To Carmen Vitali
FOX Sports NFC North Lighter
Minnesota Keeps Learning While Winning
don’t look now Minnesota is finding a way to win. They now sit 5-1 at the top of the NFC North after defeating the Dolphins in Miami for the first time since December 11, 1976.
A sweltering day in the South Florida heat didn’t start well for the Vikings after going the entire first quarter without a first down. But the defense held them there while quarterback Kirk Cousins and the offense struggled to rip the ignition cord, forcing the Dolphins to make three straight punts in the first half and hold them to a field goal. .
In fact, Miami overwhelmed Minnesota in every major offensive category. The Dolphins had a total of 458 yards of offense against the Vikings’ 234. The Vikings were 3 down and he was 12-2. Miami he was 14-2 (not good yet). The offense, led mostly by Teddy Bridgewater, passed for 385 yards compared to Cousins’ 156 net yards.
However, it was a turnover battle where the Vikings got the upper hand and won the game. That’s why Minnesota’s defense was as different in this game as the yards they gave up.They forced three turnovers while the Vikings themselves didn’t give up.
Overall, Minnesota was able to take 10 points off these turnovers. This was the game difference.
“It’s funny that I went into the game saying, ‘I want to be proud, I want the defense to rest in the Miami heat,'” Cousins said. Let’s take a long drive, let the defense take the wind, and then do the exact opposite, which was disappointing, but somehow the defense kept answering the bell. […] We need to get better and that’s what the next few weeks are about.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell said, “I’m really proud to go 5-1 now. We talked last night about what we need to do to get to 5-1. have learned a lot about the football team and I am really excited that we, including the coaches, still have a long way to go and a lot of room for improvement.”
Lessons are much more fun to learn while winning. So while the offense continues to adjust to new coaches, the defense is taking over for them. That was what was supposed to happen in Green Bay. Instead, Minnesota currently holds the top spot in his NFC North. They’re exactly where they want to be as we head into goodbye week.
“They earned the right to take time off,” O’Connell said. “They fought for us, they did everything we asked them to do. not.”
“What about Viking defense?”
Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma reacted to the Minnesota Vikings’ defense and scored three points in their victory over the Miami Dolphins.
Vikings Makes Important In-Game Adjustments
No, the Vikings didn’t get their first first down of the day until the second quarter, thanks to the coaching staff’s awareness of Miami’s game plan and a heads-up adjustment.
The most common staffing group in the NFL today is easily 11, which requires an offensive field with one running back, one tight end and three wide receivers. To counter this, the nickel defense (5 defensive backs) becomes more common than the base alignment, as the defense almost always chooses to cover more body. That’s why the lines of 4-3 defense are blurring more than ever. But on Sunday, Miami did something different against Minnesota.
They ran the base against 11 personnel.
That meant a loaded box that allowed Cousins to pressure in a myriad of ways while stopping Dalvin Cook and the Minnesota offense from getting anything on the ground. , the Vikings recorded just one yard rushing.
1.
Cousins, too, was under pressure for most of the quarter, making just two of his five pass attempts for 11 yards and a passer rating of 47.9 by the end of the quarter. This also meant Minnesota had a total of 12 yards of offense heading into the second quarter.
Well, it took until the fifth drive of the game, but O’Connell and his staff realized what Miami was doing and how they were defending, so they put an extra player in the backfield. decided to increase the number by 21. Personnel situation.
“They played base defense until 11. That’s not something that has to be taken out of the way we want to play, but there are some really good players up front,” O’Connell said. very big and strong guys come forward and take you out of some of the things you want to do we’ve tried to be big at times and we’ve had some success some keepers and the first touchdown with Justin [Jefferson] revive. ”
By straying from the original game plan and being able to adapt to what the defense is doing, Vikings fans can earn the trust of the entire world in O’Connell and his staff. And it should show that more adjustments are coming, especially coming from the bye week.
Rodgers wants simpler offense in Green Bay
“The simplest play is the best play.”
That was the sentiment of quarterback Aaron Rodgers after the Packers lost at home to the New York Jets. , Rogers wants to keep things a little toned down.
“I don’t want to be too specific,” he said. “And I’m not attacking anything. Based on the last two weeks of play, I think it’s in our best interest to simplify things for everyone. About the line, the Bucks about, for receivers, especially [wide receiver Randall Cobb’s] Just simplifying a few things might help get you back on track. ”
Aaron Rodgers, Packers embarrassed at home vs Jets
The New York Jets had a 27-10 upset over Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in Week 6. After the game, the QB asked Green Bay to “simplify a few things.”
The Packers are 3-3, second in the NFC North. It’s probably not where anyone thought it would be — and it’s across the board, they average 17.8, and he’s averaging the ninth-lowest points per game. They rank 15th in total yards per game with 348.2 and 18th in average yards per play with 5.37. Despite having his two premier backs in Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, they average his 12th-most rushing yards with his 122.3 yards. In the pass game things stop before they even start. Rodgers is fired for his unprecedented 6.88% dropback. This is 18th in the league. He had four sacks Sunday against the Jets.
Head coach Matt LaFleur even called Sunday’s game the worst performance by an offensive line he’s seen in his tenure.
“It’s very inconsistent and I think you have to simplify things,” Rodgers said after the game. And there was no movement. We need to look at everything and see who we have and what we can achieve with them. Move forward wisely.”
Rodgers also didn’t rule out the possibility of Green Bay joining the roster.The Packers added depth to their offensive line on Monday, waiving offensive lineman Luke Tenuta from the Indianapolis Colts. This follows Royce Newman on the bench in favor of Jake Hanson, who suffered a biceps injury on Sunday.
But that doesn’t answer the question. If the Packers strip window his dressing and remove the motion and shift, it’s a harvest of their current talent — Randall is room missing his hump for the foreseeable future, but getting Sammy I can do it. Watkins will be back soon — enough to win outright?
The Bears defense provided the only bright spot on Sunday
Thursday night’s game between the Chicago Bears and the visiting Washington Commanders isn’t something everyone longs to recall. Both teams’ respective struggles fully showed, and the 12-7 loss overshadowed the incremental progress the Bears had seen on the defensive end of the ball.
Ahead of the game, linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi was asked by FOX Sports where Chicago would go from here and what the emphasis would be on primetime matchups.
“The biggest adjustment when talking to defense is run defense,” he said. “It’s something we’re proud of and we don’t really like how things are right now, but the season is long and it will get better.”
And they soon got better.
Washington rushed for just 44 yards in the first half. They finished with his 128, but his 39 of them occurred on his one drive as the 3rd quarter transitioned into the 4th. Chicago also forced many lengthy third downs that Washington could not convert due to the fact that they centralized their commanders.
Head coach Matt Everfuls said after the game, “The defense worked really well. It was really good on the third down. I think it was 0-6 in the first half, but in the end it was 2-11 at 18%. That’s it.” So the defensive staff worked really hard on that.” We were certainly happy with that this week. It was a drive before I gave up, so I thought I was solid there.
Chicago still ranks 29th in rushing yards per game and 24th in rushing yards per play, but Thursday night and multiple phases of the ball saw the Bears start essentially from scratch. One season saw a clear improvement. The emphasis should be encouraging, no matter how small.
Carmen Vitali covers NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen previously played for Draft Network and Tampa Bay He was with the Buccaneers. She spent her six her seasons with the Bucks, and in 2020 the title of Super Bowl her champion (and boat her parade participant) was added to her resume. You can follow Carmen on her Twitter. @CarmieV.
Enjoy more National Football League Follow your favorites to stay informed about games, news and more
Comments
Post a Comment