Tag: Vikings Defense

Vikings have incredibly unique defense

Brian Flores has created a true anomaly on defense with the 2023 Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings don’t just have a great defense, it’s borderline historic.

Pro Football Focus’ Timo Riske clustered every defense from the past five years to find schematic similarities and differences between the 160 separate variations. He found that the 2023 Vikings’ defense was the furthest away from any other in the study, making it the most unique defense in the past five years.

For a short definition, clustering is a method data scientists usually use to scout how a player was utilized in an offense. They take multiple data points from a player, such as a corner’s pre-snap positioning and how often he’s asked to blitz, and compare it to others to find similarities and differences in their usage. Riske used this method to determine how defensive coordinators utilized different coverages to attack NFL offenses.

Riske found that Minnesota had several aspects of its scheme that made it unique, including its insane usage of both cover-zero and cover-two. The league average for cover-zero and cover-two are 4.0% and 10.3%, respectively. Brian Flores’ Vikings are running these two coverages at a rate of 11.5% and 22.6%. The teams that are closest to them, just in 2023, are three teams that run cover-zero at a rate of 7.1% (New England, New York and Arizona) and the Chicago Bears that run cover-two at a rate of 18.1%.

Flores has fielded a true anomaly on the defensive side of the football. As Cody Alexander has stated, Flores is playing a completely different game from anyone else in the NFL. It has resulted in a lot of confusion from opposing quarterbacks and a top-ten defense from a unit that was firmly at the bottom of the league at the end of last year.

[lawrence-related id=88237,88239,88235,88230,88222,88205,88193,70378,88226,88198]

Twitter reacts to Vikings’ keg stand celebration

While the game itself may not be the most exciting, the Vikings defense may have pulled off the celebration of the year.

Games like this between the Minnesota Vikings and Las Vegas Raiders force fans to search for reasons to celebrate.

The Raiders threatened to break the scoreless 0-0 tie after a play to Hunter Renfrow put the Raiders in field-goal range. But a few plays later, safety Josh Metellus had other plans. Metellus punched out a would-be catch-and-run, and rookie Mekhi Blackmon recovered it to give the Vikings possession deep in their territory.

That led to one of the best celebrations one would find this week in the NFL from the Minnesota defense. The defense flipped Blackmon upside down on top of fellow rookie Ivan Pace to replicate a keg stand in celebration of the rookie’s fumble recovery.

Immediately, the football world on Twitter showed their appreciation for the creativity and splendor of the keg stand and Minnesota’s keg stand celebration.

PFN ranks Vikings as one of the league’s worst defenses

After a poor showing in the 2022 season, the Minnesota Vikings defense isn’t viewed that highly in 2023.

It’s safe to say the Minnesota Vikings didn’t live up to expectations on defense last season.

The Vikings, led by defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, finished near the bottom in points allowed per game, allowing a whopping 25.1 points per game. The Vikings were also 31st in the league for total yards allowed per game.

The poor showing led to the firing of Donatell during the off-season, with the Vikings choosing to fire former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores as their defensive coordinator.

Despite Flores’ hiring and multiple upgrades to the defense, many don’t expect the Vikings to see significant improvement on that side of the ball.

Pro Football Network’s Arif Hasan recently ranked every team’s defense and placed the Vikings near the bottom at 26th in the league.

“The Vikings are slated to improve defensively, but not enormously. They revamped their secondary, which helps, but the turnover they’ve had makes them difficult to project,” Hasan wrote. “Losing Za’Darius Smith deals a pretty big blow to their hopes, but they’ve improved overall. Where they’re coming from wasn’t that great to begin with, though.”

None of this should come as a surprise.

Although the Vikings added two immediate starters in free agency with cornerback Byron Murphy and edge rusher Marcus Davenport, the Vikings are a finished product on defense.

While the return of players like Lewis Cine and Andrew Booth, Jr. from injuries could boost the team’s fortunes, Flores has his work cut out for him.

If the Vikings want to become one of the league’s better defenses, Flores will have to find ways to maximize the talent available while hiding some of their significant weaknesses.