Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel add serious spice to Brian Flores’ Vikings blitzes

Brian Flores’ blitz-happy Vikings defense got two major pieces for the future in edge-rushers Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel.

If there’s one thing you know about Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, it’s that he’s going to bring more defenders after the quarterback than just about anybody else in the league. Last season, the Vikings ranked first in the NFL with a blitz rate of 51.5%, though their pressure rate of 21.9% was far more middle of the pack.

So, while it’s highly likely that star edge-rusher Danielle Hunter will be on the move in free agency, the Vikings reinforced their edges with two highly interesting pass-rushers. Minnesota agreed to terms with former Texans defender Jonathan Greenard, and also with former Dolphins defender Andrew Van Ginkel. Van Ginkel was selected by the Dolphins in the fifth round of the 2019 draft out of Wisconsin, and as Flores was Miami’s head coach from 2019-2021, there’s some familiarity there.

Greenard played in a Houston Texans defense in which blitzing was hardly the order of the day — Houston blitzed on just 21% of their snaps last season — but when Greenard was involved in some sort of extra pressure, he was able to make the most of it.

As for Van Ginkel, who also had 53 pressures last season, a full 32 came on some kind of blitz, and he was more than happy to be an Agent of Chaos when that happened.

So, while he may lose Hunter in free agency, Flores has two new pieces to his ornate defense who can really get things done.

Vikings agree to terms with former Texans pass-rusher Jonathan Greenard

The Vikings added a major player in their pass rush by agreeing to terms with former Texans quarterback disruptor Jonathan Greenard.

One of the more underrated pass-rushers in the 2023 NFL season will receive a contract from a new team that is commensurate with his abilities. Jonathan Greenard, selected by the Houston Texans in the third round of the 2020 draft, has agreed to terms with the Minnesota Vikings on a new deal that will give him $76 million total and $42 million over the next four seasons.

Greenard was one of the league’s most effective pressure providers last season — his 14 sacks tied him with Aidan Hutchinson of the Detroit Lions for sixth in the league, and he had 53 total pressures in just 440 pass-rushing snaps. Add in his 37 stops and two forced fumbles, and it’s become clear that for the Houston Texans last season, Greenard was one of the best at his position. Greenard had flashes of greatness earlier in his career, but 2023 was when it really came together, and he’ll be 27 years old in May.

Whether this means that the Vikings are letting Danielle Hunter walk in free agency is a matter we’ll see resolved sooner than later.

Texans sweep Rookies of the Year as Will Anderson Jr. takes defensive honors

Will Anderson Jr. capped a Texans sweep of AP Rookie of the Year honors

The Houston Texans have set themselves up for the long run thanks to a stellar 2023 NFL draft.

The results were proven again on Thursday at NFL Honors when Will Anderson Jr. was named AP Defensive Rookie of the Year.

The honor came minutes after his teammate C.J. Stroud was named AP Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Anderson had seven sacks and 22 quarterback hits as the leader of a defense that turned itself around after struggling for years.

Anderson was chosen with the third pick out of Alabama.

The defensive end earned Pro Bowl honors.

The Texans become the fourth team to sweep the rookie awards.

 

C.J. Stroud of Texans named AP Offensive Rookie of the Year

C.J. Stroud captures AP Offensive Rookie of the Year Award

The second quarterback taken in the 2023 NFL draft went on to win the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, announced Thursday in Las Vegas.

C.J. Stroud was chosen by the Houston Texans with the second pick of the process, going behind Bryce Young.

Stroud’s performance was second to none.

He completed almost 64% of his passes for 4,108 yards. Stroud threw 23 TD passes compared to 5 interceptions.

He led an incredible turnaround that saw a perennial doormat rise to AFC South champions.

Stroud finished his 2023 rookie campaign with 4,557 total passing yards, including the postseason, which is the second-most in NFL history by a rookie, trailing only Andrew Luck (4,662) in 2012.

