Exploring some new approaches to Defense.

[fiestavike]

Hi all,

I'm not sure what all of you think about this. Maybe I'm misreading the tea leaves in thinking the vikings are going to change their defense fairly substantially this year, but I really enjoyed these three pieces, especially the last one, which outlines a defensive scheme which seems to fit our personnel the best. I'll put a poll up above, and then I'd love to hear any ideas about what changes they might make (if any) and where you would plug in various players depending on which changes are made.

https://vikings61.com/are-the-vikings-r ... 4-defense/

https://www.dailynorseman.com/2020/3/19 ... gs-defense

https://www.dailynorseman.com/2020/4/9/ ... on-defense

[VikingPaul73]

I hope it's not an all or nothing and that they use multiple looks and adjust based on opponent strength.

They should have some versatility at DL to switch between 4-3 and the modified 4-3. And I would love them to be more creative with Barr who is a unique athlete. we will see!!

[S197]

Eh I wouldn't read too much into it, these articles come out every off-season. Remember when Iloka was going to turn us into a 3 safety defense? Or Barr taking reps with our pass rushers? Neither materialized into anything significant.

I think there will be changes for sure but I don't think anything major like a 3-4 switch. The 43 under is probably a good example of what may change with Dom here.

[fiestavike]

Eh I wouldn't read too much into it, these articles come out every off-season. Remember when Iloka was going to turn us into a 3 safety defense? Or Barr taking reps with our pass rushers? Neither materialized into anything significant.

I think there will be changes for sure but I don't think anything major like a 3-4 switch. The 43 under is probably a good example of what may change with Dom here.

That's certainly a good point and good observation.

I also don't think we have the personnel to go 3-4, but i agree with you that the 43 under is a real option. It isn't an unsubstantial change though. I think guys like Weatherly and Giffen don't have much of a role in that defense except backing up Hunter (which might explain something). They aren't going to be playing the 5T.

[fiestavike]

For those interested in it, this is a nice little write up by former NFL S Matt Bowen on the Cover 3

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/204 ... of-cover-3

[Maelstrom88]

I hope it's not an all or nothing and that they use multiple looks and adjust based on opponent strength.

They should have some versatility at DL to switch between 4-3 and the modified 4-3. And I would love them to be more creative with Barr who is a unique athlete. we will see!!

I think that is what the idea is with bringing Capers in. They are mostly going to be doing the same things they've always done under Zim but they will add in wrinkles that Capers suggests I'm an attempt to finally maximize Barr to his full potential. Hopefully it pays off.

[fiestavike]

https://zonecoverage.com/2020/minnesota ... dominance/

In the Minnesota Vikings’ 26-20 win over the Saints in last season’s NFC Wild Card Game, the Vikings converted 10 of 18 third-down opportunities (55.6 percent) while the Saints finished 4 for 11 (36.4). The following week in the Divisional Round, the Vikings were held to just 2 for 12 (16.6) on third downs while the 49ers went 5 for 12 (41.7).

In fact, in the last four Vikings playoff games (since the 2017 season), the team that won the third-down battle also won the game. That streak might go back further, but I only checked the past three seasons – starting with the Minneapolis Miracle game.

It’s no secret that winning on third down strongly correlates to winning games.

Therefore, when Vikings coaches and executives huddled in the bowels of the TCO Performance Center to conduct the autopsy on the 2019 season, it had to be somewhat upsetting when Mike Zimmer and others noticed that they had slipped to 19th in the NFL in third-down defense during the regular season at 39.7 percent.

That mark represented a substantial dropoff from 2018 (30.5 percent) when they finished first in the league in third-down defense for the second straight season. And it was an even larger cliff dive from 2017 when they set a new NFL record with a 25.2 percent third-down defense rate. By the way, that record didn’t last long. It was eclipsed by last season’s New England Patriots, who posted a 24.1 percent third-down defensive rate. The NFL started tracking third-down defense in 1991.

More alarming is that the Vikings’ 9.2 percent dip in third-down defense was the largest in the NFL from 2018 to 2019.

[StumpHunter]

The last two playoff losses weren't lost because of 3rd down conversions, they were lost because the offense couldn't do anything, and we ran into two teams that no one in the playoffs could stop.

[fiestavike]

The last two playoff losses weren't lost because of 3rd down conversions, they were lost because the offense couldn't do anything, and we ran into two teams that no one in the playoffs could stop.

Nothing is lost because of 3rd down conversions. There is a correlation between 3rd down conversion rate and winning, and the Vikings defense was in the bottom half of the league last year in defending 3rd down conversions. It might be an interesting things to discuss, or not, depending on your own preference.