With Pat Shurmur in charge, Vikings fans hoping for wholesale changes to Minnesota’s struggling offense might be a little disappointed.
During his first press conference since being named the interim offensive coordinator, Shurmur said that he doesn’t think they need to “totally change what they’re doing offensively.” Instead, he would focus on helping the players just do it better.
“We need to coach better, we need to play better,” said Shurmur Thursday. “If everybody on the field and everybody involved in the offense makes one less mistake then we give ourselves the best chance to win.”
After getting out to a 5-0 start, the Vikings offense has looked stuck in neutral the last two weeks.
The running game has been nonexistent averaging a league-worst 2.7 yards per carry. Meanwhile the offensive line hasn’t been able to protect Sam Bradford, who’s been sacked 11 times in the last two games.
Mike Zimmer says he generally likes to have an average rushing yards per carry of 4.0. #Vikings are at 2.7 this season.
— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) November 3, 2016
Those are things Shurmur knows they need to do better than they have recently.
“The key each week is to run the plays that give you the best chance to beat the opponent,” said Shurmur. “We are going to try to get the guys in the right position and get the ball to those guys who we think can make plays and do what he thinks is best to beat Detroit.”
Could that mean bigger roles for guys like Cordarrelle Patterson, Laquon Treadwell and Ronnie Hillman?
https://twitter.com/EricEager82/status/793548873201438720
I just have the weirdest hunch Cordarrelle Patterson is gonna explode under Shurmur. Also….does Treadwell finally see the field?
— Tanner Weber (@Purple_Post) November 2, 2016
We’ll have to wait and see what Sunday brings.
