringing too many we can block, or when it is blockable looks, making sure we’re getting to the right people, things like that. I have to do a better job of communicating, executing. Again, credit goes to them.”
Credit indeed goes to the defense. The Vikings’ offense struggled from the opening drive. Kirk Cousins threw a pick-six to start the game and threw another INT when his arm was hit and the ball popped up in the air. The offense scored just seven points in the first half, mixing a three and four-play drive in between the two turnovers. They didn’t exactly come out in the second half inspired, either. Two of their three drives in the second half ended in punts.
“Just have to give a lot of credit to our defense for the way they kept us in the game, made plays, scored a touchdown, created pressure,” Cousins said. “We made some explosive plays here and there. Got to be sustaining drives more. Didn’t stay on the field enough.”
The Vikings’ defense needed a confidence-building win after the game against the Chargers, which had some scratching their heads about sticking with the same blitz plan despite L.A.’s success against it.
“It’s a huge thing for team building when the defense says you know what, I got your back and they go out there and made some critical plays,” O’Connell said.
Of course, the true test will come next week against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. With Sunday’s win only bringing them to 1-3, there is no room for the roller coaster that has been the Vikings’ defense to take a dip again. At least now they have a performance to build on — one that looked like what we expected entering the season.