He began his career with a record-setting 192 consecutive pass attempts without an interception, the most by a player to begin a career. Stroud led the league in passing yards per game (273.9), while also pacing the NFL in touchdown-interception ratio (4.60), joining Joe Montana (1989) and Tom Brady (2007) as the only three players in NFL history to finish first in both categories.

Lamar Jackson beat the Texans’ blitzes, and he can do it against the Chiefs

Lamar Jackson beat the Texans’ blitz-heavy plan last week, and he’ll now have to solve Steve Spagnuolo’s creative pressures. Here’s how he can.

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is most likely closing in on his second NFL MVP award at age 27, which is pretty nifty. The primary reason that Jackson is in line for that is that he’s developed to the point where there aren’t a lot of holes in his game — there isn’t one way to beat him, and even if you land a few punches, Baltimore’s coaching staff is generally ready with the right adjustments.

This was definitely the case in the Ravens’ 34-10 divisional-round win against the Houston Texans. In the regular season, Houston blitzed on just 21.0% of their plays, fifth-lowest in the league. The plan against Lamar was to send quite a bit more heat.

The Texans sent six or more pass-rushers on 11 of Lamar Jackson’s 22 attempts. Jackson completed eight of 11 passes against that for 51 yards, 30 air yards, one touchdown, and a passer rating of 112.3.

This season, the Chiefs have sent six or more pass-rushers on 48 opponent attempts – quarterbacks have completed 23 of those 48 attempts for 181 yards, four touchdowns, two interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 68.1.

One of those touchdowns allowed was the HB Seam touchdown from Josh Allen to James Cook in Week 14 against the Bills. The Bills came out with a four-strong concept to the back side, and Cook was wide open there. 

Another was Jordan Love’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Christian Watson in Week 13 against the Packers. Here, the Packers handled the six-man pressure out of a zone exchange, and Love had time to hit Watson on the little circle post. The rest were tight red zone, so the rules are obviously different. So, as much as Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo loves to blitz, quarterbacks aren’t helpless against it. 

But here’s the thing: If you take the Texans game out, for the season against six or more pass-rushers, Jackson has completed 18 of 33 passes for 169 yards, 41 air yards, no touchdowns, three sacks, no touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 56.3.

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said after the game that he was not surprised at how much the Texans blitzed.

“No, not at all, because they had success doing it the first game [in Week 1]. They picked their spots. They’ve been a good blitz team. We expected it. We prepared for it. We worked on blitz stuff for two weeks, and Lamar did a great job [against it]. The offensive line did a great job. We had our moments. We had to make a few adjustments in terms of how we were picking [the blitzes] up. They changed up a couple things for this game, too. We had to flip our protections.”

They also had to make some offensive adjustments.

“I think we just did a better job getting the ball out on time,” Harbaugh said. “I think [offensive coordinator] Todd [Monken] called a different game. It wasn’t so much hold the ball and try to push the ball downfield, which Lamar [Jackson] did a good job [with]. Once Lamar was able to sit back there [in the pocket] and just pick [the defense] apart and get the ball out quick, he just did a great job with that and then took control of the game.”

The touchdown against the Texans was a cool concept in which Baltimore was in 22 personnel, if we’re calling Patrick Ricard a fullback. Ricard motioned from left to right and was wide open to that side. Nelson Agholor ran a crosser from right to left, tight end Charlie Kolar blocked safety DeAndre Houston-Carson out of the route, and that block bumped cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. out of his coverage responsibility.

So, we know that Spags will send all kinds of interesting blitzes. But against the Texans, Lamar got the ball out quickly against those blitzes drawn up by Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans and his staff, and Monken did a great job of presenting Lamar with the right answers. 

Lamar also had two designed runs against six or more rushers in the Texans game – a 14-yard run with 2:12 left in the third quarter, and his eight -yard touchdown run with 6:26 left in the game.

For the season, if you take goal-line situations out of the equation and limit it to runs outside the opposing 10-yard line, Lamar has 129 runs for 780 yards, 332 yards after contact, and three touchdowns against six or more defenders in the box. This is the unique threat Jackson poses at this point – there are not a lot of holes in his game. 

