This is from before the season when Donatell was brought on:
Donatell had input, no doubt, but my point is that firing Donatell doesn't necessarily make that scheme go away, just Donatell's version and defensive play-calling. To my mind, people had more problem with the scheme than any particular play call. I think the idea to limit big plays as priority #1 on defense is a KOC philosophy and pre-dates Donatell even being hired.O'Connell indicated on Thursday the Vikings would operate from a 3-4 base defense, though he added they'd mix in some four-man fronts and would spend plenty of time in nickel packages that have four linemen. He sought out the 65-year-old Donatell, he said, because of his time working for Vic Fangio in a defense that's been copied around the NFL, as teams seek to limit big plays with deep safeties and force impatient quarterbacks to throw interceptions into zone coverages.
"What really drew me to Ed Donatell was his ability to teach a system that I know is very hard to play against as a quarterback and as an offensive coach," O'Connell said. "I've experienced it in Los Angeles. There's definitely different forms of it going around the league right now, but obviously Ed's experience with Vic Fangio and his connection to that system is something that really drew me to him, and then obviously the person that he is was huge for me."
I'm not as hard on the defense as a lot of people. The conventional stats look bad but it obviously worked to some degree. The defense made several key stands in many games and the "bend don't break" philosophy did actually work on several occasions. The problem is, and the reason the stats are so screwy, is that when they broke they broke hard.
I think the way KOC wants a defense/team to operate is driven by some set of statistics that doesn't necessarily look good in the traditional sense. I'm a data guy and to my mind, given the length of an NFL season and all the variables within them, that many games playing out similarly is a trend rather than a coincidence. Even the game they lost against the Giants was shaping up to go to overtime and another potential one score victory.
I'm not saying the defense was great or anything, just that they were more middling than some stats say and at times looked very good. I'm not surprised there are growing pains. They've got a lot of players that are converting from Zimmer's double-a gap 4-3 stuff and I'm not sure there are two more different defensive philosophies currently in football.
So I'm conflicted about how I'll feel regarding the defense going forward or what I want to see. After ripping off the Band-Aid I definitely want to try and stick with some kind of 3-4 if that is KOC's vision for the team.
If KOC intends to field a similar defense next season (meaning one that seems to value limiting big plays above all else) who would you want to see run it? Which team (past or present) has a defense you might want to mimic?
Or would you like to see a complete rethink of defensive philosophy? I think that highly unlikely but in that case, who would you like to see come in?