Minnesota was a team that utilized play-action passes to its advantage in 2019.
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins was the highest-graded quarterback in play-action passing, according to Pro Football Focus.
PFF recently broke down a route that Minnesota liked to use off play-action quite a bit: crossers.
Here’s what the outlet said about crossers:
“The offenses from the old Mike Shanahan tree try to free their crossing route with a corner route instead of a post, and they’ll use it off play action. Overall, 54% of all deep crossers were thrown after play action in 2019 — and 55% of them were thrown off play action over the last six seasons — but that number is 81% with the San Francisco 49ers, 71% with the Los Angeles Rams, 62% with the Tennessee Titans and 83% with the Minnesota Vikings. All those teams run a very similar offensive system.”
PFF went on to show how a stair step can be useful, in order for wide receivers to get open. The outlet showed an example of that by using a time Justin Jefferson did so at LSU.
Vikings fans will probably be seeing Jefferson run crossing routes for Minnesota in the not-so-distant future. Maybe he’ll work in a stair step when he does so.