Through two games, the Minnesota Vikings have had their share of ups and downs, especially on defense.
Against the Green Bay Packers, the defense was dominant. They forced two turnovers along with accumulating four sacks and 18 pressures on star quarterback Aaron Rodgers. They were consistent against the pass but were a little flawed against the run.
On Monday night versus the Eagles, it was a different story. They challenged Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts to beat them with a bunch of layups and he did just that. They amassed nearly 500 yards and made it look easy.
The defense itself is starting to show some tendencies as far as how they lineup. The Vikings defense is currently second in the NFL in how much they lineup in a Nickel defense.
#Vikings defense through 2 games:
Base: 13.2%
Nickel: 86%*
Dime: 0
7 DBs: 0.8%*2nd-highest in the NFL, per @ESPNStatsInfo
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) September 20, 2022
There are some other tendencies that are worth noting that ESPN’s Kevin Seifert included in that thread. The Vikings are
- Lowest in the NFL in man coverage at 7.7%
- Highest in cover-2 usage at 46.2
These shouldn’t be a big surprise as defensive coordinator Ed Donatell runs a lot of cover-2 and quarters coverage to keep things in front of them. As things progress, mixing in more man coverage will likely occur as Donatell uses more blitzes to keep things interesting.
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