The bubble screen pass to Percy Harvin is the best example of the five favorite words in Bill Musgrave's vision for the Vikings offense. ¶ "Perform the ordinary extraordinarily well," the offensive coordinator has been saying since he touched down from Atlanta before last season.
The bubble screen is something that ideally shouldn't be called as much as the Vikings call it. However, much like the Patriots with Wes Welker, the Vikings and Harvin are at a point where the opposition's awareness of the play is irrelevant to the resulting success of consistently calling it.
Nice article. Thanks for sharing. I particularly liked this part:
Quarterback Christian Ponder has the option to check out of the bubble screen. In what's called a "double play" in the huddle, Ponder can change at the line of scrimmage and call for Harvin to come toward him and receive a shovel pass underneath instead.
"[Against] zone, Christian actually isn't supposed to even look at me," Harvin said.
But in this particular case, he did. Why? Because Rudolph, the key blocker on the play, told him to.
"Rudolph was so confident that he could dominate his block," Harvin said. "So he said all week that no matter who the defender was, man or zone, he wanted Christian to throw it."
Per the proper execution of the bubble screen, Harvin took a jab step forward and then looped back and to his right, running a short route that looks kind of like a sideways "J." Rudolph did what he said he would do and moved into position to maul Mouton. Jenkins ran a go route, successfully clearing his man.
Love the confidence of Rudolph and the ability he has to pull it off. And Percy being Percy...it's truly a fun play to watch. And the part about comparing Ponder to Tarvaris makes sense. There shouldn't be any doubt Ponder is far superior to Jackson in probably every category save perhaps overall arm strength.
“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.” --- Bill Shankly
Don't know if it is true but rumours at the time was that the Patriots really wanted Percy. Imagine Brady having him as one of his weapons and playing alongside Randy Moss. Percy would have been an absolute beast!
canadaviking08 wrote:Don't know if it is true but rumours at the time was that the Patriots really wanted Percy. Imagine Brady having him as one of his weapons and playing alongside Randy Moss. Percy would have been an absolute beast!
Not sure where Harvin would've fit in with Welker but the Pats rarely pass on what they feel to be unique offensive weapons.
“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.” --- Bill Shankly
dead_poet wrote:And the part about comparing Ponder to Tarvaris makes sense. There shouldn't be any doubt Ponder is far superior to Jackson in probably every category save perhaps overall arm strength.
You're exactly right. Actually, the part about Tarvaris Jackson is kind of funny but also quite true. Here it is...
Now, the pressure in the bubble screen shifts to Ponder. And if you think a short touch pass under pressure is easy, you've obviously never seen Tarvaris Jackson play quarterback.
It's amazing what kind of nuances exist in the NFL game and how understanding them separates one player from another.
losperros wrote:
You're exactly right. Actually, the part about Tarvaris Jackson is kind of funny but also quite true. Here it is...
It's amazing what kind of nuances exist in the NFL game and how understanding them separates one player from another.
Whatever happened to Dr. Zaius? Isn't a play like this just begging for one of his classic frame-by-frame analysis?
"My anterior orifice is forever causing me extreme difficulty;
therefore, I shall endeavor to acquire some self-control."
I still say that someone is going to jump one of these things and turn it into a pick six. The Vikings won't run it so much after that.
The Vikings passing game is looking more and more like their running game. Passes of 3, -2, 5, -1, 6 yards down field remind me of the numbers you see from Adrian Peterson before he breaks off a 20 yard run.
Eli wrote:I still say that someone is going to jump one of these things and turn it into a pick six. The Vikings won't run it so much after that.
I doubt it will make that much difference, although it would be unfortunate. The Vikings will probably keep running bubble screens and other quick hitters as long as they're working and one pick won't mean it's not working. If teams start trying to jump those passes frequently, the Vikes can use pump fakes/double moves by the receivers and burn defenses for being too aggressive.
The Vikings passing game is looking more and more like their running game. Passes of 3, -2, 5, -1, 6 yards down field remind me of the numbers you see from Adrian Peterson before he breaks off a 20 yard run.
I think that's because it's intended to work like the running game. It's been a pretty successful approach to offense since the mid-to-late '70s: run well, throw short, high percentage passes to athletic players, keep the chains moving, "eat" some clock and punctuate all of the above with intermediate and deep throws down the field.
Mothman wrote:I think that's because it's intended to work like the running game. It's been a pretty successful approach to offense since the mid-to-late '70s: run well, throw short, high percentage passes to athletic players, keep the chains moving, "eat" some clock and punctuate all of the above with intermediate and deep throws down the field.
And you hit on exactly why it hasn't been so successful in this Vikings offense. It does not move the chains. Runs of 4, 4, 5 yards move the chains. Runs of 2, 0, 1, -1, 3, 20 don't do so consistently enough to sustain drives. Likewise, the passing game relies inordinately on yards after the catch. While it may be a strategy with Percy Harvin (although he too gets stuffed on these bubble screens 1/2 the time), it doesn't work consistently enough with any of the other receivers.
Eli wrote:And you hit on exactly why it hasn't been so successful in this Vikings offense. It does not move the chains. Runs of 4, 4, 5 yards move the chains. Runs of 2, 0, 1, -1, 3, 20 don't do so consistently enough to sustain drives. Likewise, the passing game relies inordinately on yards after the catch.
I agree that it relies on yards after catch to an unusual degree but they're often getting those yards after catch and putting together long scoring drives using this offensive strategy. They're certainly not an offensive juggernaut and what they're doing doesn't lead to first downs and scoring drives on every possession but overall, it's been pretty effective. They're ranked right in the middle of the league in average 1st downs per game (tied with Houston at #15).
According to this link, the Vikings are among the top 10 teams in the NFL in average yards per drive with 34.56 and they're 14th in average points per drive. There's plenty of room for improvement but those stats clearly represent an ability to keep the chains moving. They're doing so better than half the league. I'd love to see them absolutely excel at it but they're just not there yet. Hopefully, they'll get there.