So, this is a primary construct of the AFC Championship game, and we’ll just see what the designs are.

Did John Hussey’s officiating crew miss OPI on the Ravens’ first touchdown?

The Ravens’ first touchdown against the Texans should have not counted due to offensive pass interference, but John Hussey’s officiating crew missed it.

Per Rule 8, Section 5, Article 2 of the 2023 NFL Rule Book, offensive pass interference should be called when a player cuts off the path of an opponent by making contact with him, without playing the ball.

Well, with 9:14 left in the first half of the Baltimore Ravens’ divisional round playoff game against the Houston Texans, Lamar Jackson threw a three-yard touchdown pass to Nelson Agholor. No problem there, except that it certainly looked as if Baltimore tight end Charlie Kolar committed offensive pass interference as he broke inside to the same side as Agholor’s route. Kolar moved safety Deandre Houston-Carson out of the way so that Agholor could run his route unobstructed.

If that’s the case, referee John Hussey and his all-star playoff crew gave the Ravens quite a gift.

Steven Sims’ 67-yard punt return enables Texans to tie Ravens

Special teams came up big for the Houston Texans

Special teams came to the forefront for the Houston Texans in the first half of their Divisional Round game with the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday.

Their first score came on a 50-yard field goal by Ka’imi Fairbairn.

Then, faced with a 10-3 deficit in the second quarter, Steven Sims delivered on a punt return.

Sims took the kick at the Texans’ 33 and took off up the middle

The return was good for 67 yards and after the PAT, the game was tied at 10.

C.J. Stroud’s S2 Cognition test score was potentially invalid and shouldn’t have been leaked

A new report indicates that C.J. Stroud’s S2 Cognition test score was potentially invalid and shouldn’t have been leaked. Not a huge surprise there.

The S2 Cognition test, which has replaced the Wonderlic as a supposedly good way to evaluate the processing skills of quarterbacks in the pre-draft process, has been taking a beating all season long. Why? Because Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud scored an 18 out of a possible 100 on the test, and he’s been one of the best rookie quarterbacks in pro football history for the Houston Texans.

“I’m not a test taker, so I play football,” Stroud said, via Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer, after the results were leaked. “At the end of the day, I don’t got nothing to prove for nobody. So, I’m not going to sit hee and explain how I process football. The people who are making the picks know what I can do, so that’s all that matters to me. There’s a whole bunch of people that know how to coach better, know how to play quarterback better, know how to do everything on social media. As the man in the arena — that’s what’s tough — is stepping into the arena with 10 toes. I’m going to stand on that. I know what I can do. I know what I can process. If I’m not the smartest quarterback in this draft, I know I’m one of the smartest quarterbacks in the NFL when I step in there tomorrow. I have that confidence in myself, and I don’t think you can play at Ohio State and not be smart.

“I don’t got nothing to prove to nobody, man. At the end of the day — if you don’t trust and believe in me — all I can tell you is, ‘Watch this.’”

Well, we’ve all watched this, and we’re all impressed. That includes the Baltimore Ravens’ defense, who will try to bounce Stroud out of the playoffs on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. EST.

The Ravens know they’re dealing with a different C.J. Stroud this time around

Now, the inventors of the test have told the Wall Street Journal that Stroud’s results may have been invalid, and certainly should have never been put out there in the first place.

Whether this is the case, or whether this is damage control from the test’s inventors, it’s yet another reminder that these tests obviously aren’t the be-all/end/all when it comes to quarterback evaluation. After all, Dan Marino scored a 16 on his Wonderlic, and the average for quarterbacks is 24.

Ravens, 49ers have the advantage of defenses that can do anything… and everything

The Ravens and 49ers are the one-seeds in the playoffs, and they both have defenses without specific tendencies. That’s not a coincidence.

It’s probably not a coincidence that the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers — the two one-seeds in the 2023 NFL playoffs — have defenses without a specific coverage type. In today’s NFL, with more formational and schematic concepts on offense, if you go out on the field without some things to mess up the opposing quarterback with different things, you’re left with an execution-based defense, and there’s very little margin for error if that’s the case.

The Cleveland Browns discovered that in their wild-card loss to the Houston Texans. In that 45-14 Houston win, the Browns stuck with their usual plan, to their direct detriment. C.J. Stroud had demolished single-high coverage all season long, and the Browns had run a higher rate of single-high in the regular season than any other defense. Cleveland decided to stay there in this game, and Stroud completed 12 of 16 passes for both of his touchdowns. On none of those 16 attempts did the Browns throw any kind of late movement at Stroud. It was line ’em up, and let’s go.

Browns’ refusal to adapt on defense cost them dearly against C.J. Stroud

When the Texans face the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday in the divisional round, Stroud will be tested in ways he certainly wasn’t last week. The Ravens do not have a specific coverage type. This season, they’ve run single-high coverage on 46.4% of their snaps, and two-high on 53.3% of their snaps. It’s been Cover-3, Cover-4, Cover-1, and Cover-6 in that order. You don’t know what you’re going to get from snap to snap, they do all of it well, and they’re very adept with coverage switches. 

The Ravens have made it very clear that the Stroud they’re dealing with now is a much more evolved than the Stroud that tried to navigate it all in his regular-season debut. The best way to counter that evolution is to make Stroud work through different coverage concepts. Mike Macdonald’s defense has no problem with that.

The Ravens know they’re dealing with a different C.J. Stroud this time around

On this deep incompletion against the Ravens in Week 1, Stroud had to manage a couple of things. First, Baltimore threw a six-man blitz at him with defensive back Kyle Hamilton off the edge, edge defender Odafe Oweh dropping into coverage, and linebacker Roquan Smith coming from the second level. And pre-snap, the Ravens showed a defined single-high look before moving to Cover-2. Brandon Stephens joined safety Marcus Williams as the second two-high defender. The combination of pressure and coverage must have made Stroud feel as if he had 13 or 14 defenders arrayed against him, and a near-interception was the result.

The 49ers, who play the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, are another amorphous coverage defense.They’ve played 50% single-high this season, and two-high 50% of the time. It’s Cover-3, Cover-4, Cover-1, and Cover-2 in that order. The 49ers flip to a bit more single-high on third down, but as is the case with the Ravens, they play what works for them and they don’t change a lot from a systemic point in a situational sense. 

Packers quarterback Jordan Love has been as good as anybody playing his position in the second half of the season, but even the best quarterbacks can be made uncomfortable when faced with the right concepts in concert. In Week 2 against the Los Angeles Rams and Matthew Stafford, the 49ers got an interception by disguising their intentions. Stafford is a 15-year NFL veteran with as developed a sense of what defenses will do as any quarterback you’ll ever meet, but here, Steve Wilks’ defense won the day.

Stafford would have 2-Man coverage to deal with post-snap, but that wasn’t the look pre-snap. With a single-high safety, and linebacker Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw close to the line of scrimmage, Stafford probably thought he’d have something easy over the middle of the field. This was a four-man rush in which the 49ers plastered Stafford’s receivers all over the field, and cornerback Deommodore Lenoir jumped Stafford’s backside slant for the pick.

No matter the quarterback you’re facing, you have a better chance of beating him if your defense is creative enough to throw as many different looks at him as possible, with the discipline to have everyone together on their assignments. The Ravens and 49ers each have this on lock, and again, it’s probably not a coincidence that the two best overall teams in the Final Eight can say that about themselves.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into both defenses, and how they’re able to switch things up at such a high level.

You can watch this week’s episode of “The Xs and Os,” featuring all the most important matchups of the divisional round, right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to “The Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

and on Apple Podcasts.

One (potentially) fatal flaw for each remaining playoff team

Each team in the divisional round is good enough to get there, but they all have potentially fatal flaws… and here they are.

Divisional round weekend is often regarded as the best weekend in football. The best eight teams are in action to determine who will play for the respective conference championships, and usually promises four really quality football games.

Every team is in this spot for a reason, but they all have an achilles heel that, if exploited, could turn their next mistake into the final act of their season.